Reflection Blog post

In this class, I think I learnt one important thing is I found the relationship between food and people's healthy. Food is a part of people's life, people can't live without food.I am able to find and do research about food culture in different place and food culture for different people. For vegetarian, they just eat vegetables, and for meat lover, such as me, I prefer to eat more meat rather than eating vegetables and fruits.  

EE2 Final

Xuehui Deng

Writing 1133

EE2

People Should Eating Diversity Food

I’m from China. Nowadays, people in China have plenty types of food to eat, but if go back sixty years, food were very limited for people. So people are really caring about nutrition and health of food now. Because of eating in diversity, I have become a stronger and taller guy than my father, even taller than my grandfather. Eating in diversity helps me growing fast and healthy. Moreover, I think eating food is one of the most important ways for people to keep health.  

I have no limit on eating food. I like eating meat, but I also prefer to eat vegetables and fruits fro dinner because I think eating diversity can help me get more nutrition. I’m a basketball fun and I love playing basketball, so I think getting many types of nutrition will make me growing taller and stronger. However, not all of people eating like me, eating diversity, some people just like to eat vegetables and they just eat vegetables. We called these kinds of people as vegetarian. I’d like to say that eating vegetables is a healthier way for people than eating meat. I’m an international from China. In China, people don’t eat meat very often. However, when I came to the United States, I found American food is not as healthy as Chinese food. People always eat hamburgers, sandwich, and pizza for dinner. All of the foods are full of Calorie and fat, and these foods are not good for people’s health if people keep eating these types of food usually.

In order to get to know more about the benefit of being a vegetarian, I made a search from website. I searched Penrose website and I found an interesting article named “Nutrition Concerns and Health Effects of Vegetarian Diets” which was published by Nutrition in Clinical Practice. From this article I know that vegetables are full of nutrition and contain some important elements which are good for people’s health. For example, vegetables have low calorie and low fat, and that can help people keep fit. For girls, it is very important for them to keep fit because having a nice body shape represents beauty. So girls prefer to eat vegetables rather than eating meat. Eating diversity include eating vegetables. I suggest people eat vegetables for every dinner.

However, from reading the “Nutrition Concerns and Health Effects of Vegetarian Diets” I also know people who just eat vegetables may lack of iron, vitamin and other nutrition which are important for people. From looking at the data in the article, I found non-vegetarian can get more Calcium, Zinc, Vitamin D and Vitamin B12 than vegetarian because people also need these elements to build their body. So vegetarian also need to change their eating diets to get more Calcium, Zinc such good elements which means vegetarian should change their eating habit, not only for their preference, but also for their health.

Also, eating diversity means eat many colors of food. I read an article named “Diversity Your Diet” published by Realage.com. In one part of this article, the author talks that eating many colors of food is good for people’s health. For example, in the article, the author says that “Red foods contain lycopene and anthocyanins, phytochemicals that help lower the risk of some cancers and promote.” (Para 3) Such as tomatoes, pepper, these kinds of red foods will also help people decrease the risk of getting heart disease, and good for people’s memory function. In addition, blue-purple colored food is good for people’s memory function and yellow-orange colored food is good for people’s vision health. I know some food looked colorful, but tasted awful. However, these kinds of food are full of nutrition, but the bad taste makes people don’t want to eat them anymore. Actually, I think sometimes, people should focus on the nutrition of food, not the taste of food because people are able to build a strong body by eating bad-taste and colorful food which is full of nutrition. Each color food has different type of nutrition, and people can live with a healthy body by absorbing many types of nutrition. So I suggest people try different color food.

In addition, from reading the article “Anti-cancer Diet Diversity”, I know that fruit and vegetables have powerful anti-cancer activity which would help people decrease the risk of getting cancer. Also, from the article, I know that drinking tea is another way to protect cancer. “Green tea contains large numbers of catechins, compounds that have many anti-cancer properties.” (Gifford-Jones Para 10) Tea is one of the most popular drinks in the world. Asian people first try to drink tea and tea has spread to all over the world quickly.

For me, I have custom to drink tea after dinner, so do my parents because we think tea can protect people’s stomach and help people digest food well. I think drinking beverage is also belonging to “eating diversity” for two reasons. First, people are always drinking while eating. No matter drinking soup, or drinking soda, people usually combine drinking and eating together. Secondly, the definition of eating means using mouth. Beverage is just another type of food for they are liquid. I think eating diversity also means drinking many types of beverage. From drinking juice, people can get vitamin. From drinking soda, such as Coca and Sprite, people are able to get rid of their thirsty. From drinking tea, people can absorb nutrition from tea. Beverage plays an important role for people to keep nutrition balance.

In another way, eating less meat will also help people keep healthy. As I mentioned above, I found American people eat too much meat for meal. As I observed, there are three things in American people’s daily menu, which are hamburgers, sausage and cheese. For hamburgers and sausage, parts of them are made by meat, either beef or pork. I still remembered I watched a movie in writing class named “Food Inc.” which is about how people feed and kill animals. Some animals are born for people to eat. In this movie, people killed animals merciless, and people in the movie don’t treat animals as creature, but treated animals as tool. Why people do that? Because there has a huge demand for meat in market, and people are able to earn much money for feeding animals and selling meat. If people eat less meat and turn to eat more vegetables and fruit, that will decrease the demand meat, and then, it will decrease the supply of meat in market. I am not suggesting people stop eating meat, but eating less. Meat also has some nutrition that other foods don’t have. For example, meat contains a huge amount of Calcium that is good for children and old people because Calcium can build people strong bone. I am a meat lover, I like eating meat more than eating vegetables and fruit, but after watching the movie “Food Inc.”, I would like to eat less meat and eat more vegetables, not only for personal healthy preference, but also for saving more animals’ life.

