Food Diary

Hardly do I ever manage to find the time for breakfast. If however that rare day goes around I almost always eat yogurt. Yogurt preferrably blueberry mixed with some granola... YUM!

Lunch: On day one I had pizza, plain hot cheesy pizza. I matched that with a can of soda as always. There was a point I tried not to have soda because it mostly only contains sugars. but that phrase has passed.

On the second day....

According to my weight, height, level of activity my total calorie intake per day should be

2517

Dominant Discourses in US Food

Dominant discourse::: over powering opinion that society follows without being skeptical.

You are what you eat. You might have heard that saying before. Meaning simply that the condition of your body is a result from the nutrition you get from your food. For instance if a person eats a good amount of candy and sugary pastries chances are they are going to be fat, have lean muscle mass. These are the fundamental building blocks of eating. Nowadays we prioritize food " We want health, we want taste, we want convenience and we want low cost,” Mr. Balzer (chief industry analyst for the NPD Group, a market research company.) said. People look for cost and taste but overall we want our bodies to be healthy. We need to eat right in order to function to the best of our ability, "The kitchen must become as crucial as the clinic" said Dr. Maring, a former physician in chief at the hospital. An Article recently published in the New York times titled Doctor’s Orders: Eat Well to Be Well agues that food is the main source of health and illness. Not only eating one healthy meal every once in a while but changing into a lifestyle, doctors are "growing, buying, cooking, eating — a mainstay of their medical educations, their personal lives and their practices." The author implies people should adopt this way of approaching food. (HERON)

Not only should we pay attention to what the doctors have to say but follow the example put out there by celebrities. Anyone heard of celebrity cooking showdown? how about celebrity kitchen nightmares? Top charted for quiet some time down these shows illustrate celebrities cooking! They tackle challenges through cooking different types of meals. So if your an American then you will love hearing the cooking ideas from these celebrities because, "As much as Americans love their food, they seem to enjoy it best with a dash of celebrity." The Today’s show came out with an article called "Delicious dinner dishes with dash of celebrity." Where Chefs Mario Batali, Sara Moulton and Emeril Lagasse share different recipes for terrific meals. The meals are quick, easy recipes.

Or we can just follow the programs set out by the government. New ideas and solutions are being formed to help support eating healthy. Creating and Sticking to programs seems like a good idea for people. Its said in the article Some Obama Allies Fear School Lunch Bill Could Rob Food Stamp Program

written by ROBERT PEAR that the white house is working on foods programs in schools. It’s their new idea to include additional spending on school food and other child nutrition programs. Hopefully spreading the word of healthy eating to younger generations. Michelle Obama brought concerns up to the National Restaurant Association on childhood obesity.

We all know what that is------------------------>

HERON, KATRINA. "Doctor’s Orders: Eat Well to Be Well." New York Times September 21, 2010, Print

Family food ways

Did you know that there are special spoons for sauces? well its true, and I have about a gazillion in my house. It is a spoon that is flat and has a triangle shape cut out of it. Food is taken very seriously by some people in my family. Hense the spoons. Not only the spoons, but in my house there are certain types of everything. The meat is always from a certain place. A certain type of butter is always purchased. And only always does the wine match the flavor of the food. Sometimes I can do it. Although a good half of the time I just do not understand the difference in taste, or quality. Call me crazy but sometimes I just think my parents are weird.

I do however has a good idea of where this obsession came from. It is simply what you get after being involved in the restaurant business. Both my Stepdad and Mother were involved for a while and now they just cant seem to get enough. My Mom first started at Mcdonalds, not a phase she would describe as her highest point. She spent some time there as the cool kid who could get free food at Mcdonalds. Fortunately she has made some improvements since then. As she went through college she ended up working at a five star restaurant called Daniel (If maybe by some chance you have heard of it). Then that led up to her working with wine, which is what she does now. My mother has worked at a variety of food places, so I guess you could say she knows what she is talking about. Although that still does not mean I agree. Luckily she does not enforce any eating rules on me. I do not remember the last time she ever enforced any rules. She believes that when you are forced to eat certain foods you just seem to lose interest. And by limiting me down to only certain types of food will just make me want it more. Take halloween for example. After trick or treating I had buckets of candy. My mother unlike most gave me the freedom to eat whatever I wanted and how ever much I wanted. So as you might imagine I ate it til i was sick and then didn't want anymore. So her theory is not one I can argue with. Maybe I will find the enriching ideas she has about food but as for now I am just not as interested in eating the way she does.

