Food #8, Industrialization

When did America become artificial? Apparently, in the 1950's, or so the Meatrix tells it. Between the Meatrix and the video watched in class yesterday, I have never wanted to be a vegetarian more since the summer of 6th grade when I tried to be a vegetarian. The Meatrix is quite informative once you look past the quick bits of humor. What truly scares me is that this is the reality of the world. People ar ignorant of the world around them, because they simply accept what they are shown as everything there is, when in fact the corporations filter what is seen. People tend o accept this surface value, which I feel is at their disadvantage, because they can easily be lied to and manipulated into buying on product over another. Watching the Meatrix is actually physically upsetting for me, because the unwarranted cruelty gets to me and makes me want to lash out at the corporations. If just the animations get to me like this, you can imagine how he footage of the chicks affected me.

When watching the Colbert Report interview with Michael Pollan, Stephen Colbert made a passing comment about how even as a baby, the corporations try to convert the young into artificial beings, switching from the natural (Breast milk) to the unnatural (Formula). This is reflected throughout childhood, as the TV plays commercials of "fruit roll-ups", and "fruit loops", when in fact the closest thing they contain to actual fruit is corn syrup and artificial coloring. As an adult, this is reflected in commercials on TV that advertise fast food joints over home cooking, including commercials that say things that illude to the general idea of "Why cook if somebody else can make it for you?", which draws people into the allure of the future corporations and unhealthy living that rule many American lives.

Easy Recipe

Lasagna Recipe

Easy Lasagna
8 ounces lasagna noodles
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
8 ounces mushrooms, optional
1 jar (about 16 ounces) spaghetti sauce, your favorite
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried leaf oregano, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon dried leaf basil, crumbled
1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions; drain and set aside. In a large skillet, brown beef, onion, and mushrooms; drain well. Stir in spaghetti sauce, garlic powder, salt, oregano, and basil. In a 2-quart buttered baking dish (about 11x7x2-inches), layer 1/3 of the lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the sauce and 1/3 of the ricotta cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, and Parmesan cheeses. Repeat layers twice. Bake lasagna at 350° for 30 minutes, or until thoroughly heated and bubbly. Let stand for 8 to 10 minutes before cutting and serving. Serves 6 to 8.

The first thing I did when cooking the lasagna was cut all of the proportions in half, since I was cooking it with my mom and there are only two of us, so a meal meant for 6 to 8 would be too much. We cooked it without a hitch and it turned out great. I think that it was especially good for me since I cooked it, and I had never cooked lasagna before and was proud of my abilities. I really like cooking and since this was so easy, I think that I will make it again soon, because lasagna is one of my favorite meals that I don't get to have often due to difficulty.

Comments

On Marco's Blog, "My Food Habits"- I feel like saying that snacks and meats taste good is not a very substantial argument. And by snacking too often you in fact speed up your metabolism which in turn can prevent you from gaining weight.

On Rachel's Blog, "Grocery Food and Habitual Food"- I think that eating fruits is very important and helps to balance out your diet much more. I think that you also might be eating a lot more fruits than you realize, because fruits are used in various kinds of sweets and desserts.

On Gavin's Blog, "Grocery Store Assignment"- I think that you have a valid point about the cheaper food. Another factor to take into account is that if you see ads. of a product on TV all the time, then they might be spending less money on the actual quality of the product.

Pollen Response, Second Draft

Unfortunately, I do find that I must agree with what Michael argued on American food culture. We do not have one. And as a result, we cannot be stable. More evidence to support this includes a common occurrence in everyday life. If you sit at home, and think about what to eat, the choices are almost never American foods. You go through take out menus, which include Chinese food, Mexican food, and so on. I think that the only "American food" would be the cheeseburger, or maybe the food of a diner. To that extent, America does have a sliver of a food culture, but that would be the fast food joint or chain, which is in itself a very unhealthy type of food to be associated with. The food at these restaurants is often hastily cooked and therefore not of the same quality as many other kinds of food.

For the most part, my family does not pay attention to what the world around us tells us to eat. We will watch the news and see the newest "findings" on what to eat and what not to eat, but we rarely let them affect us. If anything, they will influence one or two meals. We go mainly based on what we were raised eating, which is a relatively balanced meal. We also think that a lot of the ways food is portrayed in the media and ways we are told to eat food is wrong, such as in commercials, where they are obviously just going to promote their own product.
The danger that America faces is that most households are not like mine. They are much more easily convinced of what to eat based on what the TV says, which encompasses the news reports on food (that change every other week for some reason), the commercials (that focus on buying their product over another for flawed reasons), and scientists (who can only make money by being on TV because they are discredited otherwise). This makes people have irregular eating habits that are unbalanced and leave them dependent on more of the same food that caused the problem. It causes a problem in America and contributes to rising rates of obesity and diabetes. This also adds to the American food culture, which is essentially to focus on the new and never look back on the past again. What I would propose is that the packaging for food be transparent in the front, to see the food, all the ingredients shown in picture and list form, so people can actually see the stuff that they call "food", and that dietary limits be applied through an outside force (government if need be). A lot of people may be so ignorant even after these facts and then need to be forced to eat healthy, the morals behind this I still have to decide on.

