You'd be hard-pressed to enter a room and not find a person complaining about how much hot air is being blown during the presidential campaign.

If you feel that way, make your statement with "election gum" being marketed by the Bonus gum Co. at bonusgum.com.

The Republican and Democratic versions of the gum are among the items being hawked in the food world that tap into the presidential fervor. (If there is any as we skate, bloated with speeches, into the final weeks of one bizarro campaign.)

Should the gum not turn your head, you may express yourself by voting for a cake or a muffin.

Yes, indeedy. At tastedebate08.com, Hostess has caricatures of candidates, one with a muffin head and one with a cupcake head.

(Go ahead -- let loose with a cheap joke.)

At the site you can vote for which of these 100-calorie snacks appeals to you, and you won't have to worry about inexperience, teen pregnancy or bloviating.

There's also the very odd "Pickle People Party," a "campaign" launched online by Gedney, Cain's and Del Monte pickles.

The 9-foot-tall inflatable mascot of this appeared at the Minnesota State Fair a few weeks ago, and darn, we missed it.

Slogan: "We're not left wing. We're not right wing. We're the pickle-in-the-middle party." That's what it says at picklepeopleparty.com.

The party platform includes the right to "get pickled -- day or night."

An inalienable right, no doubt.

The week of Sept. 21 is National Eat Together Week, says the National Pork Board and America's Pork Producers, which lay claim to founding this 13 years ago.

So, get the whole dang family together, chow down and bond, even. A suggested recipe from the two groups is Ham and Egg Breakfast Burritos. Recipe is below. Find more at togetherformealtime.com.

The American Liver Foundation will hold its fifth annual Flavors of Pittsburgh fund-raiser Sept. 28 at the Westin Convention Center, Downtown. Twenty-six well-known city chefs will prepare meals tableside at the event, which begins at 5:30 p.m.

Tickets for the event, which usually is a sellout, can be purchased by calling Kara Hartner, community events coordinator, 412-434-7077.

For a list of participating chefs, go to liverfoundation.org/chapters/westernpa/events/153.

Tomorrow through Nov. 7 have "Lunch with the Greeks" from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 419 S. Dithridge St., Oakland. Fax orders: 412-683-4960; more information, 412-682-3866.

Eat, fight hunger

Joe's Crab Shack will participate in the Share our Strength's Great American Dine Out from Sept. 21-28. A portion of the chain's food sales during the week will be donated to Share Our Strength, which helps fight hunger among children. (For more information about the organization, go to strength.org.) Joe's is also selling T-shirts for $10, with portions of those proceeds also benefiting the charity.

Grow Pittsburgh, promoter of urban farms, will hold a bus tour of four new community gardens on Saturday. Tours of gardens in Highland Park, Garfield, Homewood and Point Breeze leave at 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m. from Union Project, 801 N. Negley Ave., Highland Park.

The $15 fee also includes a light lunch made from veggies and herbs from the gardens and presentations by community garden members on their experiences. Call 412-473-2542 or e-mail info@growpittsburgh.org.

• Trax Farms Fall Festival weekends begin Sept. 20 and continue through Oct. 26. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays enjoy seasonal foods, hayrides, cornstalk maze, apples, pumpkins -- the autumnal works. Evening hayrides, from 4:30 to 6:30, begin Oct. 1 and continue through the month. Farm tours for schools, seniors, church and other groups start the first day of fall, Sept. 22. Details: traxfarms.com or 412-835-3246.

• Dozen Cupcakes, Squirrel Hill, and Dozen Bake Shop, Lawrenceville, will celebrate Fall Cupcake Fest Sept. 22-27. This coincides with the city declaring Sept. 24 as Cupcake Day. On that day cupcakes, one per customer, will be $1. Other events include a mini cupcake sale, a contest for original cupcake flavor and cupcake art contest. For that one, bring your artwork to Dozen Cupcakes for voting. Best one will be hung in the window. Then, there's a cupcake-eating contest (raising funds for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank) at 7 p.m. Sept. 26 at Dozen Bake Shop.

There's more; go to dozenbake-shop.com.

• 1/3 cup red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/3 cup green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup onion, chopped
• Nonstick cooking spray
• 3 egg whites
• 2 whole eggs
• 2 tablespoons nonfat milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 12 ounces chopped 97 percent fat-free cooked ham
• 4 8-inch flour tortillas, heated (see note, below)
• 1/3 cup salsa
• Chopped fresh cilantro or chives (optional)

Cook red and green bell peppers and onion over medium heat in large nonstick skillet coated with nonstick cooking spray for 3 to 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Beat together egg whites, eggs, milk, salt and black pepper in medium bowl until combined.

Pour egg mixture over vegetables in skillet. Cook over medium heat, without stirring, until egg mixture begins to set on bottom and around edge.

Lift and fold the partially cooked egg mixture with spatula so uncooked portion flows underneath. Continue cooking and folding mixture until eggs are cooked through, but still glossy and moist. Fold in ham; continue cooking until the internal temperature reaches 155 degrees, gently folding mixture occasionally.

Remove skillet from heat. To assemble, spoon mixture near the center on each tortilla. Fold bottom up over filling. Fold in side and roll to enclose mixture.

To serve, top with salsa. Garnish with cilantro or chives, if desired.

Makes 4.

-- togetherformealtime.com

• To warm tortillas, place tortillas on dinner plate, slightly overlapping. Cover with damp paper towel. Microwave on high about 30 seconds or until warm. • To freeze burritos, wrap individually and put in freezer. Unwrap and rewrap in a microwaveable paper towel. Microwave on high for about 2 minutes or until heated through.