Say, Where Does All That Cream Filling Go?

Oreo cookies have finally become popular in Japan (where a five-ounce box costs $1.50), but to please the Japanese palate, two changes had to be made: The amount of sugar in the wafers had to be reduced to play up the bitterness, and the cream filling had to be removed altogether.

Corn Smut Peddling

Corn smut, which farmers fear and gourmets have loved since Aztec days, is finally making inroads in this country . . . foodwise, that is. Two years ago the Arlington, Va., firm El Aficionado sold 50 pounds of the luscious fungus (known as huitlacoche ); this year it sold 3,000.

Our Fashion-Aware Chefs

French chef’s hats now come in red, green and yellow as well as the traditional white, and at least one Los Angeles restaurant supplier stocks a white cotton golf cap for the Paul Prudhomme look.

Oatburger News

Quaker Oats is about to market a form of oat bran to replace carrageen, the usual texturizing ingredient in low-fat pork sausage and ground beef. It will add 30 or 40 cents a pound, but they say when the meat’s cooked you get 15% more beef and 33% more pork sausage than with carrageen.

Can I Get Catsup and Relish on It?

Press the button and a robot arm drops dry spaghetti into a high-pressure chamber, where it cooks at 300 degrees. It’s ready in 56 to 72 seconds, depending on how well done you like your pasta: choice of four sauces. The Vipre Co. of Milan, Italy, is hoping the ProntoSpaghetti machine will catch on in American airports, hospitals, schools and fast-food restaurants.

New Spring Shades for Salad

First it was bell peppers in funny colors; now the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, in the process of collecting a worldwide gene pool of lettuce, has discovered red, yellow and blue-green lettuce varieties. That last color also features two-foot stems that can be eaten like celery.

Home on the Kitchen Range

About 50 supermarkets in this country now sell antelope meat. Like venison, it is being marketed as a pricey but low-fat alternative to beef.