The Makings of a Mega Betty?

If you have your hopes set on being the next Betty Crocker--or, more accurately, a part of the new computer-generated Betty Crocker--you’d better hurry. The deadline for entries is Monday. If you haven’t heard, rather than use an artist’s conception of what the ideal American homemaker looks like, as they have in the past, this year General Mills is looking for 75 women whose faces will be incorporated in a computer-generated composite image. If you’re interested, send your nomination to: The Spirit of Betty Crocker Contest, General Mills, Inc., P.O. Box 5111, Minneapolis, MN 55460-5111.

Diets? We Don’t Need No Stinking Diets

A new study says that women who are otherwise healthy may get no additional benefits from cholesterol-reducing drugs or diets. “Doctors see a lot of perfectly healthy women with high cholesterol, and our findings suggest that bringing the [cholesterol] levels down really does not change their risk for heart disease,” said Dr. Judith M.E. Walsh, lead author of the study published this week in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Cholesterol experts not involved with her study cautioned against making too much of the new findings. “I think there’s some other evidence they didn’t take into account that incriminates cholesterol in women,” said Dr. Basil Rifkind, senior scientific adviser at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Have It Thine Way

What does it take to close a deal? The Israeli army, which is looking for a fast food company to supply its army canteens with hamburgers, is negotiating with Burger King rather than McDonald’s. Why? It turns out that Burger King in Israel does not offer cheeseburgers--a blending of meat and dairy forbidden under kashrut, the Hebrew dietary laws.

Choc Absorbers

“1950s Gas Station Repair Shop,” a chocolate sculpture by Donald Wressel, left, executive Chocolat competition Philadelphia last month. (White House pastry chef M. Roland Mesnier, right, was head judge.) First place went to Jacquy Pfeiffer of the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, who depicted a chocolate Neil Armstrong taking his first step on a chocolate moon.