Reports keep coming out that claim the food served by chain restaurants such as The Cheesecake Factory, Uno Pizzeria & Grill and Buffalo Wild Wings is really bad for our bodies.

But those reports couldn't possibly be referring to the entire menu at every restaurant, so which menu items are the worst, and how bad are they?

That's the basis of the Center for Science in the Public Interest's research into the least healthy menu items being served by chain restaurants across the country, a list so long they had to narrow it down to nine items.

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High on the Xtreme Eating List is The Cheesecake Factory's Fried Chicken & Waffles Benedict, which weighs in at 86 grams of saturated fat and 2580 calories.

Buffalo Wild Wing's Dessert Nachos aren't far behind with 2100 calories, but Uno Pizzeria & Grill's weighs in even larger with their whopping 2850 calorie Whole Hog Burger.

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Why do these lists always make me so hungry?

Read Scientists Identify the Least Healthy Foods at Chain Restaurants at mental_floss

Family Circle magazine has launched their quadrennial cookie contest, in which cookie recipes from the presidential candidates’ spouses are compared. They do this every four years since 1992, the year Hillary Clinton made her infamous remark about baking cookies. It was in response to concerns about her continuing her career as a lawyer while Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas, which could have been seen as a possible conflict of interest.  

When asked about her career in a press gaggle, Clinton responded, "You know, I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was to fulfill my profession, which I entered before my husband was in public life. And I tried very, very hard to be as careful as possible, and that's all that I can tell you."

You can read about that incident and the backlash at NPR. You’ll also find the recipes in contention this year: the Clinton Family's Chocolate Chip Cookies, submitted by potential First Dude Bill Clinton, and Melania Trump's Star Cookies. You can cast your vote at the Family Circle Facebook page, by enlarging and liking the picture of your preferred cookie. -via The Week

Grocery stores are selling a lot of rotisserie chicken from their delis. You walk in and see them immediately, or smell them, all hot and spiced and cooked just right and ready to take home for dinner. Getting one already cooked saves you time in the kitchen, especially if you aren’t confident about cooking a whole chicken. And they are often the same price as the whole chickens you see at the meat counter. How can they do that? And why?

In most stores, the cooked chickens aren’t any cheaper. They just look cheaper. The per-chicken price favors the deli counter, but the per-pound price favors the refrigerator case.

A lot of chicken went into the previous sentences—14 to be exact, one rotisserie, one from the refrigerator case, from seven separate groceries in California, ranging from Costco to Whole Foods to a Middle Eastern market. After being prepared and cooked, the refrigerated chicken almost always weighs significantly more than the rotisserie option.

Our investigation into the rotisserie chicken industry reveals that it’s not as cheap as people believe. But it is a gift to the lazy and rushed.

Pricenomics breaks down the history and process of selling grocery store rotisserie chicken, and the results of their experiment, in which the staff supposedly consumed 14 baked chickens. Read the article and the results, but be warned that you may find yourself craving a hot spiced whole chicken before you finish. -via Digg

(Image credit: Joe Schneid)

Flies are everywhere, and even when we don't see them they're hanging around somewhere waiting for a chance to get at our food.

They aren't exactly subtle about their intentions either, and without hestitation a fly will land on our food right when we're in the middle of chowing down, making us wonder if the food is still safe to eat.

Well, here's the thing- flies eat really gross stuff like poop, rotten meat and toxic trash, and they vomit enzymes onto their food, or our food as the case may be, before they eat it.

But that's not how flies transfer some of the over 200 types of bacteria they may be carrying around, because as this DNews video shows the nasty stuff is actually sitting on the little hairs all over their legs and body.

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-Via David Wolfe

Looking for some caviar or live crabs, but don't have time to stop at the shop or just simply don't want to deal with people? Then hit the vending machine instead. That's right, these are some of only a few of the totally weird products you can buy in a vending machine these days. If you're not in the mood for expensive snacks, then how about some fresh baked pizza or a baguette? This Thrillist list even features vending machines that sell beer and sausages, so you can Octoberfest like a pro.

What sort of grub does a cowboy get a hankering for after a hard day of ridin' at the rodeo?

Apparently in Texas cowboys go for Taco Bell, and when 19-year-old Lathan Crump rode up on his horse Hollywood and discovered the drive-thru was closed he decided to ride on in for some tacos to-go.

Lathan knew it was a bit funny to ride his horse into the restaurant, but he never expected to go viral thanks to all the pics shared by people in the restaurant and this video he posted on Instagram.

Well ole Hollywood was a lil hungry after the rodeo so I road him in to grab a bite. @chloe_horn @alexcawthon @cagneyanderson @harris_tyler18 @t_willy21 @harristrent2 @cal_wolfe @cal_wolfe7 @tygreen69 @cashripple @cameronmiller606

A video posted by Lathan Crump (@lathan__crump) on Aug 6, 2016 at 11:24pm PDT

And it appears this cowboy gets to keep his white hat because Commerce PD says they won't be taking action since nobody reported the incident and the restaurant isn't pressing charges.

Maybe he could do a little rodeo ridin' in the parking lot and drum up some business for the store to make up for his horsin' around?

-Via Dallas News

Lots of people dream of living the decadent life of a movie star, but those dreamers never think about the fact that many celebs have extremely strange views and eating habits.

Vice writer Michael Buchinger adores Gwyneth Paltrow, so when he bought her cookbook It's All Good he just had to see what it was like to live like Gwyneth- by suffering through her strict and strange diet.

Day one started with a glass of cabbage, ginger, mint and lemon and some almonds that had been soaking in water for six hours, which Gwyneth calls the "ideal snack".

Michael didn't agree, but later that day he and his party guests did enjoy a gluten free berry crumble with quinoa flakes from the book so he kept going with the Gwyneth way.