Moreover, I read an article named “Eat More Chocolate, Lose Weight”. From the title reading the title, we know that people can lose weight from eating more chocolate. Some people think eating chocolate will make people getting fat, but actually, eating more chocolate can help people lose weight. I know girls afraid eating chocolate because they are afraid of getting fat. If they know eating chocolate can help them lose weight, I think girls will eat chocolate every day because chocolate is also delicious food. In addition, I do think chocolate belongs to another types of “eating diversity” because it neither belongs to meat category nor the vegetables, fruit category. Chocolate can be a type of leisure food for people which means people can eat chocolate in their leisure time. White-collar people can eat chocolate in their break time. Students can eat chocolate at the rest of their study. We are able to find chocolate at any place at any time. Chocolate cannot be a real meal for people, but it is still important for people because people can lose weight from eating it. In addition, I learnt from reading the article “Anti-cancer Diet Diverse” which says that “There's good news for chocolate lovers. Dark chocolate contains 70 percent cocoa and provides the body with polyphenols that fight cancer.” Not only people can lose weight by eating chocolate, but they are also able to fight with cancer by eating chocolate.                   

To sum up, eating food diversity can help people live in a better life. Each food has it own elements which are good for human beings. Tea can help people decrease the risk of getting cancer. Chocolate can help people lose weight. Vegetables contain many types of nutrition that don’t exist in other foods. Although some foods taste bitter, some food taste very sour, actually, people can benefit from eating diversity. Come on guys, eating diversity, it is good for our health.     

Citation

"Diversify Your Diet - Page 2." RealAge.com. Web. 31 May 2012.

<http://www.realage.com/food/how-to-eat-healthy-2>.

Salzberg, Steven. "Eat More Chocolate, Lose Weight!" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 09 Apr.

2012. Web. 31 May 2012. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2012/04/09/eat-chocolate-for-better-health/>.

Craig, Winston John. "Nutrition Concerns and Health Effects of Vegetarian

Diets." University of Denver Penrose Library /Penrose/Music. Nutrition in Clinical Practice. Web. 17 May 2012. <http://0-ncp.sagepub.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/content/25/6/613.full.pdf html>.

Dr. W. Gifford-Jones.  "Anti-cancer diet diverse :[Final Edition]. " The Windsor

Star  10  Aug. 2006,Canadian Newsstand Complete, ProQuest. Web.  31 May. 2012.

EE2 draft

People should eating many types of food (eating diversity)

Nowadays, food can be the most important tool for people to keep health.

11      Vegetarian, good & bad aspects of being a vegetarian. The good is vegetables are full of nutrition, and the bad thing is people may lack of some nutrition that don’t exist in vegetables, such as Calcium.

22    After reading “How to eat healthier”, I know the color for vegetables represent different values. For example, red vegetables are good for people’s heart health and memory function.

33       After watching the movie “food Inc” in class, people kill animals which are able to eat in bad ways. Animals are living so painful, so I think may be people can eat less meat. I mean people can eat in a balance way, eating both meat and vegetables to keep health. Also, less demand of meat production will decrease the supply of meat and that means less animals will be killed.

44       Eating diversity cause less disease. From the article “Anti-cancer diet diverse”, I know drinking tea often can decrease the risk of getting cancer. That is one benefit of eating food diversity.

55       From a Blog, it says that eating chocolate can help people lose weight. Often, people think may think eating chocolate may make people getting fat. I find an article from website named “Eat more chocolate, lose weight”. In this article, the author says, after doing research, they finally get a conclusion that eating chocolate do help people losing weight.

To sum up, eating food diversity can help people live in a better life. Each food has it own elements which are good for human beings. Although some food taste bitter, some food  taste very sour, actually, they all good for people’s healthy.     

Blog 9

After reading two articles which are written by Pollan and Dupuis, I know that food changes people’s life a lot.

For the “Unhappy Meal” which is written by Pollan, the author says that people’s eating habit and eating diets are not healthy enough in nowadays. First, Pollan points out that people should follow old people’s eating habits. The author thinks old people’s eating habit is more health than people’s eating habit in recent years. The whole society is developing, and people change their eating diets frequently. Foods are better than before, but not all of people live healthier than before. The author thinks that old people’s eating habit is good for people to choose food nowadays. For example, people should better choose food that can be found before. Once people go to supermarket, people should buy food that exists in the supermarket for a long time because people like and trust these kinds of food. Secondly, people eat too much nowadays. Pollan says that eating too much is not good for people’s health. People should better not eat too full because it is bad for their digesting food. Also, people should have a diversity eating menu that means people should better eat many kinds of food. People should eat meat, vegetables, fruits and they’d better eating foods in a balance way. Some people like eating meat, for these kinds of people, and they should change their eating diets to vegetables so that they can keep their eating diets balance. Also, eating in a balance is good for people’s health.

In Dupuis’s article, he talks about that people’s eating habit has changes a lot by influence from others. People begin to lose their own eating habits by many kinds of reasons, such as religion. People are now eating in fashion.

To conclude, these two article writing in an opposite way, but emphasize one same food culture. Although people are getting richer than before, people should also follow their eating habit to build a healthy body for them.  

      

Works Cited

Michael Pollan.  "Unhappy Meals. " New York Times Magazine  28 Jan. 2007:  ProQuest

Newsstand, ProQuest. Web.  19 May. 2012.

Melanie Du Puis, E.. "Angels and Vegetables: A Brief History of Food Advice in

America. " Gastronomica  7.3 (2007): 34-44. Research Library, ProQuest. Web.  19 May. 2012.

Eating practice

I want to eat more vegetables than meat because right now I want to keep fit.I like playing basketball, but I find I am too heavy to play basketball good. I can't jump  very high because of my weight. So i decide to keep fit and balance my eating diet. I'd like to eat more vegetables and less meat so that I am able to lose weight. Also, eating vegetables are good for my health. From the research I did, I found that people can gain lots of nutrition from eating vegetables.

Learned from Kaichen's blog

About Kaichen's SE5, I am interested in French fries fro two points. First, French fries is the most popular food in western countries. people love french fries just like people like eating meat in the United States. The second point is French fries may cause disease, such as cancer.

Review （SE5）

Short Essay five

After reading food journal of my classmates, I found I am really interesting in Yusi’s article. She writes about she just had vegetables in three days without meat. That’s incredible for me because I will feel lose something if I don’t eat meat for one day. I can’t image people who just eat vegetables for three days because I think it is impossible for me. Besides, I’d have to say that Yusi is eating in a healthy way because eating vegetables are healthier than eating meat. I’m an international from China, and n China, we don’t eat meat very often. But when I came to the United States, I found American food is not very healthy. People always eat hamburgers, sandwich, pizza, and drinking soda. All of the foods are not good for people’s health if people keep eating these foods usually. In china, people always have food, combined with vegetables and meat, for dinner, and actually, people cook vegetables, not like here that people eating vegetables with sauce, such as ranch, 1000 islands. Maybe this is a different eating style between Chinese people and American people, but I’d like to say that I think Chinese people eating in a healthy way.

