Omnivores Dilemma Extra Credit Part 1

Chapter 1:

At the beginning of this chapter, supermarkets are compared from back then, until now, briefly. We move on to the questions "what should I eat? " being related to "what am I eating?" and " where did it come from?" These are things we don't necessarily think about when we are out grocery shopping or even just buying ourselves something quick to eat. From there we go on to read about what everything really is, were it all "started" you can say. Corn, is the "the great edifice of variety and choice" in an American supermarket. We learn that corn is what feeds what we eat such as chickens and steer and pigs and turkey,even the salmon. So pretty much everything we eat is corn. It is as though we are having "corn over corn"
Now what about if there was no more corn? What other resource can we use that will make pretty much everything that we eat? I for one did not know that corn was in pretty much everything that we consume, even in our drinks. I'm guessing that most people don't know this either. Some people read the back label, but i doubt they really focus on the fact that everything has some sort of corn in it. If they did,would that even change the way we see things, or our eating habits? i don't believe so.

Chapter 2:

Farming has changed over time. It went from going out and plowing, to either one or two farmers driving trucks and producing more crops. Due to this change, the soil is worsening, causing it to damage to a point of no repair, because of this farmers need even more land. As stated in chapter one, corn is one of the main plants grown, since everything we eat has corn.
The farmers fertilize their lands, which is only affecting the world in a negative way.
" The ultimate fate of the nitrates that George Naylor spreads on his cornfield in Iowa is to slow down the Mississippi,into the Gulf of Mexico,where their deadly fertility poisons the marine ecosystem.....By fertilizing the world, we alter the plants composition of species and shrink biodiversity."
We know that farmers nowadays want to be able to do all their work the fastest way possible, even if this means that it will cause a negative reaction. Fertilization is not a good thing, even though it might make a fast or easier way of farming, are the risks actually worth it? What if we go back to how farming was done back then? will we be able to adjust back to that after so many years with the new technology? I think farmers would think its is not in their best interest to change the way things are being done.

Chapter 3:

Corn gets piled onto the ground, and if necessary just railed down. America is being compared with Mexico and the way the corn is pick. Showing that we do things in a fast manner, trying to get the job done in the fastest way possible. We got back to the idea of corn being in all our products. These products taste less like the actual corn. For us it seems to be quantity over quality with more than just corn. We can see this in the farmers, trying to get the most possible crops, instead of the best tasting. In our daily lives this is a problem as well. We want to have so much of something for the wrong reasons.
What is we started changing the way we think, the fact that quantity comes before quality? Would the change of QUALITY over quantity, affect the amount available of lest say,corn? How would we get affected by this if at all?

Food journal #7

Flan:

First we make the caramel, here's how:
We need:
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of water
1 spoonful of vanilla
We put all the ingredients into a pot with the stove on high. You stir all the ingredients until it has a brown color, once this color is achieved you go on to pour the caramel onto a blow
The flan is prepared next, and this go on top of the caramel.
We need:
14 oz (400 grams) condensed milk
28 oz (800 mL) milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon water
In a large bowl, mix the eggs, condensed milk, milk, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. Add this onto the caramel.
Bake at 400ºF (205ºC) for 40 minutes. You will know it is ready when a knife is put into the flan and it comes out clean. We let cool for 5 minutes and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
With a knife cut up flan and serve in dessert cups, you can add whipped cream on the top with a cherry. If you would like u can also make cherry gelatin and add it on top of the flan with condensed milk and then add the whipped cream.
Here's a picture of what your outcome will look like:

Michael Pollan

Omnivores Dilemma

In Omnivores Dilemma, Micheal Pollan is trying to tell us that American's do not have a food culture. Since we don't have a food culture Pollan says that we follow any fab. What any nutrition says is "healthy" we believe, not doubting it whatsoever. A new diet come and we are following it almost instantly, showing that we follow what corporate media says we should eat. This can be seen in supermarkets. Where the most eye catching boxes and items are the unhealthy ones. They make the things that we shouldn't eat pop, so we see them before anything else. We constantly listen to what people want us to eat, and say we should eat.
In my family, I don't think we listen to what experts say as much, yes when we see that something healthy comes up on t.v or in magazines we talk about it and discuss whetter it truly is healthy. My family does not follow fab diets, my mom cooks and makes it healthy based on what she grew up hearing and believing in Ecuador.

