Final Post

One of the most interesting things that I have learned in this class is the way that I eat as a person. I was able to see the foods that I eat in a different light by researching they health implications of those foods. This helps me to better control my diet by focusing on healthier foods. This will help me in the future by making me conscious of my eating decisions and will allow me to investigate my foods thoroughly. Another interesting thing that I learned was how my food decisions are linked to the people. I could see that what the people around me are doing or saying has a large impact on me. This helps me in the future by letting me see the way my relationships with other people are even more important than I thought.

EE2 Draft

The Late Night Diet of the College Student

It’s the middle of the night. I’m finally deciding to the homework that I successfully put off until midnight the night before it was due. There’s something on my mind, but it’s not my work; it’s food! The urge to demolish an entire large pizza from Papa Johns has come barreling into my mind, and I feel that the only way that I’m ever going to be able to focus on my homework is if I satisfy this wild craving. Next thing I know there is an empty pizza box in the middle of my floor, and I’m ready to dive into the homework that had been deferred for the entirety of the day. Now you may think that this isn’t the worst thing that could happen; which would be true if this weren’t a nightly occurrence. The sad thing about my late night eating problem is that I am not alone. It is rare that I order food in the middle of the night and do not see another student also accepting a pizza or sub delivery. While it is very important that I finish my school work I find that it is also very important that I watch the way that I eat so that I do not become unhealthy at such a young age. This is what set me off on my journey to find out the health implications of eating at night and its connection to the overall health of college students

It is not uncommon for my mid-night meal to be the largest that I have in the day. I am usually exhausted from a long day of school and just need to unwind. This means that the nutritional value of the food that I eat is not exactly the first thing on my mind. All I want at this point is someone to bring me food so that I don’t have to be the one to make it. The big problem with this is that the foods that are available at this time aren’t exactly the foods that your doctor would recommend. Our late night choices are often limited to pizza that is dripping with grease or subs that are topped with cold, processed meats. According to Pizza Hut’s report of their nutritional information, one slice of their traditional pan cheese pizza contains 350 calories. (Pizza Hut) This is quite a bit when you consider that the recommended daily caloric allowance for teenagers aged 14-18 is approximately 2000 calories. (MyPlate) This means that when a college student is eating pizza for their late night meal they are consuming a large amount of their daily calories outside of the typical meal structure.

Coming into college I had no experience with weight gain at all. I have always been active in athletics which meant that I was always getting much more exercise than was need. All of this exercise for a growing kid caused me to eat ridiculous amounts of food on a daily basis, a lot of which wasn’t very healthy food. This meant that because I wasn’t participating in athletics at the college level I would have to find my exercise from a different source. This proved to be something I would have to learn the hard way. Only a couple of months into college I was able to notice that there was a small increase in fat on my body and a decrease in my muscle mass. I had been eating whatever I wanted because I had no one regulating my foods, and this was coming back to bite me in the butt. I had always had my parents around to tell me which foods I could and couldn’t have. They also were very stingy about how late I could stay up. This means that late night eating was something brand new for me and was probably one of the biggest causes of my fat gain.

I thought that the freshman fifteen was just a thing of myth, but it soon became apparent that it would not be very hard to achieve with the diet I had and my lack of exercise. Almost immediately after noticing this gain of fat, I decided that in order to keep my same lifestyle I would have to drastically increase the amount of exercise I was doing, which at this point was almost none. I began swimming or lifting weights three to four times a week and I began to see results very soon. If I began to busy in school, however, I would not be able to work out as often which would cause my weight to slip once again. This meant that the rise in my consumption of junk food, and my decrease in physical activity were combining to make me less fit.

During my research I was able to see that I was not at all alone when it comes to weight worries as a college freshman. According to a study done by Nicole L. Mihalopoulos of the University of Utah School of Medicine, “Freshman weight gain was 5.5 times greater than that experienced by the general population.” (Mihalopoulos) This is consistent with the findings of Brad Cardinal of Oregon State University who found in his study on the eating habits of college students that “Both males and females were consuming more than 30 percent of their calories from fat, which exceeds the American Dietic Association’s recommendation of no more than 30 percent a week.” (Yeager and Cardinal) While both of these studies show that first year college students are less healthy and gain more weight than the average person, it is still rare to see a student gain as much weight as the infamous freshman fifteen. For Dr. Mihalopoulos’ study the average student only gained 2.7 lbs., and for a similar study that was conducted at Auburn the mean average for the students tested was only 2.6 lbs. (Gropper, 226)

After reading this research I began to think, “Is there a connection between these general unhealthy eating habits and the weight gain associated with them and eating substantial amounts late at night?” To answer this question I looked into a study by Ruth H. Striegel-Moore, a professor of psychology at Wesleyan University, and her associates. They set out to determine the health implications of night eating. They interviewed a total of 8,250 participants about the foods they had eaten the 24 hours before. From the data that they collected they were able to separate the participants into two groups: night eaters, and non-night eaters. They classified a night eater as anyone that ate 50% of their daily calories after 7 pm or ate anything after 11 pm. I would definitely find myself as a part of this group. They found that approximately 25% of participants were able to be classified as night eaters. When the night eaters were compared to the non-night eaters they were able to see that night eaters did not eat as healthy as non-night eaters. Night eaters consumed, on average, 300 more calories, 300 mg of sodium more, and slightly less protein than their non-night eating counterparts. Despite this clear difference between the diets of night eaters and non-night eaters, they were unable to find a difference in the occurrence of obesity between the two groups. This means that although eating late at night tends to be unhealthier than traditional eating, it doesn’t have a direct connection to weight gain. (Striegel-Moore)

