Time to step out of the box and make your own crispy crackersThey won't steal limelight from spreads

Munching away happily on a variety of crackers gathered in a basket, a friend was incredulous when informed they were all homemade. ''Get outta town!'' she exclaimed. ''These are awesome!''

If you can make cookies, why not crackers?

According to Merriam Webster, a cracker is ''a dried, thin, crispy baked bread product that may be leavened or unleavened.'' Easier to make than cookies or bread - and with far fewer ingredients - crackers are simple to put together and a snap if you have a food processor. The dough is like a well-behaved pie crust that is easy to handle. You can roll the dough directly on a floured baking sheet. That light-brown color and the crunch comes from baking at high temperatures for short periods of time.

Like the child who should be seen but not heard, we expect so much of crackers. They should hold moist spreads without getting soggy, stand up to cheeses without over-powering them, provide a backdrop that is both attractive and has texture. They should be the perfect partner, but never the star.

Often, crackers share the limelight in the cookie aisle of the supermarket. Many crackers that are popular with Americans are salty, fat-laden, contain some form of sugar, and often are flavor-enhanced. No wonder they are placed next to cookies.

However, crackers made with whole grains, little if any fat, and no preservatives are gaining in popularity. An excellent source of fiber and low in calories, many of these brands, including Wasa, Kavli, and Ryvita, are from Europe. They have body, taste, and texture and are a great size for holding a slice of cheese or a smear of peanut butter. They are also a dieter's delight at about 25-30 calories per significant slice.

Supermarket shelves reflect the culinary passions of the host population. Like aisles of pasta in Italy or rice in Japan, aisles in a Scandanavian country are filled with knackebrod, or crisp breads. The packages are works of art. Twelve-inch wheels of rye crackers stacked five deep are wrapped in paper with beautiful folk art. Stacks of rectangular packages with whole wheat, rye, graham, and oat flours are but a few of the staggering number of combinations available. Used for lunch and snacks, these crackers need to stand up to a host of strong flavors like smoked and vinegared herrings, codfish roe and liver pastes, and pungent cheeses. And they do. They share equal billing with these toppings.

Knackebrod, also known as hardtack, comes in a variety of shapes. The large, circular, dimpled rounds with holes in the center were originally made by Swedish farm wives only a few times a year. They never worried that these hard, air-dried crackers would get stale. The knackebrod was hung from poles or broomstick handles in the home. The family shared a round by breaking it up and serving it with butter. These hardtacks also were a staple for sailors on long sea journeys.

The dimples were created by using a special tool with multiple tines in a circular pattern. The dough was pricked all over. Carl Hansen of Bedford has the wooden tool his grandmother, Johanna Hoyer, brought with her when she left her parents' farm in Sweden to become a house maid in South Dakota in the late 1800s. With 16 hobnails densely set into a thick wooden circular platform with a handle, it is the perfect tool for the job.

When asked what the tool was called, Signe Hansen, Carl's wife, joked, ''a knacke-pricker of course!'' The tines of a fork will also work but is not nearly as much fun to use or say.

You do have to look hard for recipes for homemade crackers, but they are around. Some recipes use only flour, salt, and water. Other will have yeast or butter.

Experimenting with various flours produced a variety of results. In making the Swedish knackebrod, all rye flour was used. The dough was soft and set to rise once, producing a dense, crispy, flavorful cracker. A large pie plate served as a pattern for the circle and a shot glass made the hole in the center. The knacke-pricker made short work of piercing the dough. At another try, the tines of the fork performed admirably.

A shortbread-like rye and white flour cracker, as well as a cheddar sesame cracker, were some of the simplest doughs I have ever made. The process took less than 15 minutes and the crackers were rich and delicious. They are perfect on their own, and just great with a glass of red wine. A cracker with a white flour base and a minimal amount of butter was made special by concocting a multi-seed topping I rolled into the dough.

To make the crackers a little fancier, you can pre-cut them with a ruffle-edge pastry wheel. Some well-placed tine punctures and a watchful eye on the oven will produce some special results. It will be an ''I can't believe I made these'' moment.

Recipes

Rye crackers with cumin seeds
This is a rich buttery cracker with the surprise complement of cumin seeds.

Yields about four dozen.

1 cup rye flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons whole cumin seed
1 egg white, beaten for the glaze

1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flours and salt. Pulse for a few seconds.
2. Add the cut-up butter and pulse several times until the mixture is pebbly.
3. With the machine running, add the milk through the feed tube. Mix until dough forms a ball.
4. Turn the dough onto a floured surface. Add a little white flour and knead into a ball. Dough should not stick to your hands. Flatten and wrap with foil. Refrigerate for several hours.
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
6. Remove dough to a buttered baking sheet (with no sides is best) and flatten with the palm of your hand into a circle.
7. Sprinkle flour over the dough and roll into a rectangle to about 1/4 inch.
8. Sprinkle cumin seeds evenly over the surface of the dough. Press the seeds into the dough by lightly drawing the rolling pin over the surface.
9. Prick the dough all over with the tines of a fork. With a pizza wheel or pastry wheel, make 4-5 vertical cuts and 7 or 8 horizontal cuts.
10. Brush dough with egg white.
11. Bake crackers about 20-25 minutes, until lightly browned.
12. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Store in airtight container.

