World's Strangest Fast-Food Items
Photograph from Tavallai on Flickr
The magicians at fast-food chains come up with all sorts of edible creations—each one a little less likely than the last. The San Francisco Weekly lists ten of the world's weirdest, including the White Castle "chicken ring," a Tuna Pie (erk) at Jollibee in the Philippines, and Pita Snacks from Jack in the Box.
But are these really the strangest ones out there? I think Domino's Bread Bowl Pasta definitely qualifies. The Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme, too. And there's always McD's—looking beyond our own borders, McDonald's in Hong Kong has served seaweed-flavored French fries; New Zealand, a Quarter Pounder topped with egg and beetroot; and in the Philippines, sweet tomato pasta with hot dogs is sold as "McSpaghetti."
What's the strangest fast food item you've ever seen?
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38 Comments:
It's pretty common but the McRib is the weirdest thing I've ever had in my mouth, I ordered one back around 1982 and it was so disgusting I still remember it.
redfish at 12:42PM on 07/20/09
Why is that bundt cake from sonic weird? It looks/sounds like a very normal cake-and-ice cream sort of dessert. Did I miss something?
engmcmuffin at 12:44PM on 07/20/09
Years ago I worked on McD's advertising and tried some things they were playing around with at the lab kitchen; one was a whole line of adult-flavored shakes, non-alcoholic but literally tasting like Kahlua, a margarita, etc. As I recall the Kahlua was damned good but the margarita tasted like Pez.
Sky Full of Bacon at 12:45PM on 07/20/09
I live in the South and love Chick Fil A. I also order their carrot raisin salad.
I don't think it is strange. I have eaten it since I was a kid. My mother made it all the time. Way healthier than the fries. As for strange fast food,
the Big Breakfast Burrito at McDonald's just creeps me out! My son got one that actually had pancakes in it! I got one by accident and I was really grossed out with the tastes that didn't belong in a tortilla. Too sweet for me.
queenbleu at 12:55PM on 07/20/09
@queenbleu: I don't think the carrot raisin salad is too weird, either—perhaps the author just meant that seeing "healthy" carrot salad at a fast food outlet is strange? Unsure.
@Sky Full of Bacon: Wow, I can't imagine a fake margarita-flavored shake. Can't imagine it selling without tequila, either!
Carey Jones at 1:02PM on 07/20/09
Sigh, I guess I really am alone in my love of the McGriddle. It is one of the few predominantly savory answers to my salty sweet addiction.
annabanannas at 1:23PM on 07/20/09
I'm a sucker for the McGriddle, too. But the oddest one that I have personally eaten was in Oslo, Norway, at McD's, where they sold a McLaks, pronounced "mac-LOX". Laks is the Norwegian word for salmon and it was a salmon burger. Okay but not great.
lemons at 1:31PM on 07/20/09
These missed out on Maid-rites. They're not quite hamburgers and not quite sloppy joes.
http://www.maid-rite.com/aboutus/unique.shtml
cebonney at 1:37PM on 07/20/09
MOS burger in Japan sells this thing called Naan tacos. naan with mexican-themed toppings... I've never tried them but people told me they are good.
hmw0029 at 1:38PM on 07/20/09
@redfish, I agree 100% about the McRib. I seriously wondered who their taste-tester was at the time, and if I had received a mistake with all fat.
@sky full of bacon, I laughed outloud at the Margarita which tasted like Pez.
At our Calgary Stampede - besides deep fried mini-donuts, we also have deep fried Coke, deep fried Oreos, and this year - deep fried jelly beans in batter. yikes.
Cindy H
Brown Sugar
sugarbrown at 1:45PM on 07/20/09
@ annabanannas: you are not alone! I love McGriddles too, though I really wasn't surprised by their inclusion on that list. I don't actually know anyone who eats them besides me :)
At McDonalds in Korea they serve bulgogi burgers. I guess it's not completely out there but I thought it was amusing!
minji at 1:58PM on 07/20/09
Wow, the people at SF Weekly certainly don't seem to have a lot of imagination...but I guess they make up for it with bias. The carrot and raisin Chik-Fil-A salad makes it on there just because it's healthier than they'd expect from the "fried wonderland" of the South but, as Carey says, the Bread Bowl Pastas from Domino's don't? It's a dish made of starch and carbs, stuffed into a container of starch and carbs! Possibly delicious, totally weird.
sar_t at 2:04PM on 07/20/09
Oh, there are plenty of other odd edibles straight out of the Philippines. Since our culinary heritage is comprised of Spanish, American, Chinese, Japanese, Malay and native islander culture, it's quite the hodgepodge of weird and weirder. Just check out Jollibee's official Filipino site: ube cheesy magic Ice Craze (yes, that's purple ube with cheese in a halo halo-like concoction) or their Breakfast Joys with hotdog (a hotdog with garlic fried rice and an egg on a platter).
Lorena at 2:36PM on 07/20/09
another guilty mcGriddle lover here
something about it I just cannot identify!
hungrychristel at 3:07PM on 07/20/09
Heck, you don't have to go to the Philippines to get Jollibee. There's at least a few in the Los Angeles area, I pass one twice a day. However, I've never tried the Crispy Chickenjoy or Juicy Yumbuger.
Osomatic at 3:18PM on 07/20/09
For me, Chick Fil A isn't all that southern fried in my opinion. They give you a choice between fried and grilled with their chicken. Even the nuggets are made from real breast meat and not processed like Mickey D's and aren't too greasy. For a place that started in Alabama, and where I have been eating since 1981, I think they have a healthier menu than most fast food places.
queenbleu at 4:05PM on 07/20/09
Not sure this qualifies as fast food, because it’s street food, but I nominate zapiekanki. They are cheap!
aolmsted at 4:06PM on 07/20/09
I have to come to the defense of the crunchwrap supreme..those things are pretty tasty.
sloppy at 4:25PM on 07/20/09
McDonald's in Thailand sold the Samurai Pork Burger. Could
pickled at 4:44PM on 07/20/09
@ cebonny - your description was spot on. Maid Rite came up with a term for just such an in-between concoction - "loose meat".
