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"There IS no blue food!"


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Why is there no blue food? I can't find blue food - I can't find the flavor of blue! I mean, green is lime; yellow is lemon; orange is orange; red is cherry; what's blue? There's no blue! Oh, they say, "Blueberries!" Uh-uh; blue on the vine, purple on the plate. There's no blue food! Where is the blue food? We want the blue food! Probably it stores immortality! They're keeping it from us!--George Carlin

Little kids waddle about my local shopping mall, clutching their azure-topped ice cream cones. Their ice cream is BLUE!!! "No accounting for young tastes," I used to think. I haven't yet seen an adult eating a Superman cone.

Now I know the kids' secret. Many moons ago, I toiled at this same mall's ice cream shop, scooping cones and mixing milkshakes for the sweet-seekers that tumbled by. Sometimes I could peg customers to their favorite flavors--"There's the Strawberry Cheesecake lady" or "Here's a Fudge Ripple guy"--but anytime a kid under 10 came into the store, he or she would point to the blue tub of ice cream with the yellow and orange swirls and blurt, "I want SUPERMAN!!" That was the blue ice cream's name.

"But what's in it?" the child's parent would ask. "Actually, it's just vanilla with blue, yellow and orange food coloring," I'd reply, flexing my Popeye-sized forearms to scoop up the child's savory blue mound. To me, Superman resembled not so much a confection as sundry tubs of Play-Doh mixed up and frozen. And both ice cream and Play-Doh come in cylindrical containers...

But the kiddies didn't mind--they always squealed "Superman!" upon entering the store. This happened seventeen years ago. And to prove this choice was no coincidence, just yesterday a saw a clutch of little kiddies at the mall yesterday eating--yes, Superman ice cream! Vanilla with blue, orange and yellow colors.

I always thought they ate with their eyes, as Gordon Ramsay might say. They picked the color and not the taste. But the ever-insightful Carlin explained it: "We want the blue food! Probably it stores immortality! They're keeping it from us!" Kids are so smart with computers and NOW they've figured out the secret to eternal youth! Blue food! Superman-flavor!

So listen up, alter-kockers and youth-seekers: skip the Raisin-Bran and run down to the ice cream shop for two scoops of Superman. If the local rugrats haven't eaten it all yet.

There are two sides to every story and one side to a Möbius band.

borschtbelt.blogspot.com

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Any man or woman who has ever served in the military forces of their country and has done their service in climates prone to snow is well aware of the adage: Don't eat yellow snow".*

Since the time of Apicius it has been known among most chefs that a prime rule is not to serve blue or purple food. For reasons better explained by neurologists than I, the colors blue and purple on plates tend to raise a mild feeling of nausea in human beings. Sounds like a fairly sound rule to me.

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Yes, I remember reading somewhere that since blue is supposed to be an unappetising colour, an idea to help dieters eat less is to serve food on a blue plate.

Hence the term "blue plate special"? :raz:

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
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I need to get me some of that ice cream!

At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since. ‐ Salvador Dali

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Heck, I had half of a blue bagel the other day (an abomination)- maybe I'll live an extra day. It had no discernable flavor, just bright blue dyed bread product.

I tend to see "blue raspberry" as a flavor/color, which seems to have a little blueberry/raspberry flavor mix.

"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast" - Oscar Wilde

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This may be slightly off the subject, but years ago, when my children adored Dr. Seuss, I promised to make them green eggs and ham. I did so, using green coloring. They ate it, but I was unable to. I knew the ingredients were fine, but the color destroyed my appetite.

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What's not to love about this:

gallery_41282_4652_34501.jpg

Ube Halaya.  Jumanggy put me on to it, and it is good, but even he, from the Philippines said he was repulsed by it

Okay, I'll bite--well not really--what is it? At first I thought it was poi from Hawaii. Purple food is fine such as a blackberry or marionberry sorbet, but the only blue food I could ever eat were blue popsicles which were inexplicably flavored like lemonade.

Inside me there is a thin woman screaming to get out, but I can usually keep the Bitch quiet: with CHOCOLATE!!!

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As kids, we used to BEG Mom for blue frosted cakes, but she was steadfast in her refusal. Her reasoning revolved around her childhood in a copper mining town, where the leachate from the tailings was blue.... and toxic. That was her story and she stuck to it for years before her youngest child finally wore her down through sheer persistance. I, being the oldest, never had a ghost of a chance at winning that one :raz:

"There are no mistakes in bread baking, only more bread crumbs"

*Bernard Clayton, Jr.

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I am a garlic freak, but I think the only time I show restraint is when the fresh cloves turn blue in acid solutions. EVen though I know it's fine for me to eat. Maybe I don't want eternal youth?  :unsure:

You're probably just averse to cupric sulfate.

The sulfur in garlic reacts with acid to produce this attractive (if unappetizing) shade of blue.

There are two sides to every story and one side to a Möbius band.

borschtbelt.blogspot.com

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Ube - get that frozen?

When I was in Jr High School, we had a class wide baking contest.

Someone brought a 3 layer Red White and Blue cake.

Jr High kids eat EVERYTHING sweet, but.... there were little plates all over, crumbcovered and empty except for that blue layer, just sitting there, all on its untasted own.

The blue reaction is the biggest reason I want to grow my own garlic.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Blue garlic on purple potatoes.

