Darling, You Look Fabio

Fabio, the Italian model whose craggy but sensitive face has appeared on more than 1,000 romance novel covers, is also the spokesface for I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! Naturally, that butter substitute company features him big time on its Internet site, where you can read a Fabiography, enter a contest to win a phone call from the King of Romance, get romance advice and romantic vacation tips, and--need we say it--download diet recipes featuring I Can’t Believe. The address: www.tasteyoulove.com.

Self-Opening Oyster Update

In November we reported that a French inventor had come up with a way of inserting a wire around the muscle that holds an oyster’s shell closed, so the customer need only pull on a ring at the end of the wire and bingo (or rather voila), the oyster would open.

This was big news in France, where 2,500 people have to go to the hospital every year because they’ve cut themselves while trying to open an oyster. About 40 million “ring-pull” oysters went on sale before Christmas, and it looked as if inventor Yves Renaut was on easy street.

But there turned out to be problems with the ring-pull, which Renaut had named the Fizz. In some cases, the wire snapped. In others, the oyster had died. Some customers claimed that the oysters had developed a metallic flavor. Animal rights activists said the process was cruel to oysters.

The largest oyster farming group in France groused about this, and it accused Renaut of reneging on an exclusivity deal. In turn, Renaut sued the group, claiming that it hadn’t paid him. On March 6, a French court annulled the contract and ordered Renaut to pay about $18,000 in damages. Maybe he just shouldn’t have named it the Fizz.

How to Set a Tray-Table

In case you miss the flavor of in-flight dining, American Airlines is offering an 18-page cookbook titled “A Taste of Something Special.” Why? you may ask. “Some of our customers frequently request recipes so they can prepare their in-flight favorites at home,” explains the introduction.

Some of the recipes are as complicated as Peanut Crusted Chicken With Roasted Banana Honey Sauce, but here’s the recipe for Ice Cream Sundae: “Scoop ice cream into a clear, footed glass bowl or sundae glass; layer toppings and finish with whipped cream and nuts to create your very own premium class dessert.”