So it’s official. According to a research done by the Czech daily MF DNES, over one third of grocery stores in the Czech Republic sell bad or expired food. Items are either left on the shelves past the expiration date, or, in worse cases, repackaged with a “new” expiration date printed on them. (iDNES article - in Czech)

A manager of the Julius Meinl meat department in České Budějovice is facing two years in jail for having ordered her staff to rinse expired meat. Employees were instructed to rinse bad meat products in a mixture of water and vinegar to remove any smell, and to cut off bad parts. The meat was then sold to customers. (iDNES article - in Czech)

I’m unfortunately used to seeing expired food on the shelves. It seems to be quite normal at some small grocery stores in my neighborhood where expired butter, chocolate or packaged ham aren’t hard to find. Since moving back to the Czech Republic a year ago, I’ve learned to check the expiration date of each and every product I put into my basket. It makes shopping take longer, but I’d rather spend the extra time to not have to throw away the contents of my bag after coming home. Not that it’s never happened and not that checking expiration dates always does the trick.

A few months ago, Jeff and I made a decent size shopping at the Delvita on Karlovo náměstí. We wanted to stock up on meat (we had bought meat there previously and were happy with it), so we bought two packages of pork tenderloin (panenka, the most expensive cut) and a package of chicken breasts, all marked with a future expiration date. When we got home and opened one of the packages of pork to cook it for dinner, we were greeted with a horrible smell that didn’t go away even after we let the meat “breathe”, refusing to believe that “our Delvita” actually sold us bad meat. We checked the other package and it was the same. To our astonishment, the chicken was bad as well. We threw out all the meat and were left with no dinner. But wait, that’s not all. I remember throwing out another item from that day’s shopping. Was it moldy bread? Maybe. Anyway, the Delvita on Karlovo náměstí is not “our Delvita” anymore.

Another similar experience was recently provided by the Carrefour Eden in Prague 10. We shop there regularly. Among other things, we used to buy fresh fish there because we can’t find it anywhere else within a reasonable radius from our home. Around 7 p.m. on September 6, we bought our usual salmon fillets and we also splurged and got two cod fillets. Not the cheap cod. We got the more expensive kind. You can imagine our surprise when we unwrapped the fish around noon the next day, looking forward to making our favorite baked cod, and, yet again, our noses were hit with a sickening smell. So, after striking Delvita on Karlovo náměstí from our list, we also no longer buy fresh fish at Carrefour Eden, or do so rarely and with a sense of taking a chance. The fact that one of the fish counter employees routinely uses his teeth to open the plastic bag before wrapping your fish in it isn’t exactly appealing either.

I’m not even going to elaborate on Carrefour’s fruit and vegetable section where one can happily select from rotten apples and grapes and tired-looking tomatoes. Sometimes I stand in front of the displays of rotten fruit and quietly wonder if it is for real or if the store is trying to play a joke on us. But no one ever laughs.

I saw a lot of the color orange in the center of Prague this afternoon. The Dutch team was in Prague to play the Czech national team in a World Cup qualifying match and the Dutch fans were wearing their team’s color.

The game was tonight and unfortunately, the Czechs lost 0-2. That means the Dutch team has qualified for the World Cup next year in Germany and the Czechs need to win their next game on October 12 in Finland to remain in the running to qualify.

We are starting to see some beautiful fall colors here in Prague.
This picture was taken during a walk today through a Vinohrady park.

I was excited to see that an exhibition on Prague opened up in New York at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Prague, The Crown of Bohemia, 1347–1437″ covers an important period in Czech history during which Prague was the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. Charles IV (Karel IV) was crowned king in 1347 and was followed by his two sons, Wenceslas IV and Sigismund. On display are 160 artworks that include panel paintings, goldsmiths’ work, illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, silk embroideries, and stained glass. The New York Times has a review and I also found one on the New York Brain Terrain blog.

The exhibition runs through January 3, 2006 and will then travel to Prague. I look forward to seeing it.

Prague, Budapest and Bratislava were the only three eastern European cites (in contrast to western European ones) listed in the top bracket of 63 cities in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s LIVEABILITY RANKING. The survey assesses living conditions in 127 cities around the world by looking at nearly 40 individual indicators grouped into five categories: stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education; and infrastructure. The survey gives a rating of 0%-100% and judges a city with a lower score to be the more attractive destination. A rating of 20% is where real problems are seen to begin - anything over 50% places severe restrictions on lifestyle.

I have not yet seen the ranking for Prague, but if I do, I will update this post. I can attest to the fact that Prague is much more livable now than compared to the mid ’90s.