Sunday, June 7, 2009

Final Food Paper

Ever since the start of evolution the food has been an important aspect in the lives of species everywhere. Food has influenced different varieties of cultures and religious all over the world. The way one eats is also effected by efficiency. Most people eat what is most convenient for them, easy to make, and saves time. They just want to be satisfied and get the hunger issue over with fast. These days all the products that we eat don't really stress enough how bad they can be for someone.
Many years ago people would fend for themselves and not rely on machinery to assist them with the food they needed. Farmers had to grow, hand pick, raise, and kill the animals for food all by themselves. They're were no hazardous chemicals like pestisides being sprayed as well. It was all pretty "natural". Now we depend on big tractors to pick the food for us, machines to assemble the food into plastic and big trucks to distribute. All these things run on fossil fuels that hard the enviorment. It may be efficient, but the amount of pollution that the machinery releases is harmful.
The second semester of class we had focused on the food unit. Topics like how our food is produced or even how it is being picked, who pick our food, how we shop, what we eat, how we cook it, why we eat it, where bought it from, etc. Many of us never really paid as much attention to what we ate and whether or not it was really good for us. Keeping a journal of what we consumed and what was stored in our refrigerators at home helped us get the basic idea of how the food we ate affected our lives. I knew that the food in my refrigarator was a mix of good and bad. My family didn't really focus on whether or not its healthy, it was the basic fact that what we consumed revolved around my culture and what tasted good.
My family goes food shopping a lot. Mostely because there is 5 people and a dog living in the household but also because 3 of us are teens having cravings all the time. Every time we go food shopping, usually we buy a lot of fruits and vagtables, alot of bread, rolls, bagels, meat, potatoes, dairy and cold cuts. We don't really get a lot to drink just a few packs of water and the occasional juice. We conume alot of poultry. (chicken, streak, pork, beef, etc) The food I eat at home is never the "easy to make" stuff. It's always made from stratch, from recipes that have been passed down from generations. I wouldn't say my family dosen't eat healthy because I think it is, maybe the sound of it dosen't sound so good, but what it consists of and the ingridents added are. I think the way people eat now, is effected by the way they were raised and what they're parents fed them growing up.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Respose to Pollan

I agree with Pollan's argument about our food culture. We are a counntry made of many different cultures and you can see this through the different variety of foods present. Many people don't even know what to eat anymore because they are being told what is good or bad for them. We seem to care so much about appearances, and always trying to follow and abide by this on going idea of perfection and what one has to do to become it. People are so concerend with what others will think of them that they listen to people's advice to tell them how, what, and when they should eat, such people as nutritionists. My family hasn't really paid attention to eating healthy at all. It's not a concern to people in Poland (and those who grew up there) Polish people tend to choose taste over healthiness. All the meals are pretty heavy and as long as they taste good that's all there is to talk about. These days my mom has been trying to lose weight for a while now because for some reason everyone in my family is on a diet now so she feels like she had to go on one as well to fit in. But I have noticed she doesn't really change her style of eating or what she eats. She still eats the traditonal Polish meals..maybe smaller portions of them but still the same food. It's hard to give up since it's what she had grown up eating her whole life. I would say it's pretty hard changing eating patterns.
I don't think experts are always right about what they're opinion of what's healthy and what's not is. I feel like everyone is different, everyone's bodies are different they're metabolizms are different etc. I think people themselves know whats good for them and whats not, it's just up to them whether they want to eat it or not. Not everyone thinks about how it will effect they're bodies and some peope think about it too much. I think people who are athletic can eat whatever they feel will satisfy them. They need the engery to be able to move. I know that at lunch I would prefer eating a larger meal one that will fill me up because in the afternoon I'll need that food to keep me going through a 90 min soccer game.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Food

