The Ocean Beach Farmer's Market

My dad and I arrived in Ocean Beach at five thirty P.M. We were going to a farmer’s market, but it was more than a farmer’s market. The Ocean Beach Farmer’s Market is every Wednesday from four to seven. It not only has fruits, vegetables, nuts, and bread, but it also has crepes, flowers, candy, ice cream, and even live music. Also, my favorite restaurant was conveniently located on that street also. It was a small, local burger joint called “Hodad’s Burgers”. We walked in and sat down. While we waited for our orders to be taken, I stared around the small restaurant. The walls were covered from the floor to the ceiling in custom California license plates. The plates ranged from funny, witty phrases to sexual innuendos. Every time that I went, I always found a new one. Our waiter came quickly and took our order. I got a single bacon cheeseburger and a vanilla malt. My dad got a double bacon cheeseburger and a diet coke. I could not comprehend how he could finish his double. I could barely finish my single. We also ordered a basket of onion rings to split. Our food was brought out several minutes later. Dinner was amazing. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. After dinner, my dad and I walked outside looking at all the unique stands on the street. My dad bought me a crepe with whipped creme and strawberries. It was amazing, but I could barely eat half of it. We saw a stand selling flowers and chocolate strawberries. My dad decided to get flowers a couple of strawberries for my mom. I ate one of them before we got home, oops. At seven we started to walk back to the car. It had been a fun day at the street fair and I was worn out. I had eaten way too much and was happy to have done so.

Kent School recently started a new tradition called Meatless Monday in order to save resources and lead people to eat healthier food. The supporter of this system argues that producing just 1 pound of meat requires more than 2400 gallons of water. In comparison, only 25 gallons of water is required to grow 1 pound of wheat. In the Dining Hall, which typically cooks 110 pounds of meat, 260,000 gallons of water is used. The supporter suggests that just by cutting meat for one meal, the school can save that much water. Also, reducing the meat intake by one meal is a great help to one’s health. However, many protested against the idea through emails, words, and even sign sheets. Although I understand that Meatless Monday is established for a good cause, I am very against it. On the first day, the food, which is already poor (in my opinion), was even worse than before. I am sure that a lot of picky eaters like me just walked out of the Dining Hall because they could not find anything to eat. I think it would be better for students to eat meat than not eat anything and starve during the day. And how are students suppose to go the activity without having anything in their stomach? Some may argue that this is just one meal in a week, but repeating this step again and again every once a week will actually harm the student’s health. Another negative side effect that followed was that students took advantage of this system for their own benefits. I was surprised that some students brought McDonald’s to school and charged two dollars for a cheeseburger, which is a dollar at McDonald’s. Even though the price was doubled, many students protested by buying McDonald’s rather than going to the Dining Hall. Basically Meatless Monday became “McDonald’s Monday.” If so many people are finding other ways to eat meat anyway, why should the system exist? There is no point unless meat in completely gone for that meal. Maybe if the Dining Hall provided us with a very good quality food that could satisfy the majority of the student body, the system might work.

Cheesecake

My favorite dessert is cheesecake, especially the most common New York style cheesecake. The history of cheesecake is much older than most of us expect it to be. Its history goes as far back as the ancient Greeks, who were known to enjoy the cheesecakes. Cheesecakes were also popular among the Romans, who later conquered the Greeks. Moreover, the Romans used food that was very similar to today’s cheesecakes during religious ceremonies.

There are numerous types of cheesecakes, which usually vary according to region. The New York cheesecake, my favorite among the cheesecakes, has more cheese and cream than the other cheesecakes. This makes the cake more smooth and soft. I was surprised to learn that aside from the New York cheesecake, there are many more different recipes for the cake. The Philadelphia cheesecake, though most American cheesecakes are made from cream cheese, is made from a different kind of cheese called farmer’s cheese and requires less water. British cheesecakes are baked biscuits with fruits such as raspberry, strawberry, or back cherry on top of the cake. In Bulgaria, ground nuts are added to the cake. The Swedish cheesecake, often called the ostkaka, is not layered like the other cheesecakes and is made from milk with a special substance called rennet. It is usually served with jam or ice cream. Germany has cheesecakes that taste a bit sour, because they use sour milk. Belgians make theirs with melted chocolate, which I am very eager to try. The most surprising recipe was the Brazilian cheesecake’s, which has a layer of guava marmalade. This is a cheesecake that I would personally be hesitant to taste because I think the combination of guava and cheesecake does not sound very tasteful. There are many more kinds of cheesecakes, and I was curious of how all of them tasted. Nothing than a soft cheesecake after dinner would make the meal more perfect.

Source: Wikipedia: Cheesecake

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheesecake

"Meatless" Mondays?

