Here I am in food writing. I took a class to easily fulfill my general education, but now I have been opened up to a new world of ideas and philosophies all centralized around food. I imagine myself describing the sensation I feel when I my favorite food or cataloging the reasons why my least favorite foods are so uneatable. Last semester I have taken only science and major classes and at this point never written an essay in college. I don’t know what to expect from a college writing class. What standard will I be held to? Is my writing good enough? These are worries I have for the next fifteen weeks.
“Food” by Tony Judt was about his childhood eating English food and how it has made him who he is today. He wonderfully described his childhood growing up eating English food and connected to it his later love for Indian food. He then connected his diet to his roots growing up in England, where his mother was ashamed of their religion. The closing paragraph really connected everything together playing on the famous quote, “You are what you eat.” The last lines of the essay end with, “We are what we ate. And I am very English.” The writing seemed to jump around discussing political affiliations, religion, and countries of origin, trying to tie all of them into the author’s roots. In the end her brought everything together very well and makes the writer reflect on their roots and how they were raised.
“Vanilla Ice Cream with Brandied Peaches” I did not enjoy as much because the writing seemed to lack purpose. Although this is due to the author writing to a different audience and not applying to my family recipe project, I felt like something was missing. What I was encompassed by the connection of food with seasons. Reading this during the winter, (although I am in Southern California) I reflected back on the summer and eating ice cream on a hot day. The writer describes his summer weekend as, “wasted unless it includes at least one rooftop meal and one — okay, two — stone-fruit desserts.” This one sentence makes me imagine my perfect summer day with the sun blazing overhead the only thing keeping me cool is a popsicle I bought from the ice man with my allowance money. “How to Fix Everything” did have a great purpose. It told a story that kept me hanging on by creating tension. Of course, food came to the rescue by the writer suggesting that her amazing lasagna fought off John’s infection. It may or may not have played a role in his recovery, but it did help Heather McDonald, the writer and cook, remain sane and have control during a time of hopelessness.
I felt disconnected from “Swordfish Siciliana.” It was obviously written for someone older than my age. Even in the first paragraph recipes including alcohol as a key ingredient were referenced. Being 18, I cannot (and should not be able to) connect with a recipe containing half gin or another titled “popcorn and whiskey” although their purpose is to not appeal to the reader whatsoever. Additionally he uses expressions like, “admired by practically everyone who owes me money,” which are not ever used in my communication with others. It disconnects me from the writer although it may develop a bond with a different audience.
For my family recipe project, I will be writing about my German heritage and eating German food growing up and contrasting it with my lack of English food although my mother was born and raised in England. From these articles I have learned that I need to create tension, which I will do using my different heritage. This tension will be resolved in the end by relieving the tension and bringing resolution, creating a sense of purpose for the writing.
An important part of food writing is food reading. Reading the unending conversation about what is happening with regards to food helps shape your food writing. Reading food writing helps us understand what is happening in the food community and what topics and issues are currently being discussed in the unending conversation. Early on this semester, Michael Pollan’s writing showed me how to write “food writing”.
Michael Pollan’s essay, “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch,” was much more enjoyable read because of its easiness to read and relatability. The question it presented related more to me and my daily life. I grew up with my mother making me home-cooked meals daily, but when she went to school the quality and effort she put into cooking degraded because of a lack of time. I was able to observe the gradual change of the effort put into cooking over my childhood. Additionally, Pollan made the essay easily relatable by being comedic at times, being more descriptive, using language that makes the essay easier to read, and telling a story. This is why Pollan’s essay leaves a lasting effect with me and makes me think about the changes in my life and how I miss the rewarding feeling of eating a self-cooked meal, no matter the taste. Below are four revisions of Blog Post #2 using these techniques:
- Using easy to understand language:
Pollan’s choice of words allows the read to be easy on the reader. The writing is still effective and gets his purpose across. My writing is often easy to read and does not contain high-level vocabulary or words only used 200 years ago. My word choice in the following sentence was poor until revised:
“Most of the time throughout the meal was spent conversing rather than eating. It seemed as if the purpose of going out to get food at a place like Bruxie was more of a social event rather than eating food because it tastes good.”
Most of the meal was spent conversing rather than eating. It seemed as if the dining at an establishment such as Bruxie was more of a social event rather than purchasing food for the pleasure it gives you with each bite.
- Being comedic:
The purpose of an essay is not to make reader’s laugh but being comedic at times kept me interested and involved in the article so that his writing was more effective.
