This Semester in review

This year in literary interpretation we have been dealing with the main subject of Food. For our final project we were handed a list of things to accomplish by the final exam day. This list consisted of writing three separate blogs on presenters that present to our class. Another part was to make a recipe, bring in the product of that recipe, and upload the recipe to the wiki page. Another part was to make go to an ethnic restaurant (encouraged to eat a style of food we have never had) and write a blog on it. We were also asked to attend an event in the community relating to food. Last but not least we were asked to create our Ted Talk.

            For the blog posts it was pretty simple and educating. We had presenters from inside and outside our class present. One of the days Joe Starr and Casey presented on satire of food inside video games. This was very eye opening and shed a light on something I would probably never think twice about unless it was brought to my attention. It is amazing to me how much GrandTheft Auto pokes fun at our American culture. Another presenter that came in from outside our class room spoke on Global warming’s effect on our agriculture. I had never known the massive effects that only five degrees could have on our climate. There was a graph that showed if our world were only five degrees colder, Michigan would be buried under ¾ of a mile of Ice and snow. It was a very educating lecture and well put together by the professor that came in. The last presenter that I wrote on was Lexie. Her topic was on Judaism and the food in her religion. Lexie herself a Jewish member gave a very riveting presentation on her religion of Judaism. I am very fascinated by other religions outside of my own to find out what they believe in compared to me and their culture inside of that. She talked to us about the 613 laws of Judaism that the Jews got from Mount Sinai. She also talked about their Passover meals and meals related to their holidays. It made me chuckle when she said “Basically our holidays represent Hey they tried to kill us, let’s eat!” All the presenters were great and very informative.

            For our assignment of going to an ethnic place to eat I was able to get outside of the Kalamazoo area. I got to try a new place I don’t think many people will get to try. I got to go to Demera which is a very well known Ethiopian restaurant in Chicago. My girl friend’s father has been there before and knew exactly where he should take me so I could finish this assignment. I got the Ye-Doro tibs and they were amazing. The experience itself was fantastic and I now like Ethiopian food. The restaurant was pretty upscale but reasonably priced, the service was fantastic and the people were very friendly. This restaurant was voted Chicago’s best Ethiopian restaurant.

            For the final project I created a recipe to share with the class and post to our college cook book on wiki spaces. The recipe I created was called Fruity fun skewers. The recipe was a hit and I did not have any left overs at all when class had finished. I was very proud of my cheap, easy to make, and healthy recipe. Another part was to make it to a community event. Due to my overly packed schedule and zero flexible hours I was unable to make it out to a community event.           

            Finally we had to create a Ted Talk. A Ted Talk in a nutshell is approximately a 5 minute video that is spreading an idea or knowledge to help make the world a better place. They can be somewhat witty, or sometimes very inspirational and powerful. The subject I chose to do my Ted Talk on is the inequality of drinking water in the world. This is a very deep and intense subject. My goal was to drop some hard facts but also keep it somewhat light so that the viewers would be able to understand the need for help but not leave wanting to cry, because I left them with ways to help change it.

            Overall I enjoyed most of this final project. This year has been a blast and I have thoroughly enjoyed this class. I have learned a lot from the moments Dr. Allen has made us get out of our comfort zone and loved getting to know my classmates.

Going ethnic in Chicago

During this Easter weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Chicago to visit my girlfriends family. I have been to the windy city many times but have always stuck to mainly authentic Chicago style food, such as Chicago style deep dish pizza or famous burger joints around there. Since our project is making us try and ethnic food we have never had before I asked my girlfriends mother if we could go somewhere.....ethnic. They are a very experimenting family when it comes to food and were more than excited to cater my request.

    While driving around we stumbled across a restaurant called "Demera Ethiopian restaurant". As in came across I mean her father had known about this place and new exactly where he was taking us. He has a very cultured taste pallet and that came in handy for this project. I have never eaten Ethiopian food before but I was about too. My mind ran with the random and endless possibilities with what Ethiopians would eat. As I received the menu I started browsing, and was very surprised by the amount of food that looked delicious. I ended up choosing the Ye-Doro tibs which was Chicken breast cubes marinated in lemon juice and garlic, then sautéed with onions, tomato, sliced jalapeños and rosemary; spicy, medium or mild. THEY WERE PHENOMENAL!!!!!! I was blown away by the spices and flavor this dish packed in it.
  I was unable to get really any information on the background due to it being packed but It was outstanding.

