reading

After read the two articles written by Michael Pollan, and Melanie Du Puis, I found that both of them are talk about the food advice. In Puis’s article “Angles and Vegetables-A Brief History of Food Advice in America”, she answers the question: why we love to read the food advice? Her answer is “Because we have lost our faith in both religion and science as guides to eating, we rely on popular writers to steer us through a welter of confusing and contradictory.”(34) And, she talks about the development of food advice in America in her article.

In Pollan’s article, the author show unbelieving in the nutrients. He quest nutritionism in his article “So nutritionism is good for business. But is it good for us?”(5) He claim some diseases are not relat to the fat. Also, he tells us that “fat doesn’t make you fat; carbs to.”(5) So, in pollan’s article, he talks a lot about the misunderstanding on food. And, these misunderstanding are headed by nutritionism. He also mentions some history of food advice – nutrients.

One egg a day is enough

After read the food journal post on the blog by my classmates, I found that some of them are like to eat eggs at breakfast. Then, I was wondering, how many eggs should we eat per day? If we eat too much, then, do we will get into trouble? If so, what kind of trouble we will meet?

As we knew, egg is a very nutritive and very popular food. The eggs I mentioned in this essay are chicken eggs. Most Americans like to eat eggs at breakfast. Omelet is one of the most popular foods made of egg. Of course, poached eggs are also popular. Every morning, when I have breakfast in dining hall, I found that almost everyone will order an omelet or two or three poached eggs. People like eggs because of the taste and the nutrition. For remain our health, to know the nutritional content of foods is really helpful. So, what’s really in an egg? Do they really that nutritive as we expect?

Chicken eggs contain all essential amino acids humans that human need, and also supply vitamins and minerals. These include vitamin A, vitamin B₂, vitamin B₉, vitamin B₆, vitamin B₁₂, choline, iron, calcium, phosphorus and potassium. And, eggs can provide protein. An egg always with high cholesterol and it is an essential material for life. It seems eggs are very good for our health, should we eat much as we can? Of course not, everything have a limit, even it is good. The most things that we should care about is the essential molecular of life – cholesterol. Because, take too much cholesterol will have some bad influences to our health. And, one of the theories is cholesterol can increasing risk in heart disease. I believe no body like to get heart disease by eat too many eggs.  So, what should we do? Stop eating eggs? No longer eat eggs anymore? No, we don’t need do that. According to P.J.H. Jones article, 7 eggs per week is good for our health, 7 eggs per week is enough. Thus, if a person who like to eat egg every day, one egg per day is enough. If we eat eggs more than 7 a week, we may get into a health trouble. But is not necessary, all of us are different, maybe someone can eat more than others. 7 is just for a general situation.

All in all, egg is really good for our body healthy, as long as you not eat too much. Moderate eating eggs can supplement many essential molecules for our body, such as some vitamin, and protein. But, just not eat too much, “moderate” is very important.   One egg a day is enough for us.

Work Citied

"Food and Agriculture Organization article on eggs". Fao.org. Retrieved 2010-01-10.

Vitamin A, RAE Content of Selected Foods per Common Measure, sorted by nutrient content. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). 2005. p. 4

P. J. H. Jones Dietary cholesterol and the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients: a review of the Harvard Egg Study and other data International Journal of Clinical Practice 63
Article first published online: 14 SEP 2009 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1742-1241.2009.02136.x
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1742-1241.2009.02136.x/abstract>

thoughts on eating practices

I won't change what I eat. I mean I won't eat the food that I don' t like, or have a very bad taste even thouth they contain many good things. But,hope I can eat breakfast every morning, because it will help with my attention. Usually, I won't having breakfast, so, I always feel tired and asleep. And, it not good for my study. I want change.

reading classmates blogg

After read my classmates' post, I found that two of them were talked about the breakfast. Zechi explained eat breakfast can help people with their attention.Joe is different, he do some research, and found that having breakfast is good for our mental health. Another interesing thing is in Deng's blog. He compare the advantage and disadvantage between meat eater and vegetarain.

p8

Our group member like drink water and soda. They don't like eat at dining hall during weekend. Most of them are go outside to have a great meal.Compare to me,I think I'm a lazy guy, three days with three meal.