In an effort to observe food etiquette, I watched the woman two tables in from of me eat with what seemed to be her boyfriend and another friend. I watched diligently. Every move, every bite was translated onto notes on my paper. The woman eventually looked over and we made eye contact. I quickly reached for my drink and pretended to be at work in my notebook. Slowly, I looked up again and watched; however, I think she was catching on.
- Being more descriptive:
Pollan describes Julia Child’s TV show with detail that can make you almost taste the food he describes or imagine the splat of the potato pancake landing half-way on the counter top. This connection with the reader helps deliver a better message.
There was only person who I observed to eat with a fork and knife. I remember her facial expression as she sat down and put the dripping egg, bacon and cheese waffle sandwich to her mouth. It was as if she was having second thoughts on whether or not the idea of eating a waffle with your hands was acceptable. She set the sandwich down slowly so that the egg would not fall out from between the waffle. The screech of her metal chair legs against the concrete alerted everyone at Bruxie that this woman was on her feet.
- Telling a Story:
Pollan makes his writing more of a story to bring the reader in deeper to his writing.
Christina Manweller’s Of Birds, and of a Particular Pomological Fruit uses a dialogue style writing. Here I discuss how books, film, movies and art have shaped my writing style.
I have never been a big pleasure reader. Reading has always seemed boring to me. I think of reading as a very practical way of taking in information. I prefer to learn by reading because all the information is presented in front of me. This influences my writing because I write in a very practical way where I present my reader with information straight forward, without a “fluff”. For pleasure I enjoy something like watching a movie.
Movies are one of my favorite ways to relax and get away from school. Whatever mood I’m in, I can always find an appropriate movie to enjoy. When I write, I always try to paint a picture in the reader’s head, as if he were reading a movie, but there’s definitely an art to it.
I always thought that art is such a broad spectrum. Everyone has their own way to express themselves through. For me, making movies is where the art side of my brain awakens itself, but there is not part of me that can paint or draw a picture. For other’s food is their art.
Food writing has affected how I think about the world. Food is such a huge part of our lives we ought to write about it more. Food can define our social class, our way of life, can cause diseases and is probably are more frequent activity other than sleeping.
My world has affected my writing and my writing is now a part of the unending conversation. The unending conversation is just a compilation of thoughts on the world and following this gives the reader a better understand of the current status of the world. My viewpoint as a college student with my specific set of values and beliefs is what shapes my writing and makes my contribution to the unending conversation valuable because there will never be anyone exactly like me in the world ever again.
“Food Machine” and “King Corn” documented the amazing system that grows, harvests, processes, transports, manages and inspects every bite of food you eat. “Food Machine” analyzed the entire food system and looks at a few aspects of it while “King Corn” looked at the importance of corn in all of the foods we eat.
King Corn shows that corn is grown in such abundance not because Americans are eating corn on the cob in huge quantities, but because corn is in everything. Corn is used to make high-fructose corn syrup and used to feed livestock making it in almost all meat and sweet substances, not to mention making ethanol. Corn has shown to be very useful and has cut down the cost of food, but our food system relies on corn to an incredible extent. The extreme amount of high-fructose corn syrup consumption may be linked to the obesity epidemic in America. Corn feed for cattle is very unnatural and unhealthy. Although very few cars use ethanol in America, its production increases the demand for corn, but corn has shown to not be any sort of long term solution to our energy crisis. Corn is a huge part of our food system yet is might to actually be a benefit.
In order to manage such a high demand for corn, technology has improved exponentially so that production could keep up. In the 1920s, 20 bushels of corn per acre was an accomplishment, but today, 200 bushels of corn per acre is expected in year. This technology comes from improvements to irrigation, genetically modified seeds, pesticides, but most importantly fertilizer. Legislation also affects the amount of farmers that grow corn as well as the cost. The government gives subsidies to famers who grow corn. Without this subsidy, it would be impossible for corn farmers to produce corn and sell it at is current. In order for these farmers to make profits given there were not subsidies, the price of corn would have to increase and less people would buy corn, less farmers would buy corn feed for their cattle, less people would buy and use ethanol as fuel and less producers would use high-fructose corn syrup as a sweetener. King Corn comments on this demand for corn that we have created from using government subsidies, but it the movie doesn’t tell the viewer how to think. It is up to the viewer to believe if these subsidies are beneficial.
