Black is Back: 6 Foods for My Former Goth Self

September 11, 2014byRothman

You know Halloween spirit is ramping up when black food stories start making the rounds.

Burger King in Japan actually introduced the black-bunned burger two years ago, but it appears they’ve just stepped it up with a black cheese black bun burger with black ketchup.

It’s a specialty item that’s expected to be available for a limited time. As one reader commented on the Kotaku post, this is definitely a “stunt burger.” A quick look at the press it’s already gotten in the last day, however, and it’s safe to say it’s a pretty successful stunt. Successful enough that we’ll ever see this item stateside? Who knows.

Of course there are tons of naturally black items out there, like black olives, black carrots, mushrooms, cherries, beans, lentils, quinoa… and there’s plenty that a little squid ink (which is what Burger King uses for the sauce if not the cheese) could add to the list: pasta, rice, you name it. But there are also some pretty unusual natural and man-made black foods out there.

Here are five more black foods I wish I’d known about when I was donning black lipstick, spinning my blue vinyl of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” and writing angst-filled teen poetry.

Actually, I’d be pretty likely to dig into these regardless of my old gothy ways. Espresso ice cream sounds like a perfect way to relax with a treat, but get a caffeine coffee kick at the same time.

The curry sounds delicious as well, achieving its blackness by using a bamboo charcoal powder (probably what Burger King uses for the buns, as well). Obviously intended to be eaten separately, these two items just happen to be combined because of where they’re served – a rest stop in (where else?) Japan.

There’s actually a fairly interesting little history to this descendant of England’s charcoal biscuit, which was (and still is in this form) thought to have medicinal relevance in treating flatulence. If you want to know more, do yourself a favor and don’t Google “black crackers”… unless you’re more interested in minor league baseball history. As for now, I’m definitely planning to serve these the next time I put out a cheese platter!

It’s been a while since Taco Bell offered the Black Jack Taco, which was a pretty simple ground beef taco with the spicy addition of pepper jack cheese and sauce in a black tinted shell. Fun enough, and the commercial was pretty adorable, too.

This one’s also available here in the States, and this article even lists grocery stores that carry it to bring home for your own recipes. Then again, the writer begins the story by discussing what it’s like to pet the creature (which under a fuzzy white exterior, has black skin, organs and bones) when it’s alive. Even for non-vegetarians, this might not be the most appetizing introduction.