Sometimes culinary experimentation can lead to the creation of some incredible, incredible things.
Take the cronut for example; a cream-filled doughnut-croissant hybrid that takes three days to make and has people queuing round the block as early as 6:45am. This is a prime example of a delicious experiment gone right.
Cronut Credit: dominiqueansel.com
To celebrate the weird and wonderful culinary world we live in, let’s have a look at some of the biggest food flops to date…
1. The Candwich Sandwich in a Can
That’s right, Sandwich + Can = Candwich. Available in a range of flavours including BBQ chicken, peanut butter and jelly, and strawberry jelly,you can forget freshly made sandwiches lovingly made by your local deli in favour of a roll in a can. Delicious!
2. Breast Milk Ice Cream – Baby Goo Goo ice cream made from breast milk!
Yep, you read that right. Ice cream. Made from breast milk.
Convent Garden ice cream parlour ‘Icecreamists’ sells the dessert ‘Baby GooGoo’ for £14 a serving and it is accompanied by a rusk, and served by a waitress dressed up as Lady Gaga (The desserts original name was ‘Baby Gaga’ but actions were taken that forced them to change the name).
Zoe Williams of The Guardian said: ‘[A]t first I liked it; then I didn’t mind it; then I hated it; then I wanted to be sick. Nice parlour, though.’ I think that says it all…
3. The McLobster sandwich at McDonald’s
Why does it come as no surprise that it’s our cousins across the pond who created this monstrosity. If you want lobster, why would you go to McDonald’s?
According the website, the McLobster is packed with 100% Atlantic lobster meat combined with diced celery, light salad dressing, and shredded lettuce, all for just $6. How convinced are you?
4. Edible Dirt
It’s looks pretty, but food that is charred out or dried beyond recognition so that it looks like soil? We’ll pass thanks…
5. Lasagne Sandwich
Another sandwich failure. In July 2010, Tesco created the world’s first, and hopefully last, lasagne sandwich.
According to the supermarket giants; “The sandwich is a great British invention and a fine contribution to world cuisine. Hopefully the lasagne sandwich will be another chapter in the history of this classic culinary creation.”
As the sandwich is no longer on sale, we can safely say that this is one chapter in food history that we’ll be putting to the backs of our mind.
6. Kit Kat ‘Pops’ Kit Kats wrapped in pizza dough
Confused? Us too…
Whoever comes up with Pizza Hut’s new creations in the Middle East should probably have somebody supervising them. These Kit Kat ‘Pops’ are wrapped in pizza dough and then deep fried. We guess it’s not too far from a fried Mars Bar, but there’s something just not right about this creation.
7. Heinz EZ Squirt Ketchup
Heinz coloured tomato ketchup. Brightly coloured ketchup marketed towards children. These colourful condiments were released to the public in 2000 and sold incredibly well to begin with, until the novelty wore off and everyone noticed how unsavoury the colours were. The line was discontinued in 2006 following years of poor sales.
8. 3D Doritoes
They came, we saw, they left. The world is just clearly not ready for three dimensional snacks that are more air than substance.
9. New Coke
In 1985, soft-drink behemoths Coca-Cola changed their formula for the first time in 99 years and ‘New Coke’ was born. Lovers of the carbonated beverage were angry and demanded the old coke back. By July of the same year, Coca-Cola announced that ‘Old’ Coke would be making a come-back.
10. Bottled Water for Pets
Bottled water, for pets. There’s no need to go into much detail as to why this failed so spectacularly as when you consider that a dog or cat is quite happy to take matters of personal hygiene into it’s paws, bottled water is the last thing that’s on their mind despite being available in ‘thirst-quenching’ flavours such as Crispy Beef and Tangy Fish.
11. Breaded Cats
Okay… so they’re not entirely edible but on behalf of all of those poor cats out there, we hope that no-one ever develops a taste for dough-encase cats.
The Best of the Worst: The Double Down Sandwich
The Double-Down Sandwich was only available in Canada for a very short period of time, but what we wouldn’t give to resurrect it just for a day!
This delight from KFC is filled with bacon, two types of melted cheese, and the Colonel’s secret sauce. There’s no bun, instead the filling is held in place by two Original Recipe chicken fillets. Dr. Atkins says YES!
Are there any food flops that you’ve seen that we’ve missed out? Let us know in the comments below.