In order to get to know more about the benefit of being a vegetarian, I also did a research. I searched Penrose website and I found an interesting article named “Nutrition Concerns and Health Effects of Vegetarian Diets” which was published by Nutrition in Clinical Practice. From this article I know that vegetables are full of nutrition and contain some important elements which are good for people’s health. For example, vegetables have low calorie and low fat, and that can help people keep fit. For girls, it is very important for them to keep fit because having a nice body shape represents beauty, and I think that is way Yusi just had vegetables in three days. Also, low calorie and low fat can decrease the risk of getting cardiovascular disease. For the data from the article, it shows that “Based on blood lipid data in one large cohort study, the incidence of ischemic heart disease was estimated to be 24% lower in lifelong vegetarians and 57% lower in lifelong vegans compared with omnivores” (Winston p, 616) and that is why more and more people prefer to eat vegetables instead of having meat nowadays.

However, from reading the “Nutrition Concerns and Health Effects of Vegetarian Diets” I also know people who just eat vegetables may lack of iron, vitamin and other nutrition which are important for people’s health. From looking at the data in the article, I found non-vegetarian can get more Calcium, Zinc, Vitamin D and Vitamin B12. People also need these elements to build their body. So vegetarian also need to change their eating diets to get more Calcium, Zinc such good elements. For me, I eat both vegetables and meat. Not only I like eating meat, but also eating both of the food. I think eating both vegetables and meat can make me grow faster. I like playing basketball, so I need to get stronger and taller. I think vegetable can give me the nutrition I need such as Iron, and I can get Zinc and Calcium from eating meat.

In conclusion, vegetarian should change their eating diets if they only eat vegetable because that will cause vegetarian lack of some important elements, and that is not good for their health. Vegetarian should eat food full of Zinc, and Calcium to keep their nutrition balance.  

Reference

Craig, Winston John. "Nutrition Concerns and Health Effects of Vegetarian Diets." University of

Denver Penrose Library /Penrose/Music. Nutrition in Clinical Practice. Web. 17 May 2012. <http://0-ncp.sagepub.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/content/25/6/613.full.pdf html>.

               

thought on food journal

For Ran's food journal. one thing is interesting that Ran had hot pot on Saturday in Zechi's home. Every Chinese people love having hot pot for dinner.While having hot pot, we watch Lakers and Nuggets game as while.

For Yusi's food journal, she wrote that she just had vegetables in C-hall's cafeteria.That's interesting I think.

Eating Journal (Blog 8)

My eating journal

First, I’d like to say that I don’t have breakfast in the United States for two reasons. First, having breakfast at cafeteria is expensive. It’s about 7 bucks per meal. The second reason is I’d like to have more time to sleep, so I always skip the breakfast time, but I do have breakfast in China because I can make breakfast at after I get up.

So, in Friday, the first meal I had is pizza and hamburger at cafeteria, and I also had coke for drink. I have class at 12 o’clock every Friday, so I don’t have enough time for lunch actually. I randomly picked pizza, hamburger and coke for lunch. It just likes having fast food, not too bad, but not well.

I had dinner at cafeteria too in Friday. One thing I had is special is I found roast chicken here. It tasted very good and I just had roast chicken for dinner because it is hardly to find real meat in cafeteria in recent days.

On Saturday, I also had lunch at cafeteria. I got up at 11 o’clock and then I went downstairs for lunch. When I went to pick up food, I found they just serve breakfast for lunch. We just had eggs, pancakes, sausages such breakfast food for lunch. It was not good.

In the afternoon, my friends and I went to Boulder, so we had dinner at Boulder. We found a Chinese food restaurant for dinner named Zoe Ma Ma. I ordered a chicken soup noodle, and it tasted very good because I don’t eat Chinese noodle for a long time. I had ice water for drink.

I had Chinese noodle again for Sunday’s lunch at Centennial. The restaurant named Chinese Taipei. I ordered a beef soup noodle. It was great because it tastes like the noodle I had in Taipei. Also, I ordered a salt chicken.

For dinner, my friends and I went to have steak in Federal. This restaurant serves special steak. It serves big and thick steak which taste very good. And I just spent 14 bucks for dinner and I think the steak worth that price.     

  

Tofu Tofu (SE4)

  The recent meal that I still remembered is last weekend I went to have sea food. The restaurant named Star Kitchen, and it is a Chinese restaurant which serves good Chinese seafood and southern Chinese food. One food I ordered named Sea Food Hot Pot. It was very delicious, my friends and I both said this meal is really good.

  
  In the Sea Food Hot Pot, it contains cabbage, fried tofu, shrimp, shellfish and crab. People put all of the ingredients into a hot pot to make the food be able to eat. Actually, cabbage and fried tofu taste not as good as seafood, but once people mix the seafood and tofu together, the tofu can absorb the taste from seafood to make it delicious. When I tried fried tofu in the hot pot, it tastes fantastic, and I can feel the taste of “Sea”, and also it is juicy. That makes me get interested into tofu because either in the United States or in China, people all eat tofu, but in different cooking ways.

  
  I got some knowledge form Wikipedia that tofu was originally invented by Chinese people named Liu An in Han Dynasty (It is about in Second Century), and then the production of tofu were introduced to East Asia and Southeast Asia, such as Korea, Japan and Indonesia. The spread of tofu is just like the spread of Buddhism because people who believe Buddhism don’t eat meat at all. Instead, they prefer to eat tofu for food because tofu can be cooked in many ways and taste very delicious. Tofu is not a normal vegetable, and it was made by bean. Tofu looks like a regular white block which is very soft. In Southern Asia and Eastern Asia, people like to have tofu for food because there are many types of tofu for people to choose, such as soft tofu, fresh tofu, fried tofu, and iced tofu. Different tofu has its own cooking way. For example, in China, people usually put soft tofu into soup because it can make the soup taste delicious. For the meal I had at Star Kitchen, people put fried tofu into hot pot and mixed the tofu with seafood, so we are able to taste the seafood’s flavor from eating fried tofu. Also, tofu is a healthy food because it was made by bean which has low calorie and little fat. People who eat tofu don’t have to worry about getting fat, so more and more people prefer to have tofu instead of beef and other kinds of meat in Western countries. Moreover, tofu has high calcium and iron which is good for old people and kids’ health.

