Some Seaweed with those Fries?

McDonald's works a little differently in Singapore. For instance, you can order your Happy Meal online, and 10 minutes later some guy with a McD's backpack will show up on a motorbike, delivering it straight to you. And if you think the regular American version of Mickey D's fries is just a little bland, no fear. Singapore McDonald's has you covered with seaweed shaker fries!

Because seaweed is just what you expect to get at McDonald's

There are some weird things about these fries. First, the fact that they exist at all. Second, the fact that when you order them you expect to get some fries covered in green flakes, but you don't. You get regular fries, a paper bag, and a packet of dried seaweed. You're supposed to dump the fries and the seasoning into the bag and then shake it up. When you open it, voila! Seaweed fries. I tried them. Rather predictably, I thought they tasted weird. I mean really, eating McDonald's fries are all about doing something absurdly, artery-cloggingly bad for you. Why bring a healthy thing like seaweed into this?

A Crappy Cup of Coffee

If you're ever in Vietnam and someone tries to sell you a high-end bag of coffee, you might want to investigate a little more before you slap down your dong (dong is the currency in Vietnam- get your mind out of the gutter!). You see, there's a type of coffee in these places called "weasel coffee" (also known as kopi luwak or civet coffee). When we were in Vietnam, we had a chance to talk to a weasel coffee farmer, and the conversation went a little like this:

Me: So how is weasel coffee different from regular coffee? Where do the weasels come in?
Weasel Coffee Guy: Well, first you grow the coffee berries. Good, quality berries. Very flavorful. Then you feed the berries to the weasels. They enjoy the berries. Then you gather the beans.
Me: Wait...what? What do you mean you gather the beans? I thought you fed them to the weasels?
Weasel Coffee Guy: Yes, you gather them after they...uh...well, after they come out of the weasels.
Me: ....Like in their poop?
Weasel Coffee Guy: Yes. The beans are very rich then, after the weasels have had them. The weasels, when they digest them, it makes the beans full of rich taste. It makes excellent coffee, especially if you add a spoonful of fish oil to the coffee.

Makes coffee a little differently than your Starbucks barista.
Image from http://www.cryptomundo.com

Beans in their...er...unrefined form
Image from http://www.teacoffee.tk/

So there you have it. One very crappy cup of coffee. And as if the poop coffee weren't stomach-turning enough, he recommends serving it up with a spoonful of fish oil! Mmmm mmmm. If weasel coffee sounds like your thing, be prepared to dish out some cash. Apparently it's some costly stuff- among the most expensive coffees in the world! Much of the kopi luwak in Vietnam comes from wild civets and costs literally thousands of dollars a pound. Stuff from captive civets, which is available in several southeast Asian countries, is in the hundreds per pound. And weasel coffee farmers warn you NOT TO BE FOOLED BY IMITATIONS. After all, you wouldn't want to be thinking that you were drinking a cup of coffee that had passed through civet intestines when it really just grew on a tree. No, we wouldn't want that at all.