From the latest health food promises to the perpetual lure of junk food, our relationship with the food we eat is often a complicated one. This fraught relationship is the focus of What Are You Eating?, a new show by Eric Wright and Matt Singer currently playing at The Tank. While it isn’t the informative exploration its name suggests, What Are You Eating? invites us into its whimsical world for a witty and relatable reflection on our daily struggles with food.

With direction by Emily DeCola, What Are You Eating? focuses on Billy, a puppet performed by Wright, and his evolving connection with food, from an optimistic aspiration to join the "Clean Plate Club" to a depression-fueled donut binge. Structured around Singer’s endearing songs that narrate Billy’s struggles, the show doesn’t give its audience any new information about the food they eat. Rather, with songs proclaiming, “You can’t eat that…It’s confusing but it’s true” and “I’m in a bad mood because I eat bad food,” the show dramatizes our common experiences with food in an entertaining and relatable way.

Keeping these conclusions from seeming overly obvious is the show’s casual wit and satiric edge. Billy’s adversary, Snoots Magoots, lectures him on eating well versus eating intelligently (a style of eating “like buttoning a cashmere cardigan on a mountaintop in the Austrian Alps”), a debate any foodie will recognize, and a medication-style “commercial break” for donuts warns against such side effects as “feelings of emptiness” and “Boston Creme Pie-tis.” Adding to the show’s wit and whimsy are its sets and props, which are almost entirely made of cardboard. From the lamps adorning onstage tables to the tuna casserole Billy proudly cooks, these cardboard pieces create a distinct cartoonish style that defines Billy’s world. They also add visual humor, particularly as manipulated by Wright, whose quick comic timing in manipulating the ever-changing cardboard surroundings while puppeteering Billy (who, as designed by The Puppet Kitchen, is one of the piece’s only non-cardboard inhabitants) is marvelous. But this world isn’t only onstage, as audience members without a pre-show drink are offered a cardboard “Imaginary Drink” for the show’s opening toast.

Indeed, Wright introduces the show as a “dinner party,” and while few are seated at an actual table, the piece's communal spirit invites us all into Billy’s world. From the introductory toast to Wright’s declaration that since we absorb the food we eat, those of us eating the same food become more alike, the show fosters a sense of unity, aided by The Tank’s intimate 62-seat space. While those who dread audience participation will still feel comfortably removed (though should avoid the onstage seating), Wright and Singer treat the show as a casual gathering rather than a distanced performance, making everyone feel included. Those who sit through What Are You Eating?’s short running time may not come out with much new knowledge about their diets, but they will have a sense that that food, much like theatre, can genuinely be a communal experience.