Tuna

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The fisherman's hands were coated with grit and slime. He stood in the market holding his newly caught tuna by the tail and scowled as the merchants shouted bids for his 30-pound catch. When the offers stopped at $7, Wajeh Hammad waved the bidders away with a dismissive sweep of his hand. It was late in the day, and he would wait until morning, when more buyers might fight harder and drive up the price. A month ago, Hammad would have considered a far less generous offer and gone home to his wife and 11 children satisfied.

Naturally, there's green Is an orange still an orange if it is partly green? Sunkist answers the vexing question of why oranges at this time may have a bit of green at their stems. It seems that as they hang on the trees during the warm summer months, Valencia oranges may reabsorb chlorophyll, the pigment that is essential for plants to process nutrients. The green doesn't affect the flavor, according to the folks at Sunkist. Summer oranges, which actually are available from Feb-ruary through October, should have a thin, pebbly rind.

Industrial fishing fleets have systematically stripped 90 percent of the giant tuna, swordfish, marlin and other big fish from the world's oceans, according to a new study that suggests that the virtual collapse of these stocks - such as happened to the cod off New England - is a distinct possibility. Fishing fleets are competing for the remnants of the biggest fish in the oceans, concludes a 10-year research project reported in today's issue of the science journal Nature. "Fishermen used to go out and catch these phenomenally big fish," said Ransom A. Myers, fisheries biologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Two friends, who on any given weekend usually have some social gathering marked on their calendars, confided the same thing to me recently. Each confessed that although they love being invited out to dinner, the typically rich meals served on such occasions were wreaking havoc with their weight. As guests, nothing would please them more, they declared, than to encounter an interesting menu that wasn't laden with fat. My choice for a light spring menu began with a soup made of chicken stock with fresh peas, scallions, snow peas and penne pasta.

So is a $15 can of gourmet tuna really better than a $1.89 can of Bumblebee? We asked a panel of food experts: C.J. Gabrielson, sous-chef at McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant; Nick Hoang, corporate sushi chef for Red Coral restaurant; Elizabeth Large, The Sun's restaurant critic; and Rob Kasper, The Sun's food columnist. They sampled Conservas Alegria bonita tuna in olive oil from Dean & Deluca, Dave's albacore tuna in olive oil from Whole Foods Market, Ortiz bonito tuna in olive oil from Zingerman's and Bumblebee's albacore tuna in oil. The verdict: it depends on what you want to do with the tuna.

Asian pears -- the large, round, elegantly shaped fruit -- have the fragrance of a fruit tree in full bloom and the flavor of a charming wine from Alsace. What a precious treat. Is it any wonder the pears are displayed like the gems of the produce counter? Choose Asian pears carefully. Look for fruit that is bruise- and blemish-free, with no soft spots. The pear should be firm, but not rock hard. For an easy dessert, thinly slice Asian pears into wedges and serve with roasted walnuts and a glass of dessert wine.

HERE ARE two quick questions: Did you know that young children and expecting mothers should eat no more than two 6-ounce cans of tuna a week? Did you know that regularly eating more might cause neurologic problems for babies and young children because of a toxin called methylmercury? If you didn't know, you can blame the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has done a poor job of informing the public about this important health risk. I can recall eating tuna all the time as a child.

The stock market's been down and so has restaurant food. You may have missed the latter development, as it has not been accompanied by big headlines and photographs of traders moping and gesturing like figures in a Mannerist religious painting. Restaurant food has apparently fallen from dizzying heights of plate presentation without statistical analysis or Alan Greenspan commentary, although this turn of events has been noted and perhaps over-predicted. In 2000, New York Times restaurant critic William Grimes breathed a rhetorical sigh of relief in writing that the craze for presenting an entree as a stack of poker chips, 4, 5, 6 and more inches high, "seems to be over."

OCEAN CITY - Until yesterday, there existed the unseemly possibility that the big-money winner in the White Marlin Open might be a tuna. All that changed at 5 p.m. when John Wilhide pulled into the weigh station at Harbour Island Marina with a 70-pound white marlin worth a possible $1.02 million. His catch was 7 pounds lighter than the white marlin landed Monday by Jeffery Goodwin, but Wilhide entered in all skill categories to boost his potential payday. Goodwin's fish could be worth as much as $683,000 when the tournament ends tonight.

LEES FERRY, Ariz. -- If food tastes better outdoors, imagine what it's like with the roaring Colorado River in your ears and the walls of the Grand Canyon looming above. Each year, more than 20,000 people ride rafts, kayaks or dories 277 miles down the mighty river. But unlike explorer John Wesley Powell, who navigated the Colorado in 1869, modern-day adventurers don't have to rough it. Breakfast will be eggs to order or French toast with a side order of melon and plenty of strong cowboy coffee.