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Home » Stories, True and Otherwise

Introducing “Revolting Snacks of America: A Field Guide”!

Submitted by on April 19, 2011 – 11:09 AM24 Comments

Above, a clump of Choco Balls. Yes, “really.”

Join the disgusting fun at Bunting Alimentary Research Foundation HQ — bookmark Revolting Snacks of America: A Field Guide today! But…not at lunchtime!

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24 Comments »

  • Amanda says:

    woke both boyfriend and kitty with my cackling. most excellent.

  • cayenne says:

    Is it just me, or does the pic makes them look moist and thus like micro-Swedish-meatballs?

    No? Just me? *sigh*

    Damn matzah screws with my food perception every year. Next thing you know, I’ll be hallucinating edibleness into Banana Nut Cheerios or Honeycomb.

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    @cayenne, a friend suggested “matzoh with butter” as a revolting snack, and I was like, “That’s considered revolting?”

  • cayenne says:

    @Sarah, it’s not really revolting, it’s just delusions of foodhood.

  • RK says:

    @cayenne: No, you’re not alone, though I was leaning in the “tiny sausage balls” direction. Which looks kinda dirty typed out there…

  • Kari says:

    I totally thought they were meatballs!!

  • Kriesa says:

    I love matzoh with butter. The butter makes it decadent!

  • Hannah says:

    I was disappointed (perhaps embarrassed?) that meatballs were considered revolting. I am going to go eat 10 of them to renew my love.

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    They…aren’t meatballs.

  • K. says:

    They really do look like meatballs. Aaaaaaaaaaaaand now I want meatballs. But I’m sure that’s not what the confectioners had in mind. “Chocolate! That makes people want meat! PERFECT.”

    I had an Orthodox Jewish roommate during my study-abroad and she would make this matzoh with sugar and scrambled eggs dish that she raved about, and she made some for me and I was like “…” With salt and pepper and other typical scrambled egg seasonings (dill, maybe tarragon), I think it would be fine, but she used sugar.

    Matzoh with butter and sugar sprinkled on top though? That’s good.

  • Jenn says:

    link’s busted to the tumblr?

  • Gralnger says:

    I’m reminded of Lore Sjoberg…”probably the only thing keeping Fried Breaded Mayo’n’Butter Nuggest from hitting a Denny’s Appetizer Sampler near you is that they dissolve in the vat.”

  • Jaybird says:

    In the gloomy depths of geekery over here. “Choco-Balls” is reminiscent of “Choco-Droppings”, a snack Scully ate on the “War of the Coprophages” episode of TXF.

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    Both links work fine for me; try clearing your cache.

  • Jen S 1.0 says:

    Was this disigned in Superman’s Bizarro world? On Opposite Day? Who looked at the finished product and said “Damp radioactive turd! Nothing says Chocolatey Deliciousness like moist fecal balls! Let’s see that box design–hey, perfect!”

  • Crass says:

    Hmm, they look almost exactly like kangaroo droppings. Just imagine how I know that.

  • Pamela says:

    oh! oh!! can I set up a sister-site – “Revolting Snacks of Belgium”?? Starting with the truly bark-like whole grain Twiglets…I had one – it took me an hour and a coke to fully clear my palate. I ended up giving them to the horses. Don’t even get me started on the cookie aisle. It’s just messed up here. They don’t know from junk food.

  • Elisa says:

    They look like slightly larger Cocoa Puffs to me.

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    @Pamela, I welcome cross-border food-science information-sharing. (And hyphens, apparently.)

  • cayenne says:

    If this becomes an international effort, I volunteer to be Canadian correspondent. Also Jewish food correspondent, probably more germane to the site, really.

    @K. – that’s matzah brei (sp?), sort of a Passover analogue of French toast. But really not, since matzah destroys anything it’s in. Case in point: For second Seder yesterday, I made a dark chocolate truffle & caramel torte in a matzah brownie crumb crust – lots of dark chocolate & burnt sugar that everyone loves and which should have adequately disguised the matzah – and the general response was “not bad, too bad about the crust”. I’ve made a non-Passover version before with a pastry crust and everyone went bazoo over it. Matzah is gastronomic napalm.

  • Pamela says:

    Sars: ok – where do I send pics?

    Nevermind. Go prune some hedges, collect clippings, roll in worcestershire sauce and bake. You’ll get the idea.

    I have some other snacks here called Crac-a-Nut, paprika flavored (paprika is big here. BIG). These are peanuts rolled in a cracker-like coating, and “oven-roasted”. Not awful, but not Planter’s Honey-Roasted, lemmee tell ya. You think you’re about to eat an M&M, and it’s…a cracker. Depressing.

  • Hannah says:

    Oh, I know they aren’t meatballs; I meant when I saw the pic/headline. Momentary concern, until I read further. And then I wanted meatballs anyway.

  • Sharon says:

    OK, the food item itself is beyond gross-looking; however, I kinda thought the box was cute.

  • Jaybird says:

    In the PRC, they have “Lonely God” potato fries. With sugar. In a widdle bag decorated with a sad-looking Cupid. It is to weep. No matter how much sugar you use, it is not salt.

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