Zine Review: Sue Bonnie Samples the Luscious Pink “Fruit” (And So Can You)

FullSizeRenderSue Bonnie Samples the Luscious Pink “Fruit” (And So Can You)
Humour zine, Gart of Rotten Variety (collagist), 16 pgs, rottenvariety.com, price not listed

On one hand, as a man unhonorably obsessed with hot dogs, I think I understand the passion fueling this zine devoted to “the pink fruit” (i.e. shrimp). On the other, I get the impression that this one-off zine — printed, appropriately enough, on pink paper — is just a giant inside joke shared among Gart and Iva, the two trans-Canadian zinesters who make up the Rotten Variety collective. Composed mostly of a color scramble from a vintage shrimp cookbook they probably found at some estate sale, Gart’s collages will make you part curious, part nauseous. Images of southern Florida and shrimp baskets, for example, whet the appetite, while the suggestion that these crustaceans can and should be paired with lime gelatin, cottage cheese, and deviled eggs, historicize popular cooking to hilarious affect. (Jason Luther)