Kent School has adapted to this new thing called Meatless Mondays which is spreading throughout colleges and high schools. A few of the points of Meatless Mondays are to preserve our resources like water, advocate healthier eating habits, and sustain a healthier environment. By not eating meat for one meal, Kent School alone saves 260,000 gallons of water. We also save the rainforest by eating less meat because around a million hectares of rain-forest is cut down to grow animal feed each year. Meatless Mondays has absolutely no negative effect on your health. There are many other supplements for meat that can support your body as well as meat can. I don’t believe that it is a good idea to go fully vegetarian but one meal without meat really isn’t that bad. In fact I think we had a really great lunch on Monday. The sushi bar was heavenly with the fried onions and the avocados that were provided. In all honesty, I didn’t even step inside the food area because I took full advantage of that sushi bar making myself two very creative rolls. I was kind of hesitant about this Meatless Mondays thing at first like everyone because my least favorite meal at Kent is make your own salad day. I don’t like having to be forced to eat salad. I enjoy eating salad with my meal, not as my meal. Though I was not thrilled about this Meatless Mondays idea, I surely did not make an ordeal out of it because I know how fortunate we are to receive the quality and variety of food that we receive daily. Plus, dinner is only five hours after lunch. I found it ridiculous and just unnecessary that kids sat in the dining hall with containers of chicken strips like having meat in their diet was a life or death situation. The funniest part is that the student center is open all day selling…. None other than, MEAT!

This week in Kent School saw somewhat of a mini-revolution growing. It all started when the environmental club led by Mrs. Sokolnicki decided to try and introduce Meatless Mondays to Kent School. This was not just a rogue idea by the group or, as some Kent School students saw it a devious scheme to turn them into vegetarians. Rather Meatless Mondays is an international organization that was restarted in 2003 as a public health awareness company in co-operation with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for a Livable Future. As anyone who has studied World War Two knows, the concept of Meatless Mondays began during this wartime when the government tried to use the initiative to help the war effort and the feeding of American and allied troops. The campaign now of course places emphasis on the benefits of going meatless for one day a week not only on our health but also the environment. The campaign now has followers in over 13 countries, hundreds of schools, universities and institutions across the globe. Even restaurants such as the Hard Rock Café in London and The Spotted Pig in NYC have pledged to the campaign. The organization claims that the health benefits include reducing heart disease, limiting cancer risk especially from colon cancer, preventing diabetes and of course lessening chances of obesity. The campaign also urges the public to consider the environmental gains of meatless Monday as well- reducing carbon footprint significantly, curbing reliance on fossil fuel and a statistic that shocked many here at Kent including myself- that an up to 2500 gallons of water can be used in the production of one pound of beef. Imagine the amount of water that can be saved just be one public school signing up.

Despite these admirable and compelling reasons, when the plan was initially announced here at Kent School the reaction was mixed to say the least. Almost immediately there was a counter movement established with slogans and a petition set with the names of Kent students so attached to their meat that one meal without it was unbearable. Ridiculous claims were even made that the hockey team wouldn’t survive if they didn’t have their protein intake for that day- apparently oblivious to not only the size of the hockey team but also to the many other, healthier sources of protein outside of meat. Yesterday, the first day of the new regime if you can even call it that was awaited with interest by most students intrigued to see what the difference in their lunch would be. Lunch seemed to be passing with little fuss- the vegetable pizza and stuffed Portobello mushrooms seemed to be appeasing most until one business minded student who had clearly seen an opportunity for profit started to sell McDonald’s hamburgers in the middle of Dining Hall for double the price. Most students seemed content with their lunch, though some who clearly just missed the comfort of fast food took advantage. Although the scene did offer some lunchtime entertainment it did show that some students had clearly missed the point completely. The school is not attempting to limit your freedom or convert you to a hippie vegan with Birkenstocks and a hatred of leather. This isn’t even mostly about the animals. Meat has turned from a luxury to be eaten in small amounts as a treat to a necessity for every meal and what is worse is that the portion sizes of our meat has grown astronomically in recent years. Even as a meat eater, in my opinion Meatless Mondays is a great idea not only for the health benefits and the positive effects in will have on our over-burdened environment but also for the variety it will offer us and hopefully it will wean us off our dependency on meat three times a day, seven days a week.

http://www.meatlessmonday.com/why-meatless/

http://www.meatlessmonday.com/the-movement-goes-global/

Man Vs. Machine

Warning: do not try this at home. At first, the task may seem easy, but nothing could be more daunting. The total calorie count is over 9000, there are approximately 630 grams of sugar, and there are 143 grams of saturated fat (not to mention that 1 gram of saturated fat is 5% daily). The challenge: man vs. machine. This might sound like a joke, but it has been preformed more than once before. The reward: some amount of cash and the satisfaction of eating the entirety of a very full vending machine during a certain allotment of hours. Wall Street can get crazy sometimes; salesman and traders on the phone for hours upon hours, but here is the inside look of what happens behind the scenes. At first, I myself figured that it would be quite simple to take down a few bags of chips and a couple of packs of candy. However, after seeing the before and after pictures of the man who accomplished this mission, there is no way in hell that I could do what he did (even though he did throw it all up later that night). I could not imagine where to even begin given that I had to eat Skittles, peanut M&M’s, Reese’s cups, a Milkyway, a Twix, a Babe Ruth bar, a Snickers, a Payday, a giant Kit Kat, regular M&M’s, a strawberry cheesecake Danish, a fruit snack pack, Nutter Butter Bites, a Rice Krispy Treat, Strawberry Pop Tart (2 count), S’mores Pop Tart (2 count), Honey Bun (expiration date from the Bush Sr. administration), a cinnamon bun, Famous Amos cookies, mini Oreos, 12 packs of Lance crackers, BBQ pork rinds, 9 bags of chips, white cheddar popcorn, goldfish, and Chex Mix. Take a deep breath; I know your stomach might begin to turn at just reading that list. The things people do in terms of food challenges are preposterous, but maybe we can have a Kent man vs. machine in spite of Meatless Mondays. But, there are many food dares that I’ve witnessed. Try eating three Saltine’s in one minute and get at me.

