True Stories #401 - Blue Plate Special

Could you eat a delicious steak...if it was dyed blue?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
I'm Seth Andrews, and what you're about to hear is
a true story. Al was a quirky guy who loved
a good practical joke or a bad one, depending on
who you are. I know, practical jokes are very polarizing.

(00:22):
Some people think they're hysterical, other people find them juvenile, degrading,
even humiliating. But almost everybody who knew Al knew that
this was how he rolled. Practical jokes, especially at dinner parties,
really amused him. And perhaps one of the more bizarre
practical jokes he ever pulled at a banquet was a

(00:45):
banquet in blue and I'll tell you more about that
in just a second. Al had a lot of food
related quirks. Even when he was a kid. His parents
talked about how one night they got up in the
middle of the night, he was awake downstairs in the kitchen.
He was sitting there, eating cold meats and crying. At

(01:07):
the dinner table. Al had a problem with eggs and cheese.
He hated the shape of eggs and the shape of cheese.
He didn't want to be anywhere near them. He would
make references to strange foods in his life and his
work for decades, just one of those odd idiosyncrasies to
go along with all of the other quirks. Well, the

(01:29):
nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties saw more than their fair
share of socializing by socialites, and Al was right there.
He was hosting and scheming. Al had long been fascinated
by psychology, human perception, the quirks we have when we
are placed in uncomfortable situations. And on one night, Al

(01:52):
planned a big party and he instructed his dinner party chef.
He said, I want you to prepare everything so that
it is colored blue. Just dye everything blue. Now, this
was a spring soiree in the sixties, so guests might
have expected bright and vibrant colors, more suitable to Easter

(02:15):
or May flowers or the approaching summer sun. But when
they arrived at Al's special night, they were not presented
with colorful cuisine. As they were seated at each table,
the food on the plates was hidden by a silver
catering dish cover. And then finally, when everybody had taken
their seat and those covers were lifted, imagine everybody's shocked

(02:39):
to see that everything was blue. Imagine it you're presented
with a food item that you would normally love to eat.
A leafy salad with vinaigrette dressing, filet mignon, roasted carrots, asparagus,
smashed potatoes, bread and butter, washed down with a smooth cabernet.

(03:01):
Perhaps a piece of white cake for dessert, except the
cake isn't white. Nothing is white. Would you still be
able to enjoy the delicious taste of steak if it
was dyed blue? Could you close your eyes and trick
your brain into enjoying blue carrots, blue asparagus, blue potatoes,

(03:23):
blue wine, etc. Well, we can rest assured that when
Al tried out this little experiment on his surprised guests,
especially knowing his fascination with human behavior, he was watching
everybody like a hawk. There was shock, There were smiles,
there were people not smiling. Al saw some guests quickly

(03:47):
get into the moment, go with the flow, enjoy the stunt.
They dove right into those plates of blue food, while
others looked down like everything had been soaked in liquid detergent,
and many of the people in attendance could not even start,
let alone finish the meal. Michigan State University published an

(04:09):
article back in twenty seventeen that talked about eating with
all of our senses and not just taste. And yes,
our site plays a massive role in the foods we
choose to eat. The eyes send images to the brain.
The brain tells us how the food is going to taste.
We are being prepared psychologically for what we are about

(04:31):
to put in our mouth. We use site to determine
whether something is properly cooked, or it's old or cold,
fresh or rotten, choice or cheap. It's not the nose
or mouth that first size up, shape, temperature, texture, etc.
It's the eyes, and how we see sometimes affects how

(04:51):
good the food actually tastes. A great example is a
finding from the MSU Department of Food Science that revealed
in a servant that more often than not, people thought
hot chocolate was more delicious when it was served in
an orange mug. The liquid itself was exactly the same,

(05:11):
but colors changed the game. Imagine if the mug had
been blue, or better yet, imagine if the hot chocolate
had been blue, just like all of those entrees, sides, beverages,
and desserts had been blue at Owl's dinner party in
the nineteen sixties. Could you munch down on sapphire steak,

(05:33):
cobalt colored corn, sky blue salad, and Byzantine Brussels sprouts.
If so, you might have been right at home at
one of Owl's many dinner parties, where his practical jokes
often revealed so much about human nature. And I guess
it's not surprising that Awl was so fascinated with human nature,

(05:56):
especially in uncomfortable moments. This was a common theme in
his work as a film director, where he so often
probed the dark side of the human condition. And yes,
I'm talking about the late, great and very quirky Alfred Hitchcock.

(06:23):
There is very little doubt that when Hitchcock served his
movie star guests those blue colored meats, veggies, sauces and sweets,
more than a few must have thought that he had
gone completely psycho. And that's a true story. True Stories

(06:49):
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