Izz, what are you doing? Playing with your food again?
No, Dex. I'm making vegetable instruments, like the amazing Vienna Vegetable Orchestra. They play all their concerts on instruments they make out of veggies!
It sounds cool, but you're wasting all that food. That's not very green of you.
Actually it is. Part of being green is finding other uses for the stuff you already have and trying to make as little waste as possible. I'm going to cook these veggies for dinner ... after I perform the Pachel-bell-pepper Canon.
What do they do when the instruments start to rot? Ew, moldy music...
This orchestra has a chef! At the end of every concert, he makes the instruments into soup to share with everyone in the audience. A ticket buys you a concert and dinner!
Alright Izz, I get your point. Instruveggies rock. BURP!
What the... Dex!! Did you eat my cucumberphone?!
What? I was just helping you achieve zero waste!
I needed that for the cucumber chorus! Good thing I wrote up these instructions as I went along. See, I put together a little how-to guide showing how to make a Carrot Strummer and an Eggplant Clapper.
Have you made an edible instrument? Tell us about it.
Carrot Strummer
- Get a big fat carrot, a cutting board, and a small knife. Check with a grownup before you use the knife.
- Cut the skinny end and the leaf end off of the carrot. You can munch on these, you won't need them.
- Cut a round slice off one end of the carrot. Don't let anyone eat this, it will be your pick (what you use to strum the instrument).
- Holding the carrot on the cutting board with your hand away from the knife, make a cut to about the center of the carrot, but don't cut straight down, cut at an angle.
- Make another cut next to this at the opposite angle so that the two cuts meet and you cut a triangle piece out of the carrot. You can eat that sliver too.
- Keep slicing to cut more slivers just like this all along the length of the carrot.
- You're done! Take the pick you cut earlier and use it to strum the carrot. Ah, what a beautiful sound.
- When you're done playing your strummer, wash it, chop it up, and make a tasty meal!
Eggplant Clapper
- Get a medium-sized eggplant, a cutting board, and a knife. Check with a grownup before you use the knife.
- Hold the stem end of the eggplant and put it on the cutting board. Slowly cut a horizontal slit in the eggplant starting from the bottom and stopping before you get to the stem area.
- Cut one more slit above the first and one below it. If your eggplant is very fat you can try cutting more slits.
- You're done! Holding the stem end, wave the eggplant so the slices flap around making lovely music.
- When you're done playing your clapper, wash it, chop it up, and make a delicious meal!