  
  In addition, I read an article named “Tofu: A Versatile Source of Heart-Healthy Plant Protein” which was published by Food and Fitness Advisor. In this article, it says that it’s hard for people to get Protein form eating meat and seafood, such as beef and shrimp, but if people add tofu into their daily food menu, people will get more nutrition than eating other kinds of food. “Tofu contains no saturated fat or cholesterol”, “Tofu has higher amounts of fiber and phytochemical than animal proteins.”(Food and Fitness Advisor, p.5) That is true, and it is important for people who want to keep fit because in nowadays, it is hard to find food with lower fat, but with higher protein. Also, the food is from nature, not made by chemical. We know that some people prefer to eat health products instead of having regular food diet. They think health products can offer all the nutrition they need in daily life, but actually, it is not. If people rely on eating health products to keep healthy and keep fit, they will get weaker and weaker because health product is also a kind of “Medical”. Based on having regular food every day, health products can help people build a nice healthy body. In addition, “Tofu is also a good source of Iron manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, copper and selenium.”(Food and Fitness Advisor, p.5) People are more and more care about their health, no matter old people, young people or kids. Parents want their children growing in health, children want their parents living in good health, and young people also want themselves have a healthy body, so that they are able to do something they like to do. Having a healthy body has become a common view for more and more people.

  
  For having food, people just care about two points, one is the food’s nutrition, and another is the food’s taste. Tofu includes these two points, so it becomes more and more popular in our modern life. People are chasing healthy life and wonderful life, and I think tofu can give people the opportunity to achieve their ideal. Food is not just the food itself, it also represent a type of food culture—healthy culture. People want to eat in health and living healthy, food can be their tool. From eating healthy food, people are able to live in a better life. That’s all I learned from doing the tofu research.

Reference

"Tofu: a versatile source of heart-healthy plant protein." Food & Fitness Advisor Feb. 2011: 5. General OneFile. Web. 11 May 2012.

Document URL
http://0-go.galegroup.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA248189716&v=2.1&u=udenver&it=r&p=ITOF&sw=w

            

Comparison of three articles

After reading three articles on Blackboard, I found some points which are worth to talk about.

Firstly, in the infographic by Cook, he talks about how broiler chicken harm for people in the North America. The author used many data which are both collected by him and Internet to show why broiler chicken is harm for human beings. We know, North America people love eating broiler chicken because of it good taste. The author showed the history and the development of broiler chicken, and he compared the history of broiler chicken to the production of broiler chicken to show the harmless of broiler chicken because it is effectively to let audience know the consequence and result of having broiler chicken.

The second article is “An Animal’s Place” which is written by Michael Pollan. In his article, he talks about the relationships between human beings and animals. Also, he analyzes the history and the production of food in so many ways. The relationship between animals and human beings is people need energy from animals and animals need the help and support from human beings. For example, people need meat for energy, and animals also need food, such as grass from people to alive. That is a tricky, but we can also say that either human beings or animals benefit from this relationship.

The third article “On the Tomato Trail” is talked about tomato productions. The author, Estabrook, says that different taste and look of tomatoes may be influenced by different places, different weathers and different type of tomatoes in the United States. In order to find out the answer of the relationship between the place and the taste of tomatoes, the author did too many researches. From the result of researches, the author found that place can be one resone to influence the taste and the shape of tomatoes.        

Our Nation Eating Disordered

After reading the article “Our Nation Eating Disordered” which was written by Michael Pollan, I know in the United States nowadays, people’s eating habit changed very quickly and immediately. Some people chose to eat healthier food, some people don’t have time to eat in regular time, and some people chose to eat food full of nutrition. One point mentioned in article is that more and more immigrant moved to the United States, they prefer to have their local food instead of American food, and that makes different people have their own eating style. We can find Chinese food here, we can find Mid-east food here, we can find Japanese food here, and also we can find Mexican food right here. People are going to eat “disorder” foods; one reason is the huge immigrants.

Americans do not strong eating habit. They prefer food which is delicious. Now Mexican food and Chinese food is popular in the United States, but before, European food, such as Italian food is popular in the United States. Some foods have already disappeared here and people are not able to find these food. For me, I think I have a faddism eating habit. I love eating American food before, such as hamburgers, sandwiches. They are my favorite food. But things changed, now I like eating Mexican food and Chinese food right now, although I’m Chinese, Chinese food is different between here and China. However, eating diversely can be a huge problem because people are going to lose their eating habit. Food is also a type of culture for human beings, why don’t we keep our own eating style and don’t change it at all.               

EE1

Food culture leads different culture

Food is one of the most important elements of people’s life. It supports energy to people to allow people doing social activities. Also, food represents different culture for different people. For people in China, dumpling represents having reunion with families because people always have dumpling at the eve dinner of Chinese New Year. For people in prison, they always have spread which was invented by prisoners, and spread also symbols one of prison culture in the United States. S’more is another food which reflects a communication food culture in the United States. People often talking stories while making and eating S’more. Moreover, in southern China, people prefer eating seafood, but in northern China, people prefer having pork, beef, and such real meat, and that’s also a food culture. So I’d like to say that food relates to culture very close, and food can reflect one aspect of people’s culture.

