Corn

UCSD catering is now serving drinks in the plastic cups made from corn. This makes the aluminium cans with sodas the only thing NOT made from corn.

Eating healthy and bacteria

There are two pieces of a puzzle that finally fit together. First, there was a public debate (in Congress) following widespread use of anti-biotics in home cleaning products that followed reduction of price of this anti-biotic due to the end of patent protection. Second, Danone have started to advertise its "Activia" and DanActive, which are products widely used and advertised in Europe as containing healthy bacteria. I was surprised to notice that the word "bacteria" does not appear anywhere in the commercials.
Then I realized that most products sold here are "anti-bacteria", so nobody knows that bacterias can be good as well as bad. The idea that you voluntary eat something that contains those horrible, invisible bacterias is clearly unimaginable and would certainly bad way to sell.
P.S. I just saw another ad offering "living cheese" or something like that.
P.P.S. Most of the yogurts sold in the USA are really "dead" - there is nothing living in them (and I doubt that there ever was).

Mud cookies and biofuels

I though that behind the increase in prices of food was primarily bad season (in several countries), but it is certainly possible that botched attempts to save the planet by 5-10% of biofuel caused it.
In any case, the consequences are terrible:
"It was lunchtime in one of Haiti's worst slums, and Charlene Dumas was eating mud. With food prices rising, Haiti's poorest can't afford even a daily plate of rice, and some take desperate measures to fill their bellies. Charlene, 16 with a 1-month-old son, has come to rely on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs: cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country's central plateau.

The mud has long been prized by pregnant women and children here as an antacid and source of calcium. But in places like Cite Soleil, the oceanside slum where Charlene shares a two-room house with her baby, five siblings and two unemployed parents, cookies made of dirt, salt and vegetable shortening have become a regular meal.
"

Needless to say, this is happening while 32% of Americans are obese.

GM food and EU

Genetically modified plants are highly regulated. They are tested in a very, very thorough way. They are often beneficial. For example BT corn has a gene that allows it to generate toxin that prevents some pests to eat it ( NY Times ). Thus, there is no need to use pesticides to kill these pests. This saves other plants and beneficial insects, bees and what not.
Even though there is some theoretical danger that the special gene will "transfer" to other plants and thus create a nasty pesticide-producing (or pesticide-resistant) plants, no such even was ever recorded. Laboratory testing shows that such events are possible, but very unlikely. I also do not think that such transfer would be a disaster, even though it is not something you would like to see.
Precautionary arguments were used to forbid planting genetically modified plants. The citizens of the EU are being scared by GreenPeace and other organizations painting GMO as the biggest threat every (even more dangerous than nuclear plants, imagine!).
Because of the enormous benefits that genetic modification offers to the farmers and eventually to the consumers, the EU is probably the last place on earth where GMO are not being grown.
Of course, no "disaster" caused by GMO ever happened and it seems that the level of testing and principles of the technology are such that nothing will ever happen. The fears of the EU seem stupid, and possibly economically disastrous in the future.
Yet, I have a strange feeling when I think about the "prohibition" being abolished in the EU. You never know, something may happen (it is after all cutting edge of the technology), we do not understand everything. It is not a bad idea to have place when you do not grow GMO just in case something goes terribly wrong. Unfortunately, such precaution comes with a very price (taxes on agricultural imports and subsidies for farmers). Given that nobody really knows what the dangers are and what is the price we pay (the latter probably easier to estimate than the former), it is not clear what the policy decision should be.
[As far as I understand the technology, the best combination for us would be to allow imports of GMO products but not to grow them here. If we do not import seeds, we should be safe.]

Christmas abroad

These are my first Christmas I'm not spending in Czech Republic. I don't miss the people in the supermarkets, buying presents, fried carp or bad weather. I enjoy beautiful weather (though it is cold during night). I can finally relax, just with a book, something good to eat and enjoy UPS truck passing our window, driven probably by Santa Claus, because they deliver presents.
I'm not shopping for any presents - yeah, not even for you :-) However, I bought myself a present I was dreaming about during my childhood. It's a ham on a bone - yes, the one from movies. It exactly like in the movies - small white bone inside huge amount of red meat.It is not salty and as good as it looks. It is also surprisingly cheap - about $1.2 per pound, which is about 50CZK per kg.

(Diet) Coke

I was never a fan of "Diet" things. However, when the hormone of youth (no kidding) starts to fading out and body fat starts to kicking in, it would seems like a good idea if the taste were not too bad. The first soda I had here was Pepsi Diet Black Cherry and French Vanilla. No sugar, but tastes like syrup (sweet, but ok). Also other "diet" cokes do not taste much worse.
And the most surprising thing is that when people have choice (at lunches when everything is free), the diet sodas are gone first. Mind boggling...

Free Food

I always thought that my everyday quest after the ultimate source of free food was specific to my preferences, while in fact, it is specific to my status of a PhD. student. I feel much happier now, knowing I'm not nuts and/or alone. Moreover, there is some chance that one day, it will be over.

Obesity and health

Even though there are not many really fat people at UCSD (most of fat people around here are non-faculty staff), most people seem to be slightly above the ideal BMI. This is hardly surprising - we all know that obesity is on the rise. Well, it is no wonder, if you can have a lunch (i.e. full meal) composed of junk food for $1 or $2, but regular good meal will cost you $4 at least. In fact, cookies for $0.50 are sufficient for lunch (of course, you cannot do eat them for lunch very often - at least I don't) in their energetic contents. And they are good.

Muffins

So far, I was painting San Diego as paradise. Yet, there are also negative things here: My landlady recommended three-berry muffins (a specific brand) as the best she ever found. I have to say that I was very disappointed. They are fatty (not butter-like fatty, but vegetable oil-like fatty) and sweet so that it kills the taste of the berries. Moreover, one is not enough for the breakfast, yet if you eat two, you got 50% of recommended daily intake of fat. That is not even a complete first meal of the day...