"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
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.
Katrina Dodson, who blogs at weirdvegetables.blogspot.com, reports that Brazil has a variety of broccoli named Ninja Broccoli -- or BrĂ³colis Ninja. It seems to be similar to the broccoli found most frequently in American supermarkets. In fact, it may be the same as American broccoli. (I can't quite tell from what she writes.) She isn't sure how the Brazilian variant acquired the Ninja label, but offers this possibility:
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.
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.
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
Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.