Firstly, I want to talk about dumplings in China.Dumplings, a triditional food for Chinese people, are usually appeared at the last night of Chinese New Year and the first day of Chinese New Year. People have tradition to eat dumplings at the eve dinner and the first day breakfast of Chinese New Year because people think the dumplings are symbol of good luck and better life for our future, so people are willing to have dumplings to celebrate Chinese New Year. The meaning of dumpling for Chinese people is just like the turkey for western people on Thanksgiving Day. People need dumplings to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Moreover, Dumpling has a long history in China. For example, the shape of dumpling is just like big golden bullion which Chinese people use it as money in ancient China. People think making the dumplings as golden bullion will bring good opportunities/chances to people to get rich in next year, although people will think it is a kind of foolish behavior in nowadays, people still love to believe it will coming true. Furthermore, as I talked above, dumplings are always appeared at the eve dinner and the first day of Chinese New Year. Family members are always getting together to make dumplings. For me, I always follow with my uncle to prepare for the eve meal. Besides, a dumpling is divided by two parts, one is the outside of dumpling, it is made by flour; the inside, we called it “Xian” in Chinese, it can be meat, vegetables or mixture of meat and vegetables because it depends on people’s preference. Also, I want to mention that China is a big country, which means every place has its own traditions of celebrating Chinese New year. For making dumplings, every place also has its own way, so it is kind of different in each place.

As I said above, different place has different custom. I was born in Beijing, but my hometown is in Shandong province. Shandong province is in the east of China. In my hometown, people are always getting together to celebrate Chinese New Year and my parents and I go back to hometown every year. I don’t know other people how to celebrate Chinese New Year, but in my family, we like to put something specifically into dumplings, such as coin, jujube, rice cake, peanut and many types of food. We think coin symbol to good luck, which means people can earn more money in next year; jujube represents offspring because people want “new blood” in their family; rice cake represents living in a better life in next year, especially for old people, people want old people keep health in next year. To sum up, everything in dumpling has one meaning, and I think it is also a kind of motivation for people to working harder or living better for the next year. I still remember one thing about my cousin. A few years ago, and I was young, the whole family was having eve dinner. My cousin suddenly said there is a jujube in her dumpling and she was so happy because she just got married few months ago and she really wanted a baby. The next year, when I came back hometown, my uncle told me that they got a new member is his family- my cousin just got a baby a month ago. We were so happy about that and we all believe that dumplings can bring good luck to us.

Dumpling is a food culture for Chinese people. We not only love the good taste of dumplings, but also the good symbol of our life. People prefer to believe dumplings can bring us good luck and better life. In addition, I can still remember that my father and relatives sitting together, eating dumpling, drinking beer, while singing songs. Children are running outside and making firework. People are living better than before, and we also hope dumplings can give us fortune to live well in the future.

Also, we did some reading in class about food culture. In one reading, named “Breaking Bread with a Spread in a San Francisco County Jail”, it was written by Sandra Cate, we know that Spread is a type of prison food, and people in prison prefer to have this food. Spread was mixed by Raman noodles, chips, cheese and other food that can find in prison. This food was invented by former prisoners because prisoners also wanted to eat better even they were in prison. Spread can reflect American culture, although it is in the United States, people are still like Chinese people that they all need to get something to eat to suit for their stomach. Spread can be a culture for prison people. I used to see a video that one person is out of prison right now, but he still eat Spread in original way, plastic baggage, hot water…

Besides, I also read a article was written by O’Donnell, named “The Culture Politics of Eating in Shenzhen”. I this article, the author states the difference eating style between northern Chinese people and Southern Chinese people. In south China, people prefer to eat seafood. Contrary to southern people, in north China, people prefer to eat meat instead of seafood. That is a culture difference. Southern people think seafood can be a good choice for meal, and northern people think meat can be a good choice for meal. Food culture can be in different area and different places.

Moreover, a few weeks ago, I went to Brett Gray Ranch which is in Rush, Colorado for retreat with my ILLC (International Living and Learning Community) members. Actually, this big ranch belongs to one of my community member. Her parents live here and work here, so we don’t have to worry about sleeping in tents with snakes and insects. Although we have place to sleep, we still have to worry about another thing which is eating. Cooking food in the ranch is not as convenient as in school, and if we want to cook food, we’d have to make a fire, and cook food by ourselves. One thing I ate at Ranch is called S’more. I searched Wikipedia and I knew that S’more is a traditional and popular nighttime food in the United States. A S’more consists of three things, marshmallow, graham cracker and chocolate. People have to put marshmallow on the branch and roasted the marshmallow on campfire. Then, put the roasted marshmallow, chocolate and graham cracker together, and finally, eat it! I used to have S’more once, and honestly, it was delicious. We made a campfire first, and then, all of my community members sited together and roasted the marshmallow. During roasting the marshmallow, some people were talking scary stories, some people were talking funny stories, and some people were talking embarrassing stories. People listened and laughed and talked about each stories, although it was very cold outside at night, it seemed no one want to go back to home very early. The food we had is not just the food itself, but also a bridge to connect each other as well. Communication is one of the most important behaviors for human beings. For me, the more I communicate with Americans, the faster I can use English well. Also, communication is necessary for human beings because people need to exchange their opinions and make improvement. In work, people need to exchange their working experience, so that they can work better. In games, players have to communicate with teammates and coach as well, so that they can win the game. To sum up, people can’t live without communicate with others because communication is a way to help people living better.

To summarize the article, I’d like to say that different food reflect different culture for different people. Food is a traditional culture for Chinese people because people are able to get together once a year; Food is a place culture and it divides people into different regions; Food is also indicate specific culture for specific people, such as prisoners, and this culture encourages these specific people make inventions; Finally, food is a communication culture and it allows people communicate while having food. We are now living in a world which is full of diversity culture. Food is one way to lead people getting to know others life style and living style quickly.    

    

Work Cited

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S'more

“Breaking Bread with a Spread” in a San Francisco County Jail

sandra cate

Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture , Vol. 8, No. 3 (Summer 2008), pp. 17-24

The Cultural Politics of Eating in Shenzhen

mary ann o'donnell

Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture , Vol. 10, No. 2 (Spring 2010), pp. 31-39

Eating at the edge

After reading “Eating at the Edge”, which was written by Jamie Hortwiz, I think I better understand eating habit and eating customs in last decades years and in modern life.

