Monday, April 14, 2008

The Dinner Mainstay

On the surface, we have another fun-loving parade of undead food items. (Remember these high-stepping shills?) Their status as living things—animals, the lowest living things in creation!—is long behind them. But that doesn't stop the chops from waving their parsley to the crowd, big, sincere smiles on their meaty faces. Even the oven-fresh roast (playing the role of parade float) is in on the fun. Of course, he looks a little simple. Or drunk. Or… is it possible that's embarrassment playing across his features?

Part inducement, part indoctrination, this thing is all propaganda!

This quaint image comes from a vintage cookbook. One cannot help but wonder at its purpose. It doesn't illustrate a thorny cooking technique. It doesn't offer a handy reminder of the ingredients required for an especially tricky dish. But you're looking at this all wrong.

This illustration has nothing to do with cooking. It has everything to do with a sinister alliance between church and state. In this case, between the church of suicidefoodism and the United States. There is, of course, the implication that animals want to die for you. That, even after they've been turned into food, they still can't stop their happy marching toward your mouth. But it's more than that.

The caption brings it home: "For most Americans meat is the dinner mainstay."

In other words: You will eat meat. Unless you're one of them borscht-swilling, vodka-downing reds, you'll eat meat and like it. (And, yes, naturally, the animals will like it too.)

And, this being propaganda, nuance is an unaffordable luxury. Read what this thing actually says. Meat is the dinner mainstay. What kind of meat? Prepared in what way? Who cares! It's meat, and that's all you need to know! "What's for dinner, Mom?" Meat! Shut up and choke it down.

(Thanks to Dr. Cowtools for the referral.)

2 comments:

bazu said...

what are those squiggly lines? this is the first suicide food I've seen that takes putrefaction into glorious visual account!

Ben said...

Our first thought was that they were signa intoxicatorum, or "drunk lines." Now we just don't know what to think.