Travel briefs

Instead of pretzels, long-haul flight attendants might want to consider handing out bags of dried cherries to passengers. According to Dr. Russel Reiter, a nutrition researcher and one of the world's authorities on melatonin, cherries might help fight jet lag. "Tart cherries contain melatonin, which is then absorbed into the blood stream influencing your biological clock," he said.

According to Reiter, when flying east (say from New York to London) travelers should eat a handful of dried cherries (which have even greater levels of melatonin than fresh cherries) 30 minutes before trying to sleep. Once at their destination, they should eat a handful of cherries 30 minutes before going to bed every night for the same number of nights as the time change. (For a five-hour time shift, eat cherries for five consecutive nights.) When heading west, do the same regime, only eat your cherries the night before departure.

"We have not tested them on humans specifically for jet lag but think it should work," he said, adding that concentrated cherry juice, and even cherry pie should have the same effect. For more information go to www.choosecherries.com.

National parks put elk and bison on the menu

Lu Harlow, the food and beverage director at Yellowstone National Park, encountered an unexpected problem when she first put bison on one of the park's menus about three years ago. "There is a buffalo on the emblem of employees' uniforms," she said. "A bunch of people told me they felt too guilty to try it."

Not anymore. Last year the park sold some 42,000 pounds of game, primarily bison, to staff and the 2 million guests that passed through its 18 eating establishments. "Once they learned the buffalo was farm-raised and lower in fat than beef, it became a big hit," she said, adding that she now also served antelope sausages and elk medallions, as well as a bison top sirloin (all farm-raised) at the Lake Hotel, the park's high-end restaurant.

Gone are the days when the only food to be found at a national park restaurant was Salisbury steak or fried chicken — both covered in gravy. Xanterra Parks & Resorts, the country's largest operator of restaurants in national parks with more than 50 locations, is trying to feature local ingredients and, where it can, build green kitchens and dining spaces.

At the Annie Creek Restaurant and Gift Shop, completed last May in a dense pine forest in Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, the company preserved as many trees as possible while building the 10,443-square-foot restaurant, which serves brick-oven pizzas, soups and salads.

At Mount Rushmore, following a $1.9 million renovation of the food facilities, visitors can even watch their meal being prepared in an open kitchen.

But it is not always easy being green. Harlow, who last year bought 200 pounds of goat cheese, 12,000 pounds of pork, and 40,000 pounds of Montana legend ground beef (all from local suppliers), put mahi-mahi on the menu only to find it had been added to the "avoid list" of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program, which advises consumers about buying seafood only from sustainable sources. "We took it off," she said. "Yellowstone represents America and when it comes to sustainability we want to do the right thing."

Google offers flight information by text message

So you're on the way to the airport, doing your pre-travel mental inventory. Passport? Check. Ticket? Check. Quart-size zip-top clear plastic bags? Check. Confirmation of flight departure? Hmm. Forgot about that one.

If you have a cell phone (check!), there's no need to panic. Google has recently joined with the Web site flightstats.com to offer a free text-messaging service that distributes flight status reports and other airline information.

Simply text Google by using the short code 466453, which spells Google on most phones, and enter the abbreviated airline (American Airlines is AA, for example) along with your flight number, and Google will respond promptly with an updated departure and arrival time, leaving a text message on your mobile device.

This service is available for flights departing or arriving in the United States, and standard text messaging rates apply. Other travel and entertainment-related SMS options include driving directions, weather forecasts, translations and currency conversions. Visit www.google.com/sms for a list of options and directions.

Gordon Ramsay spreads his culinary tentacles in London

Gordon Ramsay, the celebrity chef known for such food programs as "Hell's Kitchen" in the United States and "The F-Word" in Britain, has opened yet another eating establishment in a city already overpopulated with dining rooms bearing his brand. Adding to his roster of nine other London restaurants — including one at Claridge's and another in the Savoy — not to mention his outposts in New York, Dubai and Tokyo, Ramsay last month opened an upscale pub on the banks of the Thames in the East End.

It is called the Narrow, and the menu features such dishes as potted Cromer crab and Gloucester pig cheeks with bashed neeps. Guests who don't fancy a pint of beer can always try the pub's original cocktails — though the Wallpaper (Cachaça, passion fruit, vanilla gomme and a touch of chili) sounds more like what the river just washed up than a tasty cocktail. What's next for Ramsay? Later this year he plans to open yet another "gastropub," the Warrington, in the Maida Vale section of London.