Sunday, January 22, 2006

Fascist Gourmet

We do a lot of Chinese and Asian Fusion cooking at home, so we are no strangers to the mushroom section at our local Wegmans. My favorite mushroom variety is the tasty and versatile shiitake. The conveniently pre-sliced shiitake's that we usually get are grown in Avondale, PA by our good friends at To-Jo Fresh Mushrooms.



Am I the only one who finds it strange that a company that grows Japan's most treasured mushroom has a name eerily reminiscent of that country's wartime Prime Minister and convicted war criminal, Hideki Tojo? What's next? Hit-Ler's Choice sauerkraut? I'm guessing To-Jo is a combination of two red-blooded American names like Tom and Joe and is neither a tribute to Imperial Japan nor a deliberate attempt at irony.

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1 comment:

Unknown said...

I believe the reason Hirohito was spared was so the allies could use him as a figurehead to help sway Japanese public opinion. I imagine that having a guy whom the Japanese people deified (at least, until he was forced to renounce his divine right after the surrender) on your side would be very useful in trying to build a modern, democratic society.

1/23/2006 10:25 AM

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