| rdfs:comment | - There are few better ways (short of No Party Like a Donner Party) to demonstrate that a human character is desperate for food than to reduce him to eating rats. Although such animals are technically edible, their association with disease, garbage and urban decay places them firmly on the "Unclean/Do Not Eat" list in most viewers' minds. This also applies for mice, cockroaches, dump-foraging seagulls, mangy strays and other scrounging pests, although their small size makes some of these creatures unlikely candidates for Meal of Last Resort. Examples of Reduced to Ratburgers include:
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| abstract | - There are few better ways (short of No Party Like a Donner Party) to demonstrate that a human character is desperate for food than to reduce him to eating rats. Although such animals are technically edible, their association with disease, garbage and urban decay places them firmly on the "Unclean/Do Not Eat" list in most viewers' minds. This also applies for mice, cockroaches, dump-foraging seagulls, mangy strays and other scrounging pests, although their small size makes some of these creatures unlikely candidates for Meal of Last Resort. Commonly invoked in After the End scenarios or during prolonged military sieges. Also Played for Laughs in cases where characters are simply too poor to afford even dog food. If rats are being eaten by creatures that normally subsist on small mammal prey, rather than people who do so only reluctantly, then it's Alien Lunch. Eat That applies if the eating is done to win a bet or game show rather than survive. May be inverted when a Squeaking Carpet or Rodents of Unusual Size are involved. Usually an alternative to Eat the Dog, another way to showcase characters' famished need to eat whatever they can get ... although if it's a pet rat that gets eaten, the two can overlap. It should be noted that rat is a delicacy in some countries (see Real Life, below), which is potentially a different trope altogether. Examples of Reduced to Ratburgers include:
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