Maybe it is just a dwindling attention span, but I like playing with my food. I don’t mean that if you take me to a fancy restaurant I turn into an orangutan and throw things in the air or peel bananas with my feet.* But things like Rosca de reyes make eating a playful experience.

At a local sushi restaurant, Ally and I ordered what they called the Roulette Roll. Served in a circle, one of the eight pieces of sushi was filled with chili seasoning. Each bite of the roll became a risky dare.

So when we bought these Skittles yesterday, I was pretty excited. It’s pretty awesome to be able to buy food that deceives you.

And then Ally pointed out that pretty much every pack of Skittles I eat functions this way. Being colorblind pretty much ensures that I never know exactly what colored candy I’m eating. Jelly Beans, in particular, are a dangerous proposition…

There has to be something rewarding in encouraging kids to hack their food, right? Turn your licorice into a straw, pretend a gummy bear is a festering boil on your face, make those bread rolls do the Charlie Chaplin dance… aside from embarrassing parents, that’s surely fostering valuable out-of-the-box thinking.

* Though to be fair, if I was actually capable of peeling bananas with my feet, I would probably do so all the time and in as public of places as possible.