Ever since I tasted my first crunchy, yet sweet tempura shrimp roll, I fell in love with sushi. The taste and texture combination of each and every sushi roll serves to make sushi my favorite meal. While I was on my break away from the Kent Dining Hall food, I was able to go out for a sushi lunch at a local restaurant in New Canaan called The Plum Tree. There is something about the whole atmosphere of a Japanese sushi bar which is so appealing to me. Perhaps watching the fresh fish, vegetables, rice and sauces being transformed into a roll right in front of my face makes the whole meal seem that much cleaner. With all the food in society that we never see prepared, it is nice to watch a chief personally create masterpieces of sushi right before your eyes. With our whole food system revolved around fast food, it is nice to get a fresh meal.
I ordered my usual three favorite rolls: a spider roll, dynamite roll and a spicy crunchy salmon roll. The best part about sushi is by far the way that each ingredient works together for a truly unique flavor. You can get a hamburger or pizza anywhere and they all taste the same. Sushi, however, has a distinct taste to each roll. The spider roll is my first victim because of the initial taste blast it gives. The teriyaki sauce gives a blast of flavor combined with the deep fried soft shell crab. The crunch after taking the initial bite is something out of this world. After the initial few crunches from the deep fry, you reach the soft shell crab. After consuming the spider roll I moved onto the spicy crunchy salmon roll; an instant classic roll. After combining soy sauce and wasabi into a thick soup, it’s time. The final key component to the salmon roll is a thin layer of ginger onto to combat the intense spice from the wasabi and sauce. The texture of the roll goes down so smooth with a flare of wasabi. Finally, the dynamite roll is left. The spicy sauce, Yellow Tail, Salmon, Tuna and deep fried Halibut serve to be the perfect combo of fish. The variety of fish in this roll is what makes it truly unique. The crunch, spice and smooth Tuna and Yellow Tail all go down in a zesty, yet satisfying manner.

Meatless Monday at Kent

What a day did Monday 24th of January turn out to be for Kent School. We had our first meatless Monday. The event caused chaos amongst the Kent society. Most people were outraged at the fact that we would not have a meatless Monday. (by the way the Notion is not true because we had meat on Monday, it was only lunch that there was no meat). “You are taking away our choices” or “I need my meat” were some of the comments that the kids had to say about the health drive. I myself was against the notion of having a meatless Monday simply because I feel like we should have the option of what we eat. I respect the choices people make to take a standpoint on a particular view and that stands but not everyone is the same. If you don’t want to eat meat don’t eat it but let other people make the choice. Being a heavy meat consumer I didn’t know what to expect, I was frightened I was going to go back to my room hungry. What I found out was that in the end it didn’t turn out to be that bad, there was a sushi stand, some nice mushrooms, steam / fried veggies and some other nice things. It was not the end of the world. None of us starved or went back hungry or anything else like that. The thing was, the culture of Kent school, and the notion that so little goes on around here, made people collectively take a stand on this issue of food and simply blew it out of proportion simply for entertainment. We were sort of exercising our freedom of speech a little bit. It doesn’t take much to spark Kent students. Some people took it to the extremes bringing in McDonalds and chicken fingers to lunch in protest of the food drive. When I look back at today I think that my views have changed a little, if we are doing as much as they say in order to help preserve the environment and save Mother Nature, I guess one meal a week or even one day a week won’t be the end of the world. What I think could have been done differently was the way the people who organized meatless Monday in Kent could have taken a more suttle approach. They should have just made the menu with no meat and none of us would have realized it. Sure some kids might have complained that lunch was pretty average but it wouldn’t have been a big issue as it turned out to be. They should have just slipped it in there.

Yum Cha 飲茶

Yum Cha is the Chinese word of eating dim sum and drinking tea. It is a traditional Chinese brunch, which rooted from the Chinese merchants who travelled on the ancient Silk Road and needed a place to rest. Now, dim sum is famous all over the world. Thus, one can find the most authentic dim sum in the Canton Region of China (Hong Kong, Guang Dong). Restaurants serve dim sum from 5a.m to 3p.m, and it is very common to see groups of elderly to gather to eat dim sum after morning exercise and read newspaper together. Every Sunday, most of the Hong Kong families will go to yum cha together. It is like having Thanks Giving every Sunday. Yum Cha has become the staple food for most Hong Kong people.

The tea that comes along with eating dim sum is very important in Yum cha, since “Yum Cha”‘s literal meaning is “drink tea”. As many provinces in China produce tea, most of the Chinese are very meticulous about tea. There are different kinds of tea which restaurants serve along with dim sum, like Chrysanthemum, oolong and Puer. Chrysanthemum actually does not have any leaves; it is a kind of flower. Chrysanthemum tea with honey is known to be beneficial for sore throat or dry throat. Oolong has the characteristics of both black tea and green tea. Its leaves are partially fermented. Puer has leaves that had undergone years of fermentation, which give the leaves earthly flavors.

