Let the buffet begin!

The name “Gadget-Buffet” was conjured up by some of the masterminds of the internet community. I hesitate to mention names, but you can take it as read that only the cream of the crop entered the board room, rsvp in hand, to start the process. After weeks of negotiation, settlements transferred and paperwork filed – the name was finally decided upon and this beautiful website was born.

Of course – that’s not entirely true: but it’s still a cool name! On the back of the launch of our spanking new website we’ve decided that a food-gadget post would be well suited early doors. So here; for your lunching pleasure, are a couple of examples of how gadgets have hit the dining table.

Constructive Eating Set

Any inventions that are designed to help kids along their learning way is an instant hit with us, and this is absolutely no exception. Quite simply a set of cutlery fused with a set of toys.

Each piece of cutlery is shaped like some kind of cool digger, so your nipper can have a wail of a time excavating their mash, bulldozing peas by the dozen or spearing carrots with a forklift. Perfect if you want to get them used to their first knife and fork while giving them a bit of space to enjoy themselves.

Between us we’ve got a host of stories about learning to eat when we were kids and the common theme was remembering that food was a lot more edible when it was accompanied with “here comes the choo-choo!” or something similar. This innovative idea lets kids discover for themselves that eating can be fun, the only issue is getting them to eat with something else after they’ve taken to building-works-dinner!

This one is our particular favourite because it ads a new dimension to meal times – sure we’ve all eaten with knives and forks, but where were these when bangers and mash was on the menu? Brilliant! They’re selling at £12.99 a set and you can find more details here.

Verdict: this could be the solution to a lot of problem children of today so we’re endorsing this one 100%. Just so long as there’s a distinction between these things as cutlery and the other diggers as toys this could be a success through and through.

Trongs

First up is the poor mans answer to a wash basin. The best way to describe this little thing is a cross between chop-sticks and those flimsy plastic fangs you see selling dirt cheap at Halloween. The following is their in house description.

This is the official website for the world’s first fully functional finger-food utensil. Trongs are designed for eating foods such as buffalo wings and BBQ ribs without making a mess. They are also perfect for food prep such as breading chicken cutlets.

A far cry from a “utensil” in our book: they are essentially temporary covers for your fingers so that you can whip them off and get on with the rest of the day without having to get “the unavoidable mess and sticky fingers” that are “just part of the process”. Well, for me that seems like a bit of a crazy thing to be saying. For anyone else that loves their food wouldn’t it be agreeable that the textures on your hands are part of the experience?

Maybe we’re crazy here, but, cramp aside, this seems to be an expensive alternative to napkins that will require just as much cleaning (if not more going by the amount of corners and grooves on the design) as cutlery, and a damn sight more than your fingers!

That said: it’s a new idea and there may well be a use for these things that we’ve not seen yet. You can visit their website here. (Be warned: if you’ve got your sound up it’s going to be a shock. The site itself makes popping sounds left right and center (and the Trongs Game is no exception)). They’re going at $9.95 for 6 pairs (£6.20 or so).

Verdict: Not for us, but the Dr Zoidberg wannabes out there will have a field day.