Words on parchment There's a new player in the frozen-meals-for-two category: Minnesota's own Schwan's. Not with its own name, which Schwan's seems not to use for its many supermarket products, but this time with a name familiar to foodies as a magazine (and a remark): Bon Appétit.

Just as Mr. Tidbit thought we must have finished extolling the wonders of steaming (what's so great about steamed chicken?), the Bon Appétit products go one better: They are steamed in parchment ("to help lock in all the great flavor and nutrition"). More interesting to Mr. Tidbit is that, for a change, inside the approximately 24-ounce bag are two separately wrapped (OK, in parchment) single servings, so a single person can get two widely separated meals out of it -- or two folks can mix and match dinner for two from among the seven varieties.

(Actually there are six varieties and a seventh "Limited Edition Flavor." Mr. Tidbit has difficulty imagining why a brand-new product already has a flavor that's going away, but Mr. Tidbit has difficulty with lots of things.)

The Bon Appétit meals are "launching regionally in the Midwest." In the Twin Cities -- at least as of this writing -- they are available only at Rainbow supermarkets.

One-upping tuna Remember when tuna came only in cans? Of course, those days are long gone, and tuna in foil pouches is no big deal. (Also long gone are the 7-ounce cans that the tuna used to come in -- bit by shrinking bit they are now down to 5 ounces -- and the foil pouches are down from 3 ounces to 2.6. But that's not why Mr. Tidbit called you here.)

StarKist has several new foil-pouch tuna products: yellowfin tuna in extra-virgin olive oil; an albacore-tuna version of its regular ("chunk light") ready-made tuna salad, and an albacore-tuna version of its regular ("chunk light") Lunch to Go tuna salad kit (a pouch of tuna salad, six crackers, a spoon, a napkin and a mint). All, of course, cost more than the "chunk light" versions.