Thursday, November 03, 2005

More nutritious alternatives to Mr. Potato Head

Lauren mentioned that the Mr. Potato Head people are trying to concoct a hipper, more athletic look for him. (Ronald McDonald and the Burger King are getting the same sort of image makeovers - although in the case of the Burger King, it's really frightening and disturbing.) My response suggested a list of other food-based characters that are inherently more nutritious and less starchy - Sally SweetPotato, Yolanda Yam, Larry Legume, Tyrone TofuBlock, Polly Pomegranate, Gaston Garlique, and Wilbur TexturizedVegetableProtein (known as "Tex" to his friends), to name a few.

Lauren liked Tyrone Tofublock, so here he is. I'm sticking with a sketch rather than an actual model because...well, if you know tofu, you don't need an explanation. Tofu (at least the tofu I have bought) is a spongy, drippy, cheese-like mass of bean curd which is inherently tasteless and odorless (to a degree; I think it has a subtle characteristic taste and odor) and has the capacity of absorbing other flavors easily. Prepared properly (which in my experience means "soaked in salty soy sauce or sesame oil and then fried") it tastes pretty good. Prepared improperly (which is the way I've usually done it) it tastes somewhere between paste and clay.

I'm glad Lauren didn't single out Larry Legume. I had a lentil in mind when I said that, and I think I would be obligated to make and photograph an actual model. (Lentils, by the way, are about 5 millimeters across.)

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