Category:
Food
Food
Fijian Cannibal Forks
If you're ever at a dinner party where the host has a set of forks that look like these, you might want to consider leaving, quickly.
These are Fijian "cannibal forks" used for eating human flesh. The iron dance blog offers this description of them:
The cannibal fork, or iculanibokola, was used by attendants during ritual feasts to feed individuals considered too holy to touch food. These forks arose for several reasons. First is a cultural taboo that prohibits chiefs and priests from touching food with their hands. Common Fijians generally did not use utensils until Europeanization. One of the most important ceremonies a chieftain participated in was the devouring of their or the tribes enemy. Combining the significance of the event and the inability to use their hands the chiefs needed a way to participate-hence the development of the cannibal fork. Forks became a way to show power and influence. The fancier more elaborate the fork, the higher status the owner had.
Fijian cannibal forks are still made, to sell to tourists. What the tourists use them for... I guess that's their own business.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Feb 15, 2012 -
Comments (6)
Category: Cannibalism, Food, Rituals and Superstitions
Saliva Noodles
"Xian shui mian" is a spicy pork and vegetable soup that's a delicacy in the Chinese counties of Meixian, Wugong and Qianxian, traditionally served at weddings, funerals, festivals and birthday feasts. But it's the special ingredient in the soup that gives it the English name "Saliva Noodle". According to a 2010 story on cri.cn: "the noodle soup is reused many times and contains each diner's saliva."I can't tell from the article exactly how the saliva noodle soup is made. That is, are people given a bowl of the soup, and whatever they don't finish is thrown back into the pot -- making it Backwash Soup? Or are people actually spitting and drooling in the soup?
Posted By: Alex - Tue Feb 14, 2012 -
Comments (10)
Category: Food
Girl Wallet and Hot Dog & Bun
You should check out the other cartoons of "hippokiller21" too.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Feb 11, 2012 -
Comments (4)
Category: Food, Sexuality, Cartoons
Bacon Triglyph
Brandon Shimoda was into bacon before it had become the all-pervasive pop-culture meme that it is today. In fact, he might be the guy who started the meme. Back in 2002 and 2003 he hosted the "Bacon Show" -- an art show devoted to bacon. He ran it out of his Albany apartment, greeting visitors dressed in a pink pig costume. The crowning glory of the show was his "Bacon Triglyph" -- three pieces of bacon encased in polyester resin, preserving them for all eternity.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Feb 03, 2012 -
Comments (4)
Category: Art, Food, Bacon
Meat Loaf Every Day!
If you had to eat the same thing every day, why not make it meat loaf? Sounds good to me.
Ad from Good Housekeeping, August 1969. (via JB's Warehouse and Curio Emporium)
Posted By: Alex - Mon Jan 30, 2012 -
Comments (5)
Category: Food, Advertising, 1960s
Ninja Broccoli
ninja broccoli began to sprout as a genetic accident, a hybrid among fields of "normal," or sprouting broccoli (recall that the U.S. "normal" broccoli is this genetic aberration). At first, farmers considered it an undesirable variant but could not get rid of this broccoli that kept appearing and spreading mysteriously. A Japanese scientist, who preferred to remain anonymous, compared these cunning broccoli to ninjas, and the name stuck, immediately snatched up by marketing professionals as a stroke of genius: Ninja broccoli, your kid's favorite vegetable.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jan 28, 2012 -
Comments (4)
Category: Food, Vegetables
Follies of the Mad Men #174
I'll bet you never knew popcorn came in special hepcat/hipster/beatnik varieties.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Jan 28, 2012 -
Comments (1)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Food, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1950s
How to burble a pea
How in the world did I reach the age of 43 without knowing that it was possible to burble a pea? Instructions can be found at askapastor.org:you take the roundest pea you can find. You purse your lips and tilt your head completely back. You place the pea on your lips and blow out a gentle but consistent stream of air until the pea begins to lift off your lips sustained by the air.
Or just watch one of these videos:
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jan 19, 2012 -
Comments (3)
Category: Food, Vegetables
Follies of the Mad Men #173
The Rolling Stones for Rice Krispies.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jan 05, 2012 -
Comments (2)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Food, Music, 1960s
Chicken Dinner Candy
According to the Candy Professor, Chicken Dinner Candy Bars were introduced by the Sperry Candy Company of Milwaukee in 1923. They soon became one of the best selling candy bars of their day. Despite the name, they had nothing to do with chicken or dinner. The bar was a chocolate-covered nut roll. (Sounds pretty good!)
Wikipedia claims the name was a reference to President Herbert Hoover's promise of a "chicken in every pot." But that can't be right if the bars were introduced in 1923. The Candy Professor argues that the name was just an advertising gimmick to get people's attention.
Wikipedia also says that early TV commercials for Chicken Dinner Candy had a jingle that went, "Chick - Chick - Chick - Chick - Chicken Dinner" -- in the cadence of a rooster crowing.
The image of the Chicken Candy advertisement comes from an eBay auction. The seller wants $175 for the vintage cardboard advertisement, which seems a lot, though perhaps not if that's the kind of thing you collect.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Jan 04, 2012 -
Comments (4)
Category: Food, Candy
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