1973 Model Food

For some reason the section of my brain that deals with food and the section of my brain that deals with bad puns has become scrambled. Or possibly just fried.
In any event, it occurred to me recently that there's a question I should have been asking all along: When is a breakfast dish like an inquisition?
When they make you eggs plain.
Or what do you call it when two bananas hate each other?
Bananimosity.
Okay. Enough. Perhaps what got my brain stewed was a couple of other food-related things. I was doing a crossword puzzle and the name for pie served with ice cream came up. A' la mode. And I remembered how for years I thought a' la mode was a French word for pie with ice cream. Implying that “mode” was the word for ice cream itself.
Later in life, when I encountered a women's fashion store that incorporated a' la mode in its name, I was confused. Why would anyone want to wear ice cream?
For the record, a' la mode means "according to the prevailing fashion." So, if it was currently in fashion to serve apple pie with bacon that could legitimately be described as a' la mode.
Speaking of store names, I saw an odd one recently---Tan Republic. At first I thought it was a knock-off of the old Banana Republic. Bananas do turn tan for a nanosecond on their way through the instant when they go from ripe yellow to rotten black.
But no, it's actually a tanning place. And, it's a republic too, I guess. Perhaps to distinguish it from its competition, Tan Democracy and Tan Totalitarian Dictatorship.
Very popular those tanning places named after political systems.
And looking like fried ice cream is quite a' la mode.
America, ya gotta love it.