Celebrating the Chinese New Year in Good Taste

The Chinese government has issued a particularly "tasty" stamp for the Chinese New Year. This year's "Year of the Pig" features a charming little stamp that when scratched smells like the aroma of sweet-and-sour pork, and if that's not enough flavoring for you, then go ahead and lick the back of the stamp for a burst of sweet-and-sour flavor too. Chinese New Year begins February 18th, and I am thinking of purchasing these stamps just to send out as decorations to my foodie friends. (The photo down below is from Chinadaily.com.)

Doing a little research on these New Year stamps, I discovered there is a whole world out there of scratch-and-sniff and lick stamps. New Zealand produced a stamp that smelled of magnolias, while the romantic Australian postal service produced a Valentine's Day stamp with a rose scented scratch-and-sniff. The Swiss have given the world chocolate scented stamps, while Hong Kong produced green tea flavored stamps.

Here's a "tart" quip from Canada's Globe and Mail in 2001 responding to the British developing a eucalyptus scented stamp to commemorate the 2001 Nobel Prizes in Medicine:  "Inhalation is the sincerest form of philately. Scratching the new British postage stamp honoring the Nobel Prize for medicine will release the scent of eucalyptus, which may be particularly thrilling for those koalas on your Christmas-card list."

 

Comments

[MegFox]

LOL! The "Year of the Pig" stamp gives me such a chuckle, and a little dose of aroma therapy sounds like just the thing for tackling that monthly stack of bills.

With Chinese New Year coming up, I thought I’d mention a fantastic organization called Half the Sky.
http://www.halfthesky.org
Their goal “is to ensure that every one of China's orphans has a caring adult in her life.” They also have a wonderful “Kids4Kids” section with ideas for our own children who would like to help other children.

Here’s a little folktale from their site:
Holding up Half the Sky
One day an elephant saw a hummingbird lying on its back with its tiny feet up in the air. "What are you doing?" asked the elephant.

The hummingbird replied, "I heard that the sky might fall today, and so I am ready to help hold it up, should it fall."

The elephant laughed cruelly. "Do you really think," he said, "that those tiny feet could help hold up the sky?"

The hummingbird kept his feet up in the air, intent on his purpose, as he replied, "Not alone. But each must do what he can. And this is what I can do."
— A Chinese Folktale

best,
Meg Fox

P.S. Midori, many thanks for your reply re Arthur Szyk! I recently picked up a new edition of the original 1945 Anderson’s fairy tales and was dismayed to find that many of his most beautiful illustrations had been deleted. Cost or another case of a watered down version? I wonder.

[midori]

What a cool program for orphan kids. I watched their video and it's really wonderful. Thank you for this link!