Eating like an elf: sweet poison for humans?

April 3, 2019 — by Angelina Chen and Amanda Zhu
moviefood

"Buddy's Breakfast Spaghetti" -- a combination of sweets and chocolates on pasta noodles.

Reporters try an unusual combination of foods in attempt to eat like Buddy the elf from the movie “Elf”

This dish is the definition of taking sweet and salty to the next level.

We got into the Christmas spirit four months late by channeling Buddy the Elf and his taste in food. We recreated the well-known Buddy’s Breakfast Spaghetti, a questionable mix of spaghetti and sweets such as M&Ms, PopTarts, marshmallows, chocolate syrup, sprinkles and of course, the famous maple syrup.

The story behind this unusual breakfast is from the movie “Elf,” released in 2003. A boy named Buddy, played by Will Ferrell, was raised in the North Pole, so when he sets out to New York City to meet his biological dad, he discovers the contrast between the lifestyle of normal humans and elves, although he doesn’t fit in either.

In one scene, Buddy tries to make his family spaghetti for breakfast. What started out as a kind gesture took a turn for the worse as he added a  lavish amounts of sweets to the dish, shocking his parents and step-brother.

Just creating this dish felt wrong because we were incorporating dessert items with a main-course meal. Before we tried it, we did not have very high hopes as it seemed like the combination would turn to be too much on our taste buds. At first, we could see the spaghetti turning all kinds of bright colors under the dye of the M&Ms, making us doubt if this was even worth trying.

However, it turned out to be more delectable than we thought, mainly because the taste of chocolate ended up overpowering everything else. The first few bites tasted like strands of chocolate flavored noodles. But the more we ate, the more the spaghetti's original flavor starting showing through. Our elf experience came to a quick stop after only a few bites.

Overall we feel that this dish can be interesting for a themed elf party or a fun snack for extreme chocolate lovers. A word of caution though: while it looks like a sweet treat, don’t let yourself eat too much of it. Don’t worry, we are pretty sure you won’t have a tough time controlling yourself.

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