Adapted from ''The Way We Cook'' by Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven

Multiseeded crackers

Yields about 20.

1 cup all-purpose white flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt, and butter.
2. Pulse for 30 seconds until mixture looks pebbly.
3. With motor running, pour the water through the feed tube, just until the mixture forms a ball. Add more water by tablespoonful if necessary.
4. Flour the top of a surface and roll dough into a rectangle about 1/2-inch thick.
5. Sprinkle seed mixture on top of dough and, with rolling pin, roll the mixture lightly into the dough.
6. Lightly spray a cookie sheet with oil. Sprinkle on flour.
7. With a spatula, slide rectangle onto baking sheet.
8. With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, and light pressure, make about four vertical cuts and five horizontal cuts, giving you about 20 crackers.
9. Bake for 10 minutes, until the crackers begin to brown.
1 0. As crackers bake, they will separate. Remove to a wire rack and let cool.

Store in airtight container.

Note: Try substituting 1/2 cup of whole-wheat flour or add 1/4 cup wheat germ.

Seed mixture
This makes more than needed for recipe. Keep in airtight jar and use on breads.

2 teaspoons poppy seeds
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 tablespoon onion flakes
1 tablespoon caraway seeds


1. Mix together in a bowl. Store in airtight jar.

Adapted from ''How to Cook Everything'' by Mark Bittman

Cheddar sesame crackers

Yields at least three dozen.

3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees.
2. In bowl of food processor, place flour, pepper, and butter. Pulse until mixture resembles pebbles.
3. Add grated cheese and Worcestershire sauce. Pulse until dough forms a ball.
4. Remove and flatten slightly. Wrap in foil and chill for 1 hour.
5. On a well-floured board, roll out the dough to a 1/4-inch thickness. With a shot glass, cut out cheddar rounds and place on cookie sheet.
6. Sprinkle sesame seeds on each cracker and lightly press into dough with fingertip.
7. Bake for 10 minutes.

Note: You can also pull off pieces of dough and roll snake-like between the palm of your hands. Roll in sesame seeds or multi-seed mix. Store in airtight container.

Adapted from ''The Joy of Cooking''

A pumped-up energy-drink industry flexes its muscles

''Party like a rock star.'' ''For energy that lasts.'' ''Xapp your mind, Xapp your muscles.'' ''Vitalizes body and mind.'' Amp, Monster, Adrenaline Rush, Red Bull, XAPP: Are we talking about heavy metal bands here?

No, these are the latest entries in the exploding energy-drink market, replete with fan clubs. What their devotees are cheering about are the caffeinated sodas with added vitamins, caffeine, herb extracts, supplements, and a large dose of hype.

No matter that they have a chemical sweetness and an aftertaste. Red Bull tastes like liquid bubble gum; Xapp, a ''protein energy drink'' whose second ingredient is whey protein powder (which is hard to disguise), is barely palatable. Popular among teenagers and ''20-somethings,'' these citrusy and lightly carbonated drinks are sometimes consumed before a workout, but also before tests, at parties, and even in bars (sometimes mixed with alcohol).

These companies know their target audience. A call to the company that produces Monster Energy Drink to ask about the ingredient listed as ''energy blend'' was met with this message: ''Hey Dudes, we're down in the lab mixing up the wicked brew. Leave your name and number and we'll call back. Party on!'' For the record, we called twice and they didn't call back.

A lot goes into this legal quick-fix. Besides caffeine, other ingredients include guarana extract, a natural caffeine-like stimulant derived from a Brazilian plant; taurine, an amino acid that aids the body in times of stress; and B vitamins such as niacin, pyridoxine, and pantothenic acid, which are also found in fruit and help produce energy.

But is the ''buzz'' about the power drinks really due to these added stimulants?

Joyce Dendy of Watertown, a dietitian and certified personal trainer, believes the value of these ingredients has not been proven scientifically. She wonders aloud if the drinks' success is more a matter of ''the placebo effect'' and marketing. Simply put, is it mind over matter?

Red Bull was distributed to a team of 12-year-old boys during halftime at a soccer game recently. Someone must have read the package about increased endurance and improved performance. With 80 milligrams of caffeine in an 8-ounce serving, Bull has less caffeine than an 8-ounce cup of coffee(135-250 milligrams, depending on the brand) but more than twice as much as colas, which contain about 45 milligrams of caffeine in 12 ounces. Caffeine is a diuretic that can contribute to dehydration, clearly not desirable during a sporting event.

When water went out of fashion in the mid-1960s, Gatorade was the first sports drink on the market. Propel and Powerade have since joined a long list of similar hydrating drinks that contain no caffeine. These sports drinks provide the athlete with energy and replace electrolytes lost during strenuous activity. Dendy feels there is a place for these drinks.

''Glucose and/or sucrose are often the second ingredient after water,'' she said. ''These are added to give the body the type of sugar that can be absorbed to help provide energy. Both of these sugars are absorbed quickly through the lining of the stomach and into the blood stream. It is sugars like fructose and corn syrup that have a slower absorption rate and thus stay in the stomach longer. If consumed during exercise, they can cause cramping.''

