All 7 entries tagged Food, Musings of a blonde

April 13, 2006

Potential alcohol substitute: would you choose to drink it?

I read an article in New Scientist this morning detailing the development of a new cocktail of drugs that mimics the neurological actions that cause the pleasurable effects of alcohol without causing any of the downsides. Whilst limiting the immediate adverse effects, such as violence and illness, it would also reduce the occurrence of longer-term problems like liver cirrhosis.

This all sounds like a fantastic idea, but I'm not sure I'm convinced that it will catch on. It started me thinking about my habits: I know I sometimes feel like I just need to go out and get a little pissed at the end of a long week, but most of the time I drink alcoholic beverages because I like the taste of them. What reason do people really have for drinking alcohol: is it for the love of the drinks themselves or the way that they affect you? What is it particularly about the state of drunkenness that is so attractive that we want to repeat it: many people still go out and binge drink despite often being ill and wasting days as a result of painful hangovers? Would there be a stigma associated with an alcohol substitute because it is an admission that you only like drinking because it gets you drunk?

: 13 Apr 2006 13:08 | Tags: Food Psychology | Comments (13) | Close comments | Report a problem

March 24, 2006

Which is the best supermarket?

I have just been chatting to Richard about supermarkets and their relative merits (not surprising when our lab group contains so many food-obsessed people). We tend to disagree as far as which is the best: Richard is a Sainsbury's man, I a Tesco/Asda woman (after having recently discovered the Warwick Tesco due to the permanent presence of Justin plus car and been completely fed up several times recently with the Leamington Sainsbury's). However, I also get more specialist produce from our excellent little shops in Leamington (The Globe is fantastic). But which is really the best? Do people, particularly students, really consider the multinational-corporations-squashing-local-businesses issue or is saving money more important? Does the quality of the shopping experience strongly influence your opinion?

: 24 Mar 2006 13:05 | Tags: Food | Comments (43) | Close comments | Report a problem

January 04, 2006

Biscuits: which should you dunk?

Follow-up to Tea: a very important debate from Musings of a blonde

As Rich suggested in a comment on my last entry, the dunking of biscuits in tea is also a hard-fought subject.

So what are your favourites? Mine are Hob-nobs!

: 04 Jan 2006 11:06 | Tags: Food | Comments (22) | Close comments | Report a problem

January 03, 2006

Tea: a very important debate

In order to continue the serious-food-serious pattern than has characterised my recent entries…

I seem to have had an inordinate amount of conversations recently about the making of tea. The following questions seem the most controversial:

– Leaves or bags?
– Mug or teapot?
– Do you add the tea to the milk or the milk to the tea?
– When is the sugar added?
– Caster or granulated sugar (some people think I'm wierd using caster, but I think I'm justified because it dissolves better)?
– Do you have milk in herbal teas (my Dad insists on this)?
– What is the best proportion of water and milk to each teabag?

: 03 Jan 2006 13:16 | Tags: Food | Comments (28) | Close comments | Report a problem

December 15, 2005

A significant change of subject… bread!

In a departure from the recent serious topics adorning my blog, one of my favourite things: FOOD…

When munching on some delicious white cranberry-filled bread yesterday (kindly provided by Warwick Hospitality for our Proteomics course) the conversation switched to bread and the eternal debate between brown and white: which is nicer? Do people who eat brown do so just for their health? Is the bread type filling-specific? Particularly potent was the fight about bacon sandwiches: should they always be made with white???

: 15 Dec 2005 10:07 | Tags: Food | Comments (12) | Close comments | Report a problem

November 23, 2005

JAM!

I have become rather aware that my blog entries have been very serious over the past few days. So, to remedy this:

Jam…

I like jam very much, but can never decide what my favourite is. What is yours? We've had a heated debate in the lab this week about the seeds/seedless issue. Also, is butter a necessary accompaniment to your toast and jam or does it detract from it? And, I have always wondered this, what is the difference betweem jam and marmalade: surely rindless marmalade is just jam? And what about fruit conserves??

: 23 Nov 2005 10:57 | Tags: Food | Comments (17) | Close comments | Report a problem