Dietary schizophrenia, part 2.

A peek into the shopping cart at FMI.

Many consumers are showing an increasing disinterest in functional, low-calorie and low-fat offerings. To be sure, there was a plethora of soy-based bars, milks and organic veggie burgers for the healthy and thin at the annual Food Marketing Institute

show in Chicago recently, but they sat next to indulgent, full-fat ice cream and larger-portioned meals. And although there was much interest in the good-for-you categories, especially the much-touted Quaker Propel vitamin-enriched energy drink, attendees were champing at the bit for Ben & Jerry's ice cream and desserts from Sara Lee.

Sara Lee has expanded last year's Cheesecake Bites line with Carrot Cake Bites and Brownie Bites, brownies topped with a generous layer of caramel and coated with fudge, which can be eaten right out of the freezer. A poster girl for indulgence, I went straight for the Brownie Bites (several times, to be truthful), and they are my idea of a diet food--eat just two and your tummy is satisfied. Kraft's Jello Dessert Delights Dessert Bars, a shelf-stable dessert for adults, and Entenmann's Little Bites, mini-versions of muffins, brownies, donut holes and cookies, are marvelous snacks, and you can keep them in your desk drawer for snack attacks during the day.

Low-fat ice cream has virtually disappeared. Ben & Jerry's continues to innovate on the flavor and "name the flavor" front with its new 2 Twisted! line, which combines two popular flavors into one container, the brainchild of a B&J employee. The line includes Entangled Mints, Pulp Fiction, and Everything But The...

Hispanic hoopla: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanics will become the largest ethnic group in the nation and will make up one-third of the population by 2030. So it's no wonder that flavors such as caramel and cinnamon increasingly are being incorporated into many new products. Cinnamon flavor is predominant in Kellogg's Snack Ums and General Mill's Betty Crocker Rice Pudding (Arroz con Leche), which is in bilingual packages. Caramel found its way into Dean Foods' Dean's Really Cool Flavors line, with Dulce de Leche and Dulce de Leche Con Chocolate (a great chocolate and caramel combo), and Kellogg's Chocolate Caramel Rice Krispies Treats. Folgers introduced Caramel Groove to its Cafe Latte line, and even Starbucks was serving up Caramel Cappuccino.

Taking the waters: To cool off those tongues, we took to the waters. Flavored waters, that is. But no matter how interesting the flavors, they all tasted like strawberry. Fruit drinks such as Mistic Zotics, with exotic fruits from remote countries, including Mozambique's marula fruits, were popular. It may be my aging taste buds, but I prefer beverages that bite back. In fact, I thought that the new Ruby Red Ginger V8 Splash and SoBe's Tsunami orange cream brew really hit the spot.

From the unique file, we found Bougainvillea's Hibiscus juice (don't sniff the flowers, drink them), Hyundai Farming Union Corp.'s Natural Onion Juice health drink from Korea, and Earth Balance, a non-GMO, non-hydrogenated, expeller-pressed, trans fat-free, lactose-free, preservative-free, non-dairy, natural buttery spread of something or other that made me head back to the Sara Lee booth for another Brownie Bite.