At the begging, the author used a famous people’s says, Charles that is in the United States, it’s easier to eat chips and fast food than eating spaghetti. People can eat chips and fast food in cars or in bed, but they are not able to eat spaghetti in these places. (qtd, in Hortwiz, 42) It is totally different for people’s eating habit, compared with past decades and nowadays. In modern life, people prefer to eat in their free time and they also prefer to have food which is easy eat. People are more and more willing to eat in their leisure time. For example, students prefer to have hamburger or sandwich for lunch, although it is not a healthy eating habit, it can save our time for taking class. Also, some students are not able to have lunch in dinner halls. They have to have food while walking or in the break of class. Students are busy now, for me, I have classed from 9 to 2 every Monday and Wednesday. I don’t have for lunch, so I have to “squeeze” some time for me to have lunch. One of my class ends at 11:50, and one of my another class begins at 12. I decide to use this time to have lunch, so I always run back to dinner hall after the first and randomly pick up some food, and then I walk back to classroom while eating my “lunch”. Time is limited, so I have to use the time I have.  

So does in the article. The author mentioned three points which are “Eating in Timeless Time” (42), “Eating in one’s Own Space-Time in Micro-Gravity” (44) and “Eating in One’s Own Time-space” (45). 

Food Observation（SE3）

This weekend, I went to Brett Gray Ranch which is in Rush, Colorado for retreat with my ILLC (International Living and Learning Community) members. Actually, this big ranch belongs to one of my community member. Her parents live here and work here, so we don’t have to worry about sleeping in tents with snakes and insects. Although we have place to sleep, we still have to worry about another thing which is eating. Cooking food in the ranch is not as convenient as in Denver, and if we want to cook food, we’d have to make a fire, and cook food by ourselves.

Also, we’d have to know it is dangerous to make a fire on ground, so all the eat food have are not need to cook or bake. So that, sandwich can be a good choice for us to full fill our stomach. As a community, we always work together, making food can’t be the only exception, so, some people are responding for washing vegetables and fruit; some people are responding for cutting vegetables; some people are taking charge for making beverage. For me, I take charge for cutting pepper and tomatoes. You can’t say the work is interesting, in contrary, the work is kind of boring, but when I imagine that people will eat vegetables was cut by me, then, I will feel full of motivation doing the work.

Except eating sandwiches, we also have fruit to eat, such as banana, apples, and strawberries. We also have peanut butter, chocolate cream, which are used for making sandwich, few eggs and some chicken and beef. We have a lot of food to eat, but sometimes, cooking can be a real problem for us, not just for making fire, but also we are not really good at cooking food as well. As I said, we have chicken and beef to eat, but we have to make them be able to eat. We can’t eat chicken and beef without cooked, so we decided to roast them on fire. First, we dug a pit, and then, we found some firewood and made a campfire in the pit. We use tinfoil to cover the chicken and beef to protect them not be burned. After 1 hour roasted, the chicken and beef are able to eat. Although they tasted just so-so, it is also better than nothing to eat. While having food, we are watching sunset, it is fabulous. Despite of chicken and beef, we also have eggs to eat, and I want to say the eggs are all from kens in the ranch. The eggs tasted different because we are able to feel a kind of nature from eating these eggs. While eating dinner, our group members talked about accent about different people speaking English. In our community, there are three people from China and one people from Brazil, so accent can be a good topic for us to talk while eating. My friend and I also taught our group member how to speak Mandarin easily, but they said mandarin is too hard for them to pronounce, but they also said they are willing to study Mandarin in future. After dinner, we walked outside for finding branches because we are going to eat S’more at night. I used to have S’more once, it was delicious. Some people may ask what S’more is. S’more is a traditional and popular nighttime food in the United States. A S’more consists of three things, marshmallow, graham cracker and chocolate. People have to put marshmallow on the branch and roasted the marshmallow on campfire. Then, put the roasted marshmallow, chocolate and graham cracker together, and finally, eat it! We have already made a campfire, so, all of my community members sited together and roasted the marshmallow. During roasting the marshmallow, some people were talking some scary stories, some people were talking funny stories, and some people were talking embarrassing stories. People listened and laughed and talked about each stories, although it was very cold outside at night, it seemed no one want to go back to home very early. About one and a half hours, we ran back home and slept.

I think it is hard to say the food we had during this retreat is delicious and tasty, I am still satisfied the food very much because when we are having food, everyone can communicate with others. The food we had is not just the food itself, but also a bridge to connect each other as well. Communication is one of the most important behaviors for human beings. For me, the more I communicate with Americans, the faster I can use English well. Also, communication is necessary for human beings because people need to exchange their opinions and make improvement. In work, people need to exchange their working experience, so that they can work better. In games, players have to communicate with teammates and coach as well, so that they can win the game. To sum up, people can’t live without communicate with others because communication is a way to help people living better. This is what I observed during this retreat, having food is one of ways for people to communicate with each other.                         

     

Dumplings（SE1）

Xuehui Deng

WRIT 1133

SE1

Dumplings, a traditional food for Chinese people, are usually appeared at the last night of Chinese New Year and the first day of Chinese New Year. People have tradition to eat dumplings at the eve dinner and the first day breakfast of Chinese New Year because people think the dumplings are symbol of good luck and better life for our future, so people are willing to have dumplings to celebrate Chinese New Year. In addition, dumplings tasted very good.

Dumplings have a long history in China. For example, the shape of dumpling is just like a big golden billion which Chinese people use it as money in ancient China. People think it will bring a good opportunity/chance for people to get rich in next year, although it is kind of foolish behavior in nowadays, people still love to believe it will coming true. Moreover, as I talked above, dumplings are always appeared at the eve dinner and the first day of Chinese New Year. Family members are always getting together to make dumplings. For me, I always follow with my uncle to prepare for the eve meal. Besides, a dumpling is divided by two parts, one is the outside of dumpling, it is made by flour; the inside, we called it “Xian” in Chinese, it can be meat, vegetables or mixture of meat and vegetables and it depends on people’s preference. Also, I want to mention that China is a big country, which means every place has its own traditions of celebrating Chinese New year. For making dumplings, every place also has its own way, so it is kind of different in each place.

Moreover, I want to say this is my first time celebrate Chinese New Year without my parents and relatives. When the Chinese New Year was coming, I missed my home very much. Fortunately, I have friends here, in Denver, so we can celebrate Chinese New Year by ourselves. We are not able to make dumplings, but we can find dumplings in Wal-Mart. We bought some dumplings back home and cooked by ourselves. The dumplings were not tasted as good as my mother’s made, but they were still good and we really enjoyed cooking food by ourselves. In addition, there is a funny thing I want to say. When it is night in China, it is still day-time in the United States. It is kind of wired, but we kept having dumplings in day-time because we want to feel close to our families, so we had dumplings as lunch. Furthermore, while I was eating dumplings, it reminds me to think about my mother. I like eating dumplings very much, and my mother is also willing to make dumplings for me. This summer I will go back to China and one of the important things I want to do is eating dumplings made by my mom.

