Following trends and blaming hens.

Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

The fancy food show is a great way to find out which flavors will be tomorrow's stars of the grocery store. Food Dude couldn't convince his editors to send him to New York City for the annual trade show earlier this year, but I did read The New York Times' coverage of the event.

The Times spotted spicy food from the small African nation of Malawi, licorice drinking straws from Italy, kosher corn flakes from Egypt, wine from the Soviet republic of Georgia and chocolate from the far off exotic locale of Salt Lake City. If you read between the lines, you can tell the Old Gray Lady believes most of these foods will never catch on among the mainstream public.

Some of the flavors deemed worth watching included South African vanilla, Peruvian nut oil and cream nut peanut butter from Michigan. In a separate story on big chains adopting exotic ingredients, the Times predicted wasabi, mojito, dulce de leche, Meyer lemon and chipotle were all favors that were about to take flight.

Food Dude can't wait to try the new Carl's Jr. Cuban Mojito Chipotle Burger With Wasabi.

If you've got a question about apricot-pumpkin noodles, gluten-free amaranth biscuits or any other foods that sound like cosmetics, send it to the Food Dude at the address at the end of the column.

Dear Food Dude: What causes those red spots I sometimes see in my eggs?

- Egg Curious

Dear Curious: Contrary to popular belief, those "egg spots" aren't a sign that your breakfast is fertile and it doesn't mean the egg is contaminated, either. According to the American Egg Board, such spots are caused by "an error on the part of the hen" (and isn't that just like the egg board to blame the hen).

Egg spots are caused by a rupture of a blood vessel on the surface of the yolk when it's being formed, or by a rupture on the wall of the oviduct (a tube through which the ova pass), but that's probably more information than you need to know.

What should interest you is that blood spots are harmless. If you want, you can remove that unsightly blemish with the tip of a knife. And unless you're making a 17-dozen-egg omelet, that will probably be the only blood spot you see. Spots appear naturally in only one percent of all eggs.

That blood spot may actually be a good thing (unless, of course, you're a hemophobe). As an egg ages, water moves from the white to the yolk, diluting the blood spot, which means a visible spot may be a sign of freshness.

Food Dude can understand if you're still grossed out by that little red dot, though. But don't point the finger at the hen as the egg board wants you to do. Blame the guys in charge of grading those eggs. While they were busy putting A's and AA's and B's on the eggs, their electronic scanners missed a spot.

Talk to the Food Dude at www.registerguard.com/

fooddude.