Feetloaf facts for kids
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| Type | Seasonal (Halloween) |
|---|---|
| Invented | 2009 |
| Serving temperature | 98.6 °F (37.0 °C) |
| Main ingredients | Ground beef |
| Ingredients generally used | onion slivers, parsnips |
Feetloaf is a super fun and spooky dish, perfect for Halloween parties! It's basically a meatloaf shaped like a human foot. Imagine a meatloaf with "toenails" made from brazil nuts and "blood" from ketchup or barbecue sauce. It's meant to look a bit gross, but it's all in good fun!
The idea for feetloaf first appeared around 2009. A cooking blog shared a recipe from a special Halloween cookbook. That first recipe showed a meatloaf shaped like a foot. It used brazil nuts for the toenails and ketchup or barbecue sauce for blood.
How Feetloaf Became Famous
This creepy dish had a few different names at first. People called it "Bloody Stump" or "Feet of Meat." The name "Feetloaf" became popular later.
In 2014, the "Today Show" talked about it. TV hosts Laurin Sydney, Kathie Lee Gifford, and Hoda Kotb showed off the dish. Around the same time, MTV News also mentioned it. They called it "Feet Loaf" or "Meat Foot."
A few years later, in 2016, the New York Times Magazine wrote about feetloaf. They said that actress Amy Sedaris had posted a picture of it on Instagram. This helped more people discover the spooky meal.
In 2019, The Washington Post featured feetloaf in an article before Halloween. They mentioned a tweet by rapper Richard Wilson, also known as Lil Rich Aka Crash. His tweet about feetloaf became very popular. It had almost 28,000 links and nearly 9,000 retweets!
The Washington Post article described a different way to make the feetloaf. Instead of brazil nuts, they used thin pieces of onion for toenails. They even used parsnips to look like a sawed-off bone! Some people suggested serving it with a small handsaw instead of a knife. They also used a small baking pan as a platter, like a science lab tray. That same year, a chef named Chris Prosperi said there were "tons of pictures" of feetloaf online.
In 2021, The Daily Mirror reported on a new version of the recipe. This one had a cheese topping. They described the dish as "absolutely disgusting," but it was still a fun Halloween treat!
Feetloaf in Stories
Feetloaf has even appeared in a children's book! It's mentioned in The Hungry Thing, published in 1967. In the story, a creature asks for "feetloaf." The other characters are confused. A wise person thinks it might be "a kind of shoe pudding." The cook says it "tastes sweet, and it's eaten by kings."
The book plays with words to help the reader guess the real food. The made-up word "feetloaf" slowly changes. First, it becomes "beetloaf," and then finally, "meatloaf." It's a clever way to show how words can sound similar!
