nosh nook #27 - tuesday, april 21, 2009

woman's snacks gain popularity (link)
04.19.09 - cincinnati enquirer - by ryan clark

people find inspiration everywhere--from celebrities, from their religion, from excessive post-pet death depression baking. marilyn baker's dog died five years ago & she found the inspiration to bake her own pretzels, a snack that she named "zels." five years later, last tuesday, her zels ended up on rachael ray as the "snack of the day." my rachael ray knowledge is relatively limited, so i had no idea such an item existed until now, but based on her indie rock tastes & the fact that her face is on boxes of wheat thins, i'm going to assume that being named that is a good thing.

as ryan clark reports, marilyn, a covington, kentucky area woman, has seen an increasing amount of success spring forth from her initial grief. at first, she sold her zels at the gift shop at the medical facility she works at. these days, she has her own place in covington--the yankee doodle deli--and the pretzels are now sold in over 120 locations...& now there's the rachael ray thing.

zels actually sound pretty tasty & since they're pretzels, they're esentially good for you. there's a spicy flavor, a honey flavor & a cinnamon flavor. the yankee doodle deli even has treats for your dog, whole wheat snacks called "karma's kookies." if there's one thing i know about dogs, it's that they love whole wheat & if you buy some of these for your dog, a portion of the proceeds will go towards a dog park that he or she will likely never see.  luckily, he or she will never know the difference either way.