funistrada

{{Short description|Fictional food item}}

Funistrada is a fictitious food item. The term was inserted in a U.S. Army survey of soldiers circa 1974{{Cite web|title=Armed Forces Food Preferences|url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a110512.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226153020/http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a110512.pdf|archive-date=December 26, 2022}} regarding their food preferences. Funistrada, along with a fake vegetable dish called "buttered ermal" and a fake meat dish called "braised trake", was inserted "to provide an estimate of how much someone will respond to a word which sounds like a food name or will answer without reading."[http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a110512.pdf Armed Forces Food Preferences] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226153020/http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a110512.pdf |date=2022-12-26 }} p. 4

Funistrada scored higher in popularity than eggplant, lima beans, and cranberry juice.{{cite web|url=http://www.slugsite.com/archives/547|title=» Funistrada, the Army's 'Ghost Food' - Entropic Memes|website=www.slugsite.com|access-date=2009-01-13|archivedate=2020-10-01|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001065653/http://www.slugsite.com/archives/547|url-status=deviated}}Davidson, Alan. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=bIIeBQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Funistrada.%22+The+Oxford+Companion+to+Food&pg=PA335 Funistrada]." The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. All three fake items, however, had the highest percentage of "never tried" responses.[http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a110512.pdf Armed Forces Food Preferences] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226153020/http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a110512.pdf |date=2022-12-26 }} p. 54