"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!" That English proverb means learn from your mistakes, but at this time of year, fooling is all part of the fun!! Let’s take a look at the word "fool" in its most pleasant connotations. The fool in the dramatic arts is a regular in Shakespeare’s works. Sir William’s fool is effectively a comedian that provides laughter to the theatre using witty social or political messages. Today’s comedians are possibly the wittiest and most current of performers. Comedians like Jim Gaffigan can have you laughing about his food intake by relating it to yours or Jimmy Fallon cleverly uses Twitter, Instagram, or weekly thank-you notes to make us laugh by tying in to social, commercial, and political issues.

But the fool that starts off April is a long standing day reserved to joke, tease, and try to trick others with good-natured humor like tying someone’s shoelaces before they get into them or claiming there is a big storm outside on a sunny day!  April Fool’s Day isn’t quite a “Hallmark” holiday with home décor in every store (like St. Pat’s, Easter, Halloween, or Christmas) though traditions go back to the 1500’s on an international level to poke fun at friends and family.

Illustrator and printmaker, Paul Bommer,  Paulbommerblogspot.co.uk, captures April 1^st with a foolish jester and a mischievous tradition of putting a fish on a person’s back to make them look gullible.

The best thing (in our family) about the first of April is the pranks played using food. The tradition started back when my kids were young enough to be tricked or gullible enough to not expect it. They were of the age when Family Fun Magazine was making an impact at the dentist’s office. I think it was one of those nights when dads were away on business, so my friend and I decided to pull together a funny meal for our kids. I was making pot roast in the Crock pot…so I invited them over for dinner.

My compatriot in crime had gotten the green and orange Starburst (full credit where credit is due) and rolled the apple green candies into green beans --not like the peas shown here-- and cut the orange candies into small diced carrot shapes.

She made Cocoa Krispie bars that looked like meatloaf. We presented perfect plates to the kids with (real) buttered biscuits on the side and full glasses of milk. As the Crockpot wafted the luscious smells of pot roast, we had ‘em!! The first child (aged 7 or so, I’m guessing put her fork into the “carrot” and was up in arms! It was so HARD! Then, that sudden bite and taste of sweetness…and we all started to laugh! BEST April Fool’s Day ever! The kids couldn’t stop eating their dessert for dinner and the pot roast for dessert!

So that tradition of making fake food continued in our house, my fun is creating a meal out of one of the items and masking the fact that it’s fake with real food on the sides. My family would NEVER fall for a full meal of sweets without the proper kitchen smell, so I (unfortunately ) set myself up for always preparing two meals (one real and one fake)!

Top Five Fake Food Tricks  (The Successfully Tried and Tricked!)

The key to trickery in the kitchen is to tie in fake with real, it’s just more believable!

• Fauxberry Pie
• Fakin’ and Eggs --For the fakin'--looks like bacon: Remove the wrapping from a square caramel and a Tootsie Roll Midgee. Microwave the candies for 4 seconds to make them soft. Use your thumb and forefinger to slightly flatten each candy piece, then press them together to show waves like a slice of bacon.(Or you could go to the Costume Shop and come out wearing your own "fakin' bacon!)

• Chicken NOT pie (Vanilla pudding inside a mini crust with candy peas/carrots )
• Cocoa meatloaf and candy veggies
• Grilled Cheese –dessert made with pound cake with grilled marks from my George Foreman grill and cheesy-colored  frosting 

Fauxberry pie (a favorite because it was a meal in the form of a pie (like Shepherd’s pie) that I served with a huge salad and made it look like a light salad/dessert meal…It was rare to trick both my mother and daughter —the best is the smiles when they kind of expect it, but do not really know WHAT to expect!  (http://www.recipe4living.com/recipes/faux_berry_pie.htm)

 At first glance, a slice of this pie appears to offer something sweet: chocolate filling topped with strawberry whipped cream. But unsuspecting diners are in for a surprise.... It's really a shepherd's pie in disguise! Cocoa, molasses, and barbecue sauce give the meat its chocolaty color, while whipped potatoes infused with beet juice complete the deception. The best part of the prank is that you're also making dinner!

• On this day in 1700, English pranksters begin popularizing the annual tradition of April Fool’s Day by playing practical jokes on each other.
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• April Fool’s Day, some speculate, dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes.
• One tradition (which is nicer than a “kick-me” sign on someone’s back) is to stick a paper fish referred to as “poisson d’avril” (April fish) as a symbol of a young, easily caught fish—or a gullible person.
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• Historians have also linked April Fool’s Day to ancient festivals such as Hilaria, which was celebrated in Rome at the end of March and involved people dressing up in disguises.
• There’s also speculation that April Fool’s Day was tied to the vernal equinox, or first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature fooled people with changing, unpredictable weather.
• In modern times, some April Fool’s jokes are publicized in the media-- newspapers, radio and TV stations and Web sites have participated in the April 1st tradition of reporting outrageous fictional claims that have fooled their audiences. In 1996, Taco Bell, the fast-food restaurant chain, duped people when it announced it had agreed to purchase Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell and intended to rename it the Taco Liberty Bell.   Trivia from www.history.com and www.timeandspace.com

"Give me all the bacon and eggs you have. I'm afraid you heard, 'Give me a lot of bacon and eggs.' What I said was, give me all the bacon and eggs you have." -Ron Swanson.

Quote from television show, Parks & Recreation, Image from Screenfunk.com

A special gift for all of our loyal followers: visit letter2word.com and use promo code Foolproof and receive 30% off your purchase. This offer expires April 3rd so don't fool around and miss out on this awesome promotion! 

By: Ann K. Nicknish, The Blogging Word Girl (BWG)