Getting into a major restaurant chain's test kitchen is a dream a lot of fast-food lovers share. These kitchens have just about everything a foodie could ever want: this is where both the menu and food items are conceptualized, prototyped and tested. If you ever wanted to know where your favorite fast food was first made, these test kitchens are it.
If you still need help visualizing what goes into a fast food test kitchen, look no further than Conan O'Brien. As a gift for one of his IT members, Conan took a trip to the Taco Bell test kitchen.
It goes about as well as anyone would expect:
Now, it's clear that the work done in these kitchens is incredibly important - the chefs and testers inside are literally shaping the future of Taco Bell, and such work has to be taken seriously. It's nice to see that Conan takes this work with the appropriate level of respect.
If anything, the video could even be considered educational: it's a step-by-step walkthrough of the Taco Bell testing process. Conan meets a few taste testers, gets to see how the food is made and even gets to taste some new, unreleased dishes. Sure, there are a few moments that seem a bit more...intimate than anyone would have guessed, but otherwise, the video is basically a documentary.
Plus, if we're lucky, fans will be able to see some of Conan's new items pop up on the menu in the coming months - who wouldn't want a corned beef and cabbage taco?
Conan airs weeknights at 11pm on TBS.