Loss of electrolytes like sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium can be an issue for endurance athletes. Electrolytes are important as they carry nerve impulses and aid in muscle contractions. According to Joan Buchbinder of Brookline, however, a dietitian and sports nutritionist, the average person doing a 60-minute workout in the gym is not in danger.

''Take some water and add a splash of your favorite juice,'' Buchbinder said. ''This will keep your blood sugar up.'' When asked if adding a little salt would be helpful, she responded that it is unnecessary as Americans already have too much salt in their diets.

Now that water is back in fashion, even juice and water companies have jumped in with their own enhanced drinks. Water sold with vitamins in products like Vitaminwater and in Fruit2O Plus contains fruit juice, electrolytes, vitamins, and calories. When asked about the value of these vitamin waters, Dr. Robert Stacks, head of pediatrics at Faulkner Hospital in Boston, chuckled, then asked: ''What ever happened to water?''

He explained the body needs only a certain amount of these vitamins. When it gets what it needs, it expels the rest. ''I bet a lot of people have some very strong urine,'' he said. ''Now, if only the urine could pump the iron.''

Speaking of pumping iron, a whole slew of other drinks is sold at places like GNC and The Vitamin Shoppe. Rip Force and Speed Stacks are designed to be taken before a workout and are sold as performance enhancers. Luke Thompson, a 23-year-old college student from Arlington, says these help him have a better workout. This was echoed by several buff sales guys at these two shops. One did acknowledge that the effect lasts just a short while, ''and then you crash.''

Drinks like Rip Force and Speed Stack also contain mah huang, a Chinese herb known commonly as ephedra, the dietary supplement used as a stimulant in weight loss and energy improvement that recently was banned by minor league baseball. Ephedra, which increases the heart rate and is also a diuretic, is sold legally only to those 18 or older. Sales clerks at a GNC store in the Burlington Mall said the company is beginning to take these drinks off the market due to recent bad press surrounding ephedra.

Dendy insists one cannot underestimate the importance of good nutrition, adequate hydration, and rest in performance and recovery.

''If you are not sure about a certain ingredient, find out about it on the Internet,'' she said. ''You can also consult with a dietitian.''

Kevin Russo, wrestling coach at Watertown High School, agrees. He said Americans are looking for a ''quick fix,'' when fitness is really a matter of hard work and good nutrition.

The beverage industry has a website, http://www.bevnet.com/, that rates each of these drinks and gives nutrition information.

Aebleskiver, Denmark's answer to the doughnut

COPENHAGEN -- Ask any Dane or Danish-American about aebleskivers, and you'll be treated to broad smiles. Aebleskiver --literally ''apple slice'' -- is a pancake puffball that rarely contains the apple tidbit originally tucked into its center as a sweet surprise.

But the name, pronounced ay-bla-skeever, has stuck. Gone in two bites, this traditional Danish dessert, sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with raspberry jam during the holidays, is made in a cast iron pan that resembles an egg poacher, with seven round depressions. It is placed directly atop a flame.

The batter bubbles, the puffs are turned with a knitting needle, and soon the aebleskivers are rolling from the pan. Eaten warm, they are downed before the powdered sugar dust has a chance to settle.

Most Danes have their own aebleskiver pans. In the houseware section of Ilum's, a department store on Copenhagen's main shopping street, Heidi Hansen showed me the latest in nonstick aebleskiver pans. ''When I was a child,'' she said, ''we visited my grandfather in the country. He made the best aebleskivers for me and my sisters. I remember setting the table and having a very cozy, warm, familiar feeling.''

The following day, by arrangement, Hansen brought her mother's batter-stained cookbook with her aebleskiver recipe translated into English. ''If we had time, I would make you some,'' she said.That evening I asked friends about aebleskivers, which are only available during the Christmas holidays, and if they knew where I could get the pancakes out of season. Geir Helgesen, a political analyst, told me about a restaurant 20 miles outside of Copenhagen that is famous for serving aebleskivers year round. A day trip along the Danish coast could, he assured me, conclude with tea and aebleskivers at the Malerklemmen Restaurant in the tiny town of Borup, a speck on the map. The Malerklemmen website (www.malerklemmen.dk) said that the restaurant is open 12 to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. My husband and I found ourselves happily but hopelessly lost in the tidy Danish countryside, where our maps weren't helpful. A kind soul led us to the restaurant. It was 4:10 p.m. Thankfully, we thought, there still was plenty of time.

We entered the centuries-old building with its thick thatched roof and the waitress informed us that the kitchen had closed 10 minutes ago. The owner, Michael Strand, heard me pleading with the waitress and came out from the kitchen.

He showed us two huge, multiholed pans: ''On some Sundays I make over 2,500 aebleskivers,'' he said, adding that he carefully turns each with a knitting needle. Strand arranged some warm aebleskivers on a plate with a bowl of jam. Sitting at a wooden table in a converted tenant farmer's home beneath antique aebleskiver pans, we would finally taste one.