Besides numerous varieties of teas, there are countless selections of dim sum that are put in bamboo made basket, which has become the signature of Yum Cha. The bamboo basket has a very long history, and is made for the purpose of steaming food. Dim sum comes in all sorts of form; it can be fried or steamed. The most famous and popular dim sums are har gao (shrimp wrapped in rice wrap), siu mai (pork dumplings), cha siu bao (roasted pork wrapped in a bun), and chueng fun (rice noodle rolls). As for deserts, there are egg tarts, mango pudding, red bean soup, green bean soup and etc.

Growing up in Hong Kong, I always feel like I am back home when I go to yum cha in China town, New York, even though the dim sums are really bad quality. It was until I came to America that I realized my roots from things as simple as Yum Cha. Yum Cha represents a tradition, culture, and an event that brings family and friends together.

where is my fish from ?

The fishing industry in the U.S. is under attack not only by foreign fleets, but also by our own national marine fisheries service. Fish and other seafood brought into the United States is not only of inferior quality, it is also harvested without regulation in the most destructive ways possible. There is no doubt that the Unites States has managed our marine resources better than any country in the world up until about the 1980’s. The crusade against commercial fishing and its way of life has become an issue more of doing away with the American industry and outsourcing our seafood market to foreign fleets for profit than to actually watch out for the resource. The United States government would rather have American consumers purchase seafood from Southeast Asia and South America than support the floundering U.S. industry. There is something ethically wrong with this. Beyond the inferior product that many times in contaminated with antibiotics and growth hormones, the U.S. consumer is in many cases supporting the very thing they set out to protect against by eliminating the U.S. commercial sector. The heavily regulated U.S. fleet follows very strict guidelines that govern not only their season long catch quotas, but also account for every single pound of fish they harvest. Well the fleets of south east Asian countries out to feed the masses will literally encircle a whole school of 5000 blue fin tuna all between 500 and 1000 pounds in a net called a purse seine and pull them aboard to be turned into canned food and cat food. The days of the family owned boat with two or three employees and a small net are long gone thanks to the Department of National Marine Fisheries. They have been replaced with large factory ships that offload processed fish sticks that are already packaged rather than fresh healthy fish. The most damage that the north Atlantic fish stocks have ever seen was caused by the fishing rights in the U.S waters being sold out to foreign factory fishing vessels. With this type of track record is it in any way safe to assume that the people making these rules and regulations are actually looking out for the best interest of the U.S. people? Or could they possibly be watching out for the big business lobbyist who keeps them in their seat like we have seen in other sectors of the food industry? By always demanding responsibly harvested U.S. seafood we can help to protect our oceans for years to come as well as support the U.s economy.

German Food

German food is more or less one of the greatest foods ever to be created in the history of human; it not only tasted good but also has a long history in Germany. Some of the food that is most traditional would be the Bratwurst, Schnitzel, Bread, and Kartoffel Puffer. In Germany there are many different kinds of Bratwurst’s from Weis Wurst to the classic curry wurst. The wurst sooner or later found its way in the U.S. and became what now is known as the classic American hot dog; with is mostly made out of chemicals. The Schnitzel is what people mostly referee to Germany when they hear about it; the meat with it is made of can be either pig or cow meat but classical it is the Wiener schnitzel with is made out of pig meat covered in a egg souse and then dipped in a sort of breed crumble until it is covered and then fried. When people here breed they might think of the toast breed or the other soft breed but in Germany there are over 100 different kinds of bred all healthier than the American version. Germany has created breed since the ancient times and has perfected it and created different kinds of bread from whole corn to the classic simple bread; not like the other bread you can buy all soft and mushy. Lastly there is the Kartoffel Puffer with is simply potatoes shreated into pieces and then fried to a pancake like form and then served with apple sauce. Doesn’t German food just sounds delicious.

Meatless Everydays

Meatless Monday is Kent School’s new favorite day of the week. Just kidding. It’s really not. I totally get that it’s not fair to be told what we can and cannot eat, but at the same time kids have been making an unnecessarily big deal over one lousy vegetarian meal in the dining hall. But, I 100% support Kent trying to do something good for the world. The statistics for amount of water and other resources saved from one Meatless Monday are mind blowing. So, I don’t think that “being vegetarian for a meal” angered students; it was not having a choice and being forced to be a vegetarian that did. My thoughts about Meatless Monday are a little bit biased because I am a vegetarian. I became a vegetarian during the summer after the sixth grade; not for the environment, not for animal rights, and not for health. I stopped eating meat because I hated my mothers cooking. Really (and she knows it!). And for the past seven years, the vegetarian-thing has stuck with me and I have learned a lot about my health and myself. It has forced my eyes open to trying new foods, especially when traveling. Most recently my family and I went to China. In China, there are a lot of different foods (obviously, considering China is on the other side of the world). There, I had to try vegetables and fruits that I had never heard of or seen before, and a lot of them I liked! If kids could just open their eyes and deal, just like I do, then there wouldn’t be nearly as much complaining around campus. Again, I don’t necessarily support Meatless Monday because you never know what types of interesting concoctions the dining hall will whip up. But, I appreciate Kent’s efforts to raise awareness for a lot of the issues in the food industry that us as individuals can change if we suck it up and pretend to enjoy Meatless Monday.

