Who Really Needs Corn With Ears As Big As His?

Prince Charles is sinking his teeth into a new cause: genetically engineered food.

”(Such alteration) takes mankind into realms that belong to God, and to God alone,” Charles, who owns an organic farm, wrote in The (London) Daily Telegraph.

Although genetically modified crops are not allowed in Britain, U.S. biotechnology giant Monsanto Co. has launched a multimilliondollar advertising campaign to convince Europeans of their safety.

“Apart from certain highly beneficial and specific medical applications, do we have the right to experiment with, and commercialize, the building blocks of life?” Charles asked. “I personally have no wish to eat anything produced by genetic manipulation, nor do I knowingly offer this sort of produce to my family or guests.”

Loose talk

Rocker Tori Amos, on her appeal (in Rolling Stone magazine): “I’m an acquired taste I’m anchovies … if I was potato chips, I could go a lot more places, but I’m not.”

And he prefers his produce son-ripened

Prince Philip turns 77 today.

You could say we’re seeing his true stripes

So what sort of food does Prince Charles favor? He told Harpers and Queen magazine that purple carrots have “much more of an interesting taste than ordinary carrots, ditto purple Brussels sprouts. I also like the striped beetroot, which don’t taste much different from ordinary beetroot, but it’s rather wonderful to see the stripes.”

But for vegetarians, we thought fish was foul

Sales of meatless meals have soared in England following the death of vegetarian activist Linda McCartney, who was mourned by the likes of George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Elton John and Sting at a memorial service Monday. A spokesman said McCartney’s vegetarian food line will be expanded to include the fish cakes she was working on before her death.

So if it’s Tuesday, this must be tofu

The Dalai Lama “tried the vegetarian life for several years,” reports The New Yorker, “but when his health declined his doctor insisted that he return to eating meat. The compromise: a Jekyll-and-Hyde diet in which His Holiness alternates vegetarian and meat-eating days.”

Which leads to certain dangers in the night

Alan King held his own culinary memorial service for old pal Frank Sinatra the other night at Manhattan’s Paggio restaurant, invading the kitchen to whip up the Rat Pack staple of pasta tossed with pancetta, fresh tomatoes, garlic, red onions and mushrooms.

We suppose there’s a kernel of truth to it

Finally, fad guru Faith Popcorn predicts these cultural trends in Biography magazine: Clanning (“spending time with those who share your values”); Pleasure Revenge; Egonomics (“customized, individual products and services as an antidote to feeling depersonalized”); Being Alive and Down-Aging (“nostalgia for carefree childhood days”).