It looked like a very puffy doughnut hole, and its texture was a cross between a doughnut and a pancake. It was not overly sweet, but just right with a dab of jam and a cup of late afternoon coffee or tea -- well worth the long trip.Danish-Americans don't save aebleskivers for the holidays but eat them year round whenever families get together. At breakfast, they are most like pancakes, enjoyed with syrup and sausages. According to Lisa Rigg of the Danish Windmill Museum in Elk Horn, Iowa, this drives some Danes to distraction:
''As Danes assimilated into American society, breakfast seemed the natural spot in the American meal for aebleskivers.'' When the museum holds its annual Tivoli Fest on Memorial Day weekend, ''folks come from all over for our aebleskivers,'' Rigg says. Elsewhere in the Midwest, and wherever else Danes settled, aebleskivers are sold at church fund-raisers. There are aebleskiver festivals and aebleskiver cookbooks, and in Solvang, Calif., named for a town in Denmark, aebleskivers are sold on the street to summer tourists.

Brookline resident Ingrid Finstuen is learning to make aebleskivers. Her Norwegian-American husband, Andrew, said, ''I remember being intrigued by the pan my mother used and the way she turned them with a poker.'' Andrew Finstuen's mother, Kappy, recalled how her Danish neighbor in Oregon, Lucille Stubkjaer, made hundreds of them for her wedding breakfast. Kappy Finstuen coached her daughter-in-law in the art of rotating an aebleskiver last summer. ''I love them with fresh raspberries and sour cream,'' says Ingrid Finstuen.

Making aebleskivers at home isn't difficult. The batter is a little thinner than for ordinary American pancakes. Getting the pan to the right temperature is important, as is greasing the little holes, for which you use melted margarine or butter.

Turning the pancakes is tricky, but with a little wrist action and confidence, you'll be on your way. That just leaves the pan, also known as munk pans in Germany. You can find seven-holed cast iron pans in Chinatown (Vietnamese cooks make banh khoc, savory pancakes that use the same pans), and you can use knitting needles from your own collection.

Now say ''aebleskiver'' three times fast.

Super 88 and the Ming Market have seven-hole cast iron pans
($6.95). Look in the pots and pans aisle. Or go to
www.fantes.com/aebleskiver.htm; http://www.cookscorner.com/, or
http://www.danishwindmill.com/.

For vegetarians, creativity and nutrition knowledge are key

''My favorite food used to be Chinese spareribs,'' says Reuben Solomon, 13, of Lexington. ''That is, until I realized I had ribs, too. I think I was 9 and I haven't eaten any meat since then.''

Reuben does drink milk and eat eggs. That makes him an ovolactovegetarian.

When someone says, ''I'm a vegetarian but I eat fish,'' they are ''semi-vegetarian,'' according to Reed Mangel, an Amherst-based dietician advisor to the Vegetarian Resource Group and mother of two vegan daughters. Vegans eat a totally plant-based diet and do not include dairy products, eggs, or honey. Some vegetarians also avoid using animal products such as leather in their daily life.

When children are vegetarians, it adds another layer of concern.

''Parents need to respect the choices their children make, for whatever reason they have chosen a vegetarian diet,'' said Dina Aronson, a dietician specializing in vegetarian nutrition. Still, many parents are concerned about where their young vegetarians will get important vitamins and nutrients, such as calcium and protein.

Aronson says the nutritional challenges of vegetarians and nonvegetarians are about the same. She says soy products, fortified foods, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and nuts can provide almost all of one's nutritional needs. If one consumes enough calories (about 2,000 a day), protein deficiency is not a problem. The problem, Aronson says, comes when a child's diet is ''almost entirely refined junk food.'' That, of course, is not limited to just vegetarians.

So, what to do if your 15-year-old comes home and announces she is a vegetarian?

Mangel suggests you find out more about their decision and work with them on a meal plan that is sound and viable within your family.

''Make your meals vegetarian-friendly,'' she said.

Sometimes, one or two sessions with a dietician can provide the objective authority a young person needs and the reassurance parents require.

Aronson asks her clients to keep a three-day food intake record that she analyzes against the Daily Reference Intake established by the National Academy of Sciences. She then advises accordingly, adding, ''The number-one issue is to accept it and not try to force a change.'' She urges parents to have their children choose from among three healthy food choices, thus including them in the decision-making process. Done correctly, Aronson insists, the result is a healthy lifestyle.

Dr. Harvey Zarren, a cardiologist, could not agree more. He gave up his successful, 27-year practice of trying to fix the damaging effects of Americans' bad eating habits (clogged arteries) and now works on prevention with teenagers in public high schools.

''We should be eating a diet of plant-based foods,'' he said. ''If you do eat an animal, it should come from the water.''

These professionals agree that a variety of food, exercise, and eliminating or limiting animal sources of protein from the diet are important elements to a healthier diet.

Would that it were so simple. Reuben's idea of a great meal is three or four slices of pizza. He will also include a handful of grapes, cucumber slices, and carrots. Sybil, his mom, is concerned that he not limit his diet to carbohydrates. Reuben knows he has to eat what is put on his plate and Sybil knows he has great negotiating skills. On the positive side, Reuben is very aware of nutritional issues; he scans food labels and ingredient lists carefully.

When kindergartner Charlie Ramsland of Stowe became a vegetarian in December, it changed his mom, Sharlet's, life, too. They had visited a farm in Sherborn.

''I picked up a book and saw animals who were alive in the beginning and dead at the end,'' said Charlie. ''I felt very sorry for them.''

''He hasn't eaten meat since then,'' said Sharlet, ''and neither have I. It was a very powerful experience for us both.''

