Super Snacks On Game Day
According to the snack food industry, Super Bowl Sunday is, well, the Super Bowl of all snacking occasions.
Let’s look at last season’s statistics: During the 1996 contest, the Snack Food Association and The National Potato Promotion Board report, Americans inhaled 10.6 million pounds of potato chips, 8.1 million pounds of tortilla chips, 4.8 million pounds of pretzels, 3.7 million pounds of popcorn and 2.6 million pounds of nuts (washed down, of course, with several stadiums full of beer).
And it’s only fitting that Green Bay is finally back in the big game. The Home of the Cheese Heads leads all National Football League cities in annual snack consumption, at 33.3 pounds per person - well above the national average of 21.3 pounds. (Boston, by the way, manages only a measly 20.4, which explains why the Packers were early 14-pound, er, 14-point favorites.)
So what will we be munching on come Super Bowl XXXX or so? Likely innovations include salsa and dips for cookies, crackers and pretzels; new potato chip flavors like crushed red pepper, foccacia and olive; snacks fried in gourmet oils, and meat snacks made from venison, ostrich, alligator, pheasant and fish (for all you Dolphins fans).
Holy guacamole!
Not to be outdone, the California Avocado Commission calculates that football fans will consume more than 12 million pounds of avocados come Sunday - mostly, of course, in the form of dips.
Bake beans
Is your school planning to sell some baked goodies to make money this spring? Nestle is sponsoring a contest for bake sales held in March, with the most successful school winning $10,000.
Schools will be judged on school spirit (based on photographs of the event), how well they market the sale and the amount of money raised for the size of the student body. There also will be four runner-up prizes of $1,000 each.
For a contest kit, school officials can write to: Nestle Toll House Bake Sale Contest, 1800 Century Park East, Suite 200, Los Angeles, CA 90067, Attn: C. Holevas.
Wheels of fortune
If you need some aluminum foil, might as well stock up now. Reynolds Wrap is donating 5 cents to Meals On Wheels for every box of foil, plastic wrap or oven bags bought during January.
Reynolds also has set up a toll-free telephone number (1-888-MEAL-HELP) you can call to volunteer at the Meals On Wheels program closest to you. Or, in Spokane, call 624-3231, or in the Spokane Valley, 924-6976.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Drawing
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