The Maid Rite website advertises:
"We are America's #1 Favorite
Made to Order Loose Meat Sandwich"
LetThemEatQueso at 4:47PM on 07/20/09
I was a McGriddle skeptic until I tried one and thought "This actually works!"
I have stayed away from them due to fear of becoming addicted.
redfish at 4:51PM on 07/20/09
The kimchee burgers in south Korea are awesome.
cakesmurf at 5:15PM on 07/20/09
I know a lot of people that love McGriddles but they are just too sweet for me! After going through the list, I think Burger King's "Chicken Fries" are weird; haven't tried them but BK doesn't have good chicken products so I bet they ARE disgusting!
jlew911 at 6:52PM on 07/20/09
@Osmatic There's a couple of Jolibees in the Bay Area as well. I like their pancit palabok and their peach mango pies (probably because the pies are deep fried :D). The chickenjoy is a little oily (reminds me of Church's chicken) and I haven't had a Yumburger outside of the Philippines. There is some weird taste in the burger which is strange and not delicious, probably some weird chemical or filler.
As for weird fast food, Hot Dog on a Stick's cheese-on-a-stick is weird to me. Corn dog outside with melted cheese inside! Mindtrip!
geenersaurus at 7:13PM on 07/20/09
Maritime provinces in Canada often have an over abundance of lobster that their McDonald's actually sells "McLobster" sandwiches.
I don't know if this is strange, but it sure is fantastic!
mcebacal at 7:32PM on 07/20/09
You can get spam, eggs, & rice at McDonald's in Hawaii!
graycodekitty at 7:58PM on 07/20/09
Beetroot and egg are staples of burgers with the lot in Australia. Lookup the McOz sometime on google...
nitsuj at 8:18PM on 07/20/09
NOTHING is stranger than Hardees/Carl's Jr.'s burgers topped with other meat products, like the new one - a burger topped with philly beef and served with au jus.
They have also served a huge burger topped with tons of ham.
For breakfast, there is often a sausage bacon and ham biscuit lurking around. It is disgusting to pair your meats, other than the traditional bacon pairing, or chicken cordon bleu
jessleigh at 10:47PM on 07/20/09
"loose meat" is just about the grossest phrase in the world.
gotta say, its weird whenever taco bell puts bacon in some new product. right now they have some kind of bacon burrito. it seems like there isnt really bacon in it, just some kind of bacony sauce or flavoring. the bacon crunchwrap supreme is bizarre but tasty... theres bacon glued in with the cheese that holds the crunchy shell and the gordita shell together. mmm... fat.
redzerostar at 11:14PM on 07/20/09
Those fried cinnamon twists at Taco Bell. Don't know what they are made of. I used to love eating those in high school.
winkyj at 11:46PM on 07/20/09
There's a pizza chain in Thailand that has the most disgusting pizza I've ever seen. Remember the cheese stuffed-crust pizza? Okay, it's like that but imagine inside the crust is a sausage/hot dog with a tube of neon cheese running through its middle.
The ads showing the cut-away of the crusts used to give me the shakes. They looked sooo gross.
To top it off, the pizza usually had corn on it!
gwmccull at 2:27AM on 07/21/09
@winkyj
They're called "cinnamon twists" :p
velcerick at 9:09AM on 07/21/09
Rubio's All American Taco
Burritowings at 1:30PM on 07/21/09
When I worked at McDonalds:
I thought it was strange that we had to call the dehydrated flakes that turned into onions with water: "recons"
They smell very strange.
hungrychristel at 3:06PM on 07/21/09
I just got back from Thailand and at the soft serve counter at a KFC they had a sweet corn sundae! Cold creamed corn on the bottom, a layer of ice cream, corn kernals and more creamed corn and a top layer of ice cream. yeah, it was pretty bad, but made a good photo opportunity.
lewyintheuk at 7:27PM on 07/21/09
You can get fried herring burgers in Stockholm in Sweden, though they're not all that common. They've also evolved a bunch of strange things to do with hotdogs; you can get two boiled frankfurters in a flatbread wrap with mashed potato and shrimps in mayo (tunnbrödsrulle). Langos, a (I think) Hungarian speciality is common too. It's a bread dough that is deep-fried and topped with your choice of sugar and cinnamon, or lumpfish roe, creme fraiche and diced red onion.
lunchblock at 8:20PM on 07/21/09
@ Ms. Carey Jones: "...Tuna Pie (erk) at Jollibee in the Philippines..." -- don't knock it 'til you've tried...it's quite good. "...and in the Philippines, sweet tomato pasta with hot dogs is sold as "McSpaghetti."" -- McDonald's didn't sell spaghetti when it first opened here in the 1980s but Jollibee did. Jollibee sold Filipino-style spaghetti (sweet, with hotdog slices and "ham") and was selling a lot of it, which is why McD got on the bandwagon. But McD's first spaghetti offering was "Italian"-style (a bit sour but also with hotdog slices), which didn't go over well with 99% of the population, which led McD to reformulate their spaghetti sauce to it's until it got to its current formula...sweet and with hotdog slices. ;-)
ryushin at 9:10AM on 07/22/09
@lunchblock:
I've had tunnbrödsrulle! I liked the concept. I had no idea it was sweedish; thanks!
hungrychristel at 1:46PM on 07/22/09