Charlie said that his mom lets him pick out his own food; his favorites are macaroni and cheese, and all fruits. For vegetables, he said emphatically, ''carrots and corn, that's it!''

As with any extreme change in diet, a good idea is to consult a health professional. There is much controversy and conflicting information regarding vegetarianism.

Many folks claim to be vegetarians, but haven't met a vegetable they like. Getting enough Vitamin B12 is important for the health of cells and is a concern for those vegetarians, particularly children, who do not eat any dairy or eggs. This is usually addressed through supplements and fortified foods. There are many resources available to help anyone be well-informed and well-fed.

Here are some resources for vegetarians:

Vegetarian Resource Group (publications and website); Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203; 410-366-8343; www. vrg@vrg.org

Boston Vegetarian Society (local events, newsletter, website); 617-424-8846; www.bostonveg.org

Dina Aronson(dietician specializing in vegetarian nutrition); www.nutrawiz.com

Sprouts(vegan family support and playgroup); vegsprouts@hotmail.com

Dr. Harvey Zarren(physician); presentations to PTO's and organizations on healthy diets and lifestyle

Connected Healing Institute; 781-599-4718

Recipes

African stew
Makes 6 cups

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cups vegetable stock or water
2 cups peeled, diced sweet potatoes or yams
1 cup cooked or canned chick peas
1 cup uncooked brown rice
1/4 teaspoon salt, optional
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 cups chopped collard greens or kale ( stems removed)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon pepper

1. Heat oil in a medium-size pot and saute onions for 5 minutes.
2. Add stock or water, sweet potatoes, chickpeas, rice, and salt and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
3. In a small bowl, blend peanut butter with about half a cup of hot water. Stir peanut butter into stew along with kale and cook for five minutes.
4. Add lemon juice and pepper.
5. Turn off heat and cover. Let steam for about 10 minutes, before serving.

Adapted from ''Raising Vegetarian Children - A Guide to Good Health and Family Harmony'' by Joanne Stepaniak and Vesanto Melina (McGraw Hill)

Creamy corn noodles
Makes 6 cups

1/2 pound noodles
1 15-ounce can of cream of corn
1 10-ounce package frozen corn
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes (available at health food stores)

Optional garnishes:
additional protein or yeast flakes mixed with parsley
chopped red peppers
chopped tomatoes

1. Cook noodles according to package.
2. Place cream of corn, frozen corn, onion flakes, and yeast flakes in a blender and process until smooth.
3. Place mixture in a saucepan and warm.
4. Drain cooked noodles and place in a large bowl. Add corn mixture to the noodles and toss gently. Sprinkle garnishes on top. You can also serve noodles and then spoon corn mixture over the top.

Roast vegetables

Asparagus spears, trimmed
Sweet potato
Kale
Sesame seeds
Olive oil
Sprinkling of salt

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Lightly grease a baking sheet with olive oil.
3. Place asparagus in a bowl. Drizzle olive oil over asparagus and mix until well-coated.
4. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
5. Place asparagus in a single row on the baking sheet and place in oven. Roast for about 8 minutes. Remove to plate and sprinkle with salt.
6. Slice sweet potatoes very thin and toss in bowl with some olive oil.
7. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and spread the potatoes out in a layer. Bake for 5 minutes.
8. Do the same with the kale: Remove the center ''spine,'' toss with olive oil, and place on baking sheet. Bake for 5 minutes but check after 3.
9. Place both vegetables on a plate, sprinkle with a little salt, and you have a crunchy stack of Vitamin A, iron, and calcium.

Consuming more than one serving a common diet buster

In your cache of kitchen gadgets do you have a scale for weighing food? Are your measuring cups and spoons ever-handy for dishing out those suggested serving sizes on the nutrition label? For example, the one that says two tablespoons of salad dressing equals 1 serving?

We know that the amount of food we eat has a direct effect on our health and weight. Obesity has become a critical health issue for Americans. It's hard not to over-eat these days, though, as huge portions are busting the last notch on our collective belts and we confuse volume with value.

The one thing nutritionists, foodies, and diet gurus seem to agree on is that no matter what we eat, no matter which regimen we're following, it's how much that can make the difference between losing those 10 pounds or gaining them. Even here, however, things can be confusing.

''There is a difference between a serving size and a portion,'' said Randi Beranbaum, dietician at Tufts University. ''A portion is the amount you put on your plate. A serving is a measured amount for reporting nutrients.''

This matters, she and other professionals say, because typically, we put more on our plate than we need.

Serving sizes are not created equal. Federal agencies, professional associations, and food establishments have somewhat differing guidelines. The Nutrition Facts Label on your breakfast cereal, for example, was developed by the US Food and Drug Administration to help consumers balance important nutrients in a daily, 2,000-calorie diet. The FDA label is based on ''reference amounts,'' the volume of food consumed at one sitting as determined by FDA food surveys. Weights and volumes are expressed in standard household measures like tablespoons, cups, and slices, and the labels are designed to let consumers compare information about similar food products.

Within these guidelines, manufacturers still have considerable latitude in deciding what a serving is. The regulations say that ''if a unit weighs more than 50 percent, but less than 200 percent, of the reference amount, the serving size can be one unit.'' (Read all the regulations at www.fda.gov. Go to Reference Room, click on Code of Federal Regulations, then type ''nutrition labeling'' in Full Text Search.)

