Pretzels at the barMr. Tidbit never promised you he'd be on top of every food trend. Although he thought he was keeping a fairly close eye on the cereal bar industry, he seems to have missed a new-ingredient fad. He learned of his shortcoming when he noticed the latest flavor of General Mills' Fiber One chewy bars: chocolate caramel & pretzel.

"Pretzels in a cereal bar, hey?" he thought (or words to that effect). "That's something new." Imagine his surprise when, on studying the matter, he discovered that there already are chocolatey pretzel Special K bars from Kellogg, pretzel berry Chewy Smashbars from Quaker and no doubt many others. He should have been on alert after the debut of pretzel M&Ms. All that's missing now is pretzel Oreos.

No nuts to you - or notOver at Kellogg's Keebler, there's something Mr. Tidbit is positive he's never seen before: Cinnamon Roll cookies, soft cinnamon cookies that, with a swirl of darker cinnamon cookie in the center, do look vaguely like cinnamon rolls. They come in two flavors: original and caramel pecan. The latter lists natural and artificial flavors -- and no pecans -- among the ingredients. But the label adds that they "may contain peanuts and tree nuts."

Itty-bitty bigTeddy Grahams, Nabisco's itty-bitty graham crackers (which are crisp, shaped like little bears and come more than 20 to the ounce), are now joined by Teddy Grahams Soft Paws, a cookie fully unlike them except in name. Individually wrapped Soft Paws (eight to the box) weigh an ounce apiece, are thick and soft and are shaped like paws (or catcher's mitts). They come in apple-cinnamon or oatmeal raisin (regular Teddy Grahams come in honey, cinnamon, chocolate and chocolatey chip).

At the store where he found them, the 8-ounce box of Soft Paws was the same price as the 10-ounce box of regular Teddy Grahams, so Soft Paws cost 25 percent more per ounce.

AL SICHERMAN