Fat Smokers

Smoked fish has to be high in fat to keep from drying out. By contrast, surimi, the processed fish product we see mostly as mock “crab,” has to be low in fat or it comes out mushy, smells fishy and spoils fast.

Hey, We’ll Just Call It Sewsage

In October, the Environmental Assessment Center in Okayama, Japan, announced that it had managed to make a sausage out of recycled Tokyo sewage by adding soybean protein and beef flavoring. The company does not plan to market the product commercially, however, citing the main ingredient’s “slight image problem.”

Quick Energy Explosion

Researchers at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York say 41% of the foods advertised in Saturday morning TV commercials these days derive a third or more of their calories from fat; in ’89 and ‘90, only 16% did. One reason is that pizza companies have started advertising during kidvid hours.

The Big Cheeses

In 1801, a 1,600-pound block of cheese was delivered to Washington by sleigh for President Thomas Jefferson. It was still being served at the White House as late as 1803. Andrew Jackson received the second-biggest presidential House cheese--a 1,400-pounder--which he set out on a stand in the main hallway of the White House at a public reception in 1837. It disappeared in about two hours, but the aroma is said to have lingered for weeks.

Not a Cluck in a Carload

So Good Food Company, a Los Angeles health-food catering truck (yes, it sells health food from a lunch truck), now sells its eggless Miso Mayo in Mrs. Gooch’s and other health food stores. The mayonnaise-like spread is made from canola oil, tamari soy sauce and miso.