Food Machine is a much more broad view of the food system they call the food machine. It truly is a food machine as it efficiently produces food for the America. The scale of this food machine is remarkable. So many people work in unison, to put the meal we eat on our dinner tables, yet so few people work to produce an incredible amount of food for the world. Problems arise due to the sheer size of our food machine and the new technology. Pesticides we use today are believed to be getting into flowers of plants and killing bees. Bees are dying so rapidly that there aren’t enough to feed the demand. In Detroit, a movement has been growing that promotes growing food in your backyard. As industry has left Detroit, many portions of land are available for urban farming. Anyone with a little teaching can go in their backyard and make a garden. The care that individuals would give their plants would make less of a need for pesticides. With less pesticides bees would stop dying a such a rapid rate. Food Machine brings up this question. Should we go back to individually growing in our backyard? Are the death of a few a worthy casualty to the efficiency of our food machine? This is a difficult question. We do not even truly know exactly why bees are dying, but the consumer can answer our question. Buying corn produced from our food machine while growing foods yourself shows the food machine that you prefer to grow foods yourself. The best answer to this problem would be to have the food machine do what it does best – innovate. New technology very likely will be available in the future so that we can produce corn efficiently and save bees.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oHNrXakgyU
This video perfectly complements my blog because its shows the hidden world of food. There is so much to the food industry and there is such an amazing effort put into the food that appears on your plate. People must farm cows, catch fish, grow crops, transport food, process food, cook food yet it you the consumer can go to a restaurant and purchase a meal for less the money it costs to work an hour at minimum wage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKpcsEVJ5-U
“I’m Fat” by Weird Al Yankovic although humorous represents the current era of food in American society because it shows how much we crave and desire unhealthy, greasy, salt, sugary foods in very large quantities. For the most part, Americans do not care about their weight, but there is a shift coming in how people eat. There is a new era of sustainable, healthy eating that is growing and soon Americans will learn the importance of treating their bodies well so that they can live long healthy lives.
Arnie Riebli is a 4th generation egg farmer in the town of Petaluma. He owns sunrise farms which handles about a million eggs a day. The primary consumer of his product is the local people of Petaluma. These people know that when they buy from sunrise farms they are getting great quality locally produced eggs. I called Mr. Riebli recently and asked him to talk about the recent legislation called proposition 2. Prop 2 requires that hens have enough space to be able to turn and extend their limbs, yet no ones how egg producers should rebuild their cage systems, until recently. In the interview I asked him to speak on the legislation and he responded:
“I’ve been working very closely with senator Feinstein’s office and I believe that she is going to introduce legislation federally, either this week or next week, most due to politics of the gun measures and the Boston marathon and the rest of the things that are going on. We’ve reached a compromise with the humane society of the United States, which was the initial sponsor of the ballot measure on prop 2. Is that effective January 1, 2015 all California eggs that are sold or produced in the state of California, in facilities that afford them 160 in2 floor space per hen, current number being used is 67. if you just take the difference between 160 and 67, and California current houses 18 million layers, given the current structures that are out there, the laying hen population will probably be reduced by some 7 or 8 million layers. 9 years from January 1, 2015 to January 1, 2024 and that will allow us to transition over to rich colony systems. in 2024 that number goes to 124in per hen.”
“There are quite a few producers who are just going to go out of business.”
Since the humane society was the major contributor the prop 2 campaign, farmers like Mr. Riebli have come to a compromise with the humane society that the hens must have a required 160in2 of floor space which is a significant increase from the current 67 in2. As a result, there isn’t simply going to be enough space for the current 18 million layers in California, so about 7 to 8 million will have to relocated to another state. It will not be years until the new law is completely in effect. These farmers are going to have to spend years of time into rebuilding their cage systems. Additionally, there are going to be a number of farmers who are going to go out of business because they can afford to revamp their current cage systems and can’t afford the decreased profits from the reduced egg production.
Dear student writer,
Writing a manifesto is about demonstrating a cause to your reader in a way that gets them motivated to make change. Picking a topic to write about that you are passionate about is the key to writing an effective manifesto. It may be easy to find a topic you are passionate about, but often it can be difficult. Look at your daily life and others’ lives and think, “What can be better?” Once you find what you want to write about, start writing and putting your thoughts on paper. You will know if you are passionate about your topic when the writing flows.
Being emotionally invested in a topic will help you write, but you must be careful about what you write to your audience. Being to specific may scare away your reader from making a change. Leave the topic open to interpretation so that the reader sees the problem and can make change and take action however they feel necessary. Writing a strict step by step guideline on how the reader should change his or her life is not an effective manifesto. The manifesto should conclude with a broad range of options readers can change their lives to different degrees and show them how their lives and others’ lives could be better.
