[thechat] Replacement of Marshmallows

[Erika Meyer]

Paul, I don't know if you have children yet... but I can't wait...

Son: "daddy, why are eyeballs squishy?"

Paul: "well, son, you see, the gelatinous structure of the cell walls
can be attributed to the arrangement of molecules... and here, let's
build a model with toothpicks and marshmallows... "

Son: "daddy, what's a marshmallow?"

Paul: "Well, a 'marshmallow' is technically a plant that grows in swamp..."

Syed, you may as well give up.  There is no earthly replacement for
marshmallows.  You must strive to further westernize your country so
that you will no longer be deprived of important and useful items
such as this.

Good luck,

Erika

PS The "squishy eyeballs" question was actually posed to me by my
daughter about 2 years ago.

Paul wrote:
>Well, a 'marshmallow' is technically a plant that grows in swamps,
>but usually it refers to a kind of confectionery which (I think) used
>to be flavoured with this plant, but is now artificially flavoured (much
>like pretty much any sweet that is 'banana' or 'vanilla' flavoured,
>these days, has no actual banana or vanilla in it).
>
>The sweet is very hard to explain; it's mostly sugar, slightly gelatinous,
>very 'squishy' and chewy. They are commonly 'roasted' by impaling them
>on sticks and holding them over a fire when camping.
>
>What they call a 'large' marshmallow would be about the size of... maybe
>a strawberry? A 'small' one would be about the size of a grape.

--