Bean My Valentine

Today is Valentine’s Day, a day when people's thoughts naturally turn to romance. And beans. After all, what could be more romantic than beans? Beans, beans, they’re good for your heart!

In previous posts, I’ve lamented the fact that premiums – items you could get by sending in labels, box tops, UPC codes, etc. – seem to be much less common now than in the past. So I was especially surprised and delighted to receive a special Valentine’s Day treat from my sister Maria of Curly-Wurly: a plush anthropomorphic Chick Pea (aka Garbanzo Bean):

Chi Chi Chick Pea, as her tag says, is a mail-away premium from Hanover, a Pennsylvania-based food company. One merely has to send in the UPC codes from eight 15.5 ounce (or larger) cans of beans. Or for just 16 UPCs you can also get Chick's friend, Kid Bean:

I have to admit I noticed this offer in the grocery store, and I almost bought eight cans of beans, but I just couldn't do it. I'm just not a big fan of garbanzo beans and that's almost eight pounds of beans. But my sister, who claims to actually like chick peas, valiantly consumed the required amount and sent in the UPCs for me. Now if that's not sisterly love, then I don't know what is!

Continuing with the romantic bean theme, here is a T-shirt from Del Monte featuring a can of green beans down on bended knee as if to propose and exclaiming "Where You Bean All My Life!":

While technically he just has arms and legs, but no eyes, I think he still counts as anthropomorphic food. This is a children's T-shirt I've had since the 70s. I remember that my grandfather, who owned a small grocery store, got it and another one with a "Human Bean" image from Del Monte. I clearly wore this a lot, as the many stains can attest...

For those of you not enjoying the Valentine’s Day bean theme and prefer something more traditional, here are some adorable scratch-n-sniff cards (also a gift from my sister) featuring cute chocolates and chocolate-covered strawberries and cherries with eyes:

The cards themselves:

These cards do have a wonderfully potent chocolate-strawberry smell!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Cupcake Spot

I recently had the good fortune to escape the frozen North and travel to "The Sunshine City," St. Petersburg, Florida. Beyond the beautiful weather and lovely scenery, the trip also provided me with the opportunity to see new food with eyes! Exploring the downtown area, I was excited to see this fellow beckoning me to The Cupcake Spot:


The inviting storefront:


Of course, I couldn't just take pictures outside, so we went in and got some yummy chocolate cupcakes. The young lady who was working there explained that their mascot is named Cuppy. Here's a close-up of Cuppy:

And they had cute round business cards with Cuppy's image:

Back:

Be sure to check out The Cupcake Spot if you are in St. Petersburg or Tampa. If you can't visit in person, at least go to their website and click on "Watch Cuppy Dance" for a calorie-free treat!

Amazingly, Cuppy was not my only food with eyes encounter while in Florida. We took the train from Tampa to Ft. Lauderdale and to tide us over on the 4 hour trip we got some hamburgers from the dining car. Imagine my excitement to find that the handful of ketchup packets my husband grabbed for us contained this gem - an adorable French fry painting a Heinz ketchup bottle in front of the Eiffel Tower:

Of course, I couldn't part with the empty packet and painstakingly squeezed out every last drop and packed it carefully for the trip back home. Only when I looked at it carefully before scanning did I realize the artwork was created by an 11th grade student from New Jersey. It turns out that Heinz has been sponsoring an art contest for the last few years - the Heinz Ketchup Creativity Contest! Check out the Winners' Gallery to see other great designs, although I think this one is the best. Apparently the 2009 contest will be open for on-line voting in March. Prizes include $1000 and best of all, the design will be printed on 19.5 million ketchup packets!

Pancake Breakfast

Sunday mornings mean pancakes to me. Whole wheat pancakes with sugar-free syrup. But back in the '80s pancakes were light and fluffy, fiber-free treats smothered in thick and rich Mrs. Butterworth's Syrup. And if you were very lucky, Mrs. Butterworth herself even made them for you, as she did for these boys in 1984:


Courtesy of milwaukeetvmadman on YouTube

Although I don't remember my mother making pancakes a lot, we must have eaten enough Mrs. Butterworth's Syrup for my mother to send away for this colorforms-type set in 1986. It features a board with a breakfast scene of a larger-than-life Mrs. Butterworth:

And a sheet of food and kitchen accessories to complete the picture:

Ostensibly, my mother got this for my 5-year-old sister as I was much too old for this in 1986. But when my sister tired of it, I somehow persuaded her to give it to me and have kept it ever since (you can have it back Maria, if you want). The pieces have long since lost their stick or I would have created a special scene.

Mrs. Butterworth made her TV debut in 1961, almost 50 years ago. The years have taken their toll as she's now plastic and has indistinct features. But she's trying to keep up with the times. She has her own website, of course. Check out the "For Fun" section to create and print your own Mrs. Butterworth art. She even recently appeared in a Geico commercial:

Courtesy of tungstenfluff7 on You Tube

I know Mrs. Butterworth isn't strictly speaking "food with eyes," but more of a anthropomorphic bottle. Still, as a spokescharacter who has stood the test of time, I think she deserves our attention and admiration. Thank you for being so thick and rich for all these years, Mrs. Butterworth.

Yummy Breakfast Under the Nile

Today's post features some wonderful new additions to the Food with Eyes collection thanks to my sister Maria of Curly Wurly. On Christmas morning I ate my breakfast of grapefruit before opening the presents Maria had sent. Imagine my surprise to find my very own pink grapefruit key chain!


This adorable guy is part of the Yummy Breakfast series by Heidi Kenney of My Paper Crane and produced by Kidrobot. Even the tiny box is so cute:

Inside is a food pyramid showing all 21 choices (click for larger view):

I think pizza might be stretching the Yummy Breakfast theme a bit...

The next package contained a stuffed pear:

And a stuffed mushroom:

Both are made of organic cotton by Under the Nile. Although these are touted as being safe to chew on, I haven't tried it yet. So far they seem happy to be in their bowls in the kitchen.

Merry Christmas from Food With Eyes!

When I think of my favorite things, food with eyes and diners immediately come to mind (followed closely by schnitzel with noodles). So what could be better than a diner with anthropomorphic food? How about a Christmas diner with anthropomorphic food? That's just what M&M's was thinking when they released their Official M&M's Brand Christmas Village Diner in 1996.

Here are the M&M's listening to the jukebox and ordering their burgers and fries:

Spinning some platters and playing music:

Sipping an ice cream soda:

Looking cool and hula hooping:

Open 24 hours!

It's all very official:

Apparently, M&M's released a whole series of tins from 1995-2005. You can find them here. Photo booth and recording studio? They were really grasping at straws toward the end. At least they didn't get to nursing home and funeral parlor!

Happy Holidays!

Green Saturday

If you're like most Americans, you overindulged on pumpkin pie, candied yams, and mashed potatoes on Thursday then gorged on shopping on Black Friday. Today, Green Saturday, you can make up for your excesses by returning to a healthy diet of food with eyes. Here are a few activities to remind you what you should be eating (click for full size image):

These activity pages are courtesy of the children's activities table at the year-round Schenectady Green Market.

Happy Thanksgiving!