For example, look at the label on a can of Coca Cola. The reference amount for carbonated beverages is 8 ounces, according to the regulations, but the can says 12 ounces is one serving. Now, look at the 20-ounce Coca Cola bottle and the label will say it contains 2.5 servings: One serving is now only 8 ounces.

The United States Department of Agriculture goes about this differently. Its Dietary Guidelines for Americans, last revised in 2000, are depicted graphically in the Food Guide Pyramid. The guidelines put ''nutrient standards into food groups based on advice for a healthful diet.'' The controversial food pyramid is slated for updating in 2005. John Webster, of the USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, said, ''The Food Guide Pyramid was designed as a teaching tool, because people usually do not weigh their food and think of foods as items.'' In re-assessing the Food Guide Pyramid, Webster said ''it has become evident that consumers don't know what a serving consists of.''

Meanwhile, restaurants and bakeries get to determine their own serving sizes. We have all been to steak houses where individual, 12- to 16-ounce steaks are on the menu, or to restaurants where plates of piled-high pasta are offered as one serving. Doggie bags are part of the plan, but many people manage to down the entire platter. Depending on who is counting, the customer could have consumed three to six servings of meat or as much as 10 servings of pasta in one sitting in these establishments.

Then there are unpackaged items like bagels and donuts that vary wildly in serving size. A 4-ounce Bruegger's bagel, often purchased as a single serving, would be two servings according to the FDA, and four servings according to the USDA. Do we really have to do the math for a 670-calorie, 61/2-ounce coffee cake muffin that is considered one serving at Dunkin' Donuts?

People should learn to ''visualize a real serving,'' said Denise Barra, a licensed nutritionist. She referred to the visual from the American Dietetic Association to imagine ''a bar of soap for a serving of meat, a computer mouse for a medium-sized potato, a hockey puck for a bagel, and a tennis ball as a serving of ice cream.'' She recommended learning about serving sizes at home because ''we are adapting to super-size portions. ... We need to re-learn what it feels like to eat moderate-sized portions.''

''You and I have different caloric and nutritional needs,'' she said, ''but a standard serving is a starting point.''

Lexington brothers Andy Olson, 22, who is 6 feet, 3 inches tall and 175 pounds, and Alex Olson, 23, who is 6 feet, 1 inch and 230 pounds, were refilling their breakfast cereal bowls recently. They ate three and four times the serving size stated on the box - three-quarters of a cup, an admittedly small amount for these big guys. Being active, they probably would burn off the 450 calories they consumed.

Breakfast cereals, however, have a wide range of serving sizes, and a fortified cereal like Total can give you too much of a good thing if you don't pay attention to serving sizes. The idea that if 100 percent is good, then 400 percent is better doesn't work with some nutrients. Barra cited iron as an example: Men can end up eating several times more iron than their body needs when eating fortified cereals.

''Women have a higher need for iron and get rid of the excess on a monthly basis,'' she said. ''Men don't. If extra iron gets stored, it could eventually lead to health problems.''

While one serving size does not fit all, there is general acceptance of the FDA guidelines. Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the independent watchdog group Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C., said, ''Serving sizes on the nutrition label are generally reasonable, and consumers have become familiar with them. However, serving sizes do need some tweaking.'' She used the example of ice cream, where the present serving size is an unrealistic one-half cup.

She cautioned that ''consumers should look at the serving size first. Most smaller bags of snacks, like chips or pretzels, are not single servings, and it is unreasonable to think people are sharing these items.''

Recently, Sean Martorano had his hand planted in a bag of microwave popcorn, while Greg Gibbons, his fellow service consultant at Boston Volkswagen in Allston, had hit bottom in a Cracker Jack bag. Both were aware that each bag contained more than three servings and conceded that, if forced, they would share. Still, pulling the Cracker Jack prize from the bottom of his bag, Gibbons said, ''If they intended 31/2 people to be eating this, wouldn't there be 31/2 prizes?''

These websites may be of further interest:

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/ (US Department of Agriculture's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion)
http://www.fda.gov/ (US Food and Drug Administration)
http://www.eatright.org/ (American Dietetic Association)
http://www.dunkindonuts.com/ (nutrition information on all their products)
http://www.cspinet.org/ (Center for Science in the Public Interest)

In the Lime-light

MIAMI -- Ask any five people about Key lime pie and they will agree on one thing only -- it should never ever be green.

''Honey,'' said the slight waitress with weather-beaten skin at a little dive called the Crack'd Conch (where the choices for dessert were a slice of Doris's Key lime pie or the whole pie), ''if it's green, man made it green. One more thing,'' she added as she set the pie before us, ''you're never gonna find two Key lime pies that are the same.''

No kidding.

Whipped cream topping or meringue? Slathered over the top or a dollop? To bake or not to bake? Frozen or just chilled? If limes from the Florida Keys aren't available, will Persian lime juice, key lime juice concentrate, or key limes from Mexico do? The answers include ''absolutely!'' and ''absolutely not!'' What's a Northerner to do? The solution seems obvious: Taste all the pies you can.

The essential ingredient, of course, is Key lime, a tiny ping-pong ball that yields only a few teaspoons of juice. Sold in mesh sacks, Key limes are in season in Florida from April through November (but available year round from Mexico and Central America). When they're ripe, they're yellow, rather than green, and their tart juice can almost be sweet, making them perfect for baking pies.

