Some images can be deceiving, and when it comes to food, the results can be even funnier given the passion people have for eating. These Reddit users shared photos of their dishes that create hilarious food illusions, where the food looks like something completely different, often in strange and hilarious ways. Let’s take a look!
Honey and Date
Reddit user spira13 prepared a simple dish with honey and dates but also added her favorite chips, creating an unusual dish with a varied texture. She notes that it offers a sweet, spicy, and crunchy combination all at once. The problem, however, is that the dates, along with the squiggly patterns in the plate’s design, create food illusions that make the dates look like cockroaches.
Eggs Staring
The way these two fried eggs are cooking, they look as if they are begging the human not to eat them. They look like a face pleading for help, but then again, they are fried eggs, and we know how delicious they taste. These food illusions won’t help them escape their fate. A reply from Reddit user BarneyPoppy expressed: “Eggs can be mean.”
Hidden Hamsters
Reddit user Girlfromlondon_ revealed that you can barely tell the difference between those two kiwis and the third one, the third one, at the top left, which is actually a hamster. To top it off, the person peeled the sticker off one of the kiwis and stuck it onto the animal. This unusual food illusion makes the hamster look like another piece of fruit. A user’s reply from Nubetastic expressed: “The one on the right doesn’t have a sticker.”
Lobster on the Cob
Reddit user GlowYourself6 posted an image of a “lobster on the cob”, which was his first attempt at making a vegan lobster, but if you didn’t know what it was, it could easily be mistaken for a type of worm eaten in many Southeast Asia countries. Worms that are, incidentally, said to be very nutritious. In reality, however, it is made of corn, a plant-based dish designed to mimic traditional seafood boils or summer meals. It’s another example of how food illusions can change the way we see a dish.
Muffin Dog
The dog in the image seems to understand the situation its owner, Reddit user M_Not_Shyamalan has just discovered. The cookie it is eating bears a striking resemblance to the dog itself. The dog wears an expression that suggests it is sizing up the situation, as if recognizing just how much it looks like the cookie, creating one of the funniest food illusions.
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Rolling Stone Mouth?
This weird pepper has such a strange shape that it seems to bring to life the Rolling Stones’ tongue-and-lips logo. We don’t understand why this particular one decided to grow that way, but it is the strangest pepper we have ever seen. Depending on the food you want to add it to, cutting it will be quite a challenge, making it one of the strange food illusions.
Chicken-Cat
The image shows a chicken about to be put in the oven to be cooked and then devoured by a family. However, many people mistook this raw chicken for the world’s most famous hairless cat, known as the Sphynx or Egyptian cat. If someone owned a pet like that, they would need to double-check every time they put chicken in the oven to avoid making a mistake. This bizarre photo is one of the food illusions that could certainly cause confusion.
Weird Egg
Reddit user YourClassicClown shared this image of an egg from the fridge because of the strange appearance it had taken on. The user herself commented that it looked like it had veins, and also mentioned that he had noticed how odd the egg looked before buying it but decided to take it home anyway. A reply from Amazing_Mission5536 expressed: “Often the result of oversized eggs or stress during shell formation.”
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Owl-Shaped Apple
This apple, sliced separately, without the owl right next to it, seems to show an angry face, thanks to the two seeds that could easily pass for eyes. What makes the image even stranger is that the user, Tennessine, owns an owl. Even if the user had wanted to find an apple resembling his owl, he wouldn’t have been able to. Together, they create one of the most amusing food illusions.
Jackfruit
The Jackfruit is the largest fruit that grows on a tree in the world, capable of weightng 50 pounds or more. Inside, it contains sweet yellow pods, which are edible, but the specimen that was encountered by Reddit user Courthouse at the supermarket was massive; one might mistake it for a piece of military weaponry rather than a fruit. This unusual food illusion makes the jackfruit look like something completely different.
Is It a Transplantable Organ?
Reddit user fuzziblanket had decided to bake some cookies and began preparing the dough, specifically, almond-vanilla butter cookies, but partway through, he realized he had run out of food coloring, leaving the mixture looking more like an organ ready for transplant than edible dough. The strange appearance turned the dough into one of the unsettling food illusions. A reply from user [borrado] expressed: “Thought it was a beef heart, it’s cheap protein that I had in my college days.”
Different Fanta
Anyone who drinks soda knows the color of Fanta, that bold orange that pours into the glass, like the one on the can in the image posted by Reddit user twister121. The thing is, the drink in the glass appears to lack the bright orange color associated with Fanta. A reply from KingOfTheCouch13 expressed: “Taking away the dye is an easy change without impacting flavor.” One of these unusual food illusions makes the drink look almost unrecognizable.
Cheesecloth Cap on Lemon
Putting a cover, a sort of cheesecloth, over a lemon results in a very strange-looking object. People unfamiliar with it might mistake it for a different food item or a plastic prop meant only for visual appeal rather than actual use. In reality, however, this netting was used some years ago to catch the lemon seeds so they wouldn’t fall into the food while you squeezed the juice. The strange appearance creates one of the unusual food illusions.
Soy Sauce in a Little Fish
Reddit user Ast3ria revealed that it was the first time he had been served soy sauce in this strange fish-shaped container, and also noted that Australians are more accustomed to find these containers for liquids. User [borrado] pointed out: “The red cap has regular-sodium soy sauce, the green is less sodium and the purple is gluten free.” The unusual container is another example of food illusions.
Spiky Muffins
Reddit user hangar shared an image of what appear to be four muffins with marbled toppings, although the two shaped in the lower part of the image are clearly animals. The unusual arrangement makes it difficult to tell what you’re looking at at first glance. A reply from user JaqueeVee expressed: “They are ouch cakes.” These shapes create a confusing food illusion.
Duck Around And Find Out
This isn’t a meal per se, but a drink. Reddit user AccordingtoJP revealed that while at a bar, he ordered a drink called “Duck Around and Find Out” and he was served this cocktail: A drink inside a bathtub, complete with a yellow duck. Given the color, you might even mistake it for hand soap, creating a playful food illusion before your meal.
Croissants Like Wooden Cubes
Reddit users stumbled across this image posted by zotti_d. It shows croissants that look like wooden cubes, not real food. Their square shape and color make them resemble wood. Therefore, a response from user [borrado] was: “Best course of action would be to bite into them aggressively and hope for the best.” These pieces of bread are a perfect example of food illusions.
Potato Shaped as Reddit Icon
Reddit user dalmatiansalvation revealed that her boyfriend grew potatoes at home, and one of them grew in the shape of the Reddit icon. A reply from user hazmog suggested that a potato like that could be auctioned off to raise money for a foundation, to which the user dalmatiansalvation replied: “That would be amazing! But we just made potato salad.” This potato is certainly one of the more unusual food illusions.
Not a Tiny Fish
Reddit user mrbaoss mentioned that while he was eating his Chinese food, he encountered a carrot that was cut into the shape of a fish. He also mentioned that the fried rice was accompanied with pork and shrimp. The closest thing to that carrot might be a clownfish, which shares the same orange color, although it also has a lot of white in its appearance. It’s another claver example of food illusions.
Conclusion
All these images are simply playing tricks on our minds, ranging from funny ones, like an apple with an owl’s face, to stranger examples, like brown-hued bread that looks like pieces of wood. When you start cooking, you never quite know how the dish will turn out, but it can be both tasty and fun, as these Reddit food illusions demonstrate.
