Food You Eat That Car Makers Would Hate You For

[Chris Amirault]

I once read a story stating that Toyota USA was getting lots of complaints that their seat position systems were failing consistently -- a problem that Toyota Japan found baffling, as it just never seemed to occur there. The cause?

French fries.

Got me thinking about car food that finds its way into strange places. My two candidates are Smart Food (or "cheesy popcorn," as we say around here) and coconut donuts from Dunkin'. Eaten by messy others, of course.

You?

[Mjx]

Sandwiches, on long road trips: the crumbs manage to get everywhere. Ritter Sport bars: random fragments of these seem to always nestle against the previously mentioned crumbs. Random wine gums, which find their way to the bottom of my rucksack.

Somewhat related: any food I decide to eat without removing my motorcycle helmet (the helmet manufacturer would undoubtedly wince at the stray napkin fragments around the lower part of the opening of the helmet; yes, I do get them all, when I get home).

[jsmeeker]

I don't eat in my car. I don't even sneak a fry if/when I get them at a drive through. I rarely even drink a beverage in the car, either.

[Dakki]

I get motion sickness just thinking about it.

When I lend my truck to my siblings it tends to come back full of candy bar wrappers and soda bottles, though.

[rebecca]

In honor of my most recent holiday: anything with matzah!! The crumbs go willy-nilly throughout the vehicle, regardless of anything I try to contain them (napkins, plastic baggies, bullet proof vests...) Then again, that might be a problem anywhere, and not in any way a car-specific problem.

I agree with Dakki's implication. Anything small with a wrapper - it becomes easier to let it fall then carefully hold onto while trying to locate your makeshift trash can. That one has happened to me a lot.

[maggiethecat]

One word: cookies.

[baroness]

I don't eat in my car. I don't even sneak a fry if/when I get them at a drive through. I rarely even drink a beverage in the car, either.

I'm with you.

Only water - and tea, if there is a caffeine 'emergency' - are consumed in MY car!

[rarerollingobject]

I'm firmly against eating in a moving car (I'm with Dakki, the mere thought makes me ooky) but I will admit to eating in a parked car from time to time, especially when there's nowhere to sit and eat around a food purveyor you've driven to specifically, and standing around outside it isn't option. Unfortunately, all the foods I love in this regard seem explicitly designed to be terribly messy.

Case in point: banh mi sandwiches. The place I love is takeaway only, and they make their baguettes so light and crackly that it's impossibly to eat them without showering baguette crumbs EVERYWHERE. I had one yesterday, and resorted to trying to direct the crumbs onto myself rather than the car, so I could at least get out and shake myself down (so classy!) but the car still looked like baguette armageddon afterwards. Worth it, though.

[annachan]

I don't eat it but, durian!

[natasha1270]

Whatever wheaty snacky things my sister used to let her toddlers go to town on in the backseat ended up smooshed into all the upholstery, crevices, carpeting, door handles. What a disaster area! I've yet to see a no-spill sippy cup they couldn't mishandle.

Of course, many moons ago when my own son was a toddler I have a vague hazy recollection of a terrible chocolate milk accident in the backseat that did not end well for the car upholstery either.

Edited April 29, 2011 by natasha1270 (log)

[natasha1270]

For myself: definitely guilty of finding the occasional fossilized french fry in the car.

[Edward J]

I have a weakness for puff pastry items, and puff pastry items have a weakness of shedding crumbs like a room full of cats in the spring.

Now, hands up for those of you in "4 seasons" weather: Who has trouble convincing spouses/children NOTto wipe the inside of the windshield with a hand or sleeve, but rather to run the fan to clear up the fog? I can handle food debris, but a filmy, streaky, windsheild drives me absolutley nuts..........

[maggiethecat]

I don't eat in my car. I don't even sneak a fry if/when I get them at a drive through. I rarely even drink a beverage in the car, either.

Wow, Jeff, Never? Not even on a long road trip? I'm in awe of you and others on this topic who can be so disciplined -- seriously.

When we drive the thousand miles to my Dad's, there's a big insulated picnic hamper in the back seat, the responsibility of the non-driver. Sandwiches, fruit, cold drinks, hard boiled eggs, crudites, rolled up cold cuts. Sitting next to them is a back of salty crumbly stuff -- Cheetos, if I did the shopping. A container of home baking and a huge thermos of coffee sit near my feet.

When we pull into Ottawa the interior of the car is even slummier looking than you can imagine -- it takes a half hour to clean up. But you know, we like the automotive picnic tradition, we eat well, and we can escape the chain restaurants on the interstates and the 401.

[natasha1270]

I don't even sneak a fry if/when I get them at a drive through.

Wha?! Isn't the whole point to eat them while they are hot and still crispy? Do you reheat?

[ScoopKW]

I bought my truck used from the city.

(Reminds me of the Blues Brothers: "It's an old Mt. Prospect police car. They were practically giving them away. It's got a cop motor. A 454 plant. It's got cop shocks, cop breaks. It's the model year before catalytic converters so it runs good on regular gas. So is it the new Bluesmobile or what? Fix the cigarette lighter.")