The high amount of calories consumed late at night is not the only negative effect of eating before going to sleep. Another major effect of late night eating is the way that it affects sleep. Whenever I eat large amounts of food before bed the pressure of the food within my stomach often makes it too uncomfortable to sleep immediately. This causes me to often wait to go to bed until after my meal has settled which results in me losing out on precious sleep. “Insomnia or the inability to fall or stay asleep is the most common sleep complaint among Americans, according the National Sleep Foundation.” (McLaughlin, Insomnia) Eating or drinking too much right before sleeping can contribute to this. (McLaughlin, Insomnia)

Sleep deprivation is no slight matter. According to the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, the short term effects of sleep deprivation can include: anxiety, drowsiness, forgetfulness, decreased performance and alertness, memory and cognitive impairment, and more. (PAMF) If this sleep deprivation continues for a long period of time the effects can be much more severe. The long-term impacts can include high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, obesity, and psychiatric problems. The most noticeable effect from sleep deprivation that I experience is drowsiness. This causes me to not be able to pay attention in class and occasionally I will even doze off. This drowsiness then causes me to choose to take naps instead of doing homework. This means that once I am done sleeping it is fairly late, and my homework won’t be started until late at night. This chain reaction causes me to eat a late night meal all over again. This is a vicious cycle that will often continue throughout my week.

While I am aware that my diet has never been exceedingly healthy, I never really thought about the way that my dietary changes at college especially the habit of night eating had affected my health. My life has become one that is filled with unhealthy choices, and there is definitely a connection between my health and my choice to eat late at night. Eating at night is just one of many factors that contribute to the general unhealthiness of college students. It is apparent that my dietary habits, along with those of many other college students, must be changed in the future in order to prevent lifelong health problems.

Works Cited

Gropper, Sareen S., Karla P. Simmons, Alisha Gaines, Kelly Drawdy, Desiree Saunders, Pamela Ulrich, and Lenda J. Connell. "Freshman 15-A Closer Look." Journal of American College Health 58.3 (2009): 223-31.Unc.edu. Web. 22 May 2013.

"How Many Can I Have?" ChooseMyPlate.gov. United States Department of Agriculture, n.d. Web. 22 May 2013.

Mihalopoulos, Nicole L,M.D., M.P.H., Auinger, P., & Klein, Jonathan D,M.D., M.P.H. (2008). The freshman 15: Is it real? Journal of American College Health, 56(5), 531-3. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/213088707?accountid=14608

McLaughlin, August. "The Negative Effects of Eating Before Bed." Healthy Eating. SFGATE, n.d. Web. 22 May 2013.

"NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION." Pizza Nutrition, Calories in Pizza. Pizza Hut, n.d. Web. 22 May 2013.

"Short- and Long-Term Effects of Sleep Deprivation." Sleep Disorder Center. Palo Alto Medical Foundation, n.d. Web. 22 May 2013.

Yeager, Angela, and Brad Cardinal. "Study: College Students Not Eating Enough Fruits and Vegetables." Oregonstate.edu. Oregon State University, 17 Aug. 2011. Web. 22 May 2013

A Fad Driven Society

As very cognitively driven creatures we are able to use large amounts of logic and reason in every part of our lives. This is no different when it comes to the foods that we eat. Our society compiles as much past information as possible to create a perfect diet. Different people always are saying that they know the new secret to a perfect diet. All of these new secrets have one thing in common; they never last.

If you look back through our past you will see the ways that what they thought they should eat are different than they are today. Melanie Dupuis does just this in her essay “Angels and Vegetables”. She spends most of the essay talking about food history in early America, mostly in the 19^th century. Pollan on the other hand talks about the ways that we have changed from “deciding what to eat without expert help” to using these experts’ scientific evidence to dictate everything that we eat. These essays combine to form a comprehensive history of recent dietary changes.

As our world has invented new ways to spread information we have become increasingly controlled by fads. These fads never last as a whole, but there are parts of them that hang around. In both of these essays it is evident that what we eat is controlled, and most of what we eat runs in fads. While things like the importance of certain vitamins and minerals come and go, we still retain that they are good for our health even if we don’t view them as essential as before. 

Food Values

The foods that I decide to eat are influenced by many things. The biggest of these was probably the way that I was raised. My parents always tried their best to feed me and my brother healthy foods. This made me put healthiness as an important factor in my food. They did, however, on occasion take us to a fast food restaurant which made me love the times that I get to eat out. Another thing that helps me decide what to eat is time. If I have plenty of time to eat I will usually take my time in deciding what food to make or buy. If I do not have very much time to eat, however, I will eat whatever satisfies me that fits into the time that I have. This often means I will eat whatever is put in front of me.

A big value that I would like to have is nutrition. I would like the live my life without many setbacks and nutritious food would help my body do this. Another big value of mine is eating socially. I like to use food to connect to the people in my life because I feel that our relationships with other people are what defines us and food makes these connections even stronger.

SE5

Burning the Midnight Oil: Bad for Our Health?

This past weekend I recorded every food that I ate. When I looked back on the foods that I ate, I noticed a recurring pattern in my eating habits; a large portion of the food that I ate was consumed late at night, and very little of it was eaten in the morning. During my examination of many other classmates’ food logs I was able to see that this was not an isolated phenomenon. Several of my classmates ate substantial amounts of food much later than the average person. While this may seem odd for the average person this is actually what I had expected the results to be. I spend most of my weekend nights roaming the streets in search of places that seem to be a good time and while I’m out I see large numbers of other college students. However, I couldn’t help but wonder: if so many young people are eating food at night does this affect their health in any way?

                Ruth H. Striegel-Moore, a professor of psychology at Wesleyan University, and her associates set to determine many of aspects of the way that night eating affects health. Their study included interviewing 8,250 participants between the ages of 15 and 39 about the foods that they had eaten in the previous 24 hours as well as some of their background health and behavioral information, and then using this information to draw conclusions about the effects of night eating on things such as obesity, poor nutrition, and depression. They used the information gathered to place the participants into two groups: night eaters and non-night eaters. They defined a night eater as one who ate more than 50% of their calories after 7 pm or ate anything after 11 pm. They were able to divide the night eaters into four subgroups: nondepressed late night eaters, nondepressed evening eaters, depressed late night eaters, and depressed evening eaters.

