HW 6- Food Diary

 Over the course of 48 hours, the foods I ate went something like this-

-Fried chicken and vitamin water (lunch)

-Mac n' cheese with chicken and broccoli (dinner)

-Cocoa puffs (breakfast)

-Subway sandwich with doritos and pink lemonade (lunch)

-Tortilla chips and salsa (snack)

-Rice and beans with salad (dinner)

-Toast with peanut butter (breakfast)

-Pizza (lunch)

-Scallion pancakes and chicken lo mein

To start, I will explain why I ate most of the foods that I ate over the course of about 48 hours. To be honest, the fried chicken was kind of a silly choice considering I had already packed myself a lunch. However, I am pretty tired of eating the same sandwich after a number of years, and how could I resist that greasy flavorful chicken. That night, although the broccoli part of the meal was healthy and the chicken wasn't bad either, the mac n' cheese was not ideal. However, a website calculated that my daily calorie goal was to consume 3406 calories a day, so those two meals actually weren't terribly bad for me. The next day, I ate cocoa puffs mainly because I was too lazy to make myself anything better in the morning, and it is the only cereal in my house that I actually enjoy. The subway sandwich that I ate for lunch only had 450 calories, and was perfectly satisfying. For a snack when I got home from school, I chose tortilla chips and salsa mainly because it is not as greasy and oily as potato chips, although tortilla chips aren't particularly good for you either. The rice and beans normally wouldn't sound like a healthy choice, but it was prepared with tomatoes and brown rice, and with the bonus of the salad on the side it actually wasn't bad. The toast with peanut butter before my internship was probably my best choice, because peanut butter was a great source of protein. However, because I was working from 9am to 10:30 pm with only a combined 3 hours of break on thursday, I was very rushed and was only able to eat food that was not particularly good for me.

Overall I don't feel that great about what I have eaten over the last 48 hours. Although for the most part the food tasted very good, it wasn't exactly healthy for me. I am trying to gain weight, but the weight that I'm trying to gain is not something that is going to come from eating a lot of junk food. It isn't like a feel guilty about eating food that isn't good for me, I honestly do not feel like I had a choice. I'm sure a of people use that excuse for eating fast food, but at my internship I only get a 45 minute break and there is really no food within a radius of three crosstown blocks. Also, I noticed how after I ate the fried chicken, chinese food, and the pizza how I didn't feel as good as I did after eating a more well balanced meal such as the subway meal or the rice and beans with salad. So just because some of the greasy foods I ate tasted very good in the moment, they won't always necessarily make you feel good and will certainly not be beneficial in the long run. I'm just lucky I'm still young and have good metabolism.

HW 5 - Dominant Discourses Regarding Contemporary Foodways in the U.S.

The first thing that is important to discuss about the dominant discourse of foodways in America today is where the general population is getting their information from and who is taken seriously in the dominant discourse. When anyone with a degree that can relate to health in some way speaks up on the news, they will be taken seriously. Other sources, however might not get the same kind of serious attention. For instance, "An estimated 72.5 million adults in the United States are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year, about 27 percent of adults said they were obese, compared with about 20 percent in 2000." (Fighting Obesity through Public and Private Policy) Although this is a perfectly reliable source and part of the dominant discourse, chances are not as many people will see it because such a large portion of the population use the news on television as their source. In fact, according to the New York Times, "WHY are Americans getting fatter and fatter? The simple explanation is that we eat too much junk food and spend too much time in front of screens — be they television, phone or computer." (Fighting Obesity through Public and Private Policy) So not only are these TV screens also constantly spitting out bias viewpoints, (such as stations like FOX and MSNBC and practically every other station) apparently it is getting the country fat as well.

Another point that should be recognized is that the most intelligent and well-read person will not be taken seriously if they are not represented properly and have some kind of reliable background (such as a college degree and a relevant occupation) I remember back in 6th grade, when in school they showed us the movie Super Size Me which was made by an independent filmmaker named Morgan Spurlock. In the movie, Mr. Spurlock ate McDonald's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 28 days straight. When he wasn't eating their food, he was investigating where the ingredients came from, and what really goes into those chicken McNuggets that everyone loves. By the end of the film, Mr. Spurlock had almost killed himself, and had clearly demonstrated the numerous amount of negative effects that eating fast food such as McDonald's all the time can have on a person. However, it is obvious that no one in society was really effected by this man's great effort in the long term. After all, the quote in the first paragraph states that a larger percentage of Americans consider themselves obese in 2010 then they did 10 years ago, and the movie was made in 2004. Its not like no one saw the movie; it one the academy award for documentary feature. It is evident that although Mr. Spurlock was arguing for the same cause that many of the doctors and health professionals that we see on the news were, he was not taken seriously by a most of the population, which excludes him and his documentary from the dominant discourse.