Well, this car was driven by someone who liked to eat and drive. There's this big stain on the bench seat, where all the soda and food was spilled. It looks, well, all I can say is... ewwwwwww. Even today, after I've put 10K on the clicker, it still smells like old french fries.

Anyone in Vegas have a good steam cleaner I could borrow? I can trade beer for it....

[Katie Meadow]

We almost never eat in the car, except maybe some candy or small snacky things. Like Maggie, for long trips we travel with a big ice chest and pack lots of sandwiches, cheese, fruit, utensils, etc., and typically just water to drink. Admittedly we don't usually take road trips during cold and rainy seasons (well, on the west coast there is actually a dry season), but we always look for a picnic table and a bathroom, which usually means a rest stop on an interstate or some type of small-town park that's easy to get to from the road. Every so often there's a surprisingly nice spot. I need the break, and I enjoy my food a lot more when I'm not moving.

[dcarch]

Not exactly food.

I had a case of large bottles of soda inside my car.

The car was parked under the sun on a hot hot summer day.

A few bottle exploded.

A sticky syrupy coating was on everything, and into all the seat covers, carpets ----etc.

dcarch

[cookingofjoy]

This is another kid one - fruit snacks are the worst we've seen. They end up melting and gluing to everything.

[cookingofjoy]

dcharch - you reminded me of another! Except it was winter, so the can in the cupholder froze.

[Moopheus]

I don't eat in my car. I don't even sneak a fry if/when I get them at a drive through. I rarely even drink a beverage in the car, either.

Wow, Jeff, Never? Not even on a long road trip? I'm in awe of you and others on this topic who can be so disciplined -- seriously.

It's not discipline, I just hate eating in the car, especially since I'm usually the one doing the driving. If I need to eat on a long car trip (which these days doesn't happen as anywhere near often as it used to), I'll stop somewhere and eat. I might take a coffee with me, but that's it. Somehow I manage to survive short trips without food. These days I put more miles on my bike than the car, but I've never managed to learn the trick that some cyclists do of being able to take a drink while riding.

[KarenDW]

If I don't eat in the car, there are some days that my total caloric intake is less than 1000 kCal in a day. Which is far from desirable.

Cookies and cheese-filled bagels seem to be the worst offenders, in terms of messiness.

[Beebs]

Case in point: banh mi sandwiches. The place I love is takeaway only, and they make their baguettes so light and crackly that it's impossibly to eat them without showering baguette crumbs EVERYWHERE. I had one yesterday, and resorted to trying to direct the crumbs onto myself rather than the car, so I could at least get out and shake myself down (so classy!) but the car still looked like baguette armageddon afterwards. Worth it, though.

Yes! Banh mi is the devil's spawn for big messes in the car. Mine is takeout-only too and even when we eat with the car parked, door open, leaning out, it's still a crumb blizzard when we're done.

And fresh croissants are evil too. Crumbs and buttery fingerprints everywhere.

[JAZ]

When I first went to college, my parents drove me and my sister (who went to the same school) from Seattle to Pullman (across the state). Pretty much everyone who made that drive stopped halfway in a town called Vantage and ate at the A&W there. We were no exception. I don't remember if they had tables, but in any case, we ate in the car (parked in the lot). My mother was in the front passenger seat but had the door open and was sitting with her feet out on the pavement; my dad was standing outside the car to stretch his legs while he finished his root beer float, which he had on the roof of the car. Yes! You guessed it! He tipped the float over so that it spilled all over my mom's head. The amazing thing was that she just sat there instead of pulling her head back into the car to avoid the rest of the float because she didn't want to get the inside of the car dirty.

[jsmeeker]

I don't eat in my car. I don't even sneak a fry if/when I get them at a drive through. I rarely even drink a beverage in the car, either.

Wow, Jeff, Never? Not even on a long road trip? I'm in awe of you and others on this topic who can be so disciplined -- seriously.

I don't really take long road trips. The most recent road trips I have taken have been to Austin. It's only 3.5 to 4 hours down there. Also, on those trips, I was a passenger and not a driver. I WILL admit that I did a little snacking on a nice kolache we picked up on the way down. And I sipped on some OJ. But if I was driving? The eating would not have happened. On a longer road trip, I would eat in a resturant, even if it was just Dairy Queen or McDonalds. I like to sit and eat off of a table.

I don't even sneak a fry if/when I get them at a drive through.

Wha?! Isn't the whole point to eat them while they are hot and still crispy? Do you reheat?

No re-heat. I buy my drive through meals that have something "perishable" like fries as close to home as possible. Like within a block or two.

[rebecca]

I was just going to make an ice cream reference!!

Ice Cream! When you get it from a cheap place and the put a big scoop on top of a small cone and don't stuff the ice cream inside... if you are not careful, one little nudge can tip it from its precarious perch. And a poorly timed speed bump can mean ice cream on the ceiling.