Typically my mother is the one who does the grocery shopping in the family. I am usually the one that goes with her because when she goes she gets too much for her to carry on her own. the foods that we eat require many different ingredients so we must always have everything at the house even if we dont plan on useing it at the time. When we first come into the grocery store we always go straight to the vegatables/ fruit section because thats whats always in front of us as soon as we walk in. My mother will get 6 out of lets say 10 of the vegtables present. Everyone in my family enjoys eating fruits on a daily basis so we tend to run out alot. Vegatables are a nessesity in the soups that my mom makes. She will take several different vegatbles and combine them together to produce a final flavor. I would say mostly all of the foods that I eat at home are healthy..but they aren't really made healthy. Polish food consists of large heavy filling meals. Usually there is always soup before the actual dinner. So when your done eating everything your pretty full and don't really want to eat anything after that. The meal itself is usually a certain type of meat, whether its chicken, beef, pork, etc. Then with that there's ALWAYS pototoes..usually mashed or baked with either cabbage or a side salad or sautyed vegatables. So your getting alot of protein and vitamins...but in a not so healthy way because they calories add up. It's not really just how my family eats its how all polish people eat. All mothers were raised to pretty much cook the same meals so then after time when the daughters get old enough the mothers or grandmothers teach them to cook and the recipes are just passed on through generations. I've been taught to eat all kinds of foods. I didn't really experiment eating other foods until I was about 13 years old. There was always the take out chinese or pizza...but as to going out to dinner to get real spanish food or ethnic food..it was never really an option. My parents fed me everything when I was little thats why i think I have gotten used to the foods and I don't really fuss about not liking something because I have developed to liking many things as I got older.

May Day

May Day occurs on May 1 and refers to several public holidays. In many countries, May Day is synonymous with International Workers' Day, or Labour Day, a day of political demonstrations and celebrations organised by the unions and socialist groups.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Day
I think may day should be acknowelded as a holiday in the United States. If it was and is a holiday celebrated by people in different parts of the world it must be signifiant to people. People work they're whole lives so I think it would be nice to celebrate it. May Day is a holiday celebrating the struggles and achievements of the working class. May Day has become an international celebration of the social and economic achievements of the labour movement. Although May Day received its inspiration from the United States,(which is why it should be celebrating here) the U.S. Congress designated May 1 as "Loyalty Day" in 1958 due to the day's perceived appropriation by the Soviet Union. Alternatively Labor Day takes place on the first Monday in September in the United States.MayDay has kind of been neglected and forgotten by our country, and celebrated around us as a day for those whom work hard to keep a country working. May Day is a historic day and it should be aknowledged rather than been replaced by labor day.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Food Diary

Within the 24 hrs i have eaten a sandwitch with cheese, ham lettuce, tomato, on a roll. I made it myself when I got home from my soccer game. I had water with my sandwitch, and 3 cookies. I sat in the kitchen at the table and watched tv at the same time. I felt satisfied because I was exhausted after the game and it gave me the energy back. The next day I had nothing for breakfast, and for lunch I had spanish food (dominican chicken with black beans and yellow rice) I went to lunch with my close friends so iI enjoyed the company, and since there was no available seats we took the food back to school and ate upstairs. I had iced tea with the meal and everyone was conversating the whole time. Later that night, for dinner my father had make grilled chicken with mixed spices and salad so it was pretty good. I felt healthy eating it as well so i didn't feel as gulity eating it as usual. I ate dinner with my brother and sister at the table watching tv and conversating at the same time.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Food Question

Q: Why does everything revolve around food?


Because it is the center of our diets and our social lives. Think about it, without food, we would die from lack of nutrition. And, our social activities (like barbecues, movies, dinner dates) wouldn't be as fun. You have to have food!

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090415134327AAxeW1i

Fridgee

milk (organic)
fruits -(apples, oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, bananas, mango, lemons, limes)
tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, peppers (red and green)
eggs (organic)
bread (whole wheat, white, and rye)
onions
butter
margarine
cream cheese
cottage cheese
sour cream
orange juice
apple juice
iced tea
water
beer
salad dressing
mustard
ketchup
jam
BBQ sauce
mayo
cold cuts(cheese's & poultry)
watermelon
bacon
etc..

I live with 5 people so having alot of food in the refrigarator is a must, we tend to run low all the time. Both my mom and dad love to cook. My mother tends to stick with the traditional polish meals that involve a lot different foods being combined where as my father likes to experiment and try different things so everything needs to be in the fridge at all times. I try to eat at home as much as possible because it's healthier, but I'm usually not home so i tend to miss meals. Being from Europe food is very meaningful to us. It's basically what brings people together and allows people to sit down together an enjoy eating and it just makes everyone happy i guess.

list shows about food, your relation to food, our culture's food ways, etc.