Fatty Thanksgiving

November 29, 2013

                This year, my mom decided that a thanksgiving dinner ordered from Publix, prepared and ready to eat was the solution.  These (possibly much healthier dishes) were not as appetizing which was most likely due to fat.  When my mom and I cook at home, we use old family recipes which have been in our family for decades and what is the one ingredient that every dish has? Butter and a lot of it.  The food obviously did not taste as good, but guess what? I didn’t eat as much of it! When the food contained less fat and less sugar, it was less appetizing and I did not want to keep eating it throughout the day.  I ate till I had enough and then I was done.  When I was finished my mom looked at my plate and said, “Why aren’t you finishing your plate?” Well simple, I was full. 

                Maybe Michael Moss is on to something when he says we can be addicted to sugar, salt, and fat.  Maybe that’s why once a year Americans gorge themselves on foods that are cram packed with sugar, salt, and fat:  because they remember how tasty the previous year was and they fell in love with that taste year after year after year.  Just because Thanksgiving is a tradition, doesn’t mean we have to repeat the event every year.  I think we carry on the tradition because we are addicted to the tasty thanksgiving turkey, green bean casserole, fresh dinner rolls, and mashed potatoes…not because we are truly thankful for what we are given.  If we were truly thankful as a culture, Black Friday wouldn’t exist less than 8 hours after we gave thanks and broke bread. 

November 25, 2013

                I am excited that we got to go see the Holocaust presentation, even though I was not expecting singing it was a happy surprise.  The articles that we read before the presentation were very interesting.  I have read so much about the Holocaust in the past, but it never occurred to me that the survivor’s eating habits may have been altered.  Which I realize if I had given some thought, makes complete sense because they were basically starved for months on end.  I found it interesting that survivors get anxious when waiting in line, it’s something to think about when all I really feel while waiting in line is annoyance.  I really wanted to ask Ela Weissberger if she had any of these feelings after release and what foods today she still craves or has to have at all times. 

Laughing Seed

November 20, 2013

                After eating at the Laughing Seed on Monday, I realized that it is possible for people to eat and get protein from their foods without eating meat…I did already know this but eating at the restaurant solidified the idea more to me.  However, I am not sure it was any healthier than non-vegetarian food as I ordered a pasta dish with cream sauce.  But there were some very healthy options on the menu which seemed more foreign to most of us and therefore was not attempted. 

Pollan illustrates the ethical dilemma of eating meat regularly in his books and there are people who take this seriously.  Is this an ethical issue we as a culture should address? Or should we keep carrying on not thinking too much about the animals as beings but merely as a food source?

Hunting and Gathering

November 17, 2013

                In Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, part 3, he discusses the concept of going out and hunting and gathering your own food.  Pollan goes on a hunting and gathering trip and forages for mushrooms and plants that he can eat in a meal.  I do think that in some cases this can be a realistic endeavor, for example in suburban areas where the human population is less concentrated and there are less of the concrete backyards then it would be possible to forage for your own food.  When my family lived in Virginia, my dad had a vegetable garden in which he grew potatoes, cucumbers, peppers, herbs, eggplants, and tomatoes.  This garden produced too much food for our family of four and my dad was able to supply our neighbors with fresh vegetables.  In addition to that, he went hunting regularly for a variety of animals but normally just deer and ducks he also went fishing.  So, I think it is possible in some areas of the country to forage and produce your own food, but in cities this may never even be a possibility.  However, gardens produce lots of fresh food, therefore if every building had their own rooftop garden, which may be a realistic possibility in order to provide each apartment building with fresh vegetables throughout the year.  Meat may prove to be more difficult. 

                I am looking forward to class tomorrow night because I have never eaten at a vegetarian or vegan restaurant before.  I am curious to see what kind of dishes they have at Laughing Seed and if anything will be familiar to me. 

Cooking Together

Cooking together as a class was really fun and also a learning experience.  I got to learn how to properly cut a pomegranate as well as make a new kind of bark and homemade potato chips.  Also, I felt like we were able to socialize more during while cooking together than when we went out to eat at Laughing Seed.  We talked throughout the preparation process as well as the eating portion of the night. 

Through cooking together, you can talk and create community while preparing foods that everyone will enjoy.  I think that this is one of the ways we can combat the industrial food industry, by preparing foods on our own, not eating at fast food restaurants as often, and by creating community that likes to prepare food and socialize together. 

This class has taught me that yes, the industrialized food market has taken hold over American food cuisine, but there are still ways that you can eat healthy and still enjoy your food.  By preparing meals at home with friends and buying local produce and groceries from farmers or farmers markets. 

Pre Cooking Together

I am not sure what to expect tonight during the cooking together class all I really know is that we are eating burgers and home made chips.  It should be interesting to see who picks what activity and how it corresponds to what we have been reading in class.  For instance, when Pollan talked about how men tend to congregate outside of the house by the barbecue or fire pit and women stay inside preparing the rest of the meal.  It should be a great learning experience. 

El Salvador TSD

Fish, Fish, Fish, and Beef. 

These were the stars of the show at the El Salvador TSD last Wednesday night.  The food was spectacular.  We got to eat pupusa, bacon wrapped shrimp, yucca, pork, guacamole, rice, hot chocolate, and seasoned chicken.  The meal was great and the hot chocolate was delicious with hints of chili and cinnamon.  The atmosphere was great with the small privately owned restaurant and the head chef came out to our table after the meal and asked how it was...obviously we said it was great and we would need several to-go boxes.  The pupusa was something I had never eaten before and was very interesting, a combo between tortilla and flatbread while stuffed with cheese.  I would definitely go back to this restaurant.