                In their study there was a reasonably large amount of people that were classified as night eaters, approximately 25% of all participants. Striegel-Moore and her associates were able to make distinct connections from the differences between night eaters and non-night eaters. For example, night eaters are more likely to be non-Hispanic black men than non-night eaters and are on average younger as well. According to their data night eaters are more likely to use marijuana or crack/cocaine than non-night eaters. However, they found that this connection to drugs is more related to depression than night eating. The most significant evidence to show that night eating is less healthy is in the nutritional differences between night eaters and non-night eaters. Night eaters, on average, consume 300 more calories than non-night eaters. The diets of night eaters also included 300 mg more sodium and slightly less protein than non-night eaters. The late night eaters had even higher amounts of calories and sodium and less protein than evening night eaters. Although night eaters on average have less nutritious diets than non-night eaters; they do not, according to the data, have a higher occurrence of obesity. It was also found that sleep disturbance was more closely related to depression rather than night eating.

                As a traditional American college student, I love the lifestyle of staying up late and sleeping in. This sleeping pattern of staying up late causes me to eat a large amount of my daily calories late at night. It is not unusual to find me and many other college students enjoying delicious Middle Eastern food at Jerusalems at times as late 3 a.m. The problem with me and many of my college peers is that we often do not think about the health consequences of eating late at night. In their article in the International Journal of Eating Disorders Dr. Ruth Striegel-Moore and her associates compare the health habits of young adults who eat at night and those who do not through the interviewing of thousands of subjects. They were able to determine that there truly are some nutritional concerns associated with night eating. This means that this trend of night eating could be detrimental to our health if we continue on our present course.

Works Cited

Striegel-Moore, R. H., Franko, D. L., Thompson, D., Affenito, S., May, A. and Kraemer, H. C. (2008), Exploring the typology of night eating syndrome. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 41: 411–418. doi: 10.1002/eat.20514

SE5 source

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3137820/

This article is about a study that looked into the unhealthy nature of late night eating in adolescents.

Observation from food logs

The number of meals and the types of foods eaten were often consistent with when the person wakes up. The people that wake up earlier often eat healthier foods and eat three square meals. The late risers on the other hand eat more 'junk' food and typically only eat lunch and dinner and maybe a late night snack.

Food Log

Friday:

1:30- Freddy's- burger with cheese and onions, hot dog with onions and saurkraut, fries, sierra mist

6:10- halls cafeteria- slice of pizza, cheeseburger, nachos with cheese, beans, beef, olives, guacamole, salsa

9:00- fruit mentos

10:00- peachie-os

Saturday:

3:15- ihop- Swedish crepes, apple juice

7:20- mcdonalds- 20 chicken nuggest with bbq sauce, med coke

Sunday-

3:00 a.m.- greeks gone wild- 5 chicken tenders with ranch, fries

12:15- holiday inn brunch- dill salmon, cocktail shrimp, bacon, sausage, sausage and ham and cheese omelet, strawberry and whipped cream waffles, lemonade

5:45-mustards last stand- chili cheese dog, fries, coke

11:00-super pretzel with salt

11:30-cinnamon rolls

SE4: Popcorn

                While sitting in my room this weekend I had a big decision to make: stay and do homework, or go out and see a movie with my friends. Being the great student that I am, I made the logical decision to put off my homework for later and catch a movie. Going to a movie doesn’t mean just buying a ticket and sitting quietly through a film. It also means buying a pop and some of that incredibly irresistible popcorn. Once I finally got around to doing my homework there was only one food on my mind, popcorn. I began thinking about its buttery, salty deliciousness, and I realized that I didn’t really know much about the food. Where did it come from? How is it grown? How did it come to be such a big snack in America?  And most importantly, how the heck does popcorn pop? These are just some of the things I will touch on in my investigation of the world of popping corn.

                We do not know much about the origins of popcorn because it is a relatively new food. It is native to the Americas; therefore it was not until the exploration of the New World that traditional civilizations had their hands on it. (USDA, Early History) The oldest discovered popcorn ears were 5,600 years old and found in the Bat Cave of west central New Mexico. (USDA, Early History) It wasn’t until the 16^th century, however, that Europeans were introduced to popcorn. They noticed Native American’s popping the corn with heated sand.

                To early popcorn eaters popcorn was a much different food than it is today. In today’s world we mostly eat popcorn covered in salt and butter or candied with caramel or chocolate. Native Americans and the settlers of the Americas on the other hand used made meals like popcorn soup or popcorn cereal. (USDA, Europeans Meet Popcorn)In the early days popcorn was mostly a small, homegrown crop. It wasn’t until the 1890’s when things like fairs, parks, and expositions became popular that popcorn really ‘exploded’. (Popcorn Board, Recent Popcorn History) Popcorn sales had a small slump in the 1940’s with the growth of television. Televisions caused less people to go to movies theaters which were a big source of popcorn sales. Popcorn had a resurgence when the microwave ovens gained popularity and became a way for everyday people to cook it easily at home. This growth hasn’t stopped yet with Americans eating 17.3 billion quarts of popcorn every year. (Popcorn Board, Recent Popcorn History)

                Popping corn is very similar to the traditional dent corn that we eat, and it is produced in a very similar way as well. Like traditional corn, popcorn is planted in temperate zones. Popcorn is typically planted in the spring during April through mid-May. There are, however, agricultural differences between popcorn and regular dent corn. Popcorn does not have as extensive of a root system and is not as efficient at utilizing nutrients as dent corn. (ISU, Agronomic Characteristics) This means that popcorn plants require well hydrated soil that has a large amount of nutrients. Popcorn is traditionally harvested by combines and other machines in the fall. This can, however, cause damage to the corn kernels. For this reason some farmers prefer to collect their corn by hand to have a superior product. This takes much more time and money to do though. (ISU, Agronomic Characteristcs) Once harvested popcorn is dried and then stored. This stored product can then be distributed and sold to consumers.