My Favorite Comfort Food

Do you ever have one of those days where you want to sit on the couch, watching the television, and eating your favorite foods? Well, today is one of those days for me. One of my favorite comfort foods is my grandmother’s mac n’ cheese. I could eat her mac n’ cheese for days and days and never get tired of it. Although my grandmother lives far away, I still make the dish often.

First you have to cook the pasta. While the pasta is cooking, you coat the edges of a glass cake dish with butter and shred lots of extra sharp cheddar cheese. You have to use extra sharp because it give the mac n’ cheese a special kick that sharp cheddar cheese cannot bring. Once the pasta cooks, and you drain the water, pour a thin layer of pasta on the bottom of the dish. Grab a big handful, or two, of cheese and sprinkle it over the pasta, then sprinkle some salt and pepper on the pasta to preferred taste. Grab a big mixing spoon and stir the cheese, pasta, and spices until combined. The cheese will start to melt and stick to the spoon as you stir the pasta. Continue this process until all of the pasta and cheese has been used. Then, pour a small touch of milk, about ¼ inch from the bottom of the dish, on the pasta. Once you have finished, you have to take a little bite, but, of course, it’s just to make sure you have enough salt and pepper.

Now, heat the oven to 350°. Once the oven is completely heated, put the pasta in and set the timer for 20 minutes, or until the top of the pasta begins to turn a golden color. When you have achieved this perfect color, take the pasta out and let it cool. Grab a big plate and scoop out a whole bunch of mac n’ cheese onto the plate.

As you go to take the first bite, the cheese, salt and pepper will overwhelm your mouth with flavors. The kick of the extra sharp cheddar cheese will make you crave more and more mac n’ cheese, causing you to over eat, but it is definitely worth it. I love my grandmother’s mac n’ cheese and I will always make it when I am feeling a little lazy. Comfort food is meant to make you happy, and everyone should have their own favorite comfort food recipe.

Throughout my study of the issue over subsidizing corn, I have come to the realization that the majority of the food issues America faces have come about as a result of our over production of this commodity. Whether its obesity or E. Coli, it can all be traced back to corn. Personally, I can trace it even farther back to greed. Our higher up government officials have displayed great interest in corn. The production of it, along with it’s counterpart, soy, are greatly encouraged by our government. By overproducing it, our food industry has found a sustainable way to keep our food prices cheap, and unhealthy. Our government gives more than twenty five billion dollars a year to overproduce these products. The processed food which these commodities are used to create contain less water and fiber but more added fat and sugar, which makes them both less filling and more fattening. From 1985 to 2000 the price of fruits and vegetables rose 40 percent while the price of soft drinks and sugar based products decreased 23 percent. This overproduction most clearly allows for the most unhealthy calories to be the cheapest. Our farm bill, which grants subsidies to farmers, does absolutely nothing to encourage these farmers to grow fresh produce. In fact our government, which created the farm bill in the first place, has declared a national obesity epidemic. It seems to me to be highly hypocritical. Generally speaking, our government seems to be supporting obesity as long as it yields a high income. What is even more appalling to me is that the E. Coli epidemic is a direct result of our decision to feed our cattle corn. Cows are not meant to eat corn and as a result of this, corn acidifies their digestive system and allows for the bacteria to survive. I am absolutely astonished by the corruption in our food system. As long as these people are making money, they could care less about the health of the nation. Votes are regularly bought and sold on the farm bill without any restrictions. The answer to this issue seems easy to me. Rid our society of the corruption and return our food systems to the small farm style. We need to focus less on overproduction and more on the quality of the food we are serving.

Fast Food Nation

Through many of his works, Eric Schlosser tries to inform us about the significance of our diet. He explains that what we eat can influence not only our health, but also our way of living. Fast foods have affected the lives of many Americans extremely. Schlosser wrote in his Fast Food Nation that Americans today “spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music- combined.”(3). Eating from a fast food restaurant has become a daily routing for many Americans. They find it convenient since the restaurants are everywhere with the same menus; fast food has become a symbol of conformity. The growth of companies that produce fast foods such as McDonald’s, Taco Bell, or Domino’s have led to an economic oligopoly in the food industry. Independent and small competitors rarely survive against these huge and powerful business firms. The mass production of these fast foods causes several health problems such as the e coli infection. E coli can cause tragic deaths like the case of Kevin introduced in Schlosser’s Food Inc. Kevin, a 12-year old child, died from e coli infection after eating hamburgers. Although these mass productions are a result of the rapid advancement, they are not as safe as most people believe. Schlosser alerts how fast food has become an inseparable part of our lives, even those of children. Fast food restaurants have advertised to children through toys, games, playgrounds, and even their schools. Fast food companies putting advertisements on the side of school buses and hallways. They are also sponsoring the textbooks that schools use to teach children. I believe that this method of advertising is not safe for the children. It exposes them to the dangers that fast foods have, and they would be less aware of the strong effects that advertisements have than adults do. If the government allows such advertisements, they should also allow the schools to teach the children more about the disadvantages of consuming fast foods. Fast foods may be convenient and delicious, but I agree with Schlosser that we should still be aware of the ramifications that follow. After that, the choice is up to you.