It is very important to write in such a way that connects you with your reader. Show them that how you have started making change and they can to because we are similar people. It is important to define your audience to yourself so that you can effectively communicate to them. You will not be able to move every single reader who stumbles upon your manifesto and convince him or her to devote his or her lives toward your cause; however, directing your writing towards a group of people that already agree with your statements is a waste of time. For example, writing a manifesto against genetically modified foods should not be written towards people who are against GMOs, but towards people who should be swayed to believe in you topic. Write to make a connection with the people who need to hear your manifesto and whose lives need to change.
Brining up facts to support your manifesto is crucial for people to believe in your cause. Using facts connects your manifesto to the real world. For example, writing a manifesto against genetically modified organisms in food is worthless without clear evidence that GMOs are bad for your health and have little benefits. Simply stating that GMOs are unhealthy is not going to invoke anyone to make change.
Analyzing the counter argument to your idea is important to writing an effective manifesto. Bringing up the counter argument and then putting it down will give the reader confidence in your manifesto. If a manifesto on against GMOs refused to acknowledge that they do significantly increase crop yields, then the reader is not going to be compelled to support that manifesto because there is still questions left unanswered.
What do you want?
How can I give it to you?
Who will disagree?
Where’s the middle ground?
What, oh what, is new?
“Food” by Tony Judt was about his childhood eating English food and how it has made him who he is today. He wonderfully described his childhood growing up eating English food and connected to it his later love for Indian food. He then connected his diet to his roots growing up in England, where his mother was ashamed of their religion. The closing paragraph really connected everything together playing on the famous quote, “You are what you eat.” The last lines of the essay end with, “We are what we ate. And I am very English.” The writing seemed to jump around discussing political affiliations, religion, and countries of origin, trying to tie all of them into the author’s roots. In the end her brought everything together very well and makes the writer reflect on their roots and how they were raised.
“Vanilla Ice Cream with Brandied Peaches” I did not enjoy as much because the writing seemed to lack purpose. Although this is due to the author writing to a different audience and not applying to my family recipe project, I felt like something was missing. What I was encompassed by the connection of food with seasons. Reading this during the winter, (although I am in Southern California) I reflected back on the summer and eating ice cream on a hot day. The writer describes his summer weekend as, “wasted unless it includes at least one rooftop meal and one — okay, two — stone-fruit desserts.” This one sentence makes me imagine my perfect summer day with the sun blazing overhead the only thing keeping me cool is a popsicle I bought from the ice man with my allowance money. “How to Fix Everything” did have a great purpose. It told a story that kept me hanging on by creating tension. Of course, food came to the rescue by the writer suggesting that her amazing lasagna fought off John’s infection. It may or may not have played a role in his recovery, but it did help Heather McDonald, the writer and cook, remain sane and have control during a time of hopelessness.
I felt disconnected from “Swordfish Siciliana.” It was obviously written for someone older than my age. Even in the first paragraph recipes including alcohol as a key ingredient were referenced. Being 18, I cannot (and should not be able to) connect with a recipe containing half gin or another titled “popcorn and whiskey” although their purpose is to not appeal to the reader whatsoever. Additionally he uses expressions like, “admired by practically everyone who owes me money,” which are not ever used in my communication with others. It disconnects me from the writer although it may develop a bond with a different audience.
For my family recipe project, I will be writing about my German heritage and eating German food growing up and contrasting it with my lack of English food although my mother was born and raised in England. From these articles I have learned that I need to create tension, which I will do using my different heritage. This tension will be resolved in the end by relieving the tension and bringing resolution, creating a sense of purpose for the writing.
Rice has been a food that Asian families have farmed and relied on since 2500 B.C. and today, these people are at risk of loosing their farms. As technology and modern farming make producing rice cheaper, the global price drops. For rice farmers have been using old fashion farming methods, producing rice is no cheaper, yet they have the sell at the global price. Today, it is becoming impossible to provide for a family off rice farming, and the life extremely difficult too.
