Where Have All the Truffles Gone?

Why did turn-of-the-century French cuisine call for so many truffles? Sure, it was upper-crusty showoff cooking, but it’s also true that there were just a lot more truffles in those days. About 2,000 tons of black truffles were harvested in 1914, but recent years have been averaging only five or six tons. One reason: A lot of France’s truffle-bearing oak forests got in the way of one or another of this century’s world wars.

Tea Reading

Mary Mac Press, publisher of Mary Mac’s TeaTimes, a bi-monthly newsletter dedicated to the gentle Victorian pleasures of afternoon tea-drinking, has branched out into the book world. It publishes a recipe collection “Easy Tea Treats for Busy Tea Lovers,” three “Tea Time Zone Guides to Tea Rooms” (organized by time zone--Pacific, Mountain/Central and Eastern) and a workbook-format guide “How to Open a Tea Room.” If you can’t inquire by mail (on unlined stationery, in black or brown ink) to P.O. Box 841, Langley, Wash. 98260, you can call (800) 331-1885.

Fight Lactose Intolerance

If milk or ice cream upsets your stomach, you may be unable to digest lactose, a sugar found in all dairy foods. McNeil Consumer Products Co. will send you a free test kit to settle the matter: Call (800) HELP-KIT. McNeil also offers a lactose-intolerance newsletter and samples of Lactaid, a dietary supplement to make dairy foods easier to digest.

Hot Sauce in Christmas Colors

Hey! McIlhenny--which has never changed anything, even its label, since 1868--is now selling a jalapeno sauce! Green Tabasco! Where will it all end?