Playing with Food1 Playing with food is an adventure that lets you carve and slice your way into new and fun territory. For a new look at food, now you have permission to make imaginative, often beautiful creatures out of everyday fruits and vegetables – nature’s healthiest foods. It is a new way of looking and seeing. The play is easy – and so much fun you’ll laugh your way to a totally fresh appreciation of food. It starts at your supermarket or produce stand. You look at the fruits and vegetables with a new eye – an eye now hunting for faces and animals, and creatures within their shapes and contours. You pick up a pepper or potato or radish; turn it around in your hand until – voilà! Then you can scamper home to play with it. Your creative input may perhaps require a slit for the mouth, peppercorns for eyes, two slices for ears, some stems for legs. Before you know it, you’ve got your very own vegetable zoo. It is all part of the process of broadening your personal vision of the world around you. In making sense of things, we’re always searching for correspondences – animals that look like people, gadgets that look like animals, clouds that look like landscapes. Now you’ll have a parade of characters made from common fruits and vegetables – an edible edifying pastime that is pure, spontaneous fun, opening your eyes to a new world of living creatures. This much is for sure: you’ll never look at fruit or vegetables the same way again. Play Dough (Non-edible) Recipe 1 c. flour 1 c. water ½ c. salt 2 tsp. cream of tartar 1 tsp. oil Food coloring In a saucepan – place water, oil, and food coloring and stir. Add the remaining ingredients. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Turn onto a cool surface and knead. Store in an airtight container. Yields: many hours of creative fun! 1 Adapted from: Franklin Elementary School Sampler Cookbook, Franklin Parents Club, 1983-84.