"The biggest challenge I had was getting a pie crust," she said. "I thought I wouldn't be able to get a pie crust in my cookbook because it was so hard. But I finally got it, and the texture is amazing. It really is flaky. One of the secrets is that I use buttermilk in it."

When she decided to publish her book, she invited friends and neighbors to a tasting of 26 recipes. "Anything rated below an 8 was taken out," she said. "I had such great reviews on the pie crust, and people were surprised that it all tasted so good."

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Then there's the tuna-in-olive-oil phenomenon. Long a staple in Mediterranean countries, tuna packed in olive oil now has Americans coughing up as much as $10 for a 7-ounce jar. Why? Connoisseurs say the tuna has a better flavor and texture when packed in olive oil.

"Olive oil is a better preservative, due to all the polyphenols it contains," said Matt Caputo of Caputo's Market & Deli, where the demand for the tuna has surged over the past five years. "But it's also better for you, and it's a nicer flavor."

But don't forget the fat and calories. A 2-ounce serving of oil-packed Genoa tuna, drained, is 130 calories, with 70 of those calories coming from fat. By comparison, a 2-ounce serving of water-packed tuna is 70 calories, with five of those calories from fat. Most people don't drain off the olive oil that's in the can; they toss it in with the pasta or use it in a salad instead of adding extra oil for a dressing. (Considering the price, this tuna isn't really meant for cream-of-mushroom soup casseroles.)

"The most common use is to take nice greens, squeeze a little lemon juice over it and top it with tuna, right out of the can," said Caputo.

Kalyn Denny, a West Bountiful schoolteacher who writes a food blog called Kalyn's Kitchen, got wind of the trend while reading other food blogs.

"It made me realize there was a whole world of tuna I didn't know about," she wrote in her blog. "Did I love the Italian tuna packed in olive oil, even though it was a lot more expensive than the cans I usually buy at Costco? My wallet is sorry to report that I took one bite and never looked back."

"We've carried this product in a variety of brands and sizes for a long time, and we have a strong demand for it in our retail markets," said Alan Marshall, warehouse manager at Granato's Importing Co.

In the United States, most of the oil-packed tuna contains soybean or vegetable oil. But to keep up with the trend, Chicken of the Sea sells an olive-oil packed, premium yellowfin tuna under the label Genova. The name, as well as the packaging, gives the false impression that it just came off the boat from Italy. But, on the bright side, the Genova product is priced at a more reasonable $2.49 per 6-ounce can.