Papaya Dolphins

Because a day without papaya dolphins is like a day without… surrealist poetry. And somewhere in an alternate universe kids are eating Dolphin Papayas, tender cakes of processed dolphin shaped like bright tropical fruit. Flipper is the new supper. Somewhere else, kids are going to bed hungry, unable to enjoy the simple pleasure of a can of papaya dolphins with the handy pop-n-peel lid. It's not nice to fool Mother Nature, or mother Fool Nature. I think that's what I said.

I bought some cans of Papaya Dolphins at an old-style mom-and-pop grocery near Nezu Jinja two years ago for the ridiculously low price of ¥80 and gave some to friends as earthquake survival chow. Ate them around the time they expired. Never saw them again. It would be the perfect solstice food, except for it being canned and all. Like if you were in Antarctica and had no access to fresh fruit. Or if you were working six days a week in the rainy season and had no time to go out and get real food, and it was an alternative to crappier food like cup-noodle. I like the mix of Japanese and English on the label, even though they were made in Thailand. Reminds me of a brief gig I had teaching English to Thai managers of a joint venture with British Metal Box (a wireless horseless Britishism for "can") near Songkhla or Hat Yai. Click on the label on the right to see a large scan of it. Hey, there are some errors in the English. Come to think of it, I suppose the "Dole" label is fake, too.