Tom Harte

Rose Levy Beranbaum, in her book, “The Pie and Pastry Bible,” a volume which I’ve read religiously, says, “There are two kinds of people: cake people and pie people.”

All my life I’ve believed I’m in the second category. I even served once as a judge at the National Pie Championships sponsored by the American Pie Council, of which I was a charter member.

You’ve probably heard the old adage that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. You might have thought the phrase was coined by a committee of nutritionists or the Food and Drug Administration, but the truth is it actually originated in 1944 as part of a marketing campaign launched by General Foods to advertise breakfast cereal.  Thus,  the second most important ingredient in the widespread popularity of breakfast cereal is advertising. (The most important is sugar.)

Ready for a fish story? While cruising through Alaska's Inside Passage, I visited a salmon hatchery in Ketchikan - the salmon capital of the world - and renewed my respect for these persistent and tasty creatures. 

“Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack” is undoubtedly the most famous line from the ditty, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."  To the makers of Cracker Jack the line has certainly been the most valuable.  Someone once tried to figure out the worth of the musical plug by comparing it to the cost of buying advertising on the outfield walls of every major league stadium and concluded that such a campaign would cost roughly $25 million a year.  “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” furnishes Cracker Jack the equivalent every year for free, making the song the greatest product placement scheme in the hist