We’re Going to Pump You Up

One of the big problems in dieting is getting a sense of fullness without consuming a lot of calories. Dr. Spicer’s WheatSnacks, available in most supermarkets, actually work. Made by expanding wheat protein, which stays expanded in the stomach, they even taste surprisingly good. The only problem is the misleading and inconvenient packaging the manufacturer indulges in: One package contains not one serving but one and a half servings. For shame.

One Solution to Food Guilt: Ignore It

In “The Bad For You Cookbook” (Villard Books: $10), authors Chris Maynard and Bill Scheller break every rule of nutritional correctness. Besides giving staggeringly high-fat recipes, they rank other cookbooks by the “James Beard Index,” obtained by dividing the total tablespoons of butter in all a book’s recipes by its number of pages. Their doctors must shudder, but at least these two are clearly not going to worry themselves to death.

Another Nut Heard From

Loriva, known to foodies particularly for its sesame oil, now makes a macadamia nut oil. Get ready for restaurants to serve tropical fruit salads with macadamia vinaigrette.

Diversity in Baby Food

Gerber has just introduced the first line of baby foods specifically aimed at the Latino market. Gerber Tropical includes a rice and mango cereal, guava, mango and papaya juices and a beans and rice dinner.

Go for the Burn,Stay for Dessert

At the Fonda-Turner wedding reception held at L’Orangerie last Friday, pastry chef Yvan Valentin presented a pyramid of cream puffs decorated with almond candies and rosettes of pulled sugar, mounted on a solid nougat base. “In France,” said Valentin, “ croquenbouche is the traditional wedding cake, but not necessarily the dessert that ends up on the plate, even though it’s all edible.” The actual dessert eaten by the couple’s 127 friends was a trio of chocolaty sweets: sorbet, pudding and mousse in a chocolate cookie shell.