Bog Bars (AP Photo/Matthew Mead)
Doctor Dreadful Zombie Lab
Frightful foods full of goo and gore have crept up onto our Halloween tables.
Cookies shaped like bones are accompanied by blood-red pureed fruit dips.
Green guacamole is positioned to pour from the open mouth of a carved pumpkin centerpiece. Disembodied rubber limbs and hands find their way into punch bowls.
Appetizers are molded to look like dismembered fingers, eyeballs and internal organs. And desserts are topped with candies that look like worms and dirt.
On every other day of the year, cooks work hard to make sure their featured foods don’t look gross. Yet, Halloween offers an opportunity for a bit of rebellion by having fun with food and incorporating it into the décor.
But do people really like eating things that look disgusting? I guess it just depends on how good the food tastes in relationship to how disgusting it looks.
A new toy, clearly marketed to the young boy demographic, puts that theory to the test. It’s called Dr. Dreadful Zombie Lab and the suggested retail price is $24.99. The folks at Spin Master made the lab so kids ages 5 and up can create terrifying treats.
And terrifying they are.
Kids can cook up bubbly brains or zombie skin from edible concoctions. As if that is not enough, there is also a “barf beverage” to make.
We asked a co-worker’s son Louis, 7, to test Zombie Lab. Here’s what he had to say:
The look of the lab: “Weird, kind of.”
Is it scary?: “No”
Would other kids like this? “Yes and no. Maybe.”
The best candy: “The gummy anything. The spider was good. The zombie skin was kind of good.”
The worst candy: “The barf. It didn’t have much taste. I didn’t like the brains.”
The experiments: “I think all of them were fun. It’s fun making them.”
Would you use it again?: “Yeah. I want to make some more.”
When asked why he wanted to make more, even though he did not care for some of the candy, Louis said: “We can make them for gifts.”
Louis’ summary: “The fun factor is that you get to make them. It’s homemade.”
There you have it. It is homemade. And his mom said that her kids were “super excited putting it together as a getting-ready-for-Halloween treat.”
So maybe making something, and having fun doing it, makes anything worthwhile.
At Halloween or any time of year.
