Stomachs on legs are proud to present

Inspired by kinakoJam's entry, a little googling of 一六タルト (Ichi[1] Roku[6] Taruto) has brought me some wonders...



Apparently, it has become one of the "yuru chara" ('loose' mascot character) of Ehime prefecture in Shikoku region.

Like castella, it it supposedly inspired by the Portuguese upon their arrival to Nagasaki port in the 17th century.

The name taruto comes from torta/tarte, and it has been localized by adding red bean jam with a hint of yuzu, famous citrus from Shikoku.


It goes out on the street...




And it even goes to take HIV exam with other yuru chara's.




Amazing Japan.


Itami Juzo used to appear on the TV commercial series - he went to high school in Matsuyama, where this cake is famous.

A song by Lawrence Arabia. There are quite a lot of dead skinned bunnies (and other game) at supermarkets in Cologne. One of these days I'll try cooking one with "Stuffed roast marrow and carrot", and will sing this song as I do it.

On a less bloodthirsty tip, here's one for all the brussel sprout-spurning fruitarians out there (song by NZ band Phoenix Foundation):

Super Baozi vs Sushi man from sun haipeng on Vimeo.

Just add this to the list of food attacking each other videos.

Don't we tend to forgot that pumpkins are actually vine? Having used to see those fat pumpkins lying around on the ground and all that.

I sort of did until I encountered this funky one climbing up on the tree the other day in the mountains of Thailand.


Watch your head when walking in the woods.

It's too early for Halloween, but since Maytel cued vomiting...

It seems like more than a few people think pumpkins are great vomiting subjects.




Below is another favorite of mine, also lost the source, somebody emailed it to me a long time ago.


Happy pre-Halloween!

Does one of your baby boomer or older parents have access to the intertubes and even their own email and spend their days emailing you inane hallmark style emails full of "jokes" and other tidbits to "brighten up your day"

Mine does. So I thought I would post the following so you too can feel my pain.











There's more where this came from

Weckmanner like this fellow are made for St Martin's Day, and are stocked in German bakeries until almost christmas. St Martin's Day is a nice festival where kids join a candle light parade with lanterns, and people roast geese. The day honours a military man who gave half his jacket to a beggar and became a saint. Apparently it was a very nice jacket.

Naturlich, this Weckman eventually met his fate and was eaten, starting with the head. He was a bit dry & salty. Erik thinks a wholewheat weckman is like cruelty to children. But the white ones are usually much more misshapen, even if they taste better.

This Tim Burton-esque 'weckman' (whole wheat, from the Biomarkt) is the nicest & most handsome one I've seen: but for some reason, he looks like he needs to go to the toilet.



The cool thing about Weckmanner, which are apparently based on a priest, is that their little pipes do work. Saintly fun for all the family.

Excerpts from this week's Lynn Yaeger column in the Village Voice:

"I walk past the windows of Toys "R" Us and am treated to the nauseating sight of the Disney Enchanted Talking Kitchen. It seems that this item, which is being ministered to on the box by a pair of miniature fairy princesses, offers an oven that lights up and chats. (But what does it say? "Read Susan Faludi"?)"



"Since I'm no fun at all, I have been worrying about sexual stereotyping in costumes—so many sluts versus superheroes, vixens versus vampires. Is it just me, or are buxom lassies and virile jerks pretty much the order of the day? Are they being worn, at least in some cases, without the sufficient dollop of irony?

There's a Harajuku girl ensemble that looks disconcertingly like what I have on —but my nerves are calmed by the outfits greeting me at every turn: life-size [Marshmellow]Peeps, Wheaties boxes, infant-size M&Ms (at least food is gender-blind)."

Taco costume:



Wholesome banana jazz-dancer:



You can never be a sour grapes wearing this fun costume!:



Is it a boy or a girl? Neither, it's a marshmellow:



Pumpkin dog:

Yummier than he looks

Warning - the language in this video is not safe for work, young children or your grandma.

Controversial Japanese art director Nagi Noda started my interest in the visceral gothic qualities of food with a shoot she did for LaForet in Harajuku. She imitated a black & white photo by putting flour in the western models' hair and skin, staining their nails and clothes with black squid ink and so on.
She definitely has a knack with making food gothic -

At her Horror Caf exhibition she had Dead Body Cake with Blood. Awwwwesome.

See this album cover art below for which she won an award in '03: the pasta swells to puffy cake-like dimensions because (according to her concept) the spit of the singer lands on it.
(I wonder if Nagi baked the cake herself? silly question... she is a sort of young female Jeff Koons of Japanese advertising ... but supposedly she appropriates a lot of ideas from art students and so on)




Noda's concept for Yuki video clip & posters:

"When Yuki was singing, all of her feelings and prayers started to come out. When she sang some more, a little bit of spit started to come out. As she sang even more, more spit started to come out and when her spit hit withered flowers, the flowers started to move. When it fell onto a plate of dried pasta, it turned it into good tasting pasta. I left some dishes unwashed, but the spit cleaned them up for me. When a bear tried to drink water from a vessel, his mouth couldn't reach the water. The bear stood there helplessly, but Yuki's spit increased the volume of water and he was saved."

Part Two:

A Nagi Noda-esque fish egg photo shoot.
Nothing says 'I care' like wrapping a kewpie doll in fish eggs.

Check out this guy's Calcu-eater
blog.

If you are someone who bothers to click the links, you might have seen those super Kyupi Tarako commercials I linked to from an earlier post (the one about stir-frying with mayo)...

Calcu-eater recreated those kewpie matroushka aliens with fresh Tara-eggs (Tara means cod), then sent postcards to his mates with the photos.

Konnyaku
Translated sometimes as “elephant’s foot” or “devil’s tongue,” konnyaku is a gelatinous paste made from potato root and formed into bricks; it’s 97% water and has zero calories-one of the best things to eat when you’re on a diet.

For a full description of the other creatures inhabiting your oden click here

*

A much favoured childhood tv series of my formative years was about a bunch of underloved escapee vegetables - The Munch Bunch. Although I may be overstating the impact I like to think that my adult appreciation for veggies and my heartfelt sympathy for clingwrapped mushrooms and lemons and onions (don't cry little olly onion, I'll get you out) could be in some way traced to this cartoon series and their anthropomophic vegetables.

Although the name was transformed in my teens as slang term for the mentally challenged class at school (yes kids are mean). And then as a euphemism for lesbians in the early 1990s. Much to my horror, when I went to find pics for this post I discovered that the name is now in the hands of multinational corporation Nestle, who has somehow acquired the trademark rights and is using it to promote their yoghurt line in some countries . Apparently, in 1998 there was some sort of Munch Bunch yoghurt tie in series for television that flopped...and so yes the Munch Bunch too has been sold out, is there no end to the corporate domination of our food chains and heritages????

Anyways, I haven't been able to find any videos on youtube since it has been blocked in Thailand again but for those unfamiliar with the Munch Bunch, wiki provides the basic narrative

* I have no idea why the orange was mexican