Food and my religion

      In response to Lexie's assignment I have many ideas about food and my religion. I was raised in a Christian household and raised in a Methodist church (Methodist is just a branch of Christianity). Something about the Methodist community for those that don't know is their go to for social gatherings is pot lucks! We love gathering around food and talking. Every since I can remember my life has been filled with social events and pot lucks at the church.

        Growing up in this environment my life was changed upside down when I was at one of these pot lucks and I was 8 years old. Earlier in my life I was a pretty chunky child and I loved food. While at this pot luck an elderly woman in our church (Rosemary Chamberlin) brought in these things called cheesy potatoes. I decided to give the cheesy potatoes a whirl...and man did I ever. I rividly recall return to the line for at least eighths of these glorious form of potatoes. Ever since that day I have never been to a church pot luck without having cheesy potatoes. Now I can never eat cheesy potatoes without thinking of a church pot luck.

Ironic Isn't it?

    Every 2 years there is some sort of Olympic games, whether that be the summer Olympics or the winter Olympics. In this year of 2014 it was the year for the winter Olympics. I love the Olympics and have always loved the Olympics. I watch almost every event even if I have never heard of it or care about it. The capture pure true competition and you get to watch these athletes living out their dreams and the dreams of billions around the world. These people are competing for their country, representing their flag.
 
    Growing up I would pretend to be in the Olympics in my backyard wearing the red, white, and blue and defending the honor of my country in a game I love. I know for a fact I'm not the only one that did that. As I sat watching the winter Olympics this past February I started to notice the sponsor's of the Olympics. After watching the best athletes in the world fly down the face of a mountain with precision, net slap-shots from the blue line, and break the world record in ice skating. These events would be broken up by commercials for McDONALDS and COCA-COLA! The would use slogans like "Supporting future Olympians everywhere."
   

    While watching this I couldn't help but thinking HOW?!?!?!?! How is awful junk food helping you become a better athlete? This kind of advertisement is giving children and these younger generations wrong and mislead ideas. They make it sound like food to help you fuel your body to success. This upsets me A LOT! The place and beverage that leads to obesity and sluggishness is sponsoring the most outstanding athletes this planet has to offer. The Olympics should be sponsored by things other than COKE and the golden arches. Ironic Isn't t?

Climate Change

During the presentation on Climate change and global warming I couldn't help but doubt its validity. As the presentation was going on I kept glancing outside at a massive snow mound that was just hanging out in the April sun. After I winter like this I really wouldn't mind a little global warming. (That was a joke I don't really) The facts they have to support global warming are very valid and very real. Granted the rise in temperature isn't huge but it does not have to be huge to have a large impact on the earth. He showed us stats of if the world was 5 degrees colder, and Michigan would be buried under snow if that were in fact the case. In all honesty our world is getting worse by the Decade, year, month, week, and day! And it is all because of us! But we can change this with the same hands we are ruining it with.

Food Inequality

  It is astounding the amount of food inequality we have going on in our own backyard. Growing up I would always be told "Anthony, finish whats left on your plate there are kids starving in Ethiopia." My witty and always go to response was "Mom, if they were knocking on the window I would give them my food." As witty as my comeback was it is besides the point I'm trying to make. My point is when my Mom would say is the starving people were in Ethiopia, she didn't mean just Ethiopia she meant all third world countries in that comment. And I'm sure that this is a comment we are all somewhat familiar with. By her saying this is represents a lot of our views on where people are that go to bed hungry at night. The reality is that there are people starving amongst us, whether we realize it or not.
   Not only are there people going to bed hungry at night that are so close to us but often have a surplus of food. I'm not saying my parents or families that have a surplus of food are bad people at all, I'm simply stating that we often have skewed views of where the real dissonance in the stats are at.
  We live in a society that often even worships food and makes competitions and challenges out of it.

While there are people out there starving our society is trying to see how much food we can stuff in ourselves without puking to win a free t-shirt or some sort of prize.

I don't have a solution to this problem, but maybe you do.

Like Water for Chocolate: Part dos

In this book my group and I are reading every chapter represents another month. I think this is very cool because you can follow a timeline by month. Every month that starts my group and I noticed starts with a new recipe that Tita is whipping up! She walks you through the process of cooking the meal. She goes into such detail about the meal I feel that I could make the same meal myself if I followed the instructions.

