Domino's Pickle Pizza and Giant Cup Noodles: Weirdest Fast Food News This Week
What Are They Thinking?
My job as a food writer involves thinking way too much about fast food, watching too many food TikToks, and sifting through mountains of restaurant-related press releases. That means I come across some really crazy stuff. Even to my fast food-attuned brain, there are still some things every week that stand out for one reason or another, whether it's some new Oreo pizza abomination at Domino's Japan or a soap opera-like tale about a restaurant hiring a fake priest in order to trick employees.
Here is the latest bizarre, wild, or otherwise notable food-related news I've come across, so that you too can share the burden of useless knowledge, disgust, and/or intrigue.
Sam's Club's Giant Cup Noodle
There's a Sam's Club product that's making everyone go nuts in China: giant Cup Noodles. According to The Strait Times, the Shenzhen location sold out of the 17-inch tall giant cardboard Cup Noodle cups (filled with 24 regular size instant ramen cups) in only 15 minutes. It cost about $23, but of course they're being resold online for as much as $275. They're really cool novelties, but this just proves there's nothing people won't try to make a quick buck on.
Snoopified Jack in the Box
Jack in the Box recently teamed up with Snoop Dogg for a munchie meal, but the chain also went a little crazy turning one location in Inglewood, CA into a full-on Snoop experience. For a few days, they rebranded it as Dogg in tha Box, complete with bizurgers and dranks, SnoopShake (it's just creamsicle flavor, but you could probably add some gin yourself), and Snoop's throne. Not gonna lie, we would have gone for the spectacle if we lived nearby.
Hot Dog Antics
The annual Fourth of July Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest took place on Coney Island earlier this week. The ridiculous bacchanalian event was won once again by "professional eater" Joey Chestnut, who downed 62 dripping wet dogs in 10 minutes. He's won 16 times in the past 17 years, and The Takeout crunched some numbers to determine that he's eaten 1,131 hot dogs in all those wins. Is anyone else's stomach hurting?
Related: Craziest Competitive Eating Competitions Across America
Everything's Coming Up Barbie
There's a Barbie movie coming out, so get ready for an influx of hot pink fast food tie-ins. Most make sense, like this glittery cotton candy ice cream from Cold Stone, or this pink-sprinkled berry pink froyo from (where else?) Pinkberry, but there's bound to be some weird unappetizing pink thing coming down the pipeline too. If you'd rather pinkify your own cooking, there's always the TikTok beet pasta trend.
Subway Stores Are Slicing Meats
Subway has officially started slicing its deli meats in every store. If, like us, you thought, "don't they already do that?", it's because the switch was announced almost a year ago, and it's taken this effin' long to implement. The "eat fresh" chain wants to actually seem like they're serving you fresher things to better compete with chains like Jimmy John's and Jersey Mike's. If you ask us, unless they actually improve the quality of their deli meats, no amount of in-store slicing is going to make us want to eat there.
Lava Shortage
The resurrection of the Volcano Menu at Taco Bell was always going to be short-lived, but some fans on Reddit are reporting that some locations are already sold out. "My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined," said u/Crabman621, who posted a screenshot of the Taco Bell app stating that Lava Sauce was unavailable only about a week after it was released.
"My local store manager told me that multiple people have tried to buyup multiple Lava Sauce pouches," said u/Polandbound99. "If he had obliged they would be sold out already here so I'm guessing that's what is happening at other stores." This is why we can't have nice things.
Domino's Pickle Pizza
Pucker up, because Domino's in Japan just released a pickle pizza. It's a big 16-inch pie topped with fancy camembert cheese sauce and a solid layer of 1.3 pounds of dill pickle slices. If you happen to be in Japan, it'll set you back about $18.
"For all pickle lovers,” said Domino's in a Tweet. “We won’t let anyone call pickles a garnish ever again. From now on, pickles are a main dish!” Is this better or worse than pineapple on a pizza? Let the arguments begin.
