Food For The Millennium

Whatever problems Y2K may bring, California residents can still eat well.

Now, there's a San Diego company that offers tasty and exotic Y2K cuisine. And, as Larry Himmel of CBS Affiliate KFMB-TV in San Diego explains, all you have to do is add water.

It had to happen (and somehow you knew it would happen) in California: The nationÂ's first Y2K eatery. There, you can forget the salad bar.

It includes a bulk bin-style sampling station. You can come and pick up some little samples and just add water. You can even mix and match powders and create your own Y2K souffle.

"Many people don't realize that a lot of the foods you eat right now once were powders, because it saves on shipping and refrigeration," says Tom Randall of Priority Provisioners.

As a joke, Randall even includes an empty jar labeled, "Dehydrated Water." What would you add to it? He quips that he plans to expand that line to ice cubes as well - again, just add water and freeze.

Priority Provisioners sells dry, storable, goods, so popular among the military fatigue-wearing set.

But it's their tasting room that makes them unique.

"Give it a stir - and this is peanut butter. This is cheesecake. Mix that with the peanut butter throw a little cheesecake powder in there and you've got your own Himmel brand caloric nightmare," Randall says.

So how does it taste?

Randall claims, "That is awesome."

You name it, you can make it. Just add water.

Y2K foods do offer hope for the new millennium.

"It's good to know that if all hell breaks loose, we won't have to eat tofu. You know what I mean? That's one thing to me that's really important," says Randall.

For now, there are tasty, powdered potions to get us through any perceived pestilence.

California is ready for its crisis. Among some, their new cheer is "Let them eat cake. Just add water."