The winner of a cockroach- and worm-eating contest at the Ben Siegal Reptile Store in Deerfield Beach collapsed and died shortly after winning a $700 ivory ball python Friday. Authorities say 32-year-old Edward Archbold began feeling sick and vomited after eating dozens of cockroaches and worms. Later he was DOA. "We feel terribly awful," store owner Ben Siegel told the Miami Herald. "He looked like he just wanted to show off and was very nice."
The incident made worldwide news, capturing headlines as far away as London and Australia. In honor of the unfortunate Archbold, and the rest of the world seeing America as face-eaters and cockroach-croakers, Short Order presents five foods that could come with a funeral.
5. Blowfish
Blowfish are served in some Japanese restaurants. They contain a potent poison, tetrodotoxin, that can cause paralysis or death if improperly prepared.
4. Hot Dogs
Eating a fatal frankfurter is low on our radar. However, several people, mostly children, have actually died from choking on the cylindrical American favorite.
3. Mushrooms
These aren't the generic tasty mushrooms you find in the grocery isle. At least six people have died and 12 sickened in Australia from eating Amanita phalloides (above), also known as deathcap mushrooms. Apparently they are to die for.
2. Cheese
Cheese is mostly made by exposing different consistencies of milk to bacteria cultures. Various types of bacteria can make you fall deathly ill. A company in Kentucky recently recalled cheese in six states, including Florida, for possibly containing Listeria monocytogenes. A cheese called casa marzu, which contains maggots, has also been known to cause sickness and death.
1. Milk
Sure, it does a body good. But unpasteurized milk, which is sold in some specialty food stores in Miami and across rural Florida, has been known to contain potential fatal ingredients such as salmonella, escherichia, and brucela. Pasteurization (named for inventor Louis Pasteur) rids milk of all bacteria, good or bad, and the FDA has considered banning milk that has not undergone the process.
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