Okun on Food

Read the fine print

Here's an addition to the crazy new product introduction list I'm in the process of compiling -- but this one is not a snack.

General Mills has just brought out a shelf stable line of pasta product kits called "Roman's Macaroni Grill." The big deal, of course, is speed and easiness. The products are supposed to get you to the dinner table in 20 minutes.

Fair enough. But how do you like this for misleading labeling? In big letters on the front panel, the product identifies itself thusly: "Creamy Basil Parmesan Chicken and Pasta" or "Garlic and Herb Chicken Penne." But read the fine print.

YOU provide the chicken. To be fair, the kit does provide the pasta, the grated cheese, seasoning, creamy sauce makings and sun-dried tomatoes. But the expensive protein is up to you. Let's strip this general of his stars.

Pantry of Horrors?

As mentioned in my column today, there's a flood of useless new food products overflowing market shelves, no matter how empty our wallets are -- or how full our waistlines. Many of them are snack products, not healthful and certainly not tasty at all.  Maybe we should form a consumer boycott and not buy them.

Failing that, I'm going to start a little list of some of the most egregious introductions of recent months. Just in time for Halloween, a sort of Haunted Pantry. I mention Rold Gold Pretzel Waves and Chex Mix Bars in the column, but that's only the beginning, of course. Let me know which newbies you really love or hate.

I'm listening.

Semi COOL

Well we're getting there. Late last month, the USDA interim final rule for mandatory  country-of-origin labeling (it's called COOL) went into effect with the intent to provide us with important  information about the foods we choose to eat. Covered items include meat, fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables and several kinds  of raw nuts. That's vital knowledge, especially now when even candy bars (from China) are suspect.

But massive loopholes still exist, according to a consumer rights Washington DC-based  organization called Food And Water Watch. Foods that are roasted, smoked or cured (which includes 60 percent of the pork sold here) are exempt, and so are multi-ingredient fresh produce items like very  popular salad mixes that usually include  more than one item. (like lettuce and carrots.)

So, there's more work to be done. This particular  legislation took about six years to go into effect. So who knows how long we'll wait for more? Meanwhile, make sure you tell your market where you stand. Tell them that these kinds of regs are good but not quite good enough. And keep reading the labels. For more info go to www.foodandwaterwatch.org.

Seeking horror stories on new culinary creations

The financial world may have been hurtling to self-destruction for some time, but it has not stopped intrepid food manufacturers from brining new products to the marketplace.

Case in point: Hershey's, the once-beloved chocolate firm, is in a state of frenzy. Here's but one of the brilliant ideas, right in time for Trick or Treat: Hershey Kisses Candy Corn, an artificially flavored snack in the shape of the kisses we all love. They taste of chocolate. Vaguely. Cocoa butter is the only remotely chocolaty ingredient. Also, they taste of candy corn. Vaguely. (Stick to candy corn; it costs less and at least it offers nostalgia.)

So here's my idea. I'm opening this blog for everyone to nominate their very own Horrid New Product now appearing on the shelves. Just in time for Halloween, we'll construct our very own Culinary Chamber of Horrors. I have several nominations in mind, but I'd like your input, too.

What's the worst food product you've been introduced to lately? I'd like to add: These new products are not cheap. They are also totally unnecessary.

Live chat today

Thanks to technology I'll have a chance to pass on some food budgeting tips today, starting at noon during a live chat.

To participate, please log onto www.buffalo.com  and you'll see the IMportant People link . Type in  your question. What fun!

I'll be talking to you!

Will we drink to that?

Anyone out there care to hazard a guess as to why water is now being served with straws in so many restaurants?

You order a glass of H20 --a nd you usually have to specially order it these days --  and out it comes complete with partially wrapped paper straw. And sometimes it comes out with a lemon slice too -- that glass can get crowded.

Anyhow, I like to drink soft drinks through a straw or even a milkshake through a straw, but not water. Just feels  wrong somehow. Why on earth do they do it?

Fifteen Minutes of Krispy Kreme Fame

It is with mixed emotions that I noticed the item in today's news that the last Krispy Kreme dispensary, located on Walden Avenue, has closed its doors.

Well, I remember back to October,2000 - has it been  8 years ago already? - when the Niagara Falls Boulevard Krispy Kreme store opened its doors. I also remember the wondrous sign in the window, "Hot Doughnuts - Now" and the huge crowds in the parking lot before dawn. After all, was I not one of them?

And those donuts, hot and crispy were - there is no other word for it - magnificent. What happened? I think it is a matter of time delay. Fried food is only good when eaten within a Nano-second of its cooking. When the Krispy Kremes started getting old and greasy and when they started sitting around in  convenience stores etc. they lost their appeal. 

Too bad, old friends, we will miss you.

But we're probably about a million calories to the better anyway.

Shopping Hungry

I'm collecting information and experiences about budget- wise food shopping   and being amazed over and over again about some of the silly advice that's out there.

And some of that advice just keeps getting repeated again and again. Mindlessly.

For instance, everyone keeps repeating the mantra "don't shop when you're hungry." Does anyone out there really think that makes a difference to  the ultimate bill? Sure doesn't work for me. I spend the same no matter what. Or maybe the problem is that I'm always hungry.

Does anyone out there think that commandment  is actually helpful?

Advance Notice

Just looking over an ad in the Fort Erie paper placed by by the Pines restaurant in Crystal Beach. The funky old place - which I dearly loved - is probably  going to close after 48 years.

Their "Chicken Pines", a cutlet dipped in some sort of breading I never could quite figure out and their tomato juice, served in one of those old fashioned narrow little glasses that you could never manage to get your nose into, were two of my favorite things. Then there was the ice cream sundae, a single tiny scoop of vanilla topped with canned Hershey syrup served in a tiny metal old time metal sundae dish. I loved it.

But I digress. This is what the ad  said: "In the event that we do not open in the spring, we also ask that Gift Certificates be redeemed by August 31, 2008." How honorable.

Wouldn't it be nice if Western New York  restaurants that are forced to shut their doors could bring themselves to give such honest advice?

Many people  are "stuck" with unredeemable paper presents when places close without any notification.

Polish/Mexican - the newest fusion cuisine

Only in Western New York - and it sounds delicious. Enchilada Pierogis! And you can buy them a K Sisters, 2116 Clinton Street (827-4077).

Actually there is only one K Sister and her name is Karen Markiewicz. She and her husband Tom Wozniak run the place, which offers all manner of delicious Polish takeout. Everything is cooked and frozen and ready to go.

Actually it is  Wozniak's recipe -he's a self confessed Mexican food fan - that we're celebrating. The filling is a combination of ground beef, refried beens, cheese, peppers, onions and tomato with a little cumin and cayenne tossed in for good measure.

Can anyone think of a more unusual  - and tempting  - combination than that?