Beyond Pringles

Some, uh, unusual dining tips from the Jim Rose Circus sideshow at the Lollapalooza rock festival this past weekend in Irvine: a demonstration of through-the-nose beer chugging, a segment called Beetlemania in which a guy named Slug ate a three-course meal of crawly things, and an appearance by the Torture King, who as a warm-up to his human pincushion act snacked on a light bulb--pre-heated, of course. Remarked one spectator: “How did he figure out he could do that? Like, was he just really hungry one night?”

The 6-Second Gourmet

First there were foodies, now there are Sinkies, members of the International Assn. of People Who Dine Over the Sink. One Sinkie slogan: “Sinkies swallow everything except their pride.” Recipes from the forthcoming “The Official Sinkies Don’t Cook Book” include mush in a rush, hash in a flash, cakeless frosting, celery with anything and, of course, meat loaf in your fist. Potential Sinkie members may write for information to Sinkie World Headquarters/N.H. Associates, 1579 Farmers Lane, No. 252, Santa Rosa, Calif. 95405.

Pulse of the Nation

If you happen to be heading to Pullman, Wash., this weekend, you’ll just make the fourth-annual National Lentil Festival. Lentil pancakes are served up each morning of the two-day event, a leisurely drive through lentil country is offered and all day long there will be lentil munchies, including lentil ice cream, lentil calzones, lentil burgers, lentil brownies, lentil confetti salad, lentil enchiladas, honey-baked lentils and a dish called lentil hermits.

Darling, I Just Love Your Matchstick Figure

The Monsanto company says it has genetically engineered a high-starch potato that, when fried, absorbs less oil than conventional spuds. “Essentially, we are replacing oil with starch,” a Monsanto senior research biologist told the Wall Street Journal. “And starch has half the calories of oil.” For fast-food junkies this means lower calorie French fries and potato chips. The catch: You’ll have to wait till the late ‘90s for the French fry diet-loss plan--it will take that long for the potatoes to go through the regulatory process.

What Smell?

First-time visitors say it’s a nice smell that greets you upon your arrival in Hershey, Pa., called the Sweetest Place on Earth because of the town’s No. 1 industry: Hershey chocolate. But an Associated Press reporter found that long-time residents have had their senses dulled by years of exposure to the odor of candy in the making. Says one Hershey worker, “I only smell it when it rains.” Maybe the town’s official song should be Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “That Smell”: Can’t you smell that smell?/The smell that’s around you . . .

Of Mice and Mein

More good news for mice from the American Chemical Society meeting in Washington last month: A report given there revealed that soy sauce can reduce the risk of esophagus cancer in mice--a helpful chemical called HEMF is naturally produced during the fermentation of the stuff.