Welcome to Delicious or Distressing, where we rate recent food memes, videos, and other entertainment news. Last week we discussed a restaurant’s fee for unruly children.
We remember it well. In Arizona, Wanda Dench, intending to text her grandson about Thanksgiving plans, mistakenly reached Jamal Hinton instead. Hinton cheekily asked if he, too, could join the party. The text exchange easily could have fizzled there, relegated to a “wrong number who dis” fate. Instead, Dench invited Jamal into her home on that fateful Thanksgiving in 2016 and each year since. It’s a warm hug of a story. This year’s soirée is bound to be even bigger: If your Thanksgiving itinerary hasn’t yet been locked, you can join in on all that conviviality this year by booking a stay with them on Airbnb, the duo announced this week.
Also this week, Joe Jonas spotted Nathan Fielder at a restaurant and sent a drink over to him, who returned the favor by sending Jonas a tiny bowl of mayonnaise. Eggo inexplicably released a Roomba-esque vacuum, decorated like a mobile waffle, and we tried it to see if it actually works. Lastly, Perdue released a chicken feed for humans, because why not I guess?
Read more below on this week’s food news around the internet.
The “strangers” who accidentally spent Thanksgiving together seven years ago are inviting you to their eighth
’Tis mercifully the season where the media cycle allows us, the loyal eyeballs that we are, our yearly quota of heartwarming stories. And this one’s a true hot water bottle tucked in bed. A cozy pair of matching flannel pajamas. A melty s’more by a crackling fire. (I’m simply drunk on the vibes.) Remember Thanksgiving’s most adorable duo? I’m talking about Wanda Dench (66) and Jamal Hinton (24), whose story begins in 2016. The meet-cute goes like this: Dench thinks she’s texting her grandson to come over for din-dins, but actually, she messages Hinton, who was like, “lmao wrong number but can I come over for din-dins?” And so Dench, being cute and iconic, actually invited Jamal—and they’ve been celebrating the holiday together ever since.
Here’s where you come in: This season, they’re inviting more randos to the Thanksgiving aww-fest. Dench will host two people at her Arizona home on November 20, and you can request to book the spot on Airbnb’s website beginning November 14. All the traditional Thanksgiving dishes will be there, such as mashed potatoes and Wanda’s famous Costco pumpkin pie. It’ll be chill and wholesome but pack something nice; you don’t want to look like a turkey in the pair’s annual selfie. I’m rating this blessed moment a 5/5 delectable. —Ali Francis, staff writer
Joe Jonas sent Nathan Fielder a drink at a restaurant, who sent back mayo
TikTok content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
Singer Joe Jonas found himself eating at the same restaurant as comedian Nathan Fielder one recent evening, and he’s shared a FaceTime-style video on social media recounting his experience. Naturally, as a kind, acknowledging gesture, Jonas sent a drink to Fielder’s table. Upon receipt of said drink, Fielder sent to Jonas, in return, a side of mayonnaise. This cheeky celebrity interaction validates why I find Nathan Fielder to be so utterly hilarious. What better way to say thank you than with a side of mayonnaise? I wish I could’ve been the waiter hearing and delivering this request. And I do have a few lingering questions: What kind of drink did Jonas send to Fielder’s table? More importantly, what kind of mayonnaise? Was it good? Has Nathan done this before? What I do know now: Nathan Fielder’s deadpan sense of humor carries off-screen and I’m eating it all up. 4.9/5 delicious. —Julia Duarte, designer
Eggo made a waffle-shaped vacuum. Is it just a gag or does it actually work?
For the sake of scientific research, I have released a laser-guided, waffle-shaped robotic mop into my home. It’s currently downstairs using LiDAR to map my living room while simultaneously vacuuming the carpet and babysitting both of my toddlers. The inevitable collaboration of Eggo (the waffle company) and Bissell Vacuums (of vacuum fame) produced this new addition to my family, dubbed The EggoVac: a Bissell Spinwave R5 robotic mop and vacuum, dressed in delicious, waffly imagery.
The precision of the mechanical mop-waffle is both unsettling and impressive. On day one EggoVac crawled about, drawing a near-perfect floor plan of my house, including all furniture placement. Via the phone app, I’ve scheduled him to wake up and clean specific regions of the house, e.g. the sandy beach of crumbs my kids leave under our breakfast table each morning, a task he conquers while weaving around a maze of chair legs. When transformed into mop-mode, WaffleBot (my three-year old named him) capably soaks up the slurry of milk, juice, and mystery goo that coats our wood floors, somehow avoiding carpets and rugs using…lasers or something? This would all be seriously off-putting coming from a cold, soulless machine, but in the form of a buttery waffle drizzled with syrup, EggoVac is fairly disarming. My kids constantly chase it around the house laughing, and the $150 price tag costs less than a day of daycare for them. Sure, it occasionally gets stuck under the couch and needs rescuing, but so does my 10-month-old daughter, and she does way less cleaning. 5/5 delicious. —Dan Siegel, senior director of creative development, video
Perdue made chicken feed for humans
To prove that its chickens get high-quality feed, Perdue released Chix Mix—a snack mix made with essentially the same ingredients as the company’s chicken feed. If you're curious, said ingredients include corn, edamame, and wheat as well as “a dash of tasty BBQ spices just for humans,’ per Perdue's press release. This last part, of course, begs the question: Why aren’t the chickens allowed some BBQ spices? I'm sure they’d enjoy a little spice, a little sparkle, a little flavor in their feed. Sure, it’s great that we're claiming to give our chickens hormone-free whole foods or whatever, but isn't that all canceled out if it doesn’t taste like barbecue? Chickens have taste buds too. Justice for them. I’m rating this a 1.1/5 distressing. —Sam Stone, staff writer