Grocery

Grocery and Habitual Food

Grocery shopping is very important in my family. We go grocery shopping once every month. It is usually me and my mom, while my little sister stays home. When we go my mom always get many vegetables, carrots, brocoli, spinach, cucumber, lettuce, and many others. She then gets fruits, apples, strawberries, cherries, bananas, mangos, peaches, plums, things of this sort. Once this is done she gets meat, fish, chicken and then we go on to buying yogurt, milk, cheese, juices. Towards the end my mom allows me to buy a couple of things that would not be considered healthy. Such as bags of chips and candy. We buy things that will last until the next month or more,and if anything is missing or is done my mom goes during the week and buys it.
My mom tries to get me and my sister to eat healthy. She constantly gives us fruits . She adds salads to our dinner and adds as many vegetables to our dinner as well. I find myself eating most of the things, but sometimes I do get picky.
I noticed many things while at the grocery store. Mostly I noticed that the healthy things were on the upper shelves. While the non healthy was on the lower. As if it was easier to get the things on the lower shelves Than to reach up and get the healthy things. I also noticed that the sections in which cake batter, cookies, candy and chips were very colorful and took up many shelves and multiple isles, while on the other hand the greens took up about half a isle. The variety of unhealthy items was greater than the healthy items.

Mayday

May Day, also known as International Workers Day, marks the day in history in which people first started to strike against their employers. They had demands, such as, lowering work days from twelve hours to eight, and shorter days. After many strikes around the world, May Day officially became a holiday. It is celebrated in many countries around the world with parades.
The United States however does not celebrate May Day, we do in the other hand celebrate Labor Day, in September. The reason being that in 1887 President Cleveland feared that celebrating May Day on May 1st will cause riots, this lead to Labor Day in September.
I believe that May Day is important to know. Now a days people should know the struggles that those behind us have gone through, how they succeeded , and how there success lead to the life we have now. Even though its all important I don't necessarily think that knowing it all will make our lives more meaningful. It won't really affect how we live our life from a day to day basis, honestly no one will probably even think of that day until it is celebrated, like in most holiday

Food Journal

Tuesday Dinner:

Around 4:30 pm: Today for dinner my mom cooked, as usual. She made and Ecuadorian dish called Chaulafan. It consist of of fried shrimp, pork and chicken, all mixed into rice with different vegetables such as peas, carrots, white onions, carrots and with soy sauce. When I got home I was in a good mood, i had a nice day and i was happy that my mom had made this dish after so long. I set the table for me and my mom, since my sister had eaten earlier. We sat at our usual eats in the dining room able, my mom at the head of it and myself on her left side. We talked about how our day went, laughed about some things, and just had a casual conversations. We did this for about an hour, then i helped her in the kitchen and went on with my day.

Around 7:00 pm: My mom and I , like usual, went to the living room to watch a novela. My mom layed down in the big couch while I sat in the smaller one. We each had a small plate of pound cake with a glass of cold milk. About an hour later i ate a green apple with caramel dipping sauce. I started to fell tired so i brushed my teeth and went to bed.

Wednesday morning:

Around 7:00 am: I was really tired in the morning. My mom woke up and decided to make pancakes for me and my sister, she usually makes breakfast or i make something. I woke my sister up and we sat at the dining room table me on the left of my moms usual seat and my sister on the right. I was not really hungry but my mom stresses the importance of breakfast, so i ate it all. I drank a glass of cold milk and talked with my sister started telling me some jokes.

12:30 lunch: Before lunch time i was already hungry . At lunch Ellen, Juliette, and I ate sum Arabic food. It was chicken over rice and it was delicous. We took the took the food to Emma's Dilemmas and sat down. I sat on the opposite side of ellen and juliette, i cant rememebr what we talked about.

Wednesday Afternoon:

When I got home and my mom was getting ready to serve dinner, I set the table and this time my little sister ate with us. My mom had made yellow rice with beans, and oven roasted chicken with a salad on the side and french dressing. I was very hungry, so I ate a lot. That really made me feel sleepy, so I took a nap. Once I woke up my mom offered me some mango and I had it with salt over it.