Although it is clear that a majority of the population do not seem to care that to much fast food can lead to serious medical problems, there are also highly educated adults who make what the dominant discourse considers to be smart food choices, such as lots of vegetables, protein that is not in the form of red meat all the time, etc. However, although the children that live in this country could not care less about what anyone says about their happy meals or their sweet desserts, they will always want to eat them because of how good they taste. They don't care how much their parents say they should eat their veggies because of how good they are for them, they're still not going to like them or want to have anything to do with them. Certain food industries are starting to catch on to this behavior, and have adjusted their methods of marketing as shown here, "The baby-carrot industry tried to reposition its product as junk food, starting a $25 million advertising campaign whose defining characteristics include heavy metal music, a phone app and a young man in a grocery cart dodging baby-carrot bullets fired by a woman in tight jeans." (To Eat its Vegetables, America Orders Fries) So according to Food and Health News, the baby carrot industry is trying to sell a healthy vegetable by calling it a junk food so kids will want it. In other words, they are encouraging the youth in this country to eat junk food because it is healthy for them AND it tastes good. Fortunately, the dominant discourse will most likely reject this action and most of the population will be against it. That doesn't, however, change the message that this industry is sending out to America's children.

HW 4- My families' foodways

The food that my parents grew up eating is actually very similar to the food that I have grown up eating. Chances are this is a result of my parents remembering the foods that they ate when they were being raised by their parents. So after speaking to my mother about what she grew up eating, it seems a lot like where my family is from has a lot more influence on what I eat then just the different generations of my family. For example, my mother and I both grew up eating meat and pasta as well as drinking milk practically every night for dinner. We both ate family dinners every night, and although she had bread on the table all the time and ate ice cream for dessert when I ate chips ahoy, the variety in our meals were generally very similar.

My grandparents ate slightly different things from my parents and I. They were raised by my great grandparents, who were the first ones in my mothers side of the family to come to America. This means that they were raised eating lots of mediterranean food, more then me or my mother. Although all three generations used quite a bit of olive oil when we cooked, my grandparents were definitely subject to the most olive oil. Other popular greek foods that my grandparents and even my parents ate much more frequently then I did consist of lamb, pound cake, and heavily buttered pasta.

Although the types of food have differed slightly over time in my family, the real difference is the size of the portions. Both of my parents grew up with three other siblings at minimum eating dinner with them, and the same is true for my grandparents. Naturally, because there were more mouths for my grandparents to feed and they were not exactly rich at the time, there was much less food to go around for my parents and my grandparents. Also, I am the only member on either sides of my family who was ever born in New York, and both of my parents were raised in suburban environments. What this means is that although most of the time in my family we cook our own meals, there are always nights where we will order chinese food, and these nights were much more frequent for me then they were for either my parents or my grandparents.

HW 3- Food- Fast Food Insights and Green Market Realizations

On Wednesday, as we traveled through both the green market and the popular fast food chain known as Taco Bell, I noticed some similarities as well as differences. The first thing I noticed was that both the green market and Taco Bell are usually not places where people tend to sit down and eat the food they purchase. Although Taco Bell provides chairs and tables, most of the customers were in too much of a rush to sit down and would often leave immediately after they received their order. However, at every place that I visited in the green market, the salesman/woman would talk about how their products were all natural and grown at their own farms. There was not even a sign in Taco Bell that would suggest something like that about their own ingredients, but they instead boasted how good their food tasted as opposed to the green market where signs advertised things such as vitamins and minerals.

The reason that most people in America would probably choose Taco Bell over the shops in the green market is because they share the same priorities as I do when it comes to food. Taste over health. All of the drinks that were available were the fountain sodas, which are all packed with sugar to enhance flavor other then water. However, the green market advertised healthy beverages such as wheat grass juice, which is something I have never tried before but as we walked past it one of my classmates said, "Oh yeah I had that stuff before! It tastes like shit." On the other hand, this beverage was packed with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and chlorophyll. Still, most people these days will probably choose Taco Bell because even thought its bread does not taste fresh and its cheese isn't even cooked all the time, it provides that flavor that people crave and want, but for most of us it is certainly not what we need.

HW 1- Food- Initial Thoughts

Food is more then just something that we consume on a daily basis and should not be taken for granted. However, if food is not prioritized properly, it will neither be beneficial or enjoyable. The first way that I prioritize food is the way that it tastes. To me food is a privilege and one of the greatest joys of life, and especially at this age I am trying to enjoy it as much as I can while I still have pretty good metabolism. The next most important thing about food for me is health benefits, and later in life I am assuming that will become the first most important thing. While food may taste great, it is also something that can be very harmful if not eaten in moderation, especially if the food contains a lot of sugar or unhealthy ingredients.

There are examples of improper consumption of food all across the globe, but many of the worst examples probably reside in the United States of America. The issue of obesity is extremely serious in America today, and one of the main reasons for this is because of fast food. Fast food restaurants such as McDonalds are very cheap, convenient, and most importantly, unhealthy. Especially during these struggling times, these fast food restaurants are often where a large portion of the population will turn to in order to get food. As a result of the unhealthy ingredients in these greasy McDonaldes burgers and fries, this large amount of people is very likely to become obese. This is another reason why I said earlier that at some point in my life, healthy food will take first priority over good tasting food.

The most important thing about my ideal meal is that the food has to be as fresh as possible. (or at least taste fresh) My typical lunch meal is usually made at home a few hours before I actually get around to eating it, so it is not nearly as fresh as I would prefer. On the other hand, when I eat my typical meal at school I do get to eat with my friends which is part of my ideal meal. I hate to admit that the second thing that comes to mind when I think of my ideal meal is a fresh cheeseburger and well-done fries from my favorite diner. Although this meal is not necessarily healthy, it does satisfy my current first priority of food, and at this age that is enough for me.