                One of the biggest curiosities of people when it comes to popcorn is how the popcorn pops. Native Americans originally believed that there were spirits inside the kernels and they became angry when their home was heated. (USDA, How does popcorn pop?)The real reason behind the popping of popcorn is not quite as magical as they once thought. Inside of each popcorn kernel there is a small amount of water that is surrounded by soft starch. When the kernel is heated, the water turns into steam which builds up pressure within the kernel. Once the pressure becomes too much the kernel bursts, and the soft starch layer expands into the white, puffy exterior of the popped corn. (USDA, How does popcorn pop?)

                Through my research I learned quite a bit about a food industry that I knew very little about. I learned the history of popcorn, including its origin and early use. I was also able to find out the way that popcorn is produced agriculturally, which is very similar to the production of traditional dent corn. The most interesting thing that I learned through my research was the mechanism by which popcorn pops. This information gained through research will influence my relationship with popcorn by allowing me to think about the way that my popcorn is reacting as I cook it, rather than just thinking of it as cooking in an ambiguous manner.

               

Works Cited

1. Duffy, Mike, and Jodi Calvert. "Enterprise Budget: Popcorn." Extension.iastate.edu. Iowa State University, n.d. Web. 7 May 2013.

2. "History of Popcorn." Popcorn. The Popcorn Board, n.d. Web. 07 May 2013.

3. "Popcorn: Ingrained in America's Agricultural History." National Agricultural Library. United States Department of Agriculture, 23 Apr. 2013. Web. 07 May 2013.

P7: The Inhumane Nature of Food

                “Treat people as you would like to be treated”, this is phrase that many people learn as small children. It is evident after reading these articles that many people especially in the food industry do not treat people, animals, or even the foods themselves with respect whatsoever. In Cook’s “Fowl Trouble”, he talks about the ways that workers within the poultry industry are being horribly mistreated. He talks about the life-threatening conditions that they are forced to work in. These include things such as exposure many harmful bacteria and many on the job injury hazards such as chicken attacks and machinery malfunctions.

Barry Estabrook also talks about inhumane practices in the food industry in “Tomatoland”, but he looks into the tomato industry. He talks about the horrible conditions that workers live and work in that can be very bad for their health. He also looks at the ways that we are forced to buy inferior, chemically created tomatoes. These tomatoes are created using deadly chemicals and do not possess the natural flavors of tomatoes.

In Pollan’s “An Animal’s Place”, he examines the inhumane practices of the American meat industry. Pollan looked deep into the part of the meat industry that most people are not aware of. He found that most of the meat products that we eat come from animals that were forced to suffer to give us the cheapest product possible. Cows, chickens, and pigs are forced to walk waist deep in their own feces and are killed in very inhumane ways. He does, however, find that there are some farms that treat their animals with respect. These farms set a fine example for others to follow. Their products when compared to the commercial meat products are much more expensive because their processes require much more time and effort.

All of these authors come together on one common point; that the ways that a large part of our food industry operates in a fashion that needs to be changed. However, this change will not be easy at all, but it needs to be done before we lose much of the humanity in our society.

SE4: Garlic Source

I chose to do my research on garlic.

This article talks about the history and background of garlic. It is a general encyclopedia reference

http://0-www.credoreference.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/topic/garlic

P6: Diets: Good or Evil?

As humans we have the ability to think about the things that we do, and this includes eating. However, this can cause us to overthink something as simple as food. We can’t just eat the foods that give us pleasure anymore; we have to eat the things that we have decided will make us healthier and live longer. This stems from something Pollan calls “the omnivore’s dilemma.” This means that with the ability to eat many different kinds of food we are faced with the problem of deciding for ourselves what to eat. As Pollan explains this causes problems like our susceptibility to diet fads. Any one that has a medical degree immediately becomes an expert that we think that we can trust to know what is best for us. As we have come to an era where most of the foods that we eat come prepackaged with the nutritional facts across them, we are forced to think about whether this is going to be detrimental to our health or not. I found it very interesting that people like the French who eat their food with more regard towards taste rather than health tend to be healthier than the health conscious people of America.

                I can see this phenomenon of eating for health in many places in my life. I have been an athlete all of my life and this is very closely tied to the nutritional values of the foods that I eat. I have been a competitive swimmer since I was eight years and I have always watched the health values of the foods that I eat during the competition season. I feel that these healthy foods help me to perform better than if I were eating junk food. However, when I look at other people I can see that they do not have the same standards of health as me. People who are obese will do things like go on diets to become healthy. They will do things like eat more salads and fewer desserts, but they will not put in the work that is required. They think that this change of eating habits will by itself cause them to lose weight and become healthier, but they forget about exercise. This means that when they fail to lose weight at the rate that they desire they drop or change the diet rather than add exercise.

In class post. Deciding what to eat

What I eat is dictated by many things, but the biggest of these is time. If I am short on time I will usually eat what will not take very long to prepare. This often consists of things that are microwavable like Hot Pockets or things I don’t have to cook myself like fast-food products. For the meals that I have ample time I am more likely to spend time cooking something, or I will go to a restaurant that is not quite as fast. Another thing that dictates what I eat is the activities in my life. When I am in something athletic like a sport, I tend to eat healthier than if I were not.  These healthier choices help me to perform at a higher level as well as just making me healthier as a person. I would like to change to spend time choosing what I eat and making smarter food choices.