This isn't the only place that she is cooking or talks about making something. She makes stuff for all sorts of occassions! This reminds me of my house and family. We have certain meals that I almost expect to be made for certain events. For example my grandma's fried chicken on the fourth of july or my mothers country hash for my birthday! I can relate to like water for chocolate based souly on the food the emphasize in this book!

Like Water for Chocolate: Part 2

The next 50 pages really ups the intensity. The book becomes much more romantic and confusing, and you are rooting for lovers. So Tita has a lover named Pedro and they are madly in love, and then out of nowhere to me he goes and marries her sister. Reading this I was like "What the Heck man?!?!" And he marries her even though him and Tita are in love. Pedro gives Tita flowers and she doesnt throw them away because they are so beautiful. She makes a dish of rose peddals.

Next to add to the chaos Titas sister runs away with a soldier from the war, and he took her away while she was naked! It sounds just as odd to me as it does to you.

Even though this book is random and odd at parts i find it very interesting. The distinct connection between the sexuality and food is very strong. They make many different references to chocolate and she makes a rose peddal dish. All of it is tying a certain theme to the book together.

Like Water for Chocolate: Part 1

The book started out in an interesting way (NOT STRANGE). It immediatley started out with the way to prepare and cut onions. It started out in a way I have never read before. I mean in the sense of the writing, not the actual subject of the onions. haha It goes into deatil about how cutting onions can make you cry. The girl tells about how the onions made her great aunt cry because she was extra sensitive to them. Granted I have never cut an onion before, so I have never experienced the water works that the process includes. When it says she sobs from cutting onions I dont think I ever want too!
       The book continues to talk about how the family would make sausage together and how they cooked it. It also talks about the smells that accompanied the sausage. The smell would bring back memories from the past and events that were not even present in the room with her. It reminds of things that I smell that take me back to memories and events that occurred when that smell was lingering around. For example when I smell any scent of vanilla it reminds me of my grandparents house, because whenever we go over there my grandma is always burning a vanilla bean candle. That scent just brings up happy emotions for me even though nothing in the room is causing that other than the scent.On that note I am very excited to see how the book plays out from here!

Hunger Games chaps 6-18

  Whilst immersing myself into the world of the Hunger Games I couldn't help but think about what if it was real life? With this thought in mind this book became much more intense and deep. While watching the movie I always thought to myself "Self, Why do they make friends in the arena if there can only be one winner? Isn't this hard enough on them as it is? Why become emotionally attached to someone?" It never made sense to me why Katniss would care so much about Rue, when even in the best case scenario one of them had to die.  That was my thought while watching the theatrical performance on the big screen.

   My thoughts changed completely when I was reading these chapters. Katniss truly deeply cares for Rue because thats all shes ever known, is taking care of other people. This speaks volumes about the character Collins was trying to portray in this book. Katniss is loving and soft hearted but also very hardened to the world and will do whatever it takes to make sure those that she cares about are taken care of. I kept thinking "What would I do in this situation?" and after reading these chapters I would just really be hoping to be Peeta haha.
  I have never been a big reader as I have said before but I cannot put this book down.

PLAINWELL ICE CREAM

You can search the world ten times over and never find a better scoop of ice cream, than the scoop of ice cream you would find at Plainwell Ice Cream. Voted the best Ice cream in West Michigan and and 3rd best ice cream in Michigan (Just because they don't own their own cows.) it brings in families from near and far. This little scoop of heaven was founded 38 years ago by middle school sweethearts Art and Judy Gaylord.
 
Art had gone off to the war in Vietnam and left Judy back in the states. When Art returned he looked at his beautiful wife and said "Lets open an ice cream parlor", and that they did. I have had the opportunity to come to know Art and Judy very well! My girlfriend of 3 1/2 years has been working at their quaint but bustling ice cream parlor for the past 4 years. They are the nicest people you will ever meet with ice cream you cannot beat!

The famous ice cream that they create is made right in the back of the store! They believe in freshness, quality, taste, and fair pricing. The store open in 4 days, so if you are feeling like a a quick trip to plainwell, Michigan then you need to stop here. Every flavor is great and unique! They have a selection to fit any picky eater. In the summer if you are feeling ice cream and decide to stop here and better not be in a rush because it fills up quick in there, but trust me IT'S WORTH THE WAIT!!!

