Bizzare Facts

In 2014, McDonald's CEO Don Thompson revealed a bizarre experiment from the company's test kitchen. In an effort to create healthier options for Happy Meals that children would actually want to eat, food scientists developed a genetically engineered version of **broccoli** that tasted like **bubblegum**.

The logic was simple: kids love gum, so make the vegetable taste like candy. However, the focus groups were a disaster. Children were confused and disgusted by the cognitive dissonance of chewing on a fibrous green vegetable that tasted like artificial sugar. The project was scrapped, proving that you can't trick kids into eating their greens just by changing the flavor profile.