Source: Schlosser, Eric Food Inc., Fast Food Nation

Eating "safely"

Director Robert Kenner’s Food Inc. exposes several serious issues about food that people need to be aware of. These problems shocked me because I did not know that I was so negligent about how the food we eat was cropped and made. The issue that I thought was most shocking was the danger of food poisoning and the story of its victim named Kevin. Now that our technology has advanced rapidly, I always thought that the possibility of food poisoning or getting a disease from food would have declined. Yet, the amount of contaminated food has increased. In the United States, there have been numerous amounts of meat recalled due to contamination in the 21^st century. This is because the number of slaughterhouses and factories today are very small. Therefore, if one food is contaminated it is very likely that all the other food in the same place would also become contaminated. What makes the problem worse is that the FDA has been conducting less safety inspections on the products that in the past! One victim of this flawed system was a young boy named Kevin, who died from e coli bacteria in only 12 days. Kevin was food poisoned from eating hamburgers. Soon, he was having blood in his diarrhea and his kidneys were starting to fail. He was not even allowed to eat water but only through a wet sponge; the story that Kevin begged his mother for water was unbearable to hear. The unconcerned reaction of the FDA and other government organizations was very alarming to me. Although Kevin’s Law was passed in response to this tragedy, I believe that the government should regulate the food we eat more strictly. It should consider the safety of the consumers over the profits of the business firms and the industry, and so should the firms themselves. As a consumer of the food made in the United States, the danger of the e coli and food poisoning seems like a very significant issue. This problem should never be overlooked, since anyone who eats from these products are vulnerable to disease that took Kevin’s life in 12 days.

Source: Kenner, Robert Food Inc. 2008.

Is Food food?

Is food food?
The most essential need for human survival is food. It fuels our bodily system like gas to a car, we cannot go without it. One would think that since nature itself provided us with a range of this “food” that we would not have to worry about consuming ordinary things like “meat”. We live such a fast pace of life these days that we take most things for granted and expect systems to be in place. The last thing we want or think about is where our food comes from. We have total faith and belief in government and the system, with all this technology, that it would be ludicrous of us to think that we could get a dodgy meat patty. How can it possibly be? Our government is in charge, they look after us right? We get good food? Why would anyone want to serve bad food? Most of us let this notion swing by and we just throw it all in the shopping trolley. In some countries people have to worry when the next bomb attack might kill them, but we now have to worry about will our next bite be our last.
Food Inc.(2008) a documentary film by Robert Kenner, reveals the ugly truth about corporate farming and how a few big agricultural companies control the food industry and in a rush to get out the biggest profits, consumers get handed down contaminated products. The most striking thing that the documentary is the process of how food gets to your dinner table. The film makes you think- “what have I been eating for the past 19 years of my life and should I be more worried about getting hit by a car or eating meat?”. The industrial age redesigned way everything is produced, corporate bosses began striving for every dollar which lead to cheaper production at higher profits. Technology has become our biggest enemy. It wasn’t that long ago the average farmer used horses and a plough, and that cows ate on big plains, but this now seems to have happened another world away. Animals like chickens and cows are now scientifically designed to grow and eat differently so they can get bigger and fatter faster so they can go on shelves quicker. In modifying diet and growth of these animals we are creating diseases which is passed down to our food. It’s not just in animals its also in vegetables, we now have seasonable veggies all year round. We are taking products that occur naturally and we are designing them to do things that there were not made to do. A good line from the movie is “we are not eating beef, we are eating a product that is designed to look like beef”. In the movie they say that in one beef patty there is 1000 different cows and it only takes one dodgy one and you could be in hospital.
Its sad to see that we have greater problems that are killing people , like war yet we are killing ourselves with food. The big corporate control the market and people who can’t afford healthier alternatives are forced to suffer for someone who wants to get rich. This movie has definitely enhanced my views on healthy and organic food.

Whats Good

WHATS GOOD
As the human society is constantly developing and striving for excellence and we tend to neglect what we take into our bodies. The fact that Schlosser makes in Fast Food Nation “that most people don’t think too much about what they eat as long as it tastes good” is right on target. But we have to define “tastes good”. Even thought we go to supermarkets and buy fruit and vegetables they are still produced by these big giant industrial food companies, as we saw in Food Inc , who use unconventional methods of production. How many of us really know what a good fresh healthy tomato or cucumber really tastes like? There is a big difference between a tomato u picked out of your garden and the one you purchased in the supermarket. When you open a fresh tomato from your garden you can feel the flavors flowing through the air and smell the little fireball of amazement, it releases a juice and almost creates its own dressing where as when you cut open one from the supermarket it feels like you are cutting plain rubber, you get perfect slices without any sloppiness which has that hard texture about it. It almost seems that they have modified the tomato to only look good on sandwiches instead of tasting good. I believe since we have had this big industrialization of food that we have really forgotten what good is and as society we have evolved in associating good flavor with something that quite frankly is not the same as a what mother nature intended it to be. Form Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation he states that “the brain combines the complex smell signals from the epithelium with the simple taste signals from the tongue assigns a flavor to what’s in your mouth, and decides if its something you want to eat.” So by making something smell good it makes it taste good, which is where all these experts on food flavoring come in and are trying to duplicate flavors that occur naturally to appeal to our taste buds. I believe Schlosser’s statement is good because food today is designed to be registered by our taste buds as good and even though it might not be good for us it still tastes good. Why would you not eat a quart pounder every day? It tastes awesome. Its not all the industries faults, its also partially ours as consumers, we have learned to adapt to these redesigned foods and we are registering them as good and that they taste good, where often they are really far from what the product should taste like.