EE1: Making Memories with Food

Making Memories with Food

Ever since we were little we were always told, “You are what you eat”. You might not think that this applies to you, but other people may think of you like a food. Now they probably aren’t thinking of you as something they want to eat (unless they are a cannibal). Rather, they are almost certainly thinking of you by the food that reminds them of you. A certain food may act as a metonym for that person; this means that the food becomes almost a symbol of that person. I know that in my life there are definitely foods that instantly make me think of a person or group of people. In our lives foods can be valuable as a source of memory elicitation especially when it comes to the people that are associated with them.

                As a child of two different households, it is very easy to associate specific foods to each of my parents. The biggest connection between one of my parents and a food has to be my dad and macaroni and cheese. My dad being the typical man that he is did not have very much experience cooking when I was little. He tried his best to make us home cooked meals, but he would usually just end up serving us pre-cooked foods like TV dinners and pizzas. When he finally came across a meal that he could make and that we liked, it soon became a staple in our household. This food was the always delicious macaroni and cheese. As time went on other dishes we added to the meal; the most popular of which was grilled salmon. Even after my dad got better at cooking and got remarried he still cooked us mac and cheese on a regular basis. He has since taught me his recipe, and I have made it myself quite a few times at college. Every time that I make it it never fails to make me think of my dad and all of the great times that we had while eating together.  No matter the restaurant that I have ordered macaroni and cheese I have never found one that can compete with my dad’s version of the classic.

                These links between the food that we eat and the people we associate with them are not just linked to the family that we have known our entire lives; they can also be found with our friends. I can see this when I look at my friend Tyler and burritos. Only a couple years ago we fell in love with a place called Pancheros. Pancheros may be incredibly similar to restaurants like Chipotle, but there was just something about this place that set it apart. Soon Tyler and I began frequenting Pancheros on a regular basis; sometimes as often as three times a week! This created a strong link in my brain between these delicious burritos and my friend Tyler. Even now that I am in college and I rarely see Tyler, I still think of the good times we had at Pancheros whenever I order a burrito.

                In the first reading of this quarter, “Eating White”, Geoff Nicholson makes a very similar connection to his mother. He talks about trying to recreate the meals that his mother used to make for him and the ways that these foods help to bring back memories of his late mother and his time growing up in Northern England. He then goes on to talk about his time growing up in England with his mother and his mother’s fascination with white and very often bland foods. White foods were a kind of comfort food for his mother, and she continued to cook them until she died.  His attempt to reconstruct these bland foods is a way for him to remember his mother as a person.  When describing the meal he says, “If this seems a rather pallid and unexciting meal, then that’s exactly the way my mother would have wanted it.”(Nicholson, 21) Even though these foods are incredibly bland, they still bring back fond memories of his mother.

                These links between people and food are what make up the cultural food differences in this world. The experiences we gain from growing up create who we are as adults, and this includes the foods that we eat. The people that raise us set the groundwork for our future eating habits. This is evident in Roy Ahn’s ,”Home Run: My Journey Back to Korean Food”. Ahn talks about the influence that his Korean heritage has on the way he eats. While growing up his parents fed him traditional Korean cuisine, even though they now lived in America. As Ahn grew to adulthood he lost some of this connection to Korean food, but a stop at a Korean restaurant made him reflect on his family and the foods that they cooked him as a child. He had formed distinct connection between his mother and the Korean food that she used to serve. With a child on the way he decided that his Korean heritage needed to be passed on. This recollection of the important people from his past, therefore, was able to help the continuation of his food culture.

                There are scientific reasons for this connection between memories and the foods that we eat. There is a place in the brain called the hippocampus; the hippocampus is very important for memories, especially long-term, declarative memories. The hippocampus is strongly connected to the parts of the brain that are important for emotion and smell. (Allen) This means that food and memories are closely connected through the hippocampus. In an interview about his novel The Omnivorous Mind, John S. Allen states, “Emotion and novelty tend to make events more memorable, and those tied in some way with food may make for even more powerful memories.”

                Memories form the fabric of who we are as people.  Everyone eats different kinds of foods, but no matter the food there is always some kind of connection to memories. These connections may have different strengths depending on the memories, but I have found that the greatest food-memory connection come from the bonds we make with other people.

P5: Eating on the Edge

In Jamie Horwitz’s “Eating on the Edge”, she develops an argument that it is becoming more frequent that, “food is an additive to a situation…rather than being definitive”. She uses many examples to explain why this has become the social norm. She starts by using an example from her own life; she talks about a student who is eating a messy sandwich in her class and thinks about it like students smoking cigarettes in class during her time. Smoking cigarettes was something you would do in conjunction with another activity, and eating has become something that we use in a similar way.

                She also talks about the ways in which recent innovations have created new ways for food to be eaten at our convenience, but this also makes eating happen more often by oneself. She uses the example of Campbell’s Soup at Hand to develop this point; it has created a perfect way for soup to become something to take with you by being able to be heated quickly and fit conveniently into your cup holder. She also talks about the T.V. dinner which made food more convenient, and it also made our dinners an additive to watching television.

                An example of this phenomenon in my life is the way that I order food that I didn’t prepare, and I eat it while doing things like watching a movie. For example, this weekend I did not have the desire to cook anything or go and get something, so I decided to order a pizza. Once I got the pizza I decided to watch a movie with it. While watching this movie, I was eating pizza nearly the entire time. It had become an additive to the movie rather than a meal that has been set apart to eat with people. 

Beer: A Social Beverage

Beer: A Social Beverage

No matter the time, the situations we find ourselves in are often defined by what we are eating or drinking. Within any restaurant you will find a different style and culture, especially when it comes to the social makeup of the restaurant. Some restaurants are intended to be places where you can be social and interact with other while others are just meant to be places for you to eat. This weekend I definitely found myself at a place that would be classified as the former. After driving for about twenty minutes I came across a bustling restaurant by the name of the Yard House.  Its entrance was filled with people waiting to be seated, and the sounds of classic rock and customers talking filled the air. After a slight wait I was able to be seated and my journey through the sights and sounds of the Yard House was ready to begin.              

