hats off to joe ades

February 9, 2009 at 3:44 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

in a time when there’s hardly any time to prepare good food and the convenience of inexpensive fast-food products are pushing us further and further away from our

ades' best-seller sold for only $5 and made light work of any carrot. it even takes the skin off a bad tomato. wonder what its going for on e-bay. hmmmm

food sources, joe ades made it fun to play with your food.  the gentleman grafter, who passed away @ 75, etched small spaces out of busy ny corners and transformed the chore of peeling tubers into a joy.  his well-stocked inventory consisted of a singular product – a stainless steel vegetable peeler.

after the urge to purchase his peeler was met with linty pocket linings one hot bklyn afternoon, i was determined to find him again. i’m saying, at five duckets it’s a good deal but doesn’t quite justify an atm fee. while trekking through union square to paragon my favorite sports depot, i spotted him and copped two. the swiss export has been the sous-chef to many-a-meals in my kitchen ever since.

often exalted for his dapper suits and charming histrionics, mr. ades was also a beloved father and grandfather. msnbc’s segment on the mancunian-turned-ny’er, gave us a small peek into his life outside of sales (nevermind the 10 sec commercial in the pop-up).

his enduring messages/lessons: enjoy life, “like what you do rather than do what you like”, “tenacity, patience”, be resourceful and enthusiastic, keep your beard trimmed and eat your veggies!

for a more critical lens on the lore of joe ades check out david galbraith’s piece.