Residents of the Keys insist there is something special in the coral rock and soil that gives their limes an especially astringent flavor and distinct aroma. In a blind taste test there was a difference.

Most Key lime pies have a pale yellow, almost white, custard filling made with lime juice (often a mixture of both Key limes and the more common Persian limes), egg yolks and condensed milk in a graham cracker crust. Some contain grated lime rind, others are made with milk, cream cheese, vanilla ice cream, or meringue. One lady, overhearing a request for a good pie recipe, offered her low-fat version made with yogurt, lime Jell-O, and (horrors!) green food coloring. Some folks add rum or chocolate chips or use a regular sweet pie crust.

Purists will argue endlessly over the ''classic'' pie. It's not unlike the thick versus thin clam chowder debate hereabouts. At The Key Lime Tree garden and gift shop in Key Largo, clerk Judy McGraw was mulling over a question about pies when all heads turned. McGraw whispered, ''you can start a war down here by asking about Key lime pie.''

Claims of ''best'' were dropping like ripe fruit from trees. Gift shop owner John McCarthy believes the petite citrus fruit contains detoxifying elements. He says ''old conchs'' (that's Southern for ''old salts'') will come into his shop, pop the top off a bottle of key lime juice, and gulp it down to cleanse their kidneys. Besides his pies, he also uses Key lime juice to make concentrate, shampoo, body lotions, and jellies.

Most Florida restaurants and bakeries have Key lime pie on the menu. The differences are often very subtle but when faced with a cloyingly sweet pie and fake whipped cream, you notice it. Miami Herald food editor Kathleen Martin says a good Key lime pie should balance sweet and tart ''just on the tart side of the meter.'' She thinks few palates could distinguish between a pie made with common Persian limes instead of Key limes, but her own pie is made with fresh Key lime juice, rather than bottled, when the fresh fruits are available.

One of the best pies -- one that has a creamy, light filling, just the right bite of fresh lime, and a dollop of real whipped cream in a thick graham cracker crust -- is made at Joe's Stone Crab Restaurant, Miami's big popular fish house, where an entire kitchen produces about 30,000 handmade pies a year. There, the bakers use both fresh Key and Persian limes.

If you have a hankering for a slice and don't want to leave your fireside, Joe's will ship one to you for $69 (a plane ride may be cheaper). While you're at it, get a mess of crab claws, too. The Blond Giraffe in Key West (a favorite of many Miamians) will also ship a pie for about the same price. Blond Giraffe pies have a high meringue topping and will stay frozen for several months.

Or, you can just start squeezing. Making Key lime pie is easy. It takes one-half to one cup of lime juice -- about 8 to 14 Key limes -- for a pie. If you find them, or some kind relative brings you some, get a few bags. You can freeze them whole and once thawed, the juice flows easily. Or, squeeze the whole lot and freeze the juice for 2 to 3 months. Putting together your own graham cracker crust is a snap and tastes better than the prepared variety. Key lime juice concentrate makes a fine pie (try ''Real Key Lime Juice'' from www.famousflorida.com).

Let the fresh lime smell make you dream of warmer days ahead, when the trees (never the pies) turn green.

Key limes are sometimes available at Wilson Farms, 10 Pleasant St., Lexington (781-862-3900). You can order them by the case. Most Bread & Circus stores carry Key limes. Products from Key Largo's The Key Lime Tree gift shop are available at http://www.keylimeproducts.com/. Search for Blond Giraffe pies at http://www.blogger.com/www.blondgiraffe.com, for Joe's Stone Crab pies at http://www.joesstonecrab.com/.

In Berlin, flavors of Turkey and Lebanon spice up the fast food

BERLIN -- Isn't it fitting that the country that gave us hamburgers and frankfurters
now consumes fast food from Turkey and Lebanon? Doener from Turkey and
shawarma from Lebanon -- tasty sandwiches using spiced meat carved from a rotating spit -- feed Berliners of all ethnicities.

Comfort foods accompany emigres the world over, and Germany is no exception.
What once was exotic fare is now to Germans what pizza and bagels are to
Americans -- just another fast food with personality.

Standing alone or tucked into little shops with windows opening to the street, imbiss, or snack stands, are ubiquitous in Berlin. Patrons can save their euros for the more expensive evening meals and get freshly made hot sandwiches, which are meals in themselves, for as little as 2.50 euros (about $2.70). Most imbiss have no seating; patrons stand at tall bistro tables. Seating means the establishment is required to provide restroom facilities. But how long can you linger when there's no place to sit?

At Winterfeldt Platz in the Schoeneberg district, Habibi's is known for its shawarma and falafel. Its engaging Lebanese owner, who has been in Germany for 12 years, makes no adjustments for the German palate. Layers of boned and skinned chicken are marinated in spices and pressed together. After steaming, the huge funnel-shaped concoction is slowly roasted, gyrating on a spit under intense heat. An onion sits atop it to add flavor. Young men carve thin slices of chicken from the spit onto flat bread.