                Immediately I was able to determine that this restaurant was dominated by one thing, beer. This was evident from the statement on the building’s sign, “Word’s Largest Selection of Draft Beer”. Once inside the restaurant I was able to see that the bar was situated in the direct center of the building. This was display of its centrality for the establishment. After being seated it was soon apparent that nearly every person that could have a beer was having one. Everyone from the twenty-something year olds on a date to the middle aged parents having a family meal was having a beer, and they certainly seemed to be enjoying it too. The patrons of the Yard House were connected not only by what they were drinking but also by the way they interacted with each other socially. I was unable to find a place in the restaurant where there weren’t people talking and enjoying each other’s company. This got me thinking that maybe these two were connected, and this became the focus of not only my time taking field notes but also during the following days.

                I began by looking into the role that beer has within my own cultural group. On college campuses all across the country young students experiment with alcohol with beer being probably the biggest type consumed. I have to say that the biggest way that beer is used in a college student’s life is as a social stimulant. They use beer as a way to spur them into meeting new people and having a good time. As people drink more beers, they become looser and more open to starting conversations that they normally would be too shy to start. Beer is also tends to be a beverage best enjoyed in a group; almost everyone that drinks a beer while in college does it while surrounded by their good friends. This was the same as in the Yard House where these people all had company while enjoying the wide variety of beer types.

                Through some online research I was able to find some more links between the social parts of life and beer. One of these links is the use of beer as a kind of social status indicator. The Social Issues Research Centre says that, “differences in age, class, status, aspirations, and affiliations are frequently expressed through beverage choice”.  This is clear when you compare the Yard House customers to average college students. The SIRC says that, “imported or ‘foreign’ drinks have a higher status than ‘local’ beverages”. This was shown by the attraction of the people at the Yard House to their variety of beer. With such a large selection, people are able to choose a beer that is much rarer than what they are accustomed to. Drinking a beer that is rare makes the drinker feel important unlike drinking a traditional, commonplace beer, and it also makes them look as though they are higher socially. College students on the other hand are forced to drink common, cheap beers. These beers have a reputation of being bad and poorly made, and this has a habit of then being projected onto the person drinking it. This makes college students appear to be at the bottom of the social ladder.

                The Yard House is a location where food, drinking, and fun all come together. Through an hour of observations it was able to give me insight into the ways people interact with a beverage like beer. It has connections to the way we interact socially as well as the way we view each other socially. 

Potential Sources for SE3

This page examines the social and cultural aspects of alcohol. It looks at things such as alcohol's role as a status indicator, situation definer, statement of affiliation, gender differentiator, and the role of drinking places.

http://www.sirc.org/publik/drinking6.html

Cate and O'Donnell: Food and Community

Much of who we are comes from the foods that we eat; it can come from the individuality that it gives us within a group, or it can be a way to fit into a group. In “Breaking Bread with a Spread” and “The Cultural Politics of Eating in Shenzhen”, the authors explore the ways that food and communities are linked within specific groups and the different roles that these foods have within the communities.

                In “Breaking Bread with a Spread”, Sandra Cate looks into the foods that inmates in a local prison eat and the ways in which the food brings them together while also setting them apart within the prison community. The main cuisine that she looks into is called “spread”. Spread is different for every inmate , but it is basically a mixture of whatever ingredients an inmate likes within the limited ingredients in the prison. Spread is a way for the inmates to use their creativity. They create many different spreads by experimenting with everything at their disposal, often trying to recreate meals that they loved from the outside. The spreads are also a way for inmates to connect with one another. Spreads are almost always eaten with other inmates, and the groups that are formed are usually based off of common tastes and cultures. As inmate Kermit Saunders said, “It’s like we bonding in here when we break bread with a spread”.

                Mary Ann O’Donnell examines a much larger and different group in “The Cultural Politics of Eating in Shenzhen”. She looks into the ways that China is divided based upon the foods that they eat and the areas that they live in, and how this affects the kind of people that they are. For example, the people that live in southern China mostly eat fish. Fish is very hard to come by, so southerners are forced to be “sneaky” and “quick-witted” to get the food that they need. In Northern China, however, there are cows, and cows are not very hard to capture and kill. This difference in cultures created a more honest group of people in Northern China because they did not have to fight for their food, but northerners did not become as intelligent and crafty as the southerners because they did not learn the skills from the fight for food. As time has gone along, there has also been a division caused by the age of the people of Shenzhen. The “Old Shenzheners” often have experience from living in the countryside which has given them a great appreciation for the food of the city. Meanwhile, “New Shenzheners” do not have these experiences so they are fully immersed in the city lifestyle and think of their food in a much different way.

                In these articles the authors are looking at very different communities, but they are very similar in the ways in which food brings them together. In Cate’s article about prison the inmates are divided based upon their tastes and previous culture, but they were also able to express themselves through the food. In O’Donnell’s article they are united by the areas that they come from as well as their life’s experiences. I found it interesting in prison that something like food could set someone apart through their individual exploits with food, but it could also bring them together and give them a sense of belonging. I also found it interesting that the food of each area of China not only changed the tastes of the people, but it also changed the personality types associated with the groups.

Gatorade vs. PowerAde: A Battle of Thirst Quenchers

Gabe Ellison

4/7/13

WRIT 1133

Gatorade vs. PowerAde: A Battle of Thirst Quenchers

No matter what sport you play there are times that you use sports drinks for hydration. The market for sports drinks is dominated by two major brands: Gatorade and PowerAde. As you can imagine in a market that is dominated by two brands there is very stingy competition between the two. No matter the advertisement, all of their ads are aimed at the same people, athletes. These two advertisements are prime examples of the techniques employed by sports drink companies; celebrity endorsement and scientific evidence.