Wake up at 6 a.m. For breakfast, a typically meal would be tea and puffed rice. The morning starts off by collecting cow dung to fertilize the crops. It takes 10 trips to carry the 200 kg of manure from the shed to the farm, taking over 2 hours. At 9 a.m. another big bowl of rice, potatoes and onions. For another 2 hours, a farmer may weed his 10000 m2 farm by himself. At this point during the day, the sun and humidity is at its worst. During the hottest months, temperatures can reach 120ºF. For an our there is time for a quick nap and another bowl of rice. Depending on the season, a farmer may have to harvest the rice, build irrigation ditches, buy supplies in at the market or other duties to make sure the rice plants are healthy and will yield lots of food. With all of this there are no guarantees that the farm will produces enough rice. Pests can destroy crops and unexpected weather conditions can bad yields.
In Shonai, Japan, abandon overgrown rice paddies are a common site. Farmers can not work in these conditions for such little profit. As technology has grown, these farmers have not adapted and cannot compete. “Japanese agriculture has no money, no youth, no future,” says Hitoshi Suzuki who has abandon his 450-year old family farm. This is considered to be the worst crisis since WWII. The price of farms has dropped almost 70% in the past 15 years and the number has farmers has been cut in half.
In an interview with a Philippian rice farmer in similar conditions to Japanese farmers, he describes that he and many others our frustrated with their lifestyle. For 30 years almost 365 days a year, he has farmed rice. All he wants is that is children do not follow in his footsteps. He works to provide for them so that they can get an education and live to do something greater. There is no future for these family rice farmers because new technology can do their job better. The time of family farms has past. These people can live better lives now that their skill sets are almost obsolete. His children also understand the importance of education. They do not want to end up doing back-breaking labor for the rest of their lives.
People complain about the American education system and how it is failing while other nations like Japan excel. The education system is not the problem. American students lack the motivation to learn and make something of themselves. Japanese and Philippian children know that education is their ticket out of poverty, and they take advantage of it.
It does not seem that it is such a bad thing that these farmers refuse to farm. Japan’s economy may temporarily suffer, but a new generation will enter the workforce with a motivation and education. Technology is great because it has destroyed horrible jobs, and as a result opened up new ones.
Locavore: A person that prefers to eat locally produced food. These people promote buying from local businesses and or growing food themselves. Since the food is grown locally they are often produced with significantly less preservatives. Although the locavore moments claims to promote sustainability and be eco-friendly, critics claim that does not contribute to helping the environment whatsoever. Barbara Kingsolver, author of Animal, Vegetable, Mineral is a famous locavore and author that has had an important role in promoting the locavore movement.
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/344/locavore.html
Slow Food: An international movement that discourages fast food and promotes traditional and regional food that comes from local regional agriculture. It also promotes sustainability and locally produced foods and is very politically active in fighting globalization of agricultural products. The slow food organization has over 100,000 members across 150 countries. Their motto, “Good, Clean and Fair Food” are used as a compass to describe what you should and shouldn’t eat. The organization also puts on many events the celebrate food culture and community and promote healthy eating.
Polemic: A polemic is an attack on the opinions of another person or group. This is often seen in food writing has an attack on the ways of eating of groups of people. For example, some of the slow food group may be polemicists, fighting against McDonald’s for planning to build a restaurant.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/polemic
http://polemicfood.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/polemic-food-what-the-heck-does-that-mean/
Government Subsidy: A government subsidy is financial assistance by the government that it used to reduce the cost of a product. This is seen in the world of food by the government giving out billions of dollars to reduce the cost of food. Many groups like the slow food organization support subsidies to organic and locally grown food in order to promote healthy eating and help local businesses. However, the people that need government assistance to purchase their food the most are not going to want subsidies of more expensive organic food, as it is not their priority to eat healthier because they have less money.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Government+subsidy
http://polemicfood.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/polemic-food-what-the-heck-does-that-mean/
Processed Foods: Processed foods are any foods that have been altered from their natural state, either for safety reasons or convenience. This could be a result of canning, freezing, refrigeration, dehydration, or aseptic processing. These foods are often thought as of bad for your health and are used to label factory foods, but in reality processed foods are not any less healthy. To some extent, processed foods are better for your health. For example, milk is considered processed because it is pasteurized to kill bacteria, while those who prefer raw milk can suffer from bacteria-related illnesses. Conversely, the majorities of processed foods are bad for your health and contain many trans-fats, saturated fats and significant amounts of sodium.
http://nutrition.about.com/od/askyournutritionist/f/processedfoods.htm
Natural Food: Many foods are marketed as natural because they are minimally processed and lack manufactured ingredients. Many countries have jurisdictions on using the meaning (like the word “organic”), but the word has no meaning in the United States when it comes to food.
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/labeti/guide/ch4ae.shtml
Austin Wolf 