Surprising Product

Who ever thought we’d see something called an “Organic Reduced Fat Pasteurized Process Cheese Food”? It’s produced by Galaxy Foods under the Wholesome Valley brand name and, come to think of it, maybe there is a market for wrapped slices of organic cheese food. If they’re reduced fat, anyway.

Return to Spice

This has to be one of the oddest cookbook concepts ever. “Spice for Life: Spicy Food for the Sensitive Stomach” (Helicobacter Pylori Foundation, 1997) is a cookbook with a message, and the message is that most ulcers are caused by a bacterium. There are little cartoon characters announcing ulcer info among the recipes.

The reason a prominent chef like Nancy Longo, owner of the highly regarded Pierpoint Restaurant in Baltimore, would devote her efforts to this project is that for generations, ulcer sufferers have been told that their condition is caused by stress and spicy food. Having an ulcer was a sentence to a lifetime of bland diet. The cheerful moral of this book is that the H. pylori bacterium can be knocked down with an antibiotic regimen and that former ulcer patients can enjoy spicy foods like these without hesitation.

There are 36 recipes in the 18-page book (printed on washable board). It’s available to consumers at no cost. To obtain a copy, call (800) 761-9809.

We’re Giving Them an Electric Paring Knife

The current Bride’s Magazine has tips on vegetarian wedding dinners. One is to offer a luxurious dessert: “Consider it a special treat for the few meat eaters who may grumble about the menu.”

Let’s see whether we’ve got this straight. Instead of having vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, the bride and groom are going to force vegetarian food on their non-veg friends and then bribe them with sweets? We’re already worried about this marriage.