Monday, March 1, 2021

Flashbacks in the Toy Aisle

 Before going to work tonight, I stopped by the local H-Mart in Yonkers to pick up some produce.  This is exactly the place to purchase a seven pound head of napa cabbage and a radish the size of your forearm... as you can probably tell, I love the place.  While strolling the aisles, I saw a toy display, which featured several doll playsets with a cooking theme, and one immediately caught my eye:

 


Cake and fondue... it takes me back to my youth.  I'm a quarter-Swiss, so I can eat fondue non-ironically.  In fact, the typical birthday treat for myself and my siblings was fondue, it's a fun centerpiece for a celebratory meal.  Being a quarter-French (an eighth Alsatian), our preferred form of fondue was the fondue Bourguignonne, in which cubes of beef are boiled in a screamingingly hot pot of oil.  It's just the sort of meal to serve to a bunch of children, each with their own long hafted, sharp fork.  Nobody had their eye poked out, and the only burn injury at the table was a coffee spill.

I love this toy, because it reminds me of my youth, and there's a perverse appeal to a depiction of a toddler entrusted with a fondue pot, a sort of baby with a nail gun vibe.  I hope some child receives it as a gift and grows up to love fondue, both ironically and non-ironically... and nobody needs to be hospitalized.

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