Food #6, Response to Pollan 1

Unfortunately, I do find that I must agree with what Michael argued on American food culture. We do not have one. And as a result, we cannot be stable. More evidence to support this includes a common occurrence in everyday life. If you sit at home, and think about what to eat, the choices are almost never American foods. You go through take out menus, which include Chinese food, Mexican food, and so on. I think that the only "American food" would be the cheeseburger, or maybe the food of a diner.

For the most part, my family does not pay attention to what the world around us tells us to eat. We will watch the news and see the newest "findings" on what to eat and what not to eat, but we rarely let them affect us. If anything, they will influence one or two meals. We go mainly based on what we were raised eating, which is a relatively balanced meal. We also think that a lot of the ways food is portrayed in the media and ways we are told to eat food is wrong, such as in commercials, where they are obviously just going to promote their own product.

The danger that America faces is that most households are not like mine. They are much more easily convinced of what to eat based on what the TV says, which encompasses the news reports on food (that change every other week for some reason), the commercials (that focus on buying their product over another for flawed reasons), and scientists (who can only make money by being on TV because they are discredited otherwise). This makes people have irregular eating habits that are unbalanced and leave them dependent on more of the same food that caused the problem. It causes a problem in America and contributes to rising rates of obesity and diabetes. What I would propose is that the packaging for food be transparent in the front, to see the food, all the ingredients shown in picture and list form, so people can actually see the stuff that they call "food", and that dietary limits be applied through an outside force (government if need be). A lot of people may be so ignorant even after these facts and then need to be forced to eat healthy, the morals behind this I still have to decide on.

Grocery Store and Habitual Food

In my family, grocery stores are very important things. They normally signal a big meal together, or that we will actually be cooking. At both my moms house and my dads house we buy a lot of fruits and vegetables, but normally the same ones. What I always find interesting though is that the variety and quality is so limited. The produce sections also seem like they are pushed out of the way a little bit, even though they are most commonly right in front. The annoying thing that I find about grocery stores is the stuff near the registers. They are often the "fake good things". By this, I mean the trail mixes that have nuts in them, but they are also full of artificial fruits and laced with sugars. This defeats any health value they may have once had, and makes them cheaper (I would assume) for the makers. They also seem to have lots of little candies near the register, at low prices so you buy more of them. While this is smart placement, it is not good because it makes people waste money on something that will take 5 seconds to eat and leave no impact on hunger.

In the Course of One Week I Eat:

• Broccoli
• Strawberry
• Potato
• Onion
• Garlic
• Corn
• Green Beans
• Banana
• Pear
• Peach
• Vanilla
• Tomato
• Peanut
• Wheat
• Rice
• Couscous 

I mainly learned how to eat such a variety of foods through my parents. My entire life, my mom has cooked at least once a week. In recent years, that number has gone up so that she cooks almost every day. When she cooks, she used a variety of ingredients that range from different food groups. This made we well rounded in terms of what I would eat. Ever since my dad got re-married, my step-mom and dad have also been more active in the kitchen. I think that between the two households, I end up eating home cooking 5-6 days a week, so I have always been well rounded. This also shaped my diet, which has generally been a meat main course about 5 times a week and then a wheat based main course for the other 2 nights.

My favorite meals also come from this string of events, with them being a cheeseburger and lasagna. Lasagna was always a treat when I was growing up and later it became a favorite of mine. Cheeseburgers are also very good, because they are very simple at the core but can have a vast range of outcomes. Now, these two are also my favorite foods to cook, more than they are my favorite food. My favorite food is pizza, a long lasting favorite of mine that I have normally once a week.

May Day

I feel like May Day is an odd holiday. The very fact that the country that created it does not celebrate it on the day shows that people are easily manipulated. In fact, the holiday itself is trying to say "down with the man" and the establishment and so forth, but in a way it is in itself another large figure that plays an equivalent role. Now, for the people that truly celebrate the holiday because they support working groups and unions are right to celebrate, but I think that the holiday is lost upon many people. Even the equivalent holiday in America, Labor Day, is a day of parading and American pride, which forces you to spend the day off BBQ-ing, which means you have to buy the stuff which means not everybody is even getting the chance to celebrate, which is unfair to an extent. A truly fair alternative would be a day where everybody takes the day off and the country shuts down, except for the positions deemed necessary to have functioning.