Footnotes to the TV series
Lane says gloomily that her mother found a website which sells tofu in bulk and bought a bigger fridge. Tofu, or bean curd, is a food made from soy milk with the curds pressed into soft white blocks. It is often used in Asian dishes, and is a common vegetarian food (as Seventh Day Adventists, the Kims have a vegetarian diet).
LORELAI: This is a jumbo coffee morning. I need coffee in an IV.
LUKE: I can give you tea and a Balance bar.
Balance bar is the brand name of a nutritional energy bar, first released in 1992, and adhering to the principles of the Zone Diet expounded by Dr Barry Sears, promoting a balance of carbohydrates, protein, and fat. In 2000, the company was bought by Kraft Foods.
HEADMASTER: I’ve known your grandparents for quite some time.
RORY: I know.
HEADMASTER: In fact, I was at a party at their house just last week where I had the most delicious lobster puffs I’ve ever eaten.
A lobster puff is an appetiser of creamy lobster filling inside a choux pastry shell – like a cream puff with lobster inside instead of custard. It has a particular connection to the New England region where Gilmore Girls is set.
There are other, very different, foods called a lobster puff, but I think this is the most likely candidate.
Rory orders chili fries to go with her coffee at Luke’s Diner. Chili fries are French fries covered in chili con carne sauce – a spicy stew usually consisting of chili, beef, tomato, and beans. Chili fries may be served with toppings such as cheese or sour cream.
RORY: How many meals is it gonna take ’til we’re off the hook?
LORELAI: I think the deli spread at my funeral will be the last one.
A deli spread is a buffet of cold cuts and other delicatessen foodstuffs. Presumably this is standard fare at American funerals (more correctly, the refreshments that are served after a funeral service). Lorelai is predicting gloomily that she will be obligated to her parents for the rest of her life.
SOOKIE: Where’s your paté?
LORELAI: At Zsa Zsa Gabor’s house.
Zsa Zsa Gabor (1917-2016) was a Hungarian-American film and television actress and socialite, known for her extravagant Hollywood lifestyle. During the show, Lorelai and Rory would routinely label any behaviour they considered overly fancy or pretentious as being like Zsa Zsa Gabor.
SOOKIE: I’ll make cookies [to celebrate Rory getting into Chilton]. Protestants love oatmeal.
Sookie has a number of eccentric beliefs in regard to food, and this seems to be one of them. The reason for her statement is something of a mystery to me, unless she is thinking of Quaker Oats, whose logo has a man dressed in 18th century Quaker clothing to represent simplicity and honesty. (The company was not founded by Quakers, and never had any connection with the religion).
The interesting part is that her saying this seems to imply that Sookie herself is not a Protestant, although this is never confirmed in the show.
LORELAI: When did you get stitches?
SOOKIE: Friday night. Radish roses.
A radish rose is a radish cut into a rose shape to use as a garnish or plate decoration. They can be very simply done, or be elaborate – Sookie’s are surely very elegant.
It is notable that Sookie’s constant clumsiness was quietly phased out on the show.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 