                In this Gatorade ad, it is very clear which advertising technique they are using. They are using images of a very famous athlete, or ethos, to tell you to buy their product. This is meant to show the consumer that if this athlete drinks Gatorade and is amazing; it can help you be amazing as well! In this case the athlete is none other than Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan is widely viewed as the greatest basketball player of all time, and he is probably one of the most recognizable athletes in the world.

The ad contains the image of a bottle of Gatorade next to pictures from various points in Jordan’s life. These include him in high school, college, various iconic points in his pro career, present day, and even his motorsports company. The images from Jordan’s pro career are used in various Gatorade commercials because they are linked with their product. One is of him collapsing in the arms of his teammate during the famous playoff game in which he played despite being horribly sick. This is an example of his perseverance with the help of Gatorade. Another is of his incredible free-throw line dunk during a slam dunk contest; this is meant to show Gatorade’s ability boosting properties.

The layout of the ad is the series of pictures with the words THEN. NOW. FOREVER. in large font underneath. This tells young athletes that Michael Jordan has used Gatorade throughout his legendary career and always will, and in order to be as great as him you should too. The words are in traditional Gatorade font and are bold enough to be easily read. The Gatorade bottle sticks out against the background of black and white photos because of the its vibrant red color. This highlights the Gatorade as well as emphasizing the classic nature of the pictures.

The PowerAde advertisement on the other hand uses scientific information to attract consumers to their product. It has many statements about its ION⁴ advanced electrolyte system. It states that it, “helps to replenish 4 electrolytes lost in sweat”. These electrolytes are sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. By stating that their product contains these electrolytes, PowerAde is implying that these are necessary for people that sweat on a regular basis, and who sweats more than athletes? Stating that their product contains these electrolytes also implies that their competitor’s product does not have these in them which creates an image a superior product.

 The layout of the PowerAde ad is very simple, but also very bold. The ad features a series of very colorful PowerAde bottles against a black background. This makes the bottles stand out and creates an athletic color scheme. The text is very basic and white on a black background which makes it easy to read. The largest word on the add is the word complete. This gives the impression that the drink is well rounded and contains the things that you need. Next to the where it says ION⁴ there is what looks like an x made out of a molecule diagram. This adds to the scientific nature of the advertisement.

Both of these ads are trying to attract the same group of people by different means. One uses a celebrity endorser to attract their customers while the other uses scientific reason as their selling point. These can attract different people within the broad groups of athletes in the world. In the world of sports drinks, the products all taste very similar so advertising is incredibly important. Attracting a customer can create a lifelong connection with your product, especially if the customer is an athlete.

The food cultures and values that can be derived from these ads are found in the way that we view athletics in our society. We view athletics as one of the most important things in our society. We see success in athletics as a major goal in life and envy those who do succeed. These ads play on the way that all athletes strive to be the best and the companies are trying to tell you that there product gives you the best chance at being the best. 

Potato Chips: the universal food

Throughout our lives I’m sure all of us have heard the phrase, “you are what you eat”. However, when you think about this more, it must also be true that you are what you buy. In this article Freedman and Jurafsky explore the ways in which advertising changes depending on the people they are trying to appeal to. They did this through the examination of the potato chip industry. They separated the potato chips into groups based on price, with one group being the “expensive” chips and the other the “inexpensive” chips. The expensive chips tended to be advertising to the upper class while the inexpensive chips were trying to appeal to the middle and lower class. The way that they are able to do this is through the use of different language. The more expensive chips on average had more words and longer words than the inexpensive chips; this is because wealthier people tend to be more educated than middle and lower class people and, therefore, are more attracted to sophisticated packaging. Wealthier people also have more freedom when it comes to the products that they can buy so they try to eat the healthier products even if they are more expensive. Therefore, the more expensive bags of chips contain more words that are health related such as healthier, low fat, no cholesterol, and low sodium. This use of negative language implies to the consumer that the other products have these bad things in them, so you should buy their product to be healthier. Another big part of chip advertising is the emphasis of “authenticity”. Freedman and Jurafsky say that, ”For the upper class, being authentic means being natural”. This means that more expensive packaging contains many words emphasizing the naturalness of the product and a lack of artificial or fake ingredients. Meanwhile, “, for the working class, authenticity is rooted in historicity, including family tradition, the model of a company as a family business with an explicit founder, and regional American locations”. This means that for the working class they are able to connect more with advertising that contains more mention of things such as it being a family or hometown business. I found it interesting that there is such a connection between a product and a person. I didn’t realize that the product that a person buys is so closely related to their values such as health and family. This essay opened my eyes to other food products and how they are able to appeal to the consumer in similar ways. I think these same principles could be found in the beer industry. I feel that if you look at the ways that beer companies try to appeal to their target demographic you could see some glaring similarities. For example, the lower and middle class are mostly concerned with price while the upper class is concerned with things like the expert craftsmanship.

First Short Essay

WRIT 1133

Gabe Ellison

Eric Leake

Food: The Sustenance for Our Lives

Food is a vital part of everyone’s life; not only because it is needed for survival but because of the way it makes us feel. The food in our lives changes while we change, so food can be a defining thing in our lives. Our love of food is influenced by many things, but the major ones for me are the personal, social, and familial influences.

One of the greatest parts of food is that it affects everyone in different ways. Everyone has a different taste for food. We all have our specific foods that we love, and we also have those foods that we can’t stand. For me my favorite food is seafood. I don’t know if it’s the connection that seafood and vacation have for me or just a general love for its taste. When it comes to the foods that I hate, the two things that create my distaste are a general dislike for the taste and an unpleasant consistency.

