Really, Arkansas? That’s all you’ve got for us? That’s one big disappointment. All you managed to do is take a pie and deep fry it? Do you even have any college graduates there? Way to go. Whoever thought that it would be a smart idea to take a healthy item like an apple and add 500 calories to it by chucking it in a deep fryer, clearly had no appreciation for their organs and life span.
The fried pie can usually be found next to the cash register at convenience stores which only conveys one thing: this pie is anything but good for you. While I appreciate the times when country children and blue-collared workers got through their days with these things, I also am highly appreciative of science, research, and having a basic sense of nutrition.
Alaska -- Akutaq
"Kids, it's dessert time!" says the Alaskan father living in the middle of nowhere. For all those vegetarians out there, this next one might make you queasy. Akutuq literally means "to stir." The dish involves whipping animal blubber and mixing it with berries. It is also commonly referred to as Eskimo ice cream. And there you have it. No spices, no cooking involved, all raw baby.
I can understand the people who a century ago were preparing large batches of this dish to stash it away in the family's permafrost cellar, but, my friends, those days are long gone. I know that food prices in Alaska are more expensive, but still... there are better options these days like baked Alaska or wild berry cobbler.
Arizona -- Sonoran Dog
This hot dog, which originated sometime in the 1960s in the neighboring state of Sonora, Mexico actually succeeds in being larger than the Chicago dog. It's wrapped in bacon (you can expect almost 99.9% of the time that the bacon will be undercooked) and then topped with pinto beans, jalapenos, tomatoes, onions, ketchup, mayo, and mustard. Try and tell Chicagoans that they have some competition from Arizonans and they probably won't be too happy to hear.
And for the most disturbing part of it all, this dog helped score Tucson a UNESCO title of a "Creative City of Gastronomy" and become the first city in the U.S. to be awarded the title. We only hope that other specialty dishes in Tucson were taken into consideration when awarding this title.
California -- In-N-Out Burger
If you've ever been to In-N-Out and had less than a good experience (does anybody actually have a good one?) California natives will chalk this up to telling you that "you ordered wrong. First of all, the only "correct" way to order according to locals is to request something that isn't listed on the menu. That place is nothing short of nasty. And the burger is apparently the best part of the meal. Even Californians are quick to confess that their fries are just above toxicity.
The first mistake that they made was choosing to open the place in Los Angeles in 1948. And since then, many many more mistakes have followed.
Colorado -- Shredded Wheat
We'll admit that shredded wheat is far from the most disgusting of foods to be created. There are definitely some more horrible foods to make it on our list. But whoever thought to create a cereal that tastes like a cardboard box is out of their mind completely. To make matters worse, when you pour milk over it, the cereal turns soggy, real fast.
The shredded wheat was first invented by Henry Perky in Denver, Colorado in 1890. Initially, it was recommended as soup croutons. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg himself declined to buy Perky's patent on the cereal because he thought the cereal tasted "like eating a whisk broom."