Emma Courtland

Doritos Locos Taco Shells

Since our first story on Taco Bell's Doritos Locos Taco, Taco Bell's Doritos Locos Tacos Taste Like Broken Dreams, we've received an abundance of new information courtesy of the friendly people at Taco Bell Corporate. We were invited to the new Taco Bell HQ in Irvine to re-sample the Doritos Locos Tacos, both regular and supreme. In addition to being given a tour of Taco Bell's test kitchens, exact replicas of the in-store kitchens where men and women in business casual discuss seasoned beef and crunch factor, we were treated to a healthy serving of what we reporters call "the facts," of which one was absolutely inescapable: We had been wrong.

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Ben Campbell

McDonald's burger and fries under glass

There's playing with your food, and there's Playing With Your Food. A kind of brilliant example of the latter is the artwork of Ben Campbell, a Texas artist who recently constructed a mummy entirely out of McDonald's food.

Campbell, who describes himself as "some guy in West Texas who makes artwork out of old food," constructed the mummy to demonstrate the correlation between ancient Egypt mummification practices and modern society's obsession with immortality. At least that's what we think. Maybe keep reading.

We caught up with Campbell this morning, after seeing his project on Facebook and Kickstarter. (Pledge $10 and you get a mummified order of small McDonald's fries!) Because if you could ask a guy why he decided to build a mummy out of burgers and fries, wouldn't you?

As for why Campbell does stuff like this, he told us, "I'm generally known for not taking myself too seriously and pursuing odd projects. Because of that, the only thing I'm probably suited for in life is to be a celebrity artist." If West Texas doesn't work out, he can always move here.

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T. Nguyen

Taco Bell's Doritos Locos Taco

"Consumers said that's more than just interesting, it's like 'where have you been my whole life,'" Taco Bell's chief marketing and innovation officer Brian Niccol told Forbes recently, about the public's reaction to the Doritos Locos Taco. This taco concoction is exactly what you might think it is: A regular Taco Bell beef taco with one giant Nacho Cheese Dorito chip that serves as the shell. Indeed, the Doritos Locos Taco successfully filled a void we didn't know existed; its sales led Taco Bell to a successful quarter, and there are plans to roll out Cool Ranch-flavored shells this year.

Our initial taste test of the Doritos Loco Taco, however, was decidedly underwhelming. This led us to wonder whether the deconstructed version -- a taco, a Dorito -- is greater than the sum of its parts. And so, for this Food Fight, we grabbed a bag of Doritos from a liquor store not too far from our local Taco Bell, and went in to find out.

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Flickr/bgottsab

really nice eggs

Someday you may just be able to eat fast food for breakfast in good conscience. The AP reports that fast food powerhouse Burger King announced today that as of 2017, all of its eggs and pork products will come from cage-free animals. The king is dead; long live the king, I guess.

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Flickr/jeffreyw

Pizza, how depressing

Eating commercial baked goods and fast food can make you depressed, according to a new study. Scientists from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the University of Granada in Spain found that consumers of foods such as doughnuts, croissants, hamburgers, hot dogs and pizza were 51% more likely to develop depression than those who consume little or none.

A dose-response relationship was observed, meaning "the more fast food you consume, the greater the risk of depression," explained Almudena Sánchez-Villegas, lead author of the study, which was published in the journal Public Health Nutrition. However, "Even eating small quantities is linked to a significantly higher chance of developing depression."

The study found that those who eat the most fast food and commercial baked goods are more likely to be single, less active and have poor dietary habits, which include eating less fruit, nuts, fish, vegetables and olive oil. They also tend to smoke and work more than 45 hours per week.

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waferboard/Flickr

McDonald's coffee

Back a lifetime ago in 1994, McDonald's was sued over the temperature of its coffee when a woman accused the fast food chain of serving coffee so hot, it gave her third-degree burns when the cup spilled on her legs and groin. Now it's déjà vu all over again, as McDonald's is defending itself against yet more hot coffee lawsuits, this time filed by plaintiffs in Illinois.

According to the Chicago Tribune and Crain's Chicago Business, a 4-year-old girl asked a McDonald's employee to refill her grandmother's cup of coffee; the employee did so but failed to secure the lid. The girl spilled the coffee on herself, suffering second-degree burns and permanent scarring. The suit accuses McDonald's of violating its own policy against serving coffee to minors, failing to place the coffee in a holder and failing to warn the girl about the temperature of the coffee. The plaintiffs are requesting almost $4 million in total damages, including $2.5 million in punitive damages and $1 million for pain and suffering.

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E. Courtland

Doritos Loco Taco

We were rooting for Taco Bell's Doritos Locos Taco. Honestly we were. We talked it up for weeks in total earnest and even posted a countdown on our Facebook page. Because if somebody gave a green light to a taco shell made out of Nacho Cheese Doritos, an idea we're pretty sure we came up with on the playground in third grade, then what does it mean for the rest of our insane schoolyard fantasies? It means there will be a hoverboard.

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jasonippolito/Flickr

The Dark Side of the Happy Meal

Apparently, one can guess whether you are happy or unhappy with your health based on your decision to have chicken nuggets from Chick-fil-A rather than from McDonald's. That is, according to the BIGinsight™ Monthly Consumer Survey, which ranked the happiness level of certain fast food customers on its "Unhappiness Index." The survey found that McDonald's customers are the least happy with their health, followed closely by the unhappy eaters at Taco Bell, Wendy's and Burger King. On the flipside, those happiest with their health generally are noshing away at Chick-fil-A, Subway and Arby's.

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stevendepolo/Flickr

Burger King french fries

This weekend, Burger King will "celebrate the luck of the Irish" by giving away its own version of a pot of gold: value-size french fries. Yes, the chain's connection between St. Patrick's Day and a fast food side item is fairly strained, but since it's gratis, we'll make the allowance. Burger King says it uses trans fat-free vegetable oil to cook the fries, so you can freely eat them without worrying about becoming overly aggressive or irritable before you've even had your first pint of green beer.

To complete the celebration, Heinz will supply a green "St. Paddy's sauce" for dipping. The free fries offer is available both Saturday and Sunday until there are no more french fries left in the pot.

Lee Bennett/Flickr

Playing a taco the way you play a harmonica just isn't possible. So maybe that's why a Florida man stabbed another man for allegedly trying to grab harmonicas instead of a bag of tacos from his car.

Sheriff deputies in Sarasota County, Fla., said 52-year-old Bruce Richard Hood offered to give a man a ride from a bar on Feb. 25 and the two stopped at a Taco Bell on the way home so that the passenger could purchase a bag of tacos (no estimate as to how many). When Hood dropped the passenger off, the man grabbed what he thought was his bag of tacos. But Hood apparently thought the passenger purposely grabbed a bag of harmonicas from the vehicle.

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