3days meal

Saturday:6:00pm Noodles wiht tomato, and meat ball
Sunday:4:50pm pork, fries, humburg,ice-cream
Monday:9:25am maple flavor, cheese egg with ham, tomato, and sausage,

industrail food

After read these three articles, I found the same thing that author want tell us is in nowadays, what we eat in America are nearly all made from industry.  The new technology make them bigger, growing fast, reproduce fast, but less nutrition, and changed taste. For example, in “Fowl Trouble”, the author says the chicken in nowadays is bigger than last few decades. And, in article “On The Tomato Trail”, the author says this “Today’s industrial tomatoes are as bereft of nutrition as they are of flavor. According to analyses conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 100grams of fresh tomato today has 30 percent less vitamin C, and 30 percent less thiamin, 19 percent less niacin, and ….than it did in the 1960s. But…It contains fourteen times as much sodium.”(2). These entire article mentions industrial food, and, I think everything have two sides, so does industrial food. The good thing is because the increasing population we need more food, and food industry almost solve this problem. Industrial animals or plants have a very short life cycle, and some of them will bigger than them growing a nature environment. Most of them are transgenic, they are genetically modified, and so, they are different. Although, this technology solved our food shortage problem, it also brings some other questions. For example, would industrial food influence our healthy? Because industrial food’s nutrition is changed, just like what author’s says in the “On the Tomato Trail”, and, after genetically modified, the animals or plants will become a little bit abnormal, for example the bigger chicken. So, as far as I concerned, both of the author are quest the industrial foods.

Eating Disorder

Author says that the eating disorder in America is the food looks good or taste good may kills people. He says “One way to think about America’s national eating disorder is as the return, with an almost atavistic vengeance, of the omnivore’s dilemma. The cornucopia of the American supermarket has thrown us back onto a bewildering food landscape where we once again have to worry that some of those tasty-looking morsels might kill us.”(3). So, I think the author’s opinion for eating disorder is that what we eat now is not always healthy. Many article and research in this quarter show that health is one of the most important things in American food culture. But at the end, the author says this “‘Worrying about food is not good for your health,’ Rozin concludes – a deeply un-American view.”(4). Author mentions that Rozin and Fischler think the healthy is just a part of the American problem with food, they say “a more relaxed and social approach toward eating could go a long way toward breaking our unhealthy habit of bingeing and fad-dieting.”(4). I think this is a very interesting view. Americans not care about the health of the food as much as we think. Maybe, most of them are know that food is not health, they still eat it, because with relax social attitude they don’t think it’s a big deal. For me, when I choose the food, normally I would not consider whether it health or not. I just see if it is looks good and taste good. And, what I want to eat always change, maybe yesterday I want to eat beef, but today I will want to eat the noodles.

 

Work cited

Pollan Michael “Our National Eating Disorder” October 17, 2004

EE1- Food play an important role

Food play an important role

In China, there is a famous proverb “Ming yi shi wei tian.” means that food is important as sky. People will die if sky slides, so, for people live in earth, no food means no life. Food’s importance is not only showing in maintain our life, but also for some other reasons. What I want to talk is the “some other reasons.” First, food contains the emotions. When we have a meal, no matter with whom, in what place, and eat what, we always have one or more emotions. Second, food contains people’s values. People with different values would buy different food products. Also, food can be related with people’s communication can relationship. Food can make us close to each other. For example, if we always eat with other, or we all like to eat sweet food, we will feel closer to each other.  Last, we can find the pace of our life is getting fast and fast by we spent less time in eating and what we have in lunch is changed.

First, food contains the emotions. Once I went to a Chinese restaurant with a friend. I ordered a preserved egg with minced congee. It is not taste as good as what I ate in China, but every time when I go to that place I will still order it. I realized what I loved was not the congee itself, but the feeling when I have it. No matter it taste good or bad, it can make me think that I’m not far away from my hometown. This time, the congee is not only as a kind of food for me, but also as a supporter of emotion. It was pin the emotions of missing my hometown and my family. Now I am living in the U.S., I missing the handmade noodles made by my grandmother. It’s salty, and taste very good. It is very different from the noodles in America. In America, noodles are always cooked with tomato and cheese. Chinese noodles is similar with the Pho, but no sweet as Pho, most Chinese noodles are salty. Back to my point, what I am really missing not just the noodle, but my grandmother, and my family, and everything that I cannot get in America. This phenomenon is not only happened with me, but also other people. In Geoff Nicholson’s article “Eating White”, the author says “Today I ate lunch in memory of my mother. … and every once in a while I feel the need to replicate the kind of lunch she and I ate together may times.”(21). Why author says this? Why he ate the same thing that he have with his mother in the past? Because he is missing his mother, and when he missing his mother he may have a same launch that he had with his mother. He also pins the specific emotion to the specific food. Furthermore, in the article “Home Run-My Journey Back to Korean Food”, which written by Roy Ahn, the author talks about the Korean food and Korean identity. Author believe that eat Korean food can show his Korean identity. And, he will teach his son, Charlie, Korean culture, just like his parents did to him. He says “But I will make sure to offer Charlie Korean food and, as my Parents did with me…” (15). The Korean identity is kind of emotion, this is a sense of belonging. Any relates the belongingness to the food.

