Funistrada is a fictitious food item. The term was inserted in a U.S. Army survey of soldiers circa 1974[1] 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."[2]
Funistrada scored higher in popularity than eggplant, lima beans, and cranberry juice.[3][4] All three fake items, however, had the highest percentage of "never tried" responses.[5]