The Hanshin Department Store Small Bird Expo, which ran from May 8th through May 13th in Osaka, Japan was rather unremarkable as small bird festivals go... that is, if you didn't eat anything while you were there. If you did satisfy your munchies, and more importantly, enjoyed the munchables, then the nice people at Torimi Cafe would like to hear from you.

Torimi Cafe is one of Japan's famous pet cafes, in this case featuring birds. Enjoying a snack or a meal there must be a *cough* interesting *cough* experience, the coughing being a consequence of having 36 pet birds fluttering about the shop... customers are advised to keep their ordered edibles covered.

Eager to boost business and irrespective of any Avian Flu fears, Torimi Cafe hooked up with organizers of the Hanshin Department Store Small Bird Expo. By providing a tasty trio of bird-themed ice creams to be sold at the festival, the two partners hoped to raise public awareness of their respective operations. By pushing the “bird-flavored” angle, they managed to succeed above all expectations!

Let's dig in, shall we? The all-natural ingredient ice creams come in Java Sparrow, Parakeet and Cockatiel flavors with bright, colorful graphics on each tub leading one to believe the cool deserts actually were made from actual all-natural birds. Not quite, but close enough to be seriously creepy.

Java Sparrow ice cream carries a vanilla overtone enlivened by the presence of various grains and tiny marshmallows. The latter, according to Torimi Cafe, are meant to invoke “the feeling of pressing the breast of a Java Sparrow into your mouth.” Riiight, because just about everyone (possibly excepting Java Sparrows) loves that feeling.

Bird-Flavored Ice Cream Is Cheep & Delicious!

Parakeet ice cream is infused with honey and apples, plus healthy grains any parakeet would love to eat. Never mind the fact that parakeets will not be eating this ice cream, by the way. How to describe the experience of enjoying Parakeet ice cream? “It's like eating some vanilla ice cream in one hand and then taking a whiff of a parakeet in your other hand.” Thanks, Torimi Cafe, we'll get back to you on that.

Last but not least, Cockatiel ice cream also features a honey-apple flavor profile but instead of grains, sunflower and pumpkin seeds are substituted... and you really don't want to know why, but you're going to find out anyway: you know that feeling “when you're sleeping with your mouth open and your cockatiel runs over your face and gets its leg in your mouth?” No? Crack open a tub of Torimi Cafe's Cockatiel ice cream and savor the next best thing to it. 

Bird-Flavored Ice Cream Is Cheep & Delicious!

As mentioned, the three frosty (but thankfully not feathery) tweets, er, treats were made for the Hanshin Department Store Small Bird Expo but against all odds, they received an emphatic thumbs-up from the public. This is all the encouragement Torimi Cafe needs to roll out their bird-flavored ice creams on a wider stage. Or perch, whatever. One question... should one eat it over a newspaper? (via Rocketnews24, Naver Matome, and Torimi Cafe)




Share Your Thoughts!