I go along with the other part of my family that does embrace food quite so passionately. The people in that group consist of people like my grandmother. She approaches food as a "Necessary evil." My grandmother always avoids cooking whenever she can, "I hate cooking. I hate spending money on food and I hate wasting time eating it." This all might seem harsh. But these ideas come from somewhere. It turns out her mother, (my grandmother, who I have never had the pleasure to meet) forced her to eat everything on her plate. Whatever my great grandmother cooked was served and was expected to be eaten in full. Which has today fully influenced my grandmother not to make us eat everything on our plates. Especially because of all the new restaurants and free delivering my grandmother finds no need to "slave in the kitchen" and cook. The food we have access to today is alot different than some of the food we had access to in earlier generations.

It is not to hard to tell that there are some very different perspectives on food within my family. If anything they are close to being opposites. So stuck in the middle I tend to just go along. Although both sides are a result of pass experiences with food. My mom continued to be involved with food after the positive experiences she had working in the business. while my grandmother was scarred by her childhood food boundaries and therefore changed them. I like that no one tries to enforce food boundaries on me. I like the fact that I can just experience different foods at my own pace.

Green Market Realizations

In terms of what Green markets have they are generally the same where ever they are. There is a path between tables of fruits, fish, vegetables. In union square i was curious where all the supplies come from. I asked a women who was selling her fruits and vegetables. Turns out she was the farmer herself. This women owns a farm in update New york. Of course she has people helping her on the job, but there is no middle man, she brings everything to the green market herself. It doesn't get much better than that. I always made a note that most of the people working there were older. I did not see any people my age working. some other good factors I noticed was the fact that places give out samples. So a person can try it to decide weather they like it first and then they can buy it. Also, some people had live food. there was a man working with a container of live lobsters. now i think that tactic could be both beneficial or it could be negative. Because I know some people who will not eat the food if they see it live first. Some strange maybe, but my sister is that way.

On the other hand fast food restaurants are the same where ever you go as well. Although very different from any green market. Here, a customer walks in, there are tables and chairs to sit down. All food items are listed on a board hanging from the ceiling. Certain combinations of food are labeling with numbers with makes things easier. once the customer decides what they want their order to recorded into a computer. Teenagers are usually the ones preparing your food. I mean its simple really, all they have to do is put your food in the microwave or in Wendy's case on the grill. I starting talking to the guy ( about my age) who was working there. Apparently he has been working there for 5 months. He told me that he prefers Wendy's over burger king over other fast food places because they are 'healthier'. No, he has never been to the green market 2 blocks away. I found out that the meat at Wendy's comes from a factory. the factory is upstate. (well thats helpful...but thats all the person told me.) It began to look like a never ending chain. These people did not know where the food REALLY came from. Now I want to know if it originates in the factory? where are the animals/ are they treated nicely? Where is this factory? far away?though i was not able to answer any of those questions I was able to figure out that the food is delivered from this unknown factory twice to three times a week. Once its delivered it will stay in Wendy's for no more than 5 days and then be pronounced trash.

So why why why are these Big places so successful? A case for these fast food restaurant being so successful could be a result of how people feel about food. People tend to go to places that are advertised well, because when food is associated with a big name corporation it makes the food sound more legit. Where are green markets are filled with food brought from little family owned companies. Maybe that is scary to some people. Now that people are starting to focus in on health concerns, I noticed in more advertisements and in the restaurants they put the calorie count. Some fast food places have expanded their menu to include fruits or milk. Does that really change things? where do those veggies come from?

FooOOOoooD

yummmmm! When I think about food I think about everything I like to eat. I think about apples, grilled cheese sandwiches. I think about ice cream, mangos and chicken. I think about breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Then I think about the dinner that is always served at the same time every Sunday night. The family is there and there are no exceptions. Everyone takes on a job. And no is ever skeptical as to what goes where, or why. Get the utensils, set the table, and cook the food. Once the table is set with forks and knifes and plates (the necessary tools to eat with) we all seat together and eat. We converse about current events, both in our lives and in the world. Hours or so later, we'll eventually get to clean the mess we made up. When the big ordeal is over we all go back to what they have to do, until next Sunday when we all come together again. Don’t get me wrong I would love to have a long sit down meal all the time, but when does anyone ever have time for that? Normally my family grabs something to take with them. Most of the time my first priority is just getting food that is quick and easy. When there is not enough time for a meal (which is usually all the time) I like to just grab something, like a power bar, or maybe an apple. My second priority when it comes to food is simply how it tastes. The second thing I will think about is what I feel like eating.

By eating food that is easy to prepare and tastes good, how important is it really?

Yes, food is purely essential for the survival of all living organisms. We need food in our lives to provide us with a source of development and energy. But most of the time I feel as though we take it all for granted. We never think about no having food. What if there was no corner store, or deli or super market. Way back when there was only woods, and the meals would have to be hunted, way back when the food never went to waste. I cant imagine living like that know. But the fact of the matter is that there are people in the world who are less fortunate and who search for something to eat. So if you Christian then you can thank god for the food you get to eat. I am not sure but if you consider yourself blessed to have food to eat doesn't that make it somewhat sacred?