Ranch dressing and Pop-Tarts are two things that Americans love. But should they be eaten together?
A viral image that purportedly shows the classic toaster pastry filled with gloppy Hidden Valley Ranch dressing has taken the internet by storm — and polarized food lovers across the board.
Last week, Twitter user Kyle Heroff spotted an image of ranch-flavored Pop-Tarts and posted it online, tagging both Hidden Valley and Kellogg's, the company that makes Pop-Tarts. "People say you can put ranch on anything...." he wrote along with the quirky photo.
Heroff's post quickly garnered hundreds of likes and Hidden Valley Ranch was quick to respond, tweeting that they were definitely game if the Pop-Tart maker was up for the challenge.
Even more people began enthusiastically weighing in on the relative pros and cons (well, mostly cons) of a Pop-Tart filled with the popular salad dressing.
The viral image turned out to be the brainchild of Sean King, a recent University of Tennessee graduate, who runs the Instagram account PopTart A Day. The account is dedicated to creating fake (yet totally tempting) mashups of popular food items. Thanks to his degree in architecture and design, King is skilled in Photoshop and challenged himself to create one faux Pop-Tart every day since starting the account in February.
So far, he's created over 150 fake food items. The Hidden Valley Pop-Tart was created mid-June and since then he's also made fake watermelon-flavored breakfast sandwiches, a McNugget-flavored Yoplait yogurt and even a gender reveal Pop-Tart — which is actually pretty genius.
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Heroff sharing King's artistic talents with the world helped solidify the recent college grad's street cred when it comes to funny food imagery. But the attention it has received is shocking, even to King, especially given his own personal stance on ranch dressing.
“I like ranch quite a bit, but I wouldn’t say I’m crazy about it like some people out there," he told TODAY.
For all the pro ranch-flavored Pop-Tart fiends out there, it appears King has one major advocate on his side: Kellogg's.
The cereal-maker was quick to shut down any potential rumors of a true collaboration but, let's face it, what's to stop the true salad-dressing lovers out there from just dipping their breakfast pastry into a cool and creamy bowl of ranch?
Nothing.
