Friday Follies: O No, You Got a Spork in the Salad Shooter!

There have been many great inventions that help us prepare and enjoy food and drink. My personal choices include the wok, long chopsticks, charcoal (and the fire to go with it), microwave oven, convection oven, refrigerator (and freezer), cast-iron skillets, and the tin can. Shoot, some of these have extra duties around the house: Wok for oil changes, chopsticks for knitting sweaters, cast iron skillets for a spouse to express her dislike of your late-night outings. (I’m speaking hypothetically on that last one.)

There are lists of recent cool gadgets, some of which may have staying power. There are also lists of the fundamental tools and appliances, and I’m sure you can come up with your own in short order. (Get it? Short Order? I still crack me up.)

What you probably don’t have is a complete list of the ten food and drink inventions we never needed in the first place.

Well, the ever-vigilant and hardworking (don’t forget, hardworking) elves here your favorite place for food news, the Chile Underground, have got you covered. Here’s the top ten list, complete with pictures, so you don’t have to make your own!

The spork would certainly make my list. I’m not that against the wine bottle stoppers. And yes, I own a Salad Shooter. Used it this week, in fact. Sure sped up making a mountain of cole slaw.

What I want to know is, if the quesadilla maker’s on the list, then why isn’t the gizmo for making sliders on your grill? If the poacher’s gotta go, then so do the Egg Genie and the EZ Egg Cracker (not to mention the Electric Egg Scrambler). And do we really need a collapsible pie cutter? (What’s a collapsible pie, anyways?)

Some of the items we include in the “don’t need” pile include those hand-crank egg beaters. This one’s actually in the “good idea, for its time, but bad execution” category. Only a really good one has a chance. Or what about rolling pin spacer rings? What’s wrong with rubber bands, if you really need something? (How exact do these things really need to be?)

Finally, our choices simply have to include the NANA Saver Banana Holder. Who ever wants to save half a banana? Talk about excessively anal-retentive detail-oriented…

Enjoy the (Gadjet Madness) Heat!