In or out
How much different are home cooked meals than when you go out to eat. Its not just the food that is different it’s the whole atmosphere involved in the two different processes. For me and my family going out to eat is very rare, and we are use to our mum always making food. Going out for dinner seems like a treat or a special occasion. If you are going out to a fancy restaurant you spend some time to look sharp, you do your hair and you put on your going out shoes. You are not actually excited about the food it’s the fact that you got something to do, like a little adventure. You get seated, get a big fancy menu and you get this sense of importance, where as when you are home its more like eat your food and start cleaning up. Everything seems a little slower and grander when you are in restaurant. When you are home you are not really picky about your food because if you are, tough luck, you will be hungry. In the restaurant it almost seems like you are spoilt for choice. You have plenty of time before the waiter even comes to decide what you want but even then you cannot choose, so you have a length chat with the waiter discussing the whole menu, meanwhile he has a packed fool restaurant and short on staff, he really wants to listen to your “whining”. Then comes the wait. You have already spent a couple hours getting ready and coming to the restaurant and now there is a delay on your food. Having something to eat should not be time consuming, and this frustration builds up and eventually the food you get does not live up to the expectations so the whole night becomes a complete disaster. One of the most important things is how they set the food on the plate. At home you can do it yourself but when you go out you don’t tend to pick. They put the salad and fries on the same plate as the stake and when the juices from the medium rare seep out the fries get all soggy and the lettuce looks like its bleeding. In the end the actual food you get cant even compare with your mums Serbian cabbage rolls but the actual process and socializing with your family is much greater. That is the only reason its worth going out to eat, even thought your with your family all the time you all have things to do and catch up on, going out to eat, especially with the wait, gives a chance for the family to catch up as a whole.

Throughout the movie Food Inc the issues within our society are made impeccably clear. The biggest issue that I see our country currently grappling with is the search for a more sustainable and affordable food source that we can readily produce and sell for a reasonable price. In essence The United States as a whole needs to restore to our people honesty and faithfulness in the production of our food. We need to rid our markets of unhealthy foods and replace them with wholesome choices such as vegetables and organically raised meats. The factory system has deeply harmed our society and turned something as primitive and humane as eating into an issue over which we must delve. One can no longer lay complete trust in the hands of the grocery store. What we might easily believe as a healthy substance such as spinach or tomatoes could very well be infected with ecoli or salmonella and pose a great threat to our lives. Something as raw, simple, and true to the earth as a vegetable has been polluted by overproduction and the greed of human kind. The desire to earn a profit has turned our production of food into a barbaric system. The images that were shown to me of pigs and cattle awaiting their imminent death were strangely reminiscent of images of the holocaust. While we may be able to justify the killing of these animals for food, the treatment of these animals cannot be justified in any way shape or form. While society seems to have advanced technologically and new means of producing food have allowed us to do so much more effectively we have lost the primal sense of need for this food. It is almost as if society has gone back in time rather than improving. In order to regain this sense of purity and our food we must take as step back away from the factories and simplify our system. Organically raised foods are not only the healthiest options but what our country survived on for many years prior to the invasion of the factory. There is no need for the over priced vegetables. I would rather eat an apple with holes in it than one drenched in pesticides. Our current food production system is corrupt and in order to fix it we must return to the ways of our ancestors benefitting not only ourselves, but the planet as well.

I completely disagree with Schlosser’s assertion regarding our consumption choices. For the most part, i uphold the belief that people as a whole are sometimes forced to make hard choices regarding what we consume. Expensive food is expensive for a reason. It is the best. Overall, it is not only tasty but at least somewhat healthy. Working families who lack either the time or money to cook meals at home are forced to eat out. And with a very strict budget they search for the least expensive meals they can find. Dollar menus at fast food chains around the world work solely on appealing to this sphere. The McDonald’s burger does not stand a chance against a nice juicy burger from Morton’s. I can rest assured that the burger that i purchase at a nice steakhouse is healthier for me and tastier. However, lower class working families do not have this option, and the drive through makes it all the more inviting. They are trapped in an unfortunate cycle that seems nearly impossible to escape from. Personally, I am constantly thinking about what I eat. My parents strongly enforced the importance of a balanced diet. I can so clearly feel the difference in myself when I gorge on junk food and when I eat a series of nice meals. Unhealthy food makes me feel sick and this is the same for most of the people I know. Although junk food might taste good I am well aware that i can get food that tastes just as good and is healthy. I think that a grilled salmon tastes even better than a McDonald’s burger. Consequently, what factor other than the price and ease at which i can obtain it would influence my choice of meals. Clearly the rise to power of fast food chains has influenced a large influx of obesity. While not solely responsible, one cannot ignore the overlying trend lines. Say goodbye to the sit down home cooked meals and hello to meals on the go. Innocuous vegetables have lost their appeal even to parents. We are creating a population of laziness. Food that can be mass produced and obtained with such ease is terrible for our bodies and our mindsets. With repeated consumption it will make us obese. The stereotypical farm will disappear making room for the factory. And thus lazy food will make us lazy in all aspects of our lives.