French fries and pickles nestle against the chicken. After a dressing of tangy yogurt, the bread is wrapped around the ingredients. Habibi's is clean and lively. Fresh fruit juices, yogurt drinks, and desserts are also available. You will be full for no more than about $4.30. If you can, go on a Wednesday or Saturday before 3 p.m., when the market on the plaza in front is in full swing.

The friendly shopkeeper at the Istanbul Grill near the Buelowstrasse station has adjusted to German palates by adding more vegetables and sauces to his doeners, which in Turkey are mostly meat. Served on flat bread that closes around steaming ingredients, the doeners at the Istanbul Grill have a garlic sauce and use different herbs.

Step up to the window and ask for a doener or choose another of his Turkish specialties, like the lahmacun, a pizzalike snack sprinkled with spiced ground meat, lemon, and paprika. Nothing costs more than a few euros. Eat while you walk, or stand inside the shop.

How about a little curry with your wurst? Currywurst, Berlin's specialty, is a sausage served ''ohne darm'' (without the casing) or ''mit darm'' (in the casing).

It is sliced and served on a paper plate with a sweet, spicy variety of ketchup and generous sprinklings of curry and paprika. No currywurst meal would be complete without salty fried potatoes.

Berliners love their currywurst and line up for it outdoors at imbiss stalls all over the city. With their elbows propped on chest-high tables, diners stand and pierce their steaming wurst with a long, two-pronged fork.

Curry 36 is a family-owned business on Mehringdamm, a broad boulevard in the Kreuzberg district. Home to the largest Turkish community in Berlin, Kreuzberg is slightly off the tourist trail but is a lively neighborhood where funky antique and secondhand clothing shops line the streets. Weave your way around laundromats. Step into a baeckerei and take in the savories and sweets of a
neighborhood bakery. Delicatessens, mom-and-pop produce shops, and bars and cafes filled with students line the street. Curry 36 has won numerous ''best currywurst in town'' awards, and its famous sauce is homemade. The smell of frying potatoes and onions is an aromatic magnet. Serpentine lines at all hours attest to the popularity of this place. No problem for a hungry night owl: Curry 36 is open until 4 a.m. Take the U7 subway (called the U-Bahn) to Mehringdamm. Have your fill of currywurst, explore the neighborhood, visit Viktoria Park on Kreuzbergstrasse, where you can see a waterfall and climb to the top of the hill to view all of Berlin spread out below Karl Schinkel's imposing monument.

You can get some of the best fries and currywurst in town at the outdoor Fritz & Co. on the fashionable Kurfuerstendamm, known as the Ku'damm (roughly comparable to Boston's Boylston and Newbury streets). Here the potatoes are from organic farms, thick-cut, and still in their skins.
A sign says the wurst comes from happy pigs: free range and well fed.

Shoppers in fancy leather jackets share standing-room-only spots with workers taking a break. Many of the imbiss and outdoor cafes on the Ku'damm have conical heaters perched on tall stands.

Wurst is found on most menus across the city. Unlike American hot dogs that are completely encased in soft rolls, these sausages are eaten on crusty rolls called broetchen that barely surround the meat. You chomp your way through a few crisp inches before finding the bread. A smear of spicy mustard and a local beer complete the experience. After strolling around the city, rest your feet by taking a seat at a local cafe. The kartoffelsuppe, a hearty potato soup (again with wurst),
a slice of dark German whole-grain bread, and a beer are satisfying and won't leave you stuffed or with empty pockets. In your wanderings, don't fail to stop into a bar for a Berliner Weisse, the sweet concoction of draft beer spiked with a shot of raspberry or green syrup (traditionally served during the summer, but order it anyway). Don't let the garish colors put you off.

The food hall in the elegant Kaufhaus des Westens department store (nicknamed KaDeWe) on the Ku'damm is not to be missed. Spectacular displays tantalize with chocolates, smoked fish, cured meats, and a staggering range of mustards, interspersed with food bars that offer champagne and caviar or apple streudel. Teddy-bear jars of mustards, honey, and chocolate spreads evoke Berlin's mascot. Packages of dark pumpernickel rounds and tubes of sharp mustard all make wonderful, inexpensive gifts.

A visit to the new Berlin Jewish Museum, designed by Daniel Libeskind, is both an architectural and intellectual experience. The museum looks at Jewish life in Germany over many centuries, and though it does not dwell on the Holocaust, its memory is ever present. (Libeskind is the son of survivors.) The subway stop is Hallesches Tor.

Reminders of World War II are part of the city's landscape. The decapitated Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, with its ruined steeple, stands unreconstructed in the city's center; modern planners have made no attempt to smooth over the bullet holes in the magnificent Victory Column off the Tiergarten park. Be vigilant. Look up and down as you tour Berlin. You could easily miss a small, rusting plaque embedded in the sidewalk reminding you of citizens who were torn from their homes. The new Reichstag building, with its glass dome, is meant
to show that Germany is now a transparent democracy. It is worth a visit.

It is hard to believe Berlin was split by an unbreachable wall only 14 years ago. Today one moves effortlessly, unaware of crossing from east to west. From an outdoor cafe on the Unter den Linden in the former communist East, look through the Brandenburg Gate and watch a dramatic sunset of pinks and oranges settle on this new Berlin, a hub of culture and politics . . . and fast food.

Debra Samuels of Lexington writes about food for the Life at Home
and Food sections of the Globe.