  By trapping cold polarizable atoms in periodic potentials created by crossed
laser beams, it is now possible to experimentally create "clean" lattice
systems. Experimentalists have successfully engineered local and
nearest-neighbor interactions that approximately recreate Hubbard-like models
on table tops. I discuss the possibility of using this new technology in the
context of lattice gauge theory and in particular, relativistic dispersion
relations, flavor symmetry, functional derivatives and emerging local gauge
symmetry.