Who Is to Blame for the Quality of America's Food?

Eric Schlosser claims in the introduction of Fast Food Nation that people are solely interested in the taste of their food. He believes that as long as food tastes good people will remain ignorant to the quality of their food. Schlosser exposes flaws and problems ranging from the consumer to the producer. People continue to buy unhealthy food, even when they know it is. Fast food restaurants try to hide the true quality of their food and continue to sell it. These restaurants do not even make an attempt to make their food healthier. They do the opposite. They buy the cheapest ingredients possible. The next flaw in the system is in the meatpacking business. Meatpacking plants are worked by illegal immigrants that can be paid well below minimum wage for mediocre work. The actual plants are run by machines. Meat is not always thoroughly cleaned. The farmers raise their animals in septic environments. Schlosser even explains a method that farmers use to feed their animals. They take dead animals and chicken manure and make cattle feed with them. Farmers continue to do this even though they know that cows are supposed to only eat grass. These flaws in the agricultural industry create consequences that are unknown to most. The unhealthy nature of the agricultural industry puts many at risk. Diseases are easily spread because of the septic environment animals are raised in. The corporations in charge of the food being produced hide all these things, but these corporations are not entirely to blame for the problems with this system. People continue to eat fast food even when they know they are eating fattening food. People become sick and overweight from the food that they eat, but they do not change their diets. The corporations in charge of producing food are just taking advantage of the population. These corporations know that people will continue to eat unhealthy food. People like fast cheap food and that is what these corporations give. The only reason that these corporations thrive is there is a demand for the goods that they produce. If people demanded that animals be raised in sanitary conditions, then these problems would not exist, but people do not make this demand or anything near it.

In the movie Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser tries to inform the readers about the danger of eating too much fast food. He asserts that people do not care what they eat as long as they taste good. In my opinion, this is partly true because many people in America cannot stop eating fast food from McDonald’s or other fast food places even if they see themselves getting fatter and fatter each day. Fast food shocked me even more when I watched the movie Super Size Me. The number of people fed by McDonald’s alone just in one day is more than the whole population of Spain. That many people are ruining their health by eating fast food. However, taste is not the only reason that people choose to eat them. Some people do so because fast food is very cheap. They can get a full meal cheaper than anywhere else. Their cheap price obviously comes from the poor quality of the food. I am sure most people have an experience of feeling sick after eating too much hamburgers or fries and in order to make themselves feel better, they drink sodas: clearly a bad repetition of diet. Relying on such food is a huge risk to one’s health. The amount of chemicals, salts and sugars inserted to cook the food exceed the recommended amount that one should intake by a lot. Excess of these would not only cause obesity, but also diabetes, heart diseases. People become lazier and we can often observe them relying on electrical wheel chairs. In order to prevent these, people must take actions. People must start changing their diets by reducing the number times they step into the fast food places. Instead, they must start eating healthier and better quality foods that have the recommended amount of substances even if they are little bit more costly. Another way that could help fix the problems facing the fast food is to inform people more of the dangers followed by eating them. People obviously are not aware enough of the fact that eating too much fast food could lead them to a death.

Big up the Farmer

The American society today is built off of pure laziness. Based on Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation, we clearly see how Americans rely on quick and easy food like fast food or frozen goods; but, where did the problem really start? America’s laziness stems back to the industrial revolution when mass production of goods began to emerge replacing the use of manual labor with machines and factories. The industrial revolution created the city life that we know today. No longer was it the norm to live by the country side on your family farm. Suburbs started to form for the working man who no longer had to work on the fields to provide food for his family. Slowly but surely laziness in America is growing. Children no longer go outside and play games. Now, kids stay inside and watch television and drink soda instead of water for hydration. Junk food makes me feel very lackadaisical and lazy. Junk food is the main reason children today no longer feel the need to go outside to run up and down and play. The taste of Fast Food is addicting. I wouldn’t be surprised if they found some chemical in it that triggered a certain feeling in a person like a drug. They should open up rehab for obese people and specialize each rehab depending on each person’s favorite fast food place. A doctor should try figure out a cure for obesity, and I’m not talking about diet pills, exercise, or even getting your stomach shrunk; I am talking about medicine that takes away your desire to eat McDonalds and Wendys. I am sure it is possible and I’m shocked that nobody has tried yet. If the desire to eat junk was taken away then people would pay more attention to the quality of the food they consume instead of just the taste that lasts for a few minutes. The tastiness is temporary while the fat stomach and various ailments that are caused from eating junk like diabetes and many others are way more permanent. In order for health in America to improve, Americans need to do away with mass production of meat, move back to rural areas, and start farming once again.