McDonald's Invented Bubblegum-Flavored Broccoli

When McDonald's decides to get kids to eat more healthful foods, strange things can happen. One time, the chain decided to make broccoli that tasted like bubblegum. They pulled it off, but in the process discovered nobody wants to eat broccoli that tastes like bubblegum.

According to Business Insider, McDonald's chief executive Don Thompson was speaking at an event recently about the chain's efforts to make its kids' meals more healthful. Thompson mentioned some initiatives like redesigning the milk cartons and reducing the size of a French fry order, but then he mentioned that McDonald's food scientists had actually made broccoli taste like bubblegum to get kids to eat it.

Bubblegum-flavored broccoli sounds like a wild idea, but it doesn't actually sound like it would be tasty, and it turns out it wasn't.

Apparently the bubblegum-flavored broccoli confused children, and nobody wanted to eat the weird new vegetable, so it never made it onto the menu.

"It wasn't all that," Thompson said.