DETROIT -- Devotees of the obscure vegetable, kohlrabi, Thursday seized their best chance for publicity since the Fifth Century by savoring slices of their beloved food to prove it goes well with wine coolers.
At an outrageous news conference staged in the Detroit Press Club, a delegation from Hamburg, Mich., 'The Kohlrabi Capital of the World,' succeeded in evoking a public apology from the makers of Bartles & Jaymes Wine Cooler.
The firm runs a television commercial in which Frank Jaymes reports that his brother Ed has found their product goes fine with everything but kohlrabi and kandy korn.
The Rev. Carl Welser, organizer of the event, said Hamburg was 'stricken with disappointment' over the 'slanderous' commercial.
The ad also prompted a letter from Kohlrabi Growers Association attorney 'Highpockets P. Kohlschyster.'
'Impartial observers,' Welser advised, 'note that kolrabi has not raised such a fuss since Boadicea -- the Fifth Century Saxon Queen - rode into battle against the Romans in a chariot festooned with kohlrabi.'
The Kohlrabi Khorus, heads crowned in green and white baseball caps touting their favorite vegetable, set the stage with a round of 'Stadt Hamburg an der Elbe Auen' mostly mumbled in German.
It went a little better in English -- 'Your green and purple skins are showing, I'd love to take you home with me and dip you in the sauce eternally.'
A Czechoslovakian kohlrabi, about the size of a bowling ball, formed a centerpiece looped with wine cooler and slices of kohlrabi for all to sample.
Having joined in the tasting, Bartles and Jaymes spokesman Dan Solomon apologized to all kohlrabi growers and said his product would be distributed at the annual Kohlrabi festival at Hamburg.
