# Surpisingly dangerous food **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 27, 2010, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001 "2010-03-27T05:57:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/41 "2010-03-28T16:57:21Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > Shucking oysters with a sharp knife not intended for that purpose is a seriously bad idea. Nothing like 3 hours in the emergency room on Christmas eve… Yikes. I’d be more inclined to try a screwdriver instead. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/42 "2010-03-28T17:04:45Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > Pizza burn on the roof of the mouth can be nasty… Eating Captain Crunch breakfast cereal is like putting the roof of your mouth on a bicycle without a seat and pushing it down a bumpy street. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/43 "2010-03-28T17:07:34Z")
Also, baked potatoes… in a short story I will try to avoid spoiling by naming, a captive drops a freshly-baked potato down the shirt of one of his captors and smashes it, causing plenty of pain-filled seconds of distraction for him to make his escape. Don’t shout it out if you know the answer, like I said, I’m trying not to spoil it. Someone will do it anyway, of course. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/44 "2010-03-28T17:08:05Z")
A friend at university managed to slit her hand between the thumb and index finger trying to get some ice cream out of the tub. It was so frozen she decided to take a knife to it, which proceeded to go through the ice cream like, well, a knife through ice cream. IIRC she messed up some tendons and stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/45 "2010-03-28T17:28:07Z")
Large sardines [like these bastards](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fresh_sardines_with_preserved_lemon.jpg) have amazingly treacherous bones. Didn’t kill me, obviously, but 2 hours of continuous couching can’t be good for you. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/46 "2010-03-28T18:24:01Z")
> [@Cosmic Relief](#): > > Also, baked potatoes… in a short story I will try to avoid spoiling by naming, a captive drops a freshly-baked potato down the shirt of one of his captors and smashes it, causing plenty of pain-filled seconds of distraction for him to make his escape. Don’t shout it out if you know the answer, like I said, I’m trying not to spoil it. Someone will do it anyway, of course. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book, _Farmer Boy_, tells how wee Almanzo nearly lost an eye when a potato he was roasting over an open fire burst and smacked him in the eye. Potatoes: nature’s secret weapons. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/47 "2010-03-28T18:36:55Z")
> [@leafrog](#): > > I can’t believe no one has mentioned the roof shredding hazards of Captain Crunch! > Ahh, the lovely feel of flesh hanging onto your tongue. Good times. 🙂 That was my food of choice during high school. I probably have scars to prove it. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/48 "2010-03-28T18:42:55Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I had a friend catch a Dorito the wrong way and drive it into his gum requiring stitches. I had a similar incident with a tortilla chip. I didn’t get stitches but I probably should have. I now have massive sensitivity in that area, as well. I had to switch to Sensodyne toothpaste because of it. > [@Shark\_Sandwich](#): > > Onion rings too. Pretty much anything in a loose deep-fried batter casing. I burned hell out of my tongue with a fried mushroom. Along the same lines as peanut butter or gelled Metamucil, there was a warning on the last box of saltwater taffy that I bought that it shouldn’t be given to “preschool aged children” due to the risk of choking. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/49 "2010-03-28T19:25:52Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > Oh yeah, TIME magazine recently had a blurb about the most dangerous foods. It was mostly dumb, or obvious: fugu, rhubarb, mushrooms. It had hot dogs as #1 because it was a choking hazard. insert eye roll. Why is this worth an eye roll? They are responsible for 17% of food-related asphyxiations. They fit the throat so well. People are seriously looking at [designing](http://www.fastcompany.com/1564477/oh-i-wish-i-weren-t-an-oscar-meyer-weiner)a choke-proof hot dog. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/50 "2010-03-28T22:32:31Z")
Milk. in the olden days, countless people died from a well placed hoof to the chest or stomach as they crouched and made themselves compact whilst melking tits… Many were just mauled or seriously cut. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/51 "2010-03-28T22:39:12Z")
Ya see… I’ve always thought the pacifist pleas of the Chik-fila-a’s Cow Mascots should be “Drink mor’e milk.” rather than, “Eat more chik’n.” They can extract their revenge through unique mammalian means. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/52 "2010-03-28T23:26:08Z")
Surely, the martyrs of the tauriverse, one of Mrs. O’leary’s five cows that [set Chicago ablaze](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=3gh&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=the+cow+that+set+chicago+on+fire&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=). ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/53 "2010-03-28T23:46:26Z")
I ate Pop Rox, drank Coke, my stomach exploded, and I died. (got better) If the hot pepper is so hot your eyes water, do not rub your eyes. (not really surprising) As others in thread have similarly said, I have had a sharp corner of a tortilla chip cut my gum so bad, I had to get an antiseptic / pain relief salve from my dentist for the week it took to heal. ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/54 "2010-03-29T00:45:55Z")
Fish bones. Got one stuck in my throat as a kid at a fish fry in the middle of nowhere. Might not kill you, but made for one livid (vivid? :)) memory. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/55 "2010-03-29T01:20:56Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Why is this worth an eye roll? They are responsible for 17% of food-related asphyxiations. They fit the throat so well. People are seriously looking at [designing](http://www.fastcompany.com/1564477/oh-i-wish-i-weren-t-an-oscar-meyer-weiner)a choke-proof hot dog. They can’t do that! What will happen to the millions of hot dog/penis jokes? ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/56 "2010-03-29T02:19:39Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > Milk. in the olden days, countless people died from a well placed hoof to the chest or stomach as they crouched and made themselves compact whilst melking tits… Many were just mauled or seriously cut. Not just to the chest or stomach- once when my aunt was taking care of some of her cattle, she got a hoof to the face- right over her eye. Luckily the orbital socket bones took more of the force than her eyeball proper. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/57 "2010-03-29T02:42:30Z")
My mother once told me how when she and her sister were little, they innocently ate a bowl of pineapple cores their mother had cut out of the pineapple rings. Skinned their tongues raw. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/58 "2010-03-29T02:51:16Z")
Trader Joe’s makes these raspberry jam-filled donuts that you bake from frozen in the oven. It’s vital to nibble gently around the edges when eating these, because, even though the outside may feel cool, a large bite will send a hot jet of molten raspberry goo all over the inside of your mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/59 "2010-03-29T03:48:35Z")
In the Cap’n Crunch vein, salt and vinegar or dill pickle chips will also do a number on your mouth if you eat too many. And then there’s sunflower seeds - not only will they pinch your tongue, but eating too many will hurt your tongue (and then you’ll keep eating them anyway, stupid, salty, crack seeds). ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001/60 "2010-03-29T03:56:55Z")
Ooh, I just remembered that one time in high school I bought a bag of my favorite sour candy, Shock Tarts, from the school vending machine. Being a high-schooler lacking in any sort of dietary circumspection, I ate the whole 2.5 serving package. For days afterward, the whole inside of my mouth was raw. I got a chemical burn from candy! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surpisingly-dangerous-food/534001.md?page=4)