Second, food contains people’s value. We can find out what people are cares about by what kind of food product they are prefer. For example, if a man goes to market, and he wants buy some milk. There are two types of milk, one is more expensive with a high quality, and the other is cheaper with a lower quality. If he buy the expensive one, then we will think that he is more care about his health; if he choose the cheaper one, we may think he is more care about the price. Here is a true research did by Joshua Freedman and Dan Jurafsky, they did a research about the potato chips. They classify the chips into two groups, depend on the price.  They found out the differences between the expensive group and the cheap group on their cover bag. Then they wrote an article “Authenticity in America- class distinctions in Potato Chip Advertising”. They found that the upper classes are more care about their health, and the material and technology the food company used. Lower classes more like the taste, price, traditions. For example, authors say “None of the chips in our sample contain trans fats, but while all six of the expensive ones mention the lack of trans fats, only two out of the six inexpensive chips mention it.”(49). The expensive chips show their health, because the upper classes want it, so if they print this on their cover bag, people will but it. Also, in this article, the authors say this “Food is a robust marker of group identity. What you had for dinner yesterday says a lot about your national identity, ethnicity, or social class, and this link between food and culture …” (46). So, they also think food can contain much information.  I also did some research in food advertisement. What I focus on is butter advertisement, because butter is one of the most common things that appeal in Americans’ table. I find out that convenience is the most important element in butter. People are care about the spread ability of the butter.

Third, food can relate to people’s communication and relationship. We can know whether those people are close to each other or not by their eating behavior. For me, I only eat with my roommate and my friends. I would not eat with an unfamiliar guy.  And, this phenomenon also appears in Sandra Cate’s article “‘Breaking Bread with a Spread’ in a San Francisco County Jail”. This article is about the “Spread” in prison. What I am interested in is the sharing part in the article. She talks about the principles about how they share their spread. They will share their spread only with the people they have relationship, and they share the spread in an equally way. She notes one’s explaining “Everybody puts in the even, same amount, and everybody gets the even, same amount. ”and a Chinese inmate says that “usually the people who share with me, I share with them,”(19). This eating behavior shows that inmates are equal, they put same amount, and get same amount. No one is special in this place. After she notes inmate Devon Gray’s speaking “In here the whites spread with the whites and the blacks spread with the blacks.”(19), she find out that sharing spread is a community which always racially defined. Just like us, we always eat with the people who we know, because when we eat with our friends, family members, we will feel relax.

Last the not the least, food reflects our living conditions. With the development of technology the modern pace of life is getting fast and fast, our working efficiency increases, but we are getting busier. Thus, we have less to spend on eating, our eating style was changed. The change is not only in how we eat, but also in what we eat. In the past, we mostly eat with our family members at home, and we have enough time talked with others how the day was. But now, we always eat alone, and quickly, sometimes we even need eat our lunch when we walk on the street. This is always happened with workers and students; they have less time to eat their meal. For example, Jamie Horwitz, the author of “Eating at the Edge” writes “Manuel Castells agrees: we live in a ‘timeless time,’ he writes, in which instantaneous satellite transmissions, high-speed transit, and global marketplace of information capital generate ‘space of place.’”(42). Also, the author gives us an example, the “Campbell’s Soup at Hand”. This soup is very convenience; you can have it when you walk on street or ride a bus. This soup’s appear strongly means that we have much less time in eating our meal. We can know our living condition by what we eat, and how we eat.  

All in all, food plays a very important role in our life. It can reflects one’s emotion, how they feeling, who they missing, and so on. It also can show one’s values. How they choose the food, what they are eating, if they are eating healthy or eating with low cost or something else. They buy it, they eat it, means they like it. And it can show one’s relationship and communication. Would you always eat alone and fast or you always eat with friends and sharing your food? Last, food can show your living condition. What are you eating? Just some french fries with sandwich? If so, your pace of life is fast. Do not underestimate the power of food.

Work Cited

 Nicholson Geoff “Eating White” Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture, Vol. 10, No, 1 (Winter 2010), pp. 21-23

Ahn Roy “Home Run: My Journey Back to Korean Food” Gastronomica: The Journey of Food and Culture, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Fall 2009), pp. 12-15

Freedman Joshua and Jurafsky Dan “Authenticity in America: Class Distinctions in Potato Chip Advertising” Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture, Vol. 11, No. 4 (Winter 2011), pp. 46-54

Cate Sandra “‘Breaking Bread with a Spread’ in a San Francisco County Jail” Gastronomica: The journal of Food and Culture, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Summer 2008), pp. 17-24

Horwitz Jamie “Eating at the Edge” Gastronomica: The journal of Food and Culture, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Summer 2009), pp. 42-47