Posted by Amanda Clarke, May 1, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Several months ago, I spotted a slick goldenrod yellow melamine dish set at the local Salvation Army. Inspecting the pieces, I recalled childhood experiences: eating brown sugar and butter sandwiches from the plates and drinking cold whole milk from the teacups of a similar set that belonged to my mother—cool, shiny and the color of homemade chocolate pudding. Priced at under $5 and including a gracefully beautiful sugar-creamer pair, that goldenrod collection came home with me, and with it came my desire to find out more about the history and value of these artifacts of my childhood—and just about everybody else born between 1940 and 1980.
The Melamine Era
Dishes made of melamine resin (the proper name for this plastic, more commonly known as simply melamine or Melmac, a trade name) became popular after the second world war, when their affordability, shatterproof practicality, and modern appeal made them an attractive alternative to ceramics and glass. Though initial designs were essentially meant to emulate those more traditional materials, replicating relatively subdued classic tableware forms, designers soon began to draw upon the protean character of this material, producing more fluid, exotic and novel shapes—from curvaceous divided serving bowls to square tea cups.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, April 13, 2008 at 9:45 AM
One of life's minor annoyances is when your spoon falls into your bowl of cereal. You either have to dig in there with your fingers or you have to dirty another utensil to fish it out. It's a crap way to start the day. This bowl here might change all that, with its built-in spoon caddy. $21 at Uncommon Goods [via Neatorama]
Posted by Robyn Lee, November 30, 2007 at 10:00 AM
Turn your mashed potatoes into a starchy beard and broccoli florets into a green cruciferous mane of hair with Jamie Wieck's "(Don't) Play With Your Food" embossed plates. As you eat more, a smile is revealed. If these were actually sold in stores, I'd be compelled to replace all my plates with them right now. [via pixelsumo]
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 6, 2007 at 4:30 PM
Speaking of food films, a couple cute food-related documentaries came across my desk recently, and I figured I'd pass word of them on to you.
- Donut Day, produced by Amy Levine and Dhera Strauss, follows the staff of Sweetwater's Donut Mill over a 24-hour period. You're treated to a behind-the-scenes look at a beloved local doughnut shop as it bakes five- to six-thousand doughnuts a day for its customers, many of whom keep their own coffee mugs there, a testamanent to the shop's quirkiness and hominess. I especially liked seeing the doughnut-filler machine in action and learning the term "cosmetic icing"—a glazing applied to blemished yet still edible specimens. 52 minutes. Available on DVD for $15 (includes shipping), at donutdaydoc.com
- Dishes, written, directed, and produced by Levine, is an earlier documentary that takes the viewer into the world of Fiesta Ware collectors. If you have one in your life—and who doesn't?—this doc will make you smile (knowingly), as it drags you along to a Fiesta Ware collectors' conference, a warehouse sale, and into the homes of individual Fiesta fiends. 46 minutes. Available on DVD for $20 (includes shipping), at fiestadocumentary.com
Related: Speaking of Sweetwater's, our favorite doughnut blogger, Bret Stetka (The Blognut), featured the place in his roundup of America's best doughnuts on MSN.
Several months ago, I spotted a slick goldenrod yellow melamine dish set at the local Salvation Army. Inspecting the pieces, I recalled childhood experiences: eating brown sugar and butter sandwiches from the plates and drinking cold whole milk from the teacups of a similar set that belonged to my mother—cool, shiny and the color of homemade chocolate pudding. Priced at under $5 and including a gracefully beautiful sugar-creamer pair, that goldenrod collection came home with me, and with it came my desire to find out more about the history and value of these artifacts of my childhood—and just about everybody else born between 1940 and 1980. 
