Foods That Might Kill You, If Stupidity Doesn’t Kill You First

Published on Thursday, February 25, 2010, by James Norton / Edit Post

Time magazine has published an exceedingly silly list of the "Top 10 Most Dangerous Foods." Lazy beyond belief and essentially without any kind of organizing principle that might help give it shape or definition, the list includes stuff like rhubarb (pictured at right), because if you eat rhubarb leaves, they're dangerous!; fugu, which kills a tiny handful of people over the course of a given decade; and coffee, because ... well, someone got burned by it at McDonald's, once.

I'd started to write an in-depth evisceration of the thing, but great minds think alike: Just go ahead and read the Epic Portions summary of why this list is so misbegotten. An amuse-bouche:

"Way to be vague again, Time. After years of being told by our parents that we need to eat spinach, Time has come to rescue us. I would like to point out, again, that according to Time eating leafy greens is more dangerous than eating Chicken McNuggets."

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POST A COMMENT |6 Comments

COMMENT

  • Yeah, well, it got your attention, didn't it?

    That's so indicative of the tabloidization of the free world press. Anything for a headline.

  • Hundreds of thousands of people in the Caribbean eat Ackee and cassava every year withnary a mishap.

  • You also insinuated that Chicken McNuggest are dangerous, when in actuality they're probably one of the best things you can order on any fast food menu (even when compared to a McDonalds salad).
    Obviously this list is trickier than it sounds.

  • I nearly choked to death on a Spree candy in high school. Maybe if there were some government warning on the package such as "Do not use candy to block trachea" I would have avoided this. Great amusement for the people at my table, though.

  • Once when in Jamaica, I was served ackee (looks like scrambled eggs) and codfish for breakfast. Fish for breakfast is a pretty dangerous proposition for me any time, but I managed to get it down.

    Dumb list. Most of the problems are associated with the serving or preparation of the food, not the food itself.

  • I've never heard of ackee on the list. Time is right on the money about cassava. The high concentration of cyanide in cassava is very lethal to children and causes paralyses in adults. Rule of thumb is to make sure when cooking this root, it is fully cooked. Eating it semi-raw is what makes it dangerous.