What Was That?! 5 Foods That Can Make You Hallucinate

Have you recently felt the presence of ghosts, seen giant insects attacking your car or found yourself rolling on the floor without explanation? No? Clearly you haven’t been consuming enough of the five foods Bon Appetit says can cause hallucinations — although there is a good chance you had one of them this morning.

Hot chilies, nutmeg, moldy rye bread, sea bream and our old friend coffee are five foods with a history of causing hallucinations. Sea bream is especially potent, and ancient Romans used to eat the fish for its trippy effects. Diners looking for a little fun may want to exercise caution though:

A case report published in Clinical Toxicology describes a “40-year-old executive” vacationing in Cannes who, two hours after eating baked bream, started to feel a little sick. Things got worse overnight, with the expected symptoms of food poisoning, until the next day, when he started seeing hallucinations of “aggressive and screaming animals” and “giant arthropods around his car.”

If you’re wondering whether or not you should give up your morning coffee habit, rest easy: caffeine is associated with only “light hallucinations.” Isn’t that reassuring?

→ Read more: Dude, What Was in That Curry? at Bon Appetit

Related: Caffeine-Free Hot Drinks: 5 Alternatives to Coffee and Tea

(Image: andreiuc88/Shutterstock)