From candy products that shouldn't exist to the biggest social media screw-ups of the year, things can get pretty weird in the food biz. We thought you might like a good laugh, so we looked back and chronicled seven of the strangest things we saw in food this year.
CRAZY STADIUM FOOD
Perhaps the craziest of all the crazy baseball stadiums foods, the $7.50 Brunch Burger at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Penn. is a fried egg and bacon cheeseburger on a glazed donut. Just the sight of it is enough to give you a coronary:
@darrenrovell PNC park's newest addition. Bacon and egg beef burger on a glazed donut bun twitter.com/n_shytown/stat…
— Nic Shirey (@n_shytown) April 1, 2013
EDIBLE FOOD PACKAGING
They're not all in stores just yet, but these edible packaging technologies are changing the way we see food and its packaging. Take Brazilian burger chain Bob's, who, in a bid to differentiate their product from their competitors, told consumers they didn't have to unwrap their burgers to eat them:
SOCIAL MEDIA DISASTERS:
Social media can drive brand recognition and sales, as it did for Oreo during the Super Bowl. But as these social media disasters go to show, social media can also put the hurt on a brand. Take Poland Spring, its radio-silent Twitter account and the resulting inability to capitalize on Sen. Marco Rubio's awkward lunge for a drink of water. Don't worry, though, we know what you can do to avoid a high-profile screw-up like this one:
SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS STORIES
In the infamously transparent world of social media, it's infinitely easier to get noticed for something going horribly wrong than it is for getting something right—which makes these social media success stories all the more impressive. A great example of social media success happened at the Super Bowl when Oreo took a big risk and tweeted this out just 11 minutes into the blackout:
Power out? No problem. twitter.com/Oreo/status/29…
— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013
SURREAL VENDING MACHINES
Topping our rankings of the most absurd vending machines out there, Maker's Mark Whisky experimented with a whiskey-delivering vending machine that can check IDs and pour up to three drinks at a time. We wish indeed.
(Image credit: wachovia_138)
BIZARRE FRUITS
While the ackee doesn't look weird as these funny looking fruits, Jamaica's national fruit is actually incredibly poisonous. If unripe, the ackee causes what is commonly known as "Jamaican vomiting sickness," which can lead to abdominal pain, dehydration, vomiting, seizures, coma and, yes, death:
(Image credit: wiznoth)
OUTLANDISH CANDY PRODUCTS
Our list of strange candy products had some weird stuff on it, but arguably none was more outlandish than Formula Pee. Looking, but not tasting Formula Pee caters to the untapped candy pee market:
(Image credit: Can You Imagine That! Inc.)
SHOPPING CART INNOVATIONS
A few of these strange and brilliant shopping cart innovations are actually practical, but the LOLrioKART isn't one of them. Perhaps taking their inspiration from Mario Kart, a group of MIT students souped up a shopping cart with a motor and wheels, enabling it to reach speeds up to 45 mph:
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