Rainbow potato salad:

Yukon gold and purple potates, peeld and boiled.

red and orange bell peppers, roasted and peeled and chopped.

green onions

Pickled fresh garlic, made in a house that has copper pipes.

Kalamata olives for a bit more purple.

Edited by Kouign Aman (log)

"You dont know everything in the world! You just know how to read!" -an ah-hah! moment for 6-yr old Miss O.

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Now, now, Rob, I don't think I've ever said ube (purple yam, root of Dioscorea alata) was repulsive... Just that I didn't like it :raz: Also, I don't hate it in all applications, I love it in Sapin-Sapin:

gallery_53129_4592_49790.jpg

... but that's it. It's quite a popular choice for ice cream here in the Philippines, which, yuck (in my humble opinion).

Purple is not really a scary color for food to have, though none of them are ever as bright as ube halaya.

Blue food... Well, I'm still trying to get over the blue ground beef from the Regrettable foods thread. (http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthrea...hreadid=2753887) But I would not be averse to confections or icing in blue. But true, naturally blue food is quite rare (er, are cornflowers edible?). Terra Blue Chips? (never had one.) Anthocyanins in an alkali solution?

Mark

The Gastronomer's Bookshelf - Collaborative book reviews about food and food culture. Submit a review today! :)

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No blues from this direction, though a birthday cake, ordered years ago by a gentleman for his wife's birthday, did specify blue flowers. I thought nothing of it, wrote it down, and then he said, "I had them on mine last year, and they had the BEST taste of any flowers I ever ate."

And I cringe just to hear the Good Humor truck jingle by---memories of the neon blue/orange popsicles always chosen by Granddaughter, just for the colors on the side of the truck. :wacko:

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Any man or woman who has ever served in the military forces of their country and has done their service in climates prone to snow is well aware of the adage: Don't eat yellow snow".*

Also any Frank Zappa fan. :laugh:

I have fond, if humorous, memories of the time my sister decided she was going to make me a cake with lavender frosting for my birthday. An appetizing shade of lavender is surprisingly tricky to pull off by mixing food coloring, she discovered--the shade she produced looked okay in the bowl, but on the cake it turned out a kind of asphyxiation grayish-blue. We all ate it, but we all also had a good laugh.

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The fact that no one has mentioned, uh, blue cheese yet makes me think I must have missed something, so I suppose the joke's on me. True, some types are more on the green side, but there are certainly blue cheeses whose veins, and sometimes the overall tinge, are unmistakably blue. Hence the name. And what could be tastier?

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I think that cotton candy tastes like the color blue.

I also think thatcertain kinds of ice- not the perfect cubes, but the chips and flakes, taste like the color blue.

I've said this before, and no one understands me. Maybe here on eGullet someone will ken my meaning of the color of the taste?

More Than Salt

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I think that cotton candy tastes like the color blue.

I also think thatcertain kinds of ice- not the perfect cubes, but the chips and flakes, taste like the color blue.

I've said this before, and no one understands me. Maybe here on eGullet someone will ken my meaning of the color of the taste?

Unless you're just teasing us Rebecca, it sounds like you might be a synaesthete. Synesthesia (explained here) is said to affect predominantly females and non-righthanders. If you are one, the idea of tasting colors sounds very cool indeed.

Inside me there is a thin woman screaming to get out, but I can usually keep the Bitch quiet: with CHOCOLATE!!!

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Oh Rebecca, how cool! I think divalasvegas pegged it.

My husband hears in color - music and some words/letters.

I'd rather taste in color, if I had the choice.

Closest I can get is that there is a flavor "red" - its that generic flavor of red candy.

Seriously re the ube, can one get it frozen in the US? I suppose I could go on odessey (grammar?) to my local (or one of the many local) asian markets and look for myself. I suspect I will have better luck finding it if I know its likely to be there tho.

Edited by Kouign Aman (log)

"You dont know everything in the world! You just know how to read!" -an ah-hah! moment for 6-yr old Miss O.

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For my wife's birthday the other day, my wife thought our 3-year-old would get a kick out of having one of those giant cookies as her birthday cake (having made her *real* birthday cake the day before -- from Dorie Greenspan's baking book, naturally).

Well, this cookie was loaded up with decorative frosting -- white buttercream piped around the edges, and three big colorful globs to resemble balloons. Our son was smitten with the idea of eating the big blue balloon, and insisted on getting that piece, until, of course, he stuffed it in his mouth and made quite a face.

He's sworn off that particular cookie for the forseeable future, I think.

Christopher

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Wow. You're, like the umpteenth person to mention that synethesia to me in my lifetime. I AM female(just checked, yup) and left handed, and some studies have shown that high scores on IQ tests can be tied to synethesia as well(mine falls in there between 180-190) but I don't seem to have it. I do 'see' sounds and tastes at times, AND taste colors, but it isn't a concrete thing, at least not like synethesia... still, WOULDN'T it be amazing and wonderful to be able to experience sensory perceptions in more than one way?

Now, admit it, broccoli, fresh string beans and peas- all define the color green with their taste.

And, Beethoven is blue, and the violin sounds violety.

More Than Salt

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Cure Cutaneous Lymphoma

Join the DarkSide---------------------------> DarkSide Member #006-03-09-06

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