At some point, Burger King decided to find people from the farthest reaches of the world who had never tasted a fast food burger — or even been exposed to any fast food advertising — and film them taking their very first, tentative bite. Villagers were encouraged to try a Whopper and a Big Mac sandwich and pick the one they thought tasted the best in the absence of any advertising bias.

Now, I’m no behavior expert, but it seemed to me that they were really just deciding between the lesser of two evils for the camera. If a film crew from Thailand knocked on my front door and asked me to choose between raw mantis prawn and Goong Ten (which means Dancing Shrimp and is exactly what you think it is), I would choose the dish that wasn’t trying to furiously crawl out of the bowl on to the table. But that doesn’t mean I’m really choosing raw mantis prawn, it just means I need to be able to drive by a Red Lobster again.

In any event, it’s amusing to watch people who have never eaten a burger try to work out the necessary mechanics to actually eat their first burger. I know that sounds weird, but how far would someone get with a plate of crab legs if you had absolutely no idea what crab was or how to eat it? I kinda of knew what to do the first time I had crab, and all I can say is that I’m glad no one was there to commit that horror show to film.

NOTE: Just to be fair: While I find the prospect of eating a bowl of live shrimp super-unappealing, I am reminded of this video from Super Size Me which I find even more disturbing, just in a different way.

UPDATE
Just noticed Supersize Me is now available to watch on Vimeo.