What’s That Spell?

Kentucky Fried Chicken is changing its name to KFC on all advertising and packaging. To avoid using that high-cholesterol “F” word, of course.

Your Stomach’s Fine, But the

Endoscope Will Have to Come Out

Do hot peppers actually burn a hole in your stomach wall? To find out, Dr. David Graham of the Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Houston had 12 subjects eat dishes ranging from steak and potatoes to enchiladas with jalapenos, after swallowing viewing devices called endoscopes. The images of the stomach wall that the endoscopes sent back showed no sign of damage, so if you like eating hot peppers, eat away. And if you like swallowing endoscopes, get hold of Graham.

Chipper Than Thou

For our health-conscious age, Frito-Lay is going to introduce something called Sunchips later this month: multigrain chips made mostly from whole wheat and corn. What they have to do with the sun is a little obscure, but they’re said to have the shape of a chip and the crunch of a cracker.

One From the Heartburn

A New York artist named Harley Spiller has just opened an exhibit of 5,000 Chinese restaurant take-out menus, collected during a 10-year period of intense Chinese take-out consumption. The show at the Franklin Furnace Gallery also includes related paraphernalia such as plastic delivery bags and artists’ takes on the motif (e.g. delivery boxes made from antique Chinese paper). Spiller told the Wall Street Journal he got the menus not only in New York but “from all different countries--Sweden, Israel, L.A. . . . .” Genius never sleeps.

Somebody’s Research Dollars at Work

Public opinion pollsters have found that 84% of Americans want separate smoking and nonsmoking sections in restaurants; 63% would rather read the specials themselves than hear them read; 55% actually care to know their waiter’s name.

One Day Only-- the Pizza of the Ooze

For the world premiere of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze,” California Pizza Kitchen has created a Peanut Butter and Chocolate Pizza. “This is a special recipe in honor of the four Turtles,” say the owners of the pizzeria chain. “We have no plans on offering it in our restaurants in the near future.” They’re not fooling anybody.

At Last: Chugging for Joggers

First there was mineral water--no calories, pure and natural--and then there was flavored, sparkling mineral water--still pretty low in calories, still pretty pure etc. Seagram’s may have taken the next logical step by introducing Taso: a flavored sparkling water . . . with 5% alcohol.