HEAD'S UP TAO OF TEA: China Forbes wants you in her rider. Forbes, the gorgeous lead singer of the Portland-based retro lounge band Pink Martini, eats what one might expect of a cult heroine. She drinks green tea by the gallon in her dressing room, and in outlandish protest, keeps split peas in her refrigerator's meat drawer.

Pink Martini has helped put Portland on the map of the international music scene. Fans dig the band's eclectic flair and its atypical American style. Songs are written in different languages. Rhythms are set to a mélange of Latin and jazz beats. Musical influences sweep the globe from Japan, Croatia, France, Turkey, and Portugal. The band's whole gestalt is of a hidden America. Its music is romantic, as colorful as a Brazilian street fair, and it rocks.

Forbes's list of favorite foods shares Pink Martini's fusion style. "What's preposterous about me is that everything is my favorite food. Everything is my favorite cuisine. I love Japanese food. I love Middle Eastern Food. And I love Italian food," she says.

Last year, Forbes spent seven months on tour. Her fridge, sadly, went bare. But on a visit to her house, I found it stocked full of goodies. (She assured me that she did not art direct her refrigerator.) Here's what she told us:

The D Word There's a photograph of me when I was young wearing nothing but shorts pulled up over my stomach, schmushing an ice cream cone into my mouth. My thighs touched to the knees. And my sister, who's next to me, is holding an ice cream too. But she's not eating it. She was the thin one.

I've always been on a diet. When I was eleven, I went on my first diet with my friend Rosie Cohen. We would do sit-ups and leg lifts while watching General Hospital-Luke and Laura were getting married, it was 1981-and eat only ice chips and grapes. We each lost ten pounds.

Finally, I've found a healthy diet that works for me. It's sort of like South Beach Phase Two without the Splenda, or the Weight Watchers Core Plan without the dairy. It's essentially a whole foods diet of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, lean meats, and healthy oils in moderation. I don't eat processed foods, or bread. I don't drink soda-never have.

I eat delicious food, like lemon zest and olive oil on whole grains, grilled salmon with salsa verde, or roasted vegetables. Apple crisp would be nice. Grilled cheese on whole wheat bread with organic cheddar would be nice, but I'm not eating that right now. That's my fantasy!

Why No Dairy? As a singer, I'd gone off dairy because of phlegm. Dairy creates mucus in the body. I went off and for now, I am liking the effect.

Tour Food When I'm on tour, I'm around a bunch of bad food, and guys who need to eat constantly. Our rider-the band's requirements for backstage-used to be deli sandwiches (usually they came from Subway), cookies, and juices. I was horrified.

I finally said, Hey, let's change the rider. I asked, Could we have-for lack of a better word-gourmet sandwiches, on whole wheat bread? And salad with chicken and balsamic vinaigrette? At first, it was a little "too much to ask," and I was told "I don't think they have access to that."

And I said, "Where in the world can you not get that?" So finally, we have salad on the rider. Now everywhere we go, there it is. Soup was another popular addition. So was soymilk. And there's green and mint tea always for me; the guys have their Odwalla juices.

Think Organic I always bring nuts, prunes, and snacks with me on tour, so that I don't have to eat huge meals before going on stage. My favorite snack bar is Think Organic. The first time I tried it, I called my boyfriend and said, "You don't understand. It's just like a brownie." It has four ingredients: organic dates, organic cocoa, organic coconut, and organic walnuts.

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Tao of Green Tea I wish I had Tao of Tea in my dressing room. I get tea bags instead. But now that I've discovered these T-sacs-where you can add loose leaf tea and make your own tea bag-I bring Tao of Tea with me. My current favorite is their Dragonwell green tea. I gave up coffee, which is sad because Portland's such a fun place to be a coffee drinker.

My Ideal Rider Tao of Tea, quinoa, and garbanzo beans. If I have a son someday, I want to name him Quinoa Garbanzo. I would call him, "Joaquinoa Garbanzo." Don't you think that's a cute name?

Skull and Crossbones Soup I make split pea soup by the vat, and have it in my fridge at all times. I left some at the recording studio this week. And yesterday when I opened the fridge, it smelled horrible. So I put a sign on the door that said Danger, Do Not Open: Rotten Food with a skull and crossbones. This fridge should be okay, however. Let's look...

Apricot Muffins I made these muffins to take to brunch on Sunday, but I was embarrassed to bring them. They're made with applesauce, no oil, whole wheat flour, oat bran, apricot jam, raisins, and walnuts. And they taste like rancid, old flour. I've been eating them out of desperation, because I haven't had time to make breakfast.

Oregon Dukkah Have you had this, from the farmers' market? It's delicious. You can stir it into oatmeal, yogurt, cereal, ice cream. At the farmers' market, they have samples with bananas coated in it. It's the best snack. I eat it everyday with oatmeal, soy milk, and bananas.

Finn Crisps We eat these crackers all the time, because my boyfriend loves them. He eats them in place of toast with eggs. They're made with just four ingredients: whole grain rye flour, water, yeast, and salt. I am into eating foods with the smallest number of ingredients.

Quinoa on Nori Are you ready? [Lifts the lid off the copper saucepan.] Quinoa is the most important thing in our lives. My boyfriend and I like to season it with sesame and chili oils, Ponzu sauce, and a little salt and pepper, and eat it with nori. It's the most delicious and virtuous snack ever. It takes just like sushi. The nori is key. Don't add anything else: it dilutes the flavor.

Eden's Ponzu Sauce This is the best thing in the world. It's shoyu, rice vinegar, mirin [rice wine], barley malt, and citrus juices. It's so much better than tamari.

The "Meat" Drawer Instead of meat, we have lots of nuts, split peas - because I'm going to make another vat of soup - lentils, and quinoa.

Organic Santa Cruz Applesauce Applesauce, not sweetened with anything, is really important. It's a really good snack. I like to eat it with walnuts. I buy everything organic, because I think it's better.

Carrot Dressing You know that Japanese salad dressing that's the best thing in the world? The orange miso ginger sesame dressing that you always wish you had at home? The New York Times recently printed the recipe - Miso Carrot Sauce with Ginger - so I bought the ingredients. It doesn't matter what you put it on, because it's so good. I used to buy it by the pint at Dojo's in New York.

Frozen Mac and Cheese What's in the freezer? Film: my boyfriend's a photographer. Edamame, from God knows when. Some ice packs. And, oh! Macaroni and Cheese from Memorial Day weekend, the Martha Stewart recipe. Have you ever made it? It's made with nutmeg - and cayenne-spiced béchamel sauce. It's so good. I couldn't throw it away.