Don't Play with Your Food

     Have you ever looked at your plate and decided you you would rather not eat what you see?  If you are an adult you can wrap it up and put it in the refrigerator or scrape it into the trash.  If you are a kid, you probably have to stay at the table and eat at least part of whatever is turning off your appetite.  I ordered sweetbreads once when I was in France.  I blanched when I saw what was on the plate.  It looked like a beige, wrinkled brain, the express train to mad cow disease, I thought.  The waiter explained that it wasn't a brain - it was the sheep's thyroid gland.  Small comfort.  I cut it up, ate a couple of pieces, and pushed the rest around my plate.
     When we were in elementary school, it was always fun when the cafeteria served peas and carrots.  We poked our straws into the peas and carrots.  We jabbed until our straws were filled with alternating green and orange layers.  Then we blew in to the straws as hard as we could, expelling the green and orange cylinder onto our plates.  We also liked to bite into orange wedges and contort our faces into huge grins.  We walked around with our teeth sunk into oranges for ages, flashing our smiles.  Nobody knew about acid erosion in the 1960's.  Sucking Jello through our teeth was fun, too.  I wasn't a very creative kid when it came to food play.  The only trick I came up with on my own was smashing and stirring ice cream until it looked like a milk shake.
     I've never been much of a cook.  I make basic meals, and I've never gotten fancy.  I've never even made a radish rose.  Check out the work of some very creative culinary artists -

           

     Some people take playing with food in a different direction.  The chefs at Benihana are entertaining, though more with the utensils than the food.  YouTube is full of videos of kids juggling fruit.  Check out this video of the World Pizza Games.  

http://screen.yahoo.com/the-world-pizza-games-stuns-audience-29018374.html?pb_list=809f7f41-46e5-4104-9eba-e0702551faaf

     Penn and Teller wrote a book titled How to Play with Your Food.  I'm thinking about adding it to my reading list.  As always with Penn and Teller, beware if you are easily offended.

http://www.amazon.com/Penn-Tellers-Play-Your-Food/dp/0679743111

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaJjo1YBKFk