And the scoopers are pretty great too! :)

The Jungle chap. 21-26

While in class I was assigned to read chapters 21-26. Having only read this book once before a few years back I have forgotten what happens in the rest of the book. As I begin to read the new chapters a lot has happened since reading the first couple chapters last week. These chapters were very dark parts of Jurgis's life but also there were some positive parts. Jurgis lost the love of his life while she was giving birth to their second child, and on top of that his own kid dies as well. Jurgis becomes a worker on farms and various other jobs. He knows now that living in the United States is no joke now and he knows that just working isn't going to make him any money. This life in Chicago has hardened Jurgis and causes him to become a criminal. He knows that this life isn't just going to give him what he needs so he decides he needs to take what he needs. When a sudden positive appears in Jurgis's life a he receives one hundred dollars from a very rich and drunk man. He later loses that money by being conned.

I feel bad for Jurgis in this book because he is probably a very misunderstood man. While he was a beggar it broke my heart because he has tried so hard! It really makes me think about what I think about beggars on the streets now a days and what they have gone through to be where they are. I really enjoyed these chapters and I am not much of a reader, so thats saying alot!

The Jungle

I was asked to read this book (The Jungle) as a freshmen in college and did. I will not say that I was excited to be asked to read it again. This book I find to be very hard to read. I have a very weak stomach when it comes to blood and violence and this just erks me. It is hard to think about how brutal people can be to these animals. I understand that it is your job to do kill animals, but there are acceptable humane ways to do it. I do not enjoy reading this book, but I do think it served its purpose to a tee. I think it shed light on a subject that people need to know about and really gave the public a look at the truth. I do not think it is a bad book, I just think that it is not a book for me.

My Modest Proposal "scrapping for scraps"

The amount of starving people in the world and even in this community is astounding! It is hard to believe how many people go to bed hungry that I just pass by every day. I believe the food distribution should be even. The wealthiest or people that have all them money should not be the only ones that get a chance of having the food.
I think that going to bed hungry shouldn't be because you cant afford it, it should be because you did not try hard enough or want the food more than the person next to you. Everyone should have the same opportunity of going to bed with a full stomach. I have written a letter to the city of Kalamazoo about equal opportunity for the distribution of food.
We gathered together and put our ideas to work and came up with a solution. We will place a large amount of food in the middle of Bronson park in downtown Kalamazoo. Each citizen will have 15 minutes to grab as much food as they can. If you live on your own you have to get food yourself, families will select one representative for their family to get the food.The only rules are take as much as you and your family need. You are allowed to do anything to obtain that food. Once the food is gone there will be no more put out until the sunrise of the next day.
 
This will be equal opportunity for everyone. Survival of the fittest is how this food will be distributed. That is our solution to the hunger.

Loaves and Fishes

Tomorrow our class is taking a field trip to Loaves and Fishes of Kalamazoo. I would like to start off by saying that I am very excited about the trip. I have done some research about the organization and was impressed by what I read.Loaves and Fishes is an organization founded by several different local churches in the area. Its main goal is to feed hungry people and engage the community in the fight to end hunger.

     It seems to be a Christian organization which I find to be very cool being a fellow Christian myself. I think the need for an organization like Loaves and Fishes in Kalamazoo is crucial! Many times we think of starvation and hunger as problems that only third world countries face. When in reality this is a problem that is happening on the streets we walk, and the schools we learn in. Loaves and Fishes is a charitable food network that distributes groceries to hungry people in Kalamazoo County through food-specific programming and services. They collect their food through donation from the public, often school food drives. They collect about 2 million pounds of food annually, which is AWESOME! But food is not the only donation that is appreciated. They also need money to pay the workers and acquire the rest of the food they need.
     I am very excited for this trip tomorrow and everything we will be learning.

MY JOURNEY

 The topic I have come up with for my essay did not come easy. I spent some time reading through my classmates blogs just to find inspiration. I was looking for a subject that was not only interesting but fun for me to write about. That's when it HIT ME! I'm funny and I love talking about myself...so it's a paper about ME. Now I know what you are thinking...I'm a pretty modest guy so it's going to be a short paper, I can assure you it will not be (haha).

My topic will be "My Journey through life with FOOD." I will take you on a riveting journey of my ups and downs, joy and struggles, love and hate for food. It will describe foods role in my life and specific events that I relate with certain types of food.
On a more serious note I am actually very excited for the project and am not actually that egotistical.

