Although I don't generally collect kitchen tools, I found this at a church yard sale today and just could not resist! After all, it's a POPIEL...."But wait, there's more" as Ron Popiel used to say about his Ronco products.....not only is it a Popiel Product, but it is marked No. 9. What does that mean? Uhh....I do not know. I really had no idea when I picked up this gadget, just what exactly it was called or what it was designed to be used for. I just knew I wanted it.
Unfortunately, my husband found a use for Popiel No. 9 as soon as he took it from my hands....he used it to tickle my sides right there in the church gym!
Knowing that there had to be some unique purpose for Popiel No. 9, I came home and did a little "Googling". Soon I found that this handy-dandy aluminum gadget was straight from the 1950's, designed by Ron's father, Samuel Popiel, and was intended to be used as corn tongs....or tongs for picking up whatever hot thingy you are cooking. They do seem as though they would work very well.
In my "Googling" I found that Dan Bentley is a artist who made a sculpture called Poppi and incorporated these tongs into his sculpture.
I don't think I will be starting a kitchen tool collection, and I doubt I'll be adding to my Popiel collection either. I don't have room to store many Chop-O-Matic or Veg-O-Matic's and have no desire for a Pocket Fisherman.