My main personal connections with food are with the satisfaction of hunger, enjoyment of amazing foods, and cure of boredom.  Everyone needs to eat food to stay alive; if we go too long without eating we get hungry, and the only way to get rid of this is to eat food.  Eating great tasting food can be one of the most enjoyable things in life. An amazing meal can make you satisfied as well as happy. A large part of the food that I eat is eaten out of boredom. For me eating is very entertaining, especially if the food is particularly delicious. This can be bad because it often causes me to eat unhealthy foods such as candy.

One of the biggest influences food has on life is the way that we interact socially with it. Much of the time that we spend with other people involves food. And who better to spend time with than your friends. When I first came to the University of Denver, food was a big part of me meeting people. I didn’t know anyone before coming here, so that was very important. Early in my first quarter I was able to find people around my floor who wanted to go grab food at the dining hall. This sprung a few friendships that allowed we to gain the confidence to meet more people. I was also the only person on my floor that had a car, so I was able to find food off campus and could bring people with me as well. As the year has gone along I eat most of my meals with friends. I go eat fast food with my guy friends, and I go to the cafeteria with the girls from my floor. I have even started habits of going to certain places with certain friends. For example, every time that I want to get a burger I go to Smashburger with my friend Gracie. This has made Smashburger something of a college staple for me. Food has been a great way for me to connect with people here at college, and it has given me a great sense of belonging.

My family is probably my greatest influence in both my taste for food and the memories tied to them. My parents were the people that fed me for the first eighteen years of my life. This along with my genetic predispositions for taste molded the way that I feel about food. Early in my life, my mom cooked almost every one of my meals because we did not have very much money; this created a love for fast food once we had the money to eat out more. Throughout my life there have always been foods that my parents have forced me to eat foods I didn’t like because they were good for me. Without them I would be the unhealthiest person of all time!

When I reminisce about things in my life there is always a different food tied to a different part of my life. One of the biggest connections I have is macaroni and cheese with my dad. My parents divorced when I was three years old, so I have split time between my mom’s and my dad’s houses ever since. In the beginnings of my time with my dad we lived alone without a woman to help with the cooking or cleaning. This meant that my dad had to cook for us quite a bit. He did not have very much experience with cooking so most of the meals he cooked for us were very simple. The most common of these foods was macaroni and cheese. At first he would just make macaroni and cheese, but as he became better at cooking he added more things to the meal. The greatest combination was macaroni and cheese and grilled salmon. This meal has become a staple in life with my dad, and he continues to make it even though he has now been remarried for the last 10+ years.  Even though I have had this meal hundreds of times throughout my life I still love. So much so that I make macaroni and cheese at college and I use my dad’s recipe.

In life there are not many things that are more important than food. Although it does not seem incredibly special most of the time because it is something we do every day. It is essential because it keeps us alive, gives us enjoyment, and forms many lifelong connections with people. I know that when I take a closer look at my life I can see its great importance to me, especially in the personal, social, and familial aspects of my life.  

Cultural Food Observations

When reading my classmates’ blogs about their most recent meal, I was able to see that all of us have one thing in common regardless of where we come from, a hatred for Sodexo. The people who actually got up early enough for breakfast just came out and spoke the truth about their horrible food. The rest of us showed our distaste for Sodexo food by not even eating breakfast. This showed that their food was not worth losing 30 minutes of sleep for. Sodexo can show us that even though we may come from different backgrounds; we still know when food is terrible. 

P2: Ahn and Nicholson

For both Ahn and Nicholson the foods present in their lives and the ones that have the most significance to them stem from their relationships with their family. Ahn was born in South Korea but moved to the United States when he was a small boy. This means that most of the things he learned about his homeland were things that he learned from his parents. This mixture of cultures in his life created a blend of food throughout his life. Growing up in the United States made him prefer foods other than his home country’s because he wanted to fit in and immerse himself in the American way of life. He was able to retain some of his Korean heritage because of his relationship with his parents, but this tie was severed when they died tragically in a car crash. This created a hole in his life that he didn’t realize that he had until his son was born. He is thankful to have the privilege to be of mixed cultures and is glad that his son is as well. This is evident when he says,”I have had terrific experiences and opportunities, and that our son, Charlie, will inevitably have the same.” Nicholson on the other hand came from a much more similar culture, but his view of it was shaped by his memories of his mother. He found that because his mother had a love for bland, white food; he found comfort in eating it after her passing. These foods were traditional English foods, which are his native land, but his cultural connection is formed more by his relationship with his mother than by his actual country. Both of these stories allow me to look into the ways that food has shaped my life. They made me realize that my food choices were shaped greatly by the culture of the places I have lived, but even more by the foods that have been passed down to me by my family. Even within the social groups of the places I have lived, such as North Dakota, my tastes have been different because of the influences of my family. North Dakota is very German and, therefore, their food is very German, however, I do not eat many German foods because my family is not German and has not passed them down to me. My love for food has been shaped by many things but none is greater than the influence of the culture of my family.

My last meal

After an eleven hour journey from Bismarck, ND to Denver, CO, I found myself at the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver. I was there to watch the Colorado Avalanche take on the Vancouver Canucks with my family. At the end of the second period I got up to find myself some food. I chose a barbeque beef sandwich with fries. This proved to be a wise choice. Not only was the sandwich delicious but the fries were as well. However, the most important part of this meal was not how amazing it tasted, but it was the people I was surrounded by as I ate it. While eating my meal I was able to catch up with my mom, older brother, and little sister. This made my meal very significant because I had not seen them for a while. The meal was also heightened by the atmosphere. I am a huge sports fan, so I jump on every opportunity to catch a game. The excitement of the game made my meal even more delicious, especially a manly meal such as a barbeque beef sandwich. All of these things came together to make my last meal a special one that I enjoyed very much.