The recent issue of Symmetry Magazine (a joint publication of SLAC and Fermilab, devoted, by their own assertion, to the dimensions of particle physics and worth taking a look at) has a humorous article on graduate student cuisine. The Symmetry editors polled a set of particle physicists and asked for their best and most memorable graduate student culinary experiences and then published the results. You have probably been wondering, keeping you up at night no doubt - Just what do graduate students eat anyway? Or, you might wonder - Why could this possibly be interesting? Eating well as a graduate student typically poses serious challenges: students have little time or money. Most of us who have been through the experience look back, shake our heads, laugh, and wonder - How did I live through that? Most of you current students probably wonder - How am I going to live through this!? Those of you planning to attend graduate school, well, here are some enticing recipes just for you:
Broiled Pigs' Feet From Johns Hopkins University physicist Jonathan Bagger "I lived with four housemates in Princeton. We had an ongoing competition to see who could make the cheapest meal. The winner, at 17 cents a serving, was pigs' feet. Not cooked the way pigs' feet normally are, but simply broiled." Place pigs' feet in preheated broiler (or oven at 450°F) Broil until done. Place artistically on plate and serve. Yum!
Perhaps you're looking for something a little more typical:
Noodles à la Kephart From Fermilab physicist Bob Kephart "Noodles à la Kephart got me through graduate school at SUNY Stony Brook." * Boil a large package of macaroni. * When cooked, add a brick of Velveeta cheese and a package of the cheapest hot dogs* you can find, cut up. * Stir. * Empty into dish. * Eat for lunch and dinner each day for one week. * When finished, return to Step 1. May be garnished with canned peas, eaten cold from can. *Caution: Do not read ingredients on hot dog package.
Here's my contribution to the article:
Graduate Student Beef Stroganoff From SLAC physicist JoAnne Hewett "During my graduate student days my diet consisted of food that was cheap and quick to prepare. My main staple was Kraft Macaroni & Cheese at 29 cents per box. Other favorites were hotdogs with a slice of cheddar cheese wrapped in a piece of whole wheat bread; frozen fish sticks (fish was touted as brain food); tuna casserole; and taco salad. Once every couple months, on the weekend, I would make a humongous batch of spaghetti. The sauce consisted of a jar of Rague to which I added a pound of real hamburger meat and spices from a jar labeled 'spaghetti spices.' I considered this spaghetti absolutely delicious. It was a real treat. "For fancy dinners, for example when I was cooking to impress somebody or when my parents visited, I made what I called `Graduate Student Beef Stroganoff.' It is a hand-me-down recipe from physicist Tom Rizzo when he was a graduate student. My mother pretended to like it and copied the recipe. She still has that original recipe in her file, and here's a picture of it. I wonder if she's ever made it? The recipe is in my handwriting, with notes added from both my mother and Tom Rizzo."
