This morning, Bwog woke up hungry and hankering for something not sweet, but savory. Fortunately, Saturday Brunch will never be Sunday Brunch and Bwog wanted lunch. And so on this dark Saturday, Bwog strode down Broadway past the parfaits and waffles of Community and Le Monde in search of vittles of a more proteinaceous variety.

Ecce Empanada Joe's! Despite its highly anticipated arrival, the little eatery opened to little fanfare a few weeks ago. Unlike Chipotle, tempting customers with both flex and Burrito Bowls, Empanada Joe's offers neither and unsurprisingly lacks the long lines and loyal following of the former pseudo-latino burrito bar. But occasionally, today for example, hunger outweighs reliability. And despite of Empanada Joe's generic, prefabricated décor, a result of franchising no doubt, Bwog's gastronomic gusto was a success.

It's a phenomenon almost as annoying as having to re-enter your SSOL password when you leave it alone for more than 3 minutes: rising prices at campus eateries.

So far, Bwog tipsters and staff have seen price hikes at many campus eateries. Offenders include Ferris Booth, which, in addition to replacing the popular stir fry station with a taco bar, has raised prices at several of their other stations.

At $7, Ferris and 212 sushi, for example, will now set you back more than many supermarkets in the area (M2M sells it for about $4). Cafe 212 has also raised its prices on sandwiches, and they've also stopped selling sunflower seeds, which Bwog considers a travesty.

Finally, Butler's Blue Java has, as our tipster put it, "coffee now priced at Starbucks levels, pastries even higher." If you've heard of other places, on-campus or off-campus, raising (or lowering!) their prices, let us know at bwgossip@columbia.edu or in the comments.

Throughout last night's CCSC meeting, scavenged foods drove members to use their appetite as a running motif. Satow Room Bureau Chief Martha Turewicz was there, although not feasting.

There was some in the back of the room left over from the last meeting of the '08 class council: chicken, biscuits, potatoes and gravy. Before the meeting, a tray of marzipan pieces shaped like fruit was passed around; outgoing President Michelle Diamond warned everyone that it contained nuts and was not actually a fruit.

Then Neda Navab mentioned the swim test party coming up in Dodge, at which pizza will be served: "Hopefully they'll eat the pizza after the swim test."

Mark Johnson brought up the anti-Manhattanville protestors who showed up during the Arts Fair. Thankfully, since the students at said fair were grilling hamburgers, the protest was diffused as the gatecrashers eventually lined up to buy them.

After cracking the mystery of the missing spicy chicken, Bwog freelancer Joe Meyers delves further into the underbelly of on-campus dining locations.

In food news, it turns out that loading your John Jay cafeteria tray with a sampling of every available entrée isn't just bad for your cholesterol; it's bad for your soul. That's right; when you take too much food at John Jay you're actually stealing food from the homeless. According to Tony Hall, General Manager of Columbia Dining Services, every Friday John Jay donates left over food to City Harvest, which then distributes it to community food programs throughout the city.

Hall said John Jay alone contributes between 50 and 100 pounds of what is "mostly starch" a week. Almost none of the donated food is "protein." Yuck. Columbia Catering, on the other hand, uses much of its leftover food to feed employees. Whatever is left over after the employees are fed is given to the soup kitchens of local churches.

"There's so many hungry people in the city, I never throw anything away," said Executive Chef John Santiago. In Ferris Booth and Café 212, on the other hand, little is either thrown away or donated. According to manager Ray Prete, most of the food they sell is either sold by the end of the week or refrigerated over the weekend.

- After placing an order on Campusfood, a voice started talking and thanking me. The speaker was female, and sounded terrifyingly like Skynet. Combine that with killer-omniscient washing machines, and giving life to an online entity named "the Bwog" seems a little reckless.

- Why don't vending machines -- EXCEPT for the soda machine next to Tasti-D-Lite -- take Flex anymore? WTF? Is this a wack-ass ploy by CU Snacks to get our credit card numbers?

- What ever happened to the toiletry vending machines in EC and the LLC? Today, Bwog wanted an old school shave, but couldn't, and was forced to take the dulled three-blade route.