What In The World Is 'Perpetual 1-Day Blinding Stew'? The Meme Explained

A well-meaning father's futile effort at gathering some parenting advice from his neighbors has spawned jokes about Blinding Stew, a type of soup people are swearing by when it comes to showing unruly kids or even houseguests. To be precise, people are joking about a type of stew that only makes you blind for a day, perhaps as a means of reprimand or punishment.

Silly as the jokes are, the speed at which discussions about Perpetual 1-Day Blinding Stew are rapidly percolating through social media begs the question; where did the concept of a stew that makes you go blind for a day even originate? More on the meme and its history here.

Where Does The 'Blinding Stew' Meme Come From?

A user on the site now known as X (and formerly known as Twitter) posted a photo of a flyer they spotted in their neighborhood on January 30th, 2024. @Truewagner's image showed a crude homemade poster stuck on a wooden pole, with the heading reading, "HOW TO 'PUNISH' MY DAUGHTER?"

The poster goes on to explain that it was made by a single dad looking for advice on how to get his young daughter to stop biting hair. However, the father's sincere attempt at farming some parenting advice was undercut by what appears to be one person's attempt at forging several different handwriting styles, all of which recommend that he feed his daughter stew that causes temporary (one day) blindness.

HOW TO "PUNISH" MY DAUGHTER?
My daughter is biting hair!
I'm a single father so I don't have the "maternal instinct"
CALLING ALL MOMS
Best way to tell her this is not ok without being too harsh?
Please write the answer

Feed her a stew that makes her blind
Feed her a stew that makes her go blind for 1 day
Stew that blinds her for a day
Feed her a type of stew that makes her blind for 1 day
1 Day Blinding Stew

What Is The Origin Of 'Blinding Stew'?

The concept of a stew that causes temporary blindness may have originated from Minecraft where an item called "Suspicious Stew" causes temporary blindness. The stew needs to be made with the game's "Azure Bluet" flowers, and can often be found on shipwrecks.

How Did The 'Blinding Stew' Meme Spread?

Jokes about "Blinding Stew" spread when people began doubling down in the replies to @Truewagner's original post, and "reminiscing" about when their own mothers would threaten them with temporary blindness in their childhood. But it was an altered Wikipedia post by X user @moonboi_ that stopped people in their tracks and really made them consider the idea that "Blinding Stew" could be a real thing.

The rather convincing edit showed a Wikipedia page for "Perpetual 1-day Blinding Stew," a play on a real page for "Perpetual Stew," a concept that may horrify readers for entirely different reasons.

For the full history of Blinding Stew, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.