Trend to Come: Macho Tea-Drinking Contests?Everybody knows...

Trend to Come: Macho Tea-Drinking Contests?

Everybody knows the ‘80s was the decade of chiles, and some say the ‘90s will go down as the decade of violently sour flavors. On this basis, we predict the fierce ingredient of the next century will be just any old thing that’s boiling.

One Bran Burger, Extra Cherry

Low-fat beef has, let’s say, juiciness and tenderness issues. To deal with them--and an issue that, as far as we know, nobody had raised: absence of dietary fiber--a butcher named Raymond Pleva has invented a form of ground sirloin that’s 15% cherries and oat bran.

Well, there was another issue too; Pleva, of Cedar, Mich., is also a cherry grower. But his cherry-sirloin product, Plevalean (he has more than a dozen others, including a cherry pepperoni), has convinced a lot of people. It’s authorized for the National School Lunch Program and you’ll be seeing it at Wild Oats and Hughes Markets.

And you’ll be seeing Pleva himself one day soon, if you haven’t already. He’s appeared on “Oprah,” with Jay Leno and on “Good Morning America,” among other shows, and next Tuesday he’s on “Home Improvement” in the “Tool Time” segment. Tim Allen, a Michigander himself, sometimes has the show’s cook serve the crew Plevalean.

Thaw Out, Dude

Winter means . . . pizza, say supermarkets around the country. It seems frozen pizza sales climb during the cold months, presumably because people aren’t toasting weenies out in their backyards.