How To Prevent Food Horror Stories
Want to watch a really scary video for Halloween?
“Are You Making Your Family Sick?,” produced by a Western Washington health inspector, is a visual tour of all the little ways your kitchen can breed disease-bearing goblins, from the sink to the fridge to the dishwasher.
But there’s a happy ending: It tells you how to prevent problems, with a written checklist for future reference, food safety brochures, even chemical strips to test your dishwasher’s water temperature.
The video is available for $19.95, plus $3.95 shipping and handling (and $1.82 sales tax for Washington residents), from Pug Dog Enterprises, 11500 NE 76th St. #A3-244, Vancouver, WA 98662.
Other home food safety videos from Pug Dog include “Barbecues, Picnics and Potlucks” and, just out, “Happy, Healthy Holidays.” For more information, call (360) 260-2291.
Rise in fall
With the holidays just around the corner, this must be the beginning of baking season. Not only does bread browning in the oven make the house smell great, you know you’re getting a healthier product than some of the additive-filled loaves on store shelves.
Fleischmann’s Yeast and the American Dietetic Association offer a free brochure, “Rise Up to Good Nutrition with Homemade Bread,” full of information and recipes for both bread machines and traditional baking.
For a copy, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to: Rise Up to Good Nutrition Brochure, P.O. Box 7253, San Francisco, CA 94188-7523.
Gas pain?
And speaking of bread, you’ve probably been wondering where the term “pumpernickel” comes from. According to the Wheat Foods Council, it all began when Napoleon asked some Germans for “pain pour Nicole” (French for “bread for Nicole,” his horse), which passed into common usage as “pumpernickel.”
Then again, the dictionary describes it as a combination of the German words “pumpern,” to break wind, and “nickel,” for goblin, with no further explanation. (Which is probably just as well.)
Swing shift
If you hurry, you might still be able to snare some tickets to “Swing Into Autumn,” the annual dinner-dance presented by the Spokane Community College culinary arts program and the University of Idaho swing band.
This year’s event is Nov. 1 at SCC’s Lair-Student Center Sasquatch Room, cost is $35; call 533-7283.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MEMO: We’re always looking for fresh food news. Write to: The Fresh Sheet, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. Call 459-5446; fax 459-5098.