Quiche: Tasty relationship has had its fill of ingredients and even name changes.(The Seattle Times)

In our love affair with quiche, we've gone through all of the stages of a longstanding, complicated relationship. When first introduced by Julia Child and friends to Quiche Lorraine in "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," we were seduced by its silky, creamy custard studded with crisp bits of bacon. We fell into the heady excitement of a new love when chefs began adding luxurious slivers of smoked salmon and Black Forest ham and sun-dried tomatoes.

With the publication of "Real Men Don't Eat Quiche" by Bruce Feirstein and Lee Lorenz in 1982, our passion began to cool and quiche became somewhat of a joke. We became fickle in our attempts at reform by changing ...