Friday 14 December 2007

EAT ME!

Walking down Jermyn Street, the other day, I glanced up and noticed the sign for Wiltons Restaurant with its Champagne Charlie Lobster-about-town raising a glass of bubbly in welcome...


I was reminded of those figurines of pigs dressed in butcher's boater and apron (and usually holding a cleaver) which used to populate the windows of butcher's shops when I was a boy. Since then, of course, there have been any number of commercials featuring talking chickens, pigs, sausages, eggs and other foodstuffs. But however amusing the execution, the concept of animals - even lobsters - inviting me to eat them has always made me feel more than a little queasy.


I wonder if vegetarians feel equally uncomfortable about talking vegetables?

2 comments:

Boll Weavil said...

You only have to look at the Muppet Christmas Carol opening scenes to see vegetables getting really upset by the prospect of being stolen, Mr B.Presumably this means they were happy to be eaten by a legitimate purchaser but not feloniously. Re the animals, this avenue has already been explored by Douglas Adams in 'The Restaurant at the End of the Universe' - an eatery that specialised in breeding creatures for the sole purpose of selling themselves as a dish.Peter Davidson plays The Main Course excellently in the TV adaptation, enthusiatically recommending his liver to prospective diners."It must be very tender by now.I've been force-feeding myself for months"

Anonymous said...

Ahhh... "The Big Chicken." People from the town in Marietta, GA that is host to that famous KFC sign often give directions with reference to it.

As such, you get things like:

"Two lights down from The Big Chicken" and "in the shadow of The Big Chicken."