Best of Food in Pop Culture 2014

Ah 2014, we hardly knew ye. You flew by like a bobsled in Sochi, and soon you will give way to your younger and more hopeful brother, 2015. Throughout the year, all manner of food-related brouhahas invaded the pop culture sphere. Here are some of the best and brightest.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Milk Shot

Dominique Ansel dominated 2013 with his legendary Cronut, so it was only natural that he'd shoot back with something edible and incredible in 2014. His most-popular creation of the year had to be the chocolate chip cookie milk shot, the go-to way to have your cookies and milk at the exact same time. However, don't drive after downing too many of these. You won't be drunk, but you might have one heck of a tummy ache.

Read Our Interview with Dominique Ansel

Lay's Cappuccino Chips

When the marketers behind Lay's design-your-own-chip-flavor contest conceived of the idea, they probably didn't realize that the grossest chip ever to grace the lips of mankind would emerge victorious. These coffee-flavored potato chips were on store shelves only a short while, but it was enough to send Twitter and Instagram into a frenzy.

Via: Business Insider

Chef

Jon Favreau's little movie about a food truck chef who makes good was a surprise hit this summer. Hopefully, viewers weren't going into it expecting an Iron Man sequel instead of a quiet character study about the love of preparing and eating food.

Cannabis Cuisine

Given that marijuana has been decriminalized or legalized in several large areas in the United States, it was only a matter of time before people started coming up with some weed-filled creations that weren't brownies. This lot includes cold-brewed coffee, pizza, soda and more. Heck, there’s even a marijuana food truck in Colorado. Be careful, guys! You are liable to eat too much and accidentally find Jar Jar Binks funny.

The Walking Dead Goes Full-On Cannibal 

TV's most-popular show took a cue from that one movie where those dudes got stuck in the Andes Mountains and later it was revealed that several characters had been subsisting on the most-forbidden meat of all, human meat (also, some of it was tainted). Guess we all could have used a spoiler alert.

That Guy Who Ate at Olive Garden Every Day

A few months ago, Olive Garden offered a lottery of sorts in which people were given the opportunity to buy unlimited 49-day passes to the Italian eatery. One guy took his to heart and ate there twice a day, each and every day, for the entire time period. That's 98 Olive Garden meals.

Via: Us Weekly

Big Hug Mug

This may be the only case in history of a coffee mug becoming an indelible part of pop culture. Matthew McConaughey and his dang Big Hug Mug ruled over HBO's True Detective this summer. It looks like, indeed, time is a flat circle, if that circle surrounds a piping-hot cup of java.

Pumpkin Spice Gets Its Comeuppance

Was there anything more ubiquitous this holiday season than pumpkin spice? We can look forward, however, to less of the stuff next year, as people seem to finally be getting sick of the stuff.

Watch the Video: Pumpkin Spice Cocktails

Joffrey's Wine

Spoiler alert! Red wine can actually kill you, despite what oodles and oodles of articles to the contrary report. Poor, despicable Joffrey on Game of Thrones found this out the hard way, and on his wedding day to boot. (Cue UB40.)

Pizza Hut Goes Full-On Dystopia

Pizza Hut has a new menu that launched on tablets in Europe, and, well, it reads your mind. When you stare at something, your eyes follow subconscious cues. The program reads these cues and picks the perfect pizza based on what your heart truly desires. So, yeah, that's not going to grow into something bad in the future.

Via: The Independent

The Death of Cupcakes

After Crumbs filed for bankruptcy this summer, the fact that the nation was finally over cupcakes became as clear as a bucket of egg whites.


Watch the Video: In Memoriam: Cupcake Tribute