2097 Toe Food

I was emceeing an event the other day and had some fun with the audience's expectations. I was giving away some raffle items, one of which was a bottle of wine, and as I looked at it I saw that it was a blue bottle so I said, "And now here's some Blue Nun wine." The audience laughed, as Blue Nun wine brought up a host of baby boomer memories for them. Which was good, because I was wrong. It was just wine in a blue bottle. 

"Blue Nun," I added, "is a great and versatile wine for wine pairing, especially if the food you're pairing it with is grapes."

The next item for giveaway was a gift certificate to a tofu restaurant. I explained that they did actually make meat dishes there too, it says so on their sign. "Which is good," I said, "as I am tofu intolerant." 

That elicited a laugh, as combining tofu, the ultimate safe vegan food, with the term intolerant, used so often for food allergens, seemed a little funny. But a better image, I suppose, than if I’d said for me it was like feeding a ham sandwich to a Jewish Vegan.

I then told the crowd that they should be sure to try the Deep Dish Chicago Style Tofu. Which squoze out another laugh, but also, I hope, made them question their prejudices about the versatility of bean curd.

If you're ever at a loss with a crowd by the way, and want to be a little funny, I highly suggest using the word "curd." Not the ethnic group, the gelatinized clots of stuff formed by soybeans or milk products.

Maybe it's the curd connection that always makes my brain confuse tofu and... toe cheese. 

America, ya gotta love it.