Pa, the Linguine Silo’s Full

About 1,000 North Dakota farmers have pooled $12 million to form Dakota Growers Pasta Co., this country’s first farmer-owned pasta plant. It’s scheduled to open by November of next year with the capacity of making 120 million pounds of pasta a year.

Check Your Diet at the Door

Haagen-Dazs Extraas is a new line of particularly over-the-top ice cream flavors: carrot cake ice cream with carrot cake chunks; chocolate ice cream with fudge brownies and fudge chunks; peanut butter ice cream with peanut crunch, fudge chunks and fudge-covered peanut butter nuggets. They’re $2.69 a pint at Haagen-Dazs stores and supermarkets beginning this month.

Very Hot Pants

Chefs wear baggy checked pants at work, but Gourmet Gear gives them the option of black ones with a striking eight-color pattern of chile pepper plants. They’re cotton twill with a two-inch elastic waistband and a drawstring, featuring two deep side pockets and a large back pocket. Here’s the news: You don’t have to be a chef. They’re $34 at Gourmet Gear, 233 Market St., Suite C, Venice, or call (800) 682-4635. Credit cards are accepted, and be prepared to reveal your height (that’s the only measurement--we said they’re baggy).

One Side of Venison, to Go

Prime beef, hormone-free poultry and game, New Zealand venison, California venison, Alaskan halibut steaks. Big deal, except that Epicure Express actually delivers this stuff, flash-frozen, in Los Angeles. It will also do international mail order. For information, call (818) 762-4353.

Cookies With Mustaches

Super Mario Bros. Cookies are shaped like (what else?) characters from Super Mario Bros. video games. Available in chocolate, cinnamon and honey flavors, at any shameless supermarket, for about $1.99.

The Breath of Life

At last week’s meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, several studies suggested anti-cancer powers in odoriferous edibles. Diallyl sulfide, found in garlic, increased resistance to lung cancer in mice, and both diallyl sulfide and a compound present in cruciferous vegetables (such as cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli) prevented 80% of colon tumors in rats.

Just Plain Focus

It’s never too soon to get ready, so mark your calendars now--January will be National Fiber Focus Month.