I've written about strange food combinations before, but this is one of the weirder and more exciting ones. On Monday, according to its Twitter feed, Burger King will debut Mac n' Cheetos.
I don't think I'm the first writer to suggest that Mac n' Cheetos may herald the end of the world (and you thought Brexit might do it). So, without further ado, here's everything you need to know about Mac n' Cheetos:
What they are. Macaroni and cheese inside a deep-fried Cheetos-flavored shell. They're being offered for a limited time.
The cost. $2.49
The calories. Actually, the calorie count doesn't sound too bad: 310. But the five pieces of Mac n' Cheetos come with ranch dressing, which presumably would add to the calorie count considerably.
A nutritionist's take on Mac n' Cheetos. Speaking of those 310 calories, I've secured a tacit endorsement (sort of) from a nutritionist, if you're looking for an excuse to try them. Michelle Dudash is a registered dietitian, nutritionist and chef in Scottsdale, Arizona, as well as the author of Clean Eating for Busy Families.
"If you had them as a snack in between meals, it's not going to derail your diet," says Dudash. "Or even better, share them with a friend if you must satisfy your curiosity. They have fewer calories than even the small fry on the BK menu."
That said, she adds, "But fries are technically a vegetable, coming from a potato."
And Dudash understands the appeal of trying them. "Take two of America's favorite foods and mash them together in a deep fried curd. Of course people are going to love that," she says. "My 2-year-old and 7-year-old daughters would, too. But they will never learn that Mac n' Cheetos exist."
Apparently Dudash wants her kids to be still around after civilization falls. I guess I can respect that.
Of the nutritional quality, Dudash says, "I haven't seen the full nutrition label on them, but I would venture to guess they are full of sodium, processed cheese, saturated fat, as well as artificial food coloring, similar to Cheetos and processed, frozen versions of mac and cheese."
Dudash says that a Burger King representative told her that the nutritional content would be posted on the Burger King website on Monday.
Sounds familiar? You may be thinking of another food mashup that got a lot of attention a few years ago. When Taco Bell debuted the Doritos Locos Taco in 2012, they sold more than a billion of them. Burger King has also scored lately with chicken fries and a Halloween burger with a black bun and A1 steak sauce.
So when it comes to weird food combinations being served in restaurants, this is probably just the beginning – of the end.
What the media have been saying. A lot of rave reviews have been coming in from writers who haven't tasted Mac 'n Cheetos; they just want to.
The Washington Post, for instance, headlined their article: Burger King's latest fast food monstrosity is sadly genius.
The Motley Fool called the idea "brilliant."
The Verge titled their story, "Burger King's new Mac 'n Cheetos are so beautiful I want to cry."
A writer on The Today Show's website probably spoke for many when she wrote, "We can't say we've ever had the urge to eat portable macaroni and cheese, but now that they mention it…it does sound pretty good."
Time Magazine... "...we can say goodbye to our waistlines, because these look to be both ridiculously addictive-tasting and also crazily artery-clogging. Take your pick: satisfied taste buds, or health? Burger King may say we can have it our way, but these odds are stacked against us."
And from Slate.com: "...the private-equity owners of Burger King seem to have taken a cold, hard look at their brand and concluded that rather than try to industrialize semi-current food-blog trends, they should just lean into their inner freak with bright red hamburger buns and chemically enhanced, deep-fried noodles. Which, by the way, don't sound that bad."
I might as well admit that I'm already planning on trying them, too, and I'm not even a fan of Cheetos. I don't eat much macaroni and cheese either. But the curiosity is killing me, although it probably would be more accurate to say that whatever someday kills me, foods like this will someday be my downfall.
