Welcome Home

Welcome home to the Food with Eyes gang who have just returned from an unprecedented two month showing at the Schenectady County Public Library's children's room display case!


I was told by the librarian that many children were delighted by the display, and I did witness at least one child being delighted myself. I would like to think the display stayed up for two months instead of the customary one month because it was such a success, but I suspect they couldn't find another collection for October. I haven't seen the November display yet, but I heard it would be bears.

I had selected two books from the library to tie in with the theme. When I took down the display I checked them out of the library and will share them with you here:

First we have The Talking Vegetables as retold by Won-Ldy Paye and Margaret H. Lippert and illustrated by Julie Paschkis:

This is a traditional story from Dan people of Northeastern Liberia.

The story goes like this: all the animals except Spider help to plant a garden. Spider refuses to help, but come harvest time he decides he would like to eat some of the vegetables. So Spider goes to pick a tomato, who to Spider's surprise, vociferously protests.

Next Spider decides to pick some cucumbers, but they, too, tell him he can't since he didn't help with the garden.

Not getting the point, Spider tries for a pumpkin who again castigates him for not helping.

And then the vegetables gang up on him:

I suspect the next scene, which was not illustrated, was something like the tree scene from The Evil Dead.

The second book, Peanut Butter Party by Remy Charlip, lacks a moral about cooperation, as well as a nightmare-inducing vegetable attack.

Instead, this book offers up a host of party ideas centering around peanut butter, such as a costume party:

Featuring a menu of peanut butter on round crackers:

For entertainment, a play where smooth and chunky peanut butter debate their relative merits. The illustration at the bottom depicts the final scene from the all-peanut butter production of Hamlet.

Many thanks to the Schenectady County Public Library for allowing me to share my collection and hopefully inspire future generations of anthropomorphic food enthusiasts.

The Case of the Missing Doughboy

My elementary school sponsored a young authors' contest where every child would write an original story, and the best one from each grade was chosen by a panel of readers. The author of the winning story went to a day-long conference with the winners from all the other elementary schools in the district. Each student read their story, and a copy was even bound and placed in the school’s library. For three years my stories about an adventurous hermit crab were deemed tops. In my final year of elementary school I decided to break new ground and reveal a bit of my unconventional interest. I wrote a story about food with eyes. I didn’t win.

Now, for the first time since 1984, I give you “The Case of the Missing Doughboy:”

(click to read text)

In case it wasn't obvious (and I'm told it's not), the narrator is the enormous stalk of broccoli shown in two of the drawings. I guess I should have stuck with hermit crabs.

The Food Circus

I was asleep, and I heard a noise. It sounded like music. It was coming from the refrigerator. I got up and opened the refrigerator door.


I didn’t believe my eyes! It was a food circus! The cheese was on a merry-go-round, the milk was swallowing fire, and the grapes were on a roller coaster!

All the food was having fun, but suddenly the food went back to its spot and the rides were gone. So I went back to bed.

In the morning I remembered about what I has seen. I went and looked in the refrigerator, but the rides were all gone. The End.

This c. 1979 story marked my first foray into the food with eyes genre of literature. It would probably have been better titled as “The Food Carnival” since there were amusement rides, as well as sideshow acts like fire eating. Although it was somewhat lacking in terms of plot and character development, it did earn me the following Richard Scarry sticker featuring Huckle cat and Lowly worm:

A Talking Yam

Another early food with eyes memory I treasure is reading an African folktale about a talking yam. I read this story in reading class in about second grade or so, and I vividly remember learning the vocabulary word "anthropomorphic." I was pleased to learn there was a specific word to apply to talking inanimate objects.

The folktale belongs to the Ashanti people of Western Africa, and there are many re-tellings of it in children's books, including Too Much Talk. Check out this version on Saints and Spinners.

This image of the talking yam is from children's illustrator Sue Todd. The story has also been featured on the PBS series "Between the Lions" as Oh, Yes It Can. I'm happy to see the story is inspiring new generations of children to contemplate the idea of talking food.