Food Inc.

Watching Food Inc. to me was very very interesting. It had the chance to see it while I was in my high school nutrition ed class but I didn't really think about the movie when I watched it back then. I am happy I had this second opportunity to let it sink in.
The part in the movie that stuck out to me was the chicken and the large corporation (Tyson) that owns a lot of it. They showed the amount of growth hormones that were given to the chickens. It was ASTOUNDING! I mean these chickens were HUGE! It was really hard to see the chickens barely be able to walk and never even see the light of day. They would have thousand upon thousands of chickens crammed in these housing units and they could barely move, partly because of being fat and partly because it was so crammed. 
This movie exploits the large corporations treatment of animals, farmer/ cattle raisers/ small business. It also exploits the ways that our meat is created and how truly disgusting some of it is. Overall Food Inc. gets the job done well, and sends the message loud and clear.

Nutrition and Corporations

While reading another 100 pages of Marion's Food Politics book, I kind of became appalled at what I read. There was a section about nutrition journals, and the sponsors of nutrition journals. As I read deeper into this it explained large corporations pull on nutrition journals. It turns out that the articles we read in these journals are being influenced big time by these large corporations because they sponsor these journals to be published.
 

            Keeping this in mind you probably realize the effect this has on the journal. It results in the journal making the product of whatever company may be sponsoring sound much better for you than it actually is. Some of the huge companies that where listed where Coca-cola, Kraft, Nestle, and more. This just goes to show how much of an influence money has on this world. Just like the influencing the government and USDA, these large food corporations even strongly influence nutrition journals, that many people believe are helping them while reading them.
             
             In these journals there will even be massive ads for the company. These ads target people of all ages from kids to adults. Because whats better than showing a huge COKE bottle when you are trying to live a healthy lifestyle?  This is just another testament to money being the most powerful thing in the world. What else could be just as equally powerful as money? you may ask. Well the answer is the people who have the money. 

Food Politics

Food politics was the book I chose to read in this class. I have never been a big reader so 100 pages was a true struggle for me. I admit I fell short of the mark but got a good insight to the book. The first almost 100 pages was in my eyes very slow. It discussed how truly enormous the food corporation is. It also discussed the relationship between the government and large food corporations, You think that the food corporations would play by the governments rules, but sadly it seems to be the opposite. A fact that astounded me was the sheer amount of food that these food corporations produce. In 2000 alone these corporations produced enough calories to feed every living person in the world twice around. I can see that I will really get into this book more once it gets through the details it needs for us to read on.

My Life with Food

Food has played a large role in my life. It is what I gather around, when I'm with people I love. Food has been with me on countless first dates, many trips to the movies with my family, and dinners with my family around the table. While growing up I loved and at times hated food, depending on whether my mom was trying a new recipe or not.
     My favorite meal is Chicago style deep dish pizza  and will always be my favorite. I found this love for this pizza when I was only 7 years old. My family and I were on vacation to Chicago and had walked for hours that day, my dad thinks taxis are a scam. One of the nights after walking for what felt like years, we stopped at Giordano's in downtown Chicago. My family and I had not eaten since 11:00 am central time which is 10:00 am back in Michigan and it was now 7:00 pm in Chicago. My brothers and I were starving and that's when it was served! The most glorious thing I had ever laid my eyes on, and that is when I fell in love with Chicago style pizza.
   Another way food has played a role in my life is later on in High school and early college. I was always the chunky one out of my brothers and learned to embrace that tole, and took that as a challenge to be the biggest eater out of us three. As you can probably assume my diet was nowhere near healthy and far from hitting all categories of the food pyramid. Once I hit a growth spurt in late high school I started to thin out and work out a lot. I would run or bike twice a day and life every other day. I got into doing triathlons and hated knowing I used to be chunky, this is when I made controlling what I ate basically an Idol. Food was no longer my companion and role in life it essentially became my enemy and I thought I was being healthy. I got so consumed by completely cutting sugar and sweets out of my life and eating what I needed to fuel my body that I stopped enjoying dinner with the family, I stopped visiting my Girlfriend at work, which was Plainwell Ice Cream (best ice cream out there), and became a health freak! It was not until my best friend called me out on it that I snapped out of that phase, which lasted about a year.
Now food and I are on good times and in a healthy relationship together. Our past was love/hate but we've moved on.