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Food

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By JANET K. KEELER
Published September 27, 2006

EAT YOUR GATORS

Forget who's on the Wheaties box this month.

Starting Thursday, University of Florida fans can get their kicks from Florida Gators Frosted Flakes Corn Cereal. Florida dairy farmers and the university have teamed up to celebrate 100 years of Gator football with the limited edition cereal, to be sold at Publix supermarkets.

Grinning on the box, with jubilant arms outstretched, Coach Ray Graves celebrates the Gators' upset win over Auburn in 1963. Also on the box front is Heisman-winning quarterback Danny Wuerffel.

- J.K.

TALK ABOUT 'GRUB'

Anna Lappe's passion for social activism and for healthy, sustainable eating is a birthright: Her mother is Frances Moore Lappe, author of the influential Diet for a Small Planet.

Now, Anna is the co-author of Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen, a fresh take on hands-on healthy living for individuals and communities. With the explosive growth of interest in organic foods, Lappe aims to give young people a down-to-earth guide to making what they eat healthful and fun.

She will discuss the book at 7 p.m. today at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg. The free presentation, part of Eckerd's Presidential Events Series, will be in Fox Hall. For information, call (727) 867-1166. For more on Grub, go to www.eatgrub.org.

- COLETTE BANCROFT

LOCAL COOKBOOK

You can prepare - and eat - favorite dishes of coaches Jon Gruden (Buccaneers) and Joe Maddon (Devil Rays) if you buy a copy of Tampa Bay Favorites Cookbook. Gruden's favorite chicken enchiladas and the Maddon family spaghetti are just two of dozens of recipes that have been included in the cookbook, which marks the fifth anniversary of International Plaza and Bay Street in Tampa. Besides local celebrities, many regular IP shoppers shared their favorite recipes. The book is $10 and can be purchased at the mall concierge desk. Part of the proceeds will benefit St. Joseph's Hospital.

- JANET K. KEELER

LIFE AFTER SPINACH

So there's bacteria on the spinach in those bags of cut-and-washed salad makings, and some of that spinach in packaged spring mix.

Let it be a lesson: Fruits and vegetables can be bad for you, same as meat, and the risks increase with processing. Whatever the sources of contamination, the washing, cutting and packing of produce that saves you time also exposes you.

It's safer to buy whole vegetables, wash and cut them yourself. Plus, it's cheaper. Here's how (and stop whining).

Mix 'em yourself: Buy two or three heads of salad greens such as Romaine, red leaf and bibb. Add arugula, red cabbage or oak leaf if you want. Don't forget herbs: Parsley, mint, basil, dill, celery leaves or chives perk up the simplest mix.

Send in the subs: For side dishes, soups and egg dishes, try any chard, kale, mustard greens, bok choy or the leafy broccoli called rapini or rabe. Saute or steam with garlic, better with olive oil or butter, best with bacon.

Be bold: Cabbages of all colors (including radicchio) are cruciferous miracle foods. Chop them for salads, or cook them up for a vegetable dish.

Grow your own: Fall's the time to start sowing seeds in a garden pot for your favorite greens (or a mesclun mix) so you'll have a living salad bowl. Call it winter mix.

- C.S.

Table conversation

Give me that old-time menu, prices too. Tampa Bay restaurants celebrated major birthdays and anniversaries by inviting the public to the party.

The great-grandmother of all local restaurants, the Columbia, rolled back prices for its annual 1905 celebration for one day this month. That makes it 101, with seven locations, from Ybor to West Palm Beach.

Mike "Frenchy" Preston will roll out the good times, live music, and food and drink specials for a block in front of the restaurant he started in 1981. The original Frenchy's (41 Baymont St., Clearwater Beach; (727) 446-3607) is now 25 and has three other branches. The birthday party will be Oct. 14; the following weekend will be Frenchy's other big celebration, the Stone Crab Festival.

Billy's Stone Crab (1 Collany Road, Tierra Verde; (727) 866-2115) brings back a favorite St. Petersburg deal - the 99-cent fish fry - for the rest of the year. It was Billy Moore's first promotion when he started 35 years ago. The deal is served from 4:30 to 7 p.m. and includes slaw, boiled potatoes and fried fish (it will start with sea bass and switch to mackerel, then mullet, as the catch changes).

- CHRIS SHERMAN

[Last modified September 26, 2006, 08:45:02]