As I said above, different place has different custom. I was born in Beijing, but my hometown is in Shandong province. Shandong province is in the east of China. In my hometown, people are always getting together to celebrate Chinese New Year and my parents and I go back to hometown every year. I don’t know other people how to celebrate Chinese New Year, but in my family, we like to put something specifically into dumplings, such as coin, jujube, rice cake, peanut and many types of food. We think coin symbol to good luck, which means people can earn more money in next year; jujube represents offspring because people want “new blood” in their family; rice cake represents living in a better life in next year, especially for old people, people want old people keep health in next year. To sum up, everything in dumpling has one meaning, and I think it is also a kind of motivation for people to working harder or living better for the next year. I still remember one thing about my cousin. A few years ago, and I was young, the whole family was having eve dinner. My cousin suddenly said there is a jujube in her dumpling and she was so happy because she just got married few months ago and she really wanted a baby. The next year, when I came back hometown, my uncle told me that they got a new member is his family- my cousin just got a baby a month ago. We were so happy about that and we all believe that dumplings can bring good luck to us.

To summarize, we not only love the good taste of dumplings, but also the good symbol of our life. People prefer to believe dumplings can bring us good luck and better life. In addition, I can still remember that my father and relatives sitting together, eating dumpling, drinking beer, while singing songs. Children are running outside and making firework. People are living better than before, and we also hope dumplings can give us fortune to live well in the future.        

          

the definition of S'more

s’more

A gooey–sweet dessert made by toasting a marshmallow over a fire (or gas burner, if need be), then sandwiching the hot marshmallow and a thin square of chocolate between two graham crackers and slightly squeezing this union together so that the marshmallow squishes out on the graham crackers. S’mores can also be made by making these “sandwiches” and heating them in an oven. The name comes from the notion that they’re so good one always wants “some more.” S’mores have long been a well-known campfire treat.

s’more. (2007). In The New Food Lover's Companion, Barron's. Retrieved from http://0-www.credoreference.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/entry/barronflc/s_more

© Copyright 2007 and 2001 by Barron’s Educational Series, Inc.
The New Food Lover's Companion, Barron's
Barron's Educational Series
http://0-www.credoreference.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/entry/barronflc/s_more

After reading two articles

After reading Sandra Cate’s article and O’Donnell’s article, I think I understand food culture better than before. In Cate’s article, the author mainly talked about the role of Spread in communities. Spread is a type of food which was invented in jail, but why does spread play an important role in communities? In O’Donnell’s article, the author mainly talked about how the culture policies influence people eating in Shenzhen.
In “Breaking Bread with a Spread in a San Francisco County Jail”, the author, Sandra Cate introduced a type of food which is popular in prison, and it name is Spread. People in jail usually have spread for food. There is no personal preference in prison, which means inmate must to eat food that the prison offered. If you don’t eat the food from prison, you will be starved. Also, the price of this food is high, or we can say “Monopoly”. The consequence of offering spread to inmate without personal preference is people are all not satisfied because it is even worse than regular food or the worst food ever. So, inmates want to change their life, although they are in prison. They collect some spread and put them together and mixed. They just have hot water and microwave oven, so they choose to use hot water and microwave oven instead of fire to cook new spread. It is better than the spread which is offered by prison because the new spread contains more flavor and may be tasted good than before. And now, spread is popular in prison and prisoners like this food. I think that reflect a culture of community, although it is found in prison.
The second article, “The Culture Politics of Eating in Shenzhen” was written by O’Donnell. In this article, the author compared eating habit in Shenzhen with Policy in Shenzhen. Shenzhen is a wildly booming city in China in the last 30 years. People in Shenzhen like eating seafood, but seafood are hard to catch, so that people have to come up with good ideas to catch seafood. That’s why Shenzhen people are so clever and that can earn more money than others. Also, the author compared the eating habit in Southern China and Northern China. Northern people prefer to have meat, such as lamb, pork, and beef, but people in south prefer to have seafood, such as shrimp. I think that is also a culture of community, but it was found in a country, not in a specific region. 

Potato chips

After reading “Authenticity in America-- class distinction in potato chip advertising”, I know that potato chip advertisement is not just advertisement; it also shows a type of American culture between higher class people and lower class people about culture, food, and language.
 One interesting point in the article is potato chip companies always use different languages to appeal different costumers. For the high quality potato chip advertisement, the potato chip companies usually use complex words. Most of higher class people got good education when they are young, so that these kinds of people can better understand the meaning of high quality advertisements. For the lower class people, such as workers or cleaners, they might not get good education when they are young, sometimes, they will not understand the exact meaning of these advertisements. Also, potato chip companies will illustrate why their potato chip is better than other potato chips, so that higher class people are more willing to purchase these high quality chips. Another interesting point I found in the article is higher class people are more care about their health, that means higher class people are more care about the food’s healthy quality. Higher class people are rich; they don’t care about how expensive the potato chip is, actually, potato chip can’t be so expensive, they are more care about how healthy the food is. In contrast, lower class people are more care about the quantity of the potato chip, and that means lower class people don’t care about how healthy the food is. Lower class people just want to choose the large quantity food. Who gives us more food, then, I will select whose food.
 To sum up, different people suit for different type of potato chips, or any types of stuff because some of people have money and they chasing high quality life, and some of people are still fighting for their life and they want to live in a better life, so these types of people have to working hard than other people in order to reach their dream.
  