Day two involved Gwyneth's famous miso soup with shiitake mushrooms and bonito flakes, a soup so good she eats it for breakfast and dinner, and a few too many beers at the bar because "She also doesn't stick to her diet all the time, so my exception is totally fine!"

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Which made day three a waking nightmare, and Michael was only able to pull through by thinking about "the time Gwyneth was hiking in Arizona and thought she heard the rocks whispering the mantra, "You have the answer, you are the teacher!"

Read I Tried To Live Like Gwyneth Paltrow For A Week here

Every now and again, a show comes out totally under the radar and then leaves everyone talking for weeks. Last year it was Making A Murderer and right now it's Stranger Things. Redditor youdevildog made cupcakes based on the series and the decorations and flavors are all too perfect for each character. I'm sure fans can recognize the references of Christmas lights and Eggo waffles, but you can see how all the others fit in as well on the Reddit page.

Via That's Nerdalicious

Induction cooking is one of the coolest forms of "modern" cooking technology, and since the cooking vessel itself is heated via magnetic induction there are no flames or hot coils, so it's also a safer way to cook.

In order to demonstrate how induction cooking works Yuppiechef cut a pan in half and cooked eggs, bacon and chocolate on it, and boiled water in the pan while it was sitting on a magazine.

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This video looks like something those product demonstrators at the county fair would show at their booth, but that doesn't make the technology any less impressive.

-Via Laughing Squid

There's a little pink puffball named Kirby who literally inhales his food, and his enemies, a cute yet strange little protagonist who first captured the imagination of gamers in Kirby's Dream Land back in 1992.

Kirby is one of the biggest eaters in the world of video games, so the recent opening of a Kirby themed Cafe in Osaka makes perfect sense.

And it only makes sense for the Cafe to offer quite a spread, from yummy looking entrees to a ton of adorable desserts, since Kirby has such a big appetite.

But the little added touches are what make the Kirby Cafe so special- the little Kirby statues on the table, the delightful decor inside and out, and a party of one will never dine alone because they get to sit with Kirby's pal Waddle Dee.

-Via Nintendo Everything

David Cross is a brave man, not just because he was in the Chipmunks movies but because he had the strength to talk trash about those crappy kids movies knowing it might mean no more crappy movie offers for him.

These nerves of steel also served him well on First We Feast's Hot Ones, the show where celebs are asked personal questions while being forced to eat increasingly spicy chicken wings.

But can he stay kid friendly while his mouth sizzles? F%@# NO, those wings are SPICY! (In other words, video contains NSFW language)

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It's no wonder they chose Sean Evans to host this series- he seems unfazed by the hottest sauces while David Cross starts to cry three or four bottles from the end.

-Via AV Club

Each year a bunch of so-called health experts roll out their picks for the healthy foods we're now supposed to eat instead of last year's healthy list. And where do these so-called experts get this healthful information?

According to this comic by Uber Tool the knowledge is bestowed upon them by The Wise Old Food Man of the Mountain, who names the fruit or veggie he can charge the most for at his produce stand!

-Via Geeks Are Sexy

You’ve seen plenty of restaurants that offer a “dare you to eat it” entree that appeals to total gastronomes, or more likely, journalists and bloggers who are willing to give free advertising to something outrageous. In addition to extreme meals that you can get for free if you finish all of it, there are more and more extreme meal combos that appear to give you a lot of bang for your buck. They might intrigue your palate, but your eyes may be bigger than your stomach, not to mention your metabolism.  

“Think you can handle this Whole Hog Burger?” asks the menu at Uno Pizzeria & Grill (129 locations). “OVER A POUND OF MEAT. Hamburger, sausage, bacon, prosciutto and pepperoni. PLUS–Four types of cheese, garlic mayo & pickles. With fries & onion rings. Extra napkins free!”

Extra calories, too! Enough to hit 2,850—more than a 24- hour supply. And don’t forget the three days’ worth of sat fat (62 grams), six-day stockpile of sodium (9,790 mg), and white-flour bun! You might as well eat four McDonald’s Quarter Pounders with Cheese and two medium fries doused with 18 packets of salt.

That’s just one of eight extreme meals you can pig out on. The Center for Science in the Public Interest compiled a list of menu offerings from restaurants that tip the scales in volume, calories, salt, or just plain overindulgence.  -via Metafilter

(Image credit: Mai Le)

It ain't just for fancy folks in top hats.

Caviar has a reputation for being hoity-toity: it’s the stuff Eustace Tilley, Queen Elizabeth, and Frasier Crane might gather around at a dinner party. But fish eggs weren’t always a delicacy, and there’s nothing inherently unapproachable about them. In fact, they used to be an everyday snack and an American export: At the turn of the 20th century, the Hudson and the Delaware were two of the biggest caviar-producing rivers in the world. As Josh Russ Tupper of New York’s iconic Russ & Daughters shop explains it, “Salted caviar was so prevalent, it was sitting on bars like peanuts.” (Like peanuts, the salt helped encourage drinkers to keep drinking.) Overfishing eventually caused domestic suppliers to run dry, tipping the balance in favor of importers across the Atlantic, which is why it got more expensive. But that’s not to say everyone can’t enjoy it. Our handy guide shows you how.

It should go without saying that Tim Horton doesn't add nicotine to their coffee to get you addicted or that the government isn't adding fluoride to your water to control your mind. Of course, that doesn't mean people don't believe these things. 

Strangely though, some consiparcy theories are surprisingly accurate -for example, the popularity of fondue in the seventies was all a result of brilliant marketing from the Swiss Cheese Union. It sounds absurd, but it's actually well documented.

You can read up on more of these odd theories over on Thrillist.