On its face, fast-food is really simplistic. It’s always been basic items made cheap and served quickly. But what qualifies as “simplistic” changes depending on where you are in the world. Here’s a quick list of ten of the strangest fast-food items from around the world.
10Hot Dog Stuffed Pizza Crust (Various)
A stuffed crust may be the greatest innovation in pizza since the discovery of the mini bagel. But have we opened Pandora’s box? When we forgo cheese in favor of hot dogs, the answer is “yes, very yes.” Depending on what part of the world you’re in this delicacy more closely resembles the traditional pigs in a blanked than it does a pizza.
9Windows 7 Whopper (Japan)
Imagine a whopper made with seven patties. No other bells or whistles: just a giant version of the iconic hamburger. This special promotion was meant to celebrate the release of Windows 7. Can you picture actually getting your mouth wrapped around it?
8Buffalo Chip Doughnut (United States)
The doughnut tinkerers at Tim Horton’s concocted this hodgepodge of snacks for the 2014 New York State Fair. The yeast doughnut features buffalo sauce, crushed chips sprinkled on top, and ranch dressing, all of which makes sense if it weren’t served via pastry.
7Double Down Dog (Philippines)
The infamy of KFC’s Double Down assumed an even weirder form as it traveled overseas. The strangest of all is the Double Down Dog, which is a hot dog wrapped in a piece of fried chicken complete with sauce and cheese. It was only available in select restaurants, fifty per location.
6McAfrika (Norway)
The bare bones of this sandwich are a burger and salad wrapped in pita bread (McDonald’s says this is based on a traditional African dish). But protest resulted almost instantly since it was advertised, mostly due to timing: large parts of Africa were experiencing famine and starvation at the time it was released. Rather than pull the sandwich McDonald’s instead allowed aid workers and protesters to collect money and advertise at participating stores.
5Shrimp Tree (East Asia)
From the no such thing as too much school of thought comes the shrimp tree: a burger made of five fried shrimp patties piled on a bun with tartar sauce. But Lotteria has a history of ridiculously tall burgers. Another offering substitutes the shrimp with beef and places cheese on top of each patty.
4Waffle Taco (North America)
Taco Bell is always trying to tap the market of weird food combinations, so the taco waffle is surprisingly mundane: a waffle wrapped around sausage, eggs, cheese, and bacon. It’s basically breakfast, right? Yet the item was killed within a year of introduction, stunting the franchise’s attempts to break into breakfast. Was it to ordinary?
3Gracoro Burger (Japan)
Japan has a reputation for strange fast food. Its as though restaurants will try any idea at least once. But the Gracoro burger has to be the oddest in a while: the patty is a blend of shrimp and macaroni, served with white sauce. Is it even a burger at all?
2Super Pan Pizza (Malaysia)
Pizza Hut’s crust madness goes well beyond the Super Pan, but it’s worth a mention. The crust is thick all around, but the real selling point is the crust: stuffed with cheese and a garlic sauce, it’s shown to ooze with every bite. Not the most appetizing way to show a pizza.
1Sprout Surprise Whopper (UK)
The 2010/2011 holiday season was met with apathy by those in the UK when Burger King unveiled the Sprouts Surprise Whopper. It was just a standard Whopper with an extra patty made of Brussel sprouts. This wasn’t a joke despite what the public thought, and the company was surprised that the limited time offer was met with such a response.
