According to Mental Floss, the genesis story behind the bushy eyebrowed muppet with his endearing Swedish-gibberish accent ("Yom-yom-yommm, mit de chocolad!") and wooden spatulas: Swedish Chef Lars “Kuprik” Bäckman claims he was the inspiration for the Swedish Chef. He was on Good Morning America, he says, and caught Jim Henson’s eye. Henson supposedly bought the rights to the Good Morning America recording and created the Swedish Chef (who DOES have a real name, but it’s not understandable). One of the Muppet writers, Jerry Juhl, says that in all of the years of working with Jim Henson on the Swedish Chef, he never heard that the character was based on a real person. Every year during the Muppets Christmas reruns time,...
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In this week's New Yorker food issue, the cartoon caption contest involves a man holding a big turkey under his arm. Got a good caption idea? According to a Slate piece earlier this year, you want to get inside the man's head and make sense of his bird-holding beliefs and intentions. Finalists for this week's cartoon will appear online Monday, December 1 and in the December 8 print issue....
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If this man walks into your restaurant, grab the bottomless pitcher of Pinot. Because if he doesn't leave happy, he'll tell the entire internet on you, probably that very night. Drew and Natalie Dee behind Married to the Sea teach us an important lesson in this comic, titled "No Free Refills": the food blogger can crush you on Google....
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Chicken fights usually involve a swimming pool, two teams, sitting on shoulders and slipping. Pretty harmless. But what happens when an actual chicken gets hold of a razor-sharp knife and wants to start something? All those times we stuffed him (and his kind), basted them, sizzled them, drowned them in herbal marinades. Nightmarish poultry revenge! [Via SwissMiss]...
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From the comic strip I Am a Host at the Olive Garden....
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Sushi Pack is a new cartoon series on CBS featuring a group of crime-fighting sushi (plus one condiment)—Maguro Maki (tuna), Ikura Maki (salmon), Kani Maki (crab), Tako Maki (octopus), and Wasabi. They're up against the Legion of Low Tide—Toro (fatty tuna), Unagi (eel), Mochi Mochiato (frozen rice-coated ice cream ball), Uni (sea urchin), Fugu (blowfish) and Titanium Chef (a catfish sushi chef). Young impressionable minds everywhere can now spend Saturday mornings becoming familiar with sushi terms. If sushi wasn't mainstream before, it is now. [via Sushi or Death]...
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Natalie Dee (whose equally funny husband draws for the recently posted Toothpaste For Dinner) gives us a look into the state of fine dining with her latest drawing, "dumb fancy restaurants." It's disturbing perhaps, but I wouldn't be surprised if these dishes already existed....
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Larry Gonick is one of the greatest cartoonists in the world. You might know him from his brilliant Cartoon History of the Universe series. Or if you were like me and needed as much help as you could get in Statistics class, his Cartoon Guide to Statistics might have saved you. Larry is also an excellent cook and serious eater who many moons ago had a weekly syndicated cartoon kitchen recipe. Serious Eats has unearthed these gems from deep in the recesses of Larry's files. Recipes have never been funnier. [Full disclosure: My wife is Larry Gonick's literary agent.]...
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