Kontroll - a film taking place in the Budapest subway system

For those who used to live in large cities and long for the atmosphere typical to subway systems, this film will make you nostalgic of underground trains.
The beauty of the Budapest metro is highlighted with dreamy lights and camera angles. Although the story of the human characters is compelling, images of the metro seize your mind and leave you with memories of your own subway experience floating underneath the more immediate recollections of this Hungarian film.

It is also refreshing to hear the Hungarian language, which is said to be unrelated to any other languages except Finnish. Beautiful prosody!

The Yes Men - Les leche-cul

Human nature is such that whoever has power is tempted to use it to gain and maintain it, to the expense of those without. And whoever does not have power strives to be in the position of those with it. This goes for organizations as well.

A minute number of people attempt to transcend their awareness of such temptation into ethical behavior. Others just snooze by, indifferent to overarching consequences - they apply ethics locally (for family members and close friends) but not globally.

Sadly, education does not raise awareness as much as it is expected to. This is what is most disturbingly shown in the documentary "The Yes Men ". Individuals who reach a high level of education are not necessarily highly ethical; big egos led most of them up to this level to begin with (hence they're more susceptible to the temptation of possessing power), and many delude themselves into thinking that since they master certain theories, they can consider people or things as pawns to play with to validate such theories. The Reburger presentation seems to encounter more reactions...is it because the attendance is younger (more idealistic/ less aware of the limitations of human nature and the actual mechanism of power), the topic hitting something closer to the gut than pure intellectual speculations (food is related to emotions more than it is to intellect)?

What is Kombucha?

Kombucha designates a symbiotic culture of yeast and bacteria that is usually grown on sweetened tea.
The culture itself looks like a flat disc floating on the tea. After 7-10 days of fermentation, the tea takes on light carbonation and a tart flavor.

I wonder how widespread is the consumption of kombucha beverages and who likes them. If you consume kombucha, please drop a comment!

Expiration date of imported French cheese

Did anyone buy a French cheese in the US, only to find out that the original expiration date (printed by the French manufacturer) was covered by a sticker bearing a later expiration date (date with US format, i.e., mm/dd/yy)?

I had this experience a few years ago, and was absolutely furious. Unfortunately, I had not kept the receipt, so I could not go and return it. I never bought imported cheese from that store again.
A few weeks ago, a colleague had bought an imported French cheese at another store and was disappointed because it was way over-ripe. Remembering my experience with "modified expiration dates", she carefully removed the expiration date sticker to find the French version...And according to the French sticker, the cheese was way past its "date limite de vente".

The question is, is this a legal practice? Any insights, anyone?

Disgusting ads involving food

Ad number 1:
I remember a TV ad about some weight loss program of fitness club (can't remember the name of it, sign that I don't belong at all to their target audience) broadcasted around Thanksgiving. The ad showed a treadmill with its belt moving but nobody on it. The next thing you would see is a big plate with a whole roasted turkey on it being dropped and "crashing" on the belt, along with champagne glasses shattering.
This sort of ad would have provoked a huge uproar in France, where it would have been considered equivalent to throwing food on the floor and showing tremendous disrespect towards people who cannot afford to eat properly everyday.
The ironic thing is that the ad used some cheesy special effect (superimposing the image of crashing food on top of the treadmill), so that the fitness equipment would not actually receive all this food while the food would actually splatter on a surface (assuming the turkey was actually made of very convincing plastic or rubber, the other food around it looked quite real).

Ad number 2:
The ad, from a fast-food company, shows at the end a huge double- or triple-decked hamburger plopping on a white surface (doesn't splatter). The disgusting side of the ad, besides encouraging supersized burgers, is in the way it plops down pathetically like dog turd.
If one were to show a plopping hamburger (if ever) in Japan in a burger ad, one would have gone to great lengths to make the plop elegant and appetizing, sacrificing the realism of the turd-style plop in favor of an idealized, modified-motion version of it.

Shakuhachi Flute

The shakuhachi flute is a Japanese musical instrument made of bamboo. Many people think of it as a "folkloric", untrendy instrument to play. In actuality, it is a very subtle instrument that retains its power of expression in traditional music as well as in modern pieces.

I received a Greetings card from my shakuhachi teacher, which makes me feel guilty of not practicing as much as I should. My teacher is in France, but I am now in the U.S....

Well, in any case, here is his website:
http://www.shintozanryu-france.com

French Bakeries in Portland

I am currently craving French breads and pastries (I was born in France, and love all the traditional, high-calorie/high-fat French foods)...
I have tried an array of bakeries in Portland, Oregon, where I now reside. I am currently faithful to Ken's Artisan Bakery, because he makes the best croissants I have experienced. The brioche loaves and pastries are also delicious...I am thinking about ordering a Galette des Rois from him. I enjoy la galette so much (in January, I would eat galette at every meal during the whole time it was sold in bakeries in France)!! I still need to try Saint Honore. I've heard they have chouquettes, flan and other traditional French breads and pastries...but I also heard prices over there are very high.

Portland is still a city where good food is is sold at outrageous prices. Clearly, shops target rich people who like to spend money on stuff they think they should have in order to display their social status and/or savviness. Which doesn't mean all of them really appreciate what they are tasting.

Even at Genoa's, you see people gobbling the food in a few minutes because they never learned to appreciate a meal and respect food for aspects other than nutrition. In this sense, I totally endorse the Slow Food concept (although savvy wannabes now can also be found among "Slow Fooders").

To be continued...

Hello!

This is my inaugural blog.

I will be writing about
French food
Shakuhachi flute
Martial arts
Systems science
Sensory evaluation of foods
International consumer preferences and attitudes towards foods
Being multilingual (French, English, Japanese, German...)
The Pacific Northwest


Stay tuned for upcoming developments...
Cheers!