We were deep in the throes of the COVID lockdown, a time when our daily routines had been upended and the world outside felt both distant and uncertain. In the midst of this, my husband suggested a film for movie night, Osmosis Jones. I had to admit that I'd never even heard of it, but my curiosity was piqued after watching the trailer. The vibrant animation and the quirky premise of a white blood cell battling germs within the human body captivated me, and I found myself super excited to start brainstorming. Creating this menu turned out to be an absolute blast, and I think part of the joy stemmed from the fact that the theme was somewhat gross, which made it all the more entertaining for our family.
This menu is highly recommended, especially on those sick days when comfort food is not just desired but essential. There’s truly nothing better than curling up with your loved ones, indulging in some fun and slightly silly food, while watching a clever and entertaining movie.
Don't want family time to be over once that the movie has ended?
There's a Q&A section at the bottom of this page; it can ignite a conversation with the kids once the movie ends. Movies affect us differently due to our individual biases and perspectives. The Q&A helped me understand my kids better, and vice versa. It provided an opportunity to share my viewpoint and hear theirs. Often, it turned into a valuable teaching moment. Make the most of this extra time with them while you have their attention.
NOTE: The content below may contain spoilers
Osmosis Jones: INSPIRED MOVIE MENU
Infected Egg, Snotty Slurp, Contaminated Petri Dish and Sugar Tablets
Movie Inspired Appetizer: Infected Egg
This all started because a zoo keeper (Frank) ate a contaminated boiled egg. Yeah it was gross, he also added lots of mayo and salt to the egg so I added it here as well (in moderations of course). The pepper on the top and the seaweed at the bottom was added so that it looked like it had fallen on the floor and got dirty just as it did in the movie.
NOTE: After the egg was boiled I cracked the shell slightly and let it sit in water with green food coloring for about 20 minutes in order to give it a more infected look. The longer you leave it in there the darker the color.
Movie Inspired Main Dish: Contaminated Petri Dish
Frank comes home with a bucket of KFC and as he's eating a chicken leg when the infection inside him starts to spread. My family is not a KFC fan so we got Popeye's instead. I used boxed mashed potatoes because they are not only creamy and delicious but they keep a nice smooth shape which made it a perfect canvas for my bacteria. I used carrots, peas, celery, and baby cauliflower for the bacteria and mold. My kids thought it was so gross but they ate every last crumb on that plate!
Movie Inspired Drink: Snotty Slurp
You know what helps us fight off a lot of these infections? Mucus and Sylvia, these bodily fluids do wonders for us in so many ways. I created this drink to showcase both so it's part lime Jell-o and part Sprite. I added some pearl sprinkles and a gummy worm (bacteria) to the Jello and had it firm up over night. I then added the Sprite and noticed that slowly as my kids were drinking it the jello and sprite slowly mixed making it look like snot. They loved it and drank it all up!
Movie Inspired Dessert: Drix Sugar Tablets
Drix (a 12-hour flu tablet) was one of my favorite characters in this movie. He was a half red and half yellow tablet and since Twinkies already have that oval shape I then dipped them in red candy melts. It was easy peazy.
TIP: Depending on how many of these your going to make, you only need one bag of the melts. I made 8 and only used like a quarter of the bag. Use a deep cup so that all you have to do is dip it half way.
Also, if you want these to look like Drix there's a little more effort involved but they come out really cute. Just added some candy eyes and with the red melts created some eyelids and a straight line for his mouth. I used cookie icing cuz it's what I had in my cupboard but black icing would work better and give you a cleaner line.
Q&A: Osmosis Jones
1. Is Frank a responsible parent? Why or Why not
2. What are 3 things you can do to make sure you don't get an infection or virus?
3. Ask your parents to share with you some immunizations that you've gotten. You might already have immunity to a lot of viruses that killed hundreds of thousands of people centuries ago!
I don't think we talk to our kids enough about germs, viruses, and infections. COVID-19 has forced us to have these conversations, I know it has forced our family to talk more about it. I shared with my kids their immunization records and they thought it was the coolest thing ever to know they had immunity to some of these very deadly viruses that were responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of people centuries ago. Together we also went over this really cool infographic where even I learned something! Check it out at visualcapitalist.com.
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