THE REFLECTION AFTER READING TWO ARTICLES

After reading Ahn’s Home Run and Nicholson’s Eating White, I know that food in these two articles do not just have one meaning. Food also has another meaning which is food can reflect your personal culture. In Ahn’s Home Run, the author’s parents are all grow up in South Korea, also the author’s mother love cooking Korean food although the whole family has been moved to the United States for a long time. That is also a culture that cooking style can reflect your food culture. Although, the author is living in the United States, he is still love eating Korean food for the influence by his mother or family. In Nicholson’s Eating White, the author says that her mother loving eating white food, such as milk, cream soup, cream sauce, and ice cream. For one reason that the author’s mother love eating white food is she had been through World War II that such milk, cream, these kinds of food are very lack at that time in England. Although, now, the whole family of Nicholson has been moved to America, California, and author’s mother still love eating white food, such as chicken, rice, and paste. Author’s mother can’t forget white food at all. In addition, I do think these two pieces remind me of my own connection to food. I’m an international student from China, Beijing. The food culture in Beijing and Denver are totally different. We like rice instead of eating bread. We love eating noodle with soup, here, people don’t. Food culture in here and Beijing are in opposite, but I do think I have adjusted the difference very well, and now, I love eating American food, such like Taco, which is hard to find in China.    

Response to Difei's Short Essay

Feifei's short essay

After reading Deifei's short essay 2, I knew the Nestle coffee is suit for people who don't have enough time to enjoy having coffee, such as white-collar people and blue-collar people.one advantage of the Nestle coffee is instant coffee which is convenient to drink. The blue mountain coffee is suit for the people who have enough time on making coffee, also, the blue mountain coffee is in high quality, so i think just rich free people are able to have this blue mountain coffee. to sum up, different types of coffee suit for different types of people. Busy people are not able to drink blue mountain coffee because making this coffee will waste their time.In my short essay, I maintained how advertisement appeal consumers. For the most important reason is convenient.

The recent meal I had

 I’m a traditional Chinese guy, so I definitely like having Chinese food instead having Western food (any kinds of Western food, Italian food, Irish food and so on). For the most recent meal I had, in Chinese, we called it “Huo Guo”. Huo Guo is a kind of special eating way, and I think just Chinese people eating food in this way, because people have to put any food they want to eat into this container. For having this special meal, we always put water into this container and boil the water, after the water was boiled, we can then put food into this container. Usually, the food which is suit for this special meal contains pork, beef, lamb, any types of vegetables, and noodles. After a couple of minutes, the food in the container with boiled water is able to eat. Some people prefer to have Huo Guo without any sauce, just like people who like to eat Lay’s in origin. I really like having Huo Guo, especially in winter because I will feel warmer after having that. For this meal, I ate lots of meat, it includes pork, beef and lamb. All of these three kinds of meat are delicious, and I really enjoy eating meat for the special feeling. And you may ask, why do I have Huo Guo and how can I do it? That’s because one of my best friend had just moved into a new apartment, in order to celebrate this “Movement”, we decided to had Huo Guo instead western food. My best invited his best 5 friends (it definitely includes me) come to his home for having Huo Guo and I do think it was a wonderful time for my friends and I.   

Comparison of two advertisements

For the first advertisement, it is commercial advertisement for Nestle. The food is for people who don’t want to get fat. This product will help people keep fit because it just contains whole grain. Also, this food will be tasted like eating fruits for its fruit flavor. I think the feature of fruits flavor will appeal some extra potential consumers who are fruit lover to buy this product. In addition, I think the audience of this product is the people who want to be slim, especially young ladies because having a great body shape is one of the most important things for young ladies, so that they can be looked so charming. In order to keep fit, young ladies are willing to eat this food for it doesn’t contain fat. Also, I think just rich people are able to buy this Nestle food for the following reasons. First, poor people/ lower class people do not have enough money or extra money on buying food, it means that poor people/ lower class people are willing to buy the cheapest food, and they will not buy this Nestle product because this food was made by whole grain, and it will not be cheap. Second, not all poor people/ lower class people care about their body shape; they are more focus on how to earn more money instead of body shape, so, I think this Nestle fitness food will not appeal the lower class people. In another word, I think just higher class people will buy this product, and the most important reason for higher class people to buy this product is to keep healthy. Based on the appeals, the food culture in the United States is taking care of your health. Nowadays, people are more and more care about their health. Some of people are usually go to gym to exercise, some of people are more focus on eating healthy food. I think eating healthy food can make people’s life balance. As this whole grain food for example. People often eat this kind of food at home, when they are eating outside, are they able to still eat this kind of food? No way, usually people are willing to eat food with high calorie, such as steak, pork, fried chicken. People need to eat something to make their eating style balance. The Nestle whole gain food can be a good choice because it is full of nutrition without fat. People need a healthy living style, so people need such food like the Nestle whole grain food, and I think that better reflect the food values in the United States.      

This advertisement is also a Nestle advertisement, the difference between this advertisement and the last advertisement is this Nestle ice cream advertisement is designed for parents and kids, not for the people who want to keep fit, especially young ladies. Look at this ice cream advertisement, there are just eight important words appeared in the advertisement, “Go On…Kids can’t have all the fun.”  This advertisement is going to tell parents that their kids need this ice cream. Also, these words are going to remind parents don’t forget to bring happiness to your children, come on and buy “me” because “I” can bring your kid a lot of fun. In addition, look at the picture on the advertisement, the ice cream looks so delicious and the young lady looks really enjoy eating this ice cream. Looking at her, smile is always hanging on her face. For the audience, I think this advertisement’s audience is both parents and kids. For kids, once they see this advertisement, they will be appealed by the big picture on the right side of the advertisement. Kids can’t understand words well, so I don’t think they can better understand what the words means at the very left bottom of this advertisement, but I do believe they can understand the picture very well. Throughout looking at this big picture, kids will know that this food must be tasted very delicious, and then, they will ask their parents buy an ice cream (just one, not too much) for them. Also, this advertisement is designed for parents because the advertisement will let parents know that the Nestle ice cream can bring a lot of fun to their children if parents buy some of the ice cream for their children. Every parents love their children, and they will never want to let their children down. We can’t say that parents are not able to afford one ice cream, actually it is not too expensive, and parents will know how to make their children happy. Buying an ice cream now, and making your children happy. Also, watching the background of this advertisement, it is all blue, and I think it is a good design because it can bring people a good feeling which is “I feel so cool”. People always wonder after eating an ice cream, they will feel so cool, maybe, people will find this feeling after having the Nestle ice cream, or maybe try it once. To sum up, from this advertisement, it can reflect a food value and food culture is people really need to know something from advertisement. Just like this ice cream advertisement, basically, people will know that after having this Nestle ice cream, I will feel so nice and cool.