Final Post

In this course, I have learned many things about the world of food after taking this class. The most significant thing that I learned was how different people in different cultures have very different relationships with food Some people eat just to survive, some people see it as a health benefit, and some eat for enjoyment. I learned that food can be a way to connect to others. Maybe it could connect you to people you just met, or maybe it brings back memories of your home and your family. This course has also taught me a lot about research writing. We read many articles and were required to compare the different views as well as incorporate our own ideas into our writing. This is a very useful skill that I'm sure I will use in the future. Though my relationship with food may not have changed very much throughout the quarter, the way that I view food certainly has. I no longer see it as just as a source of enjoyment. I now relate food to home and my family which gives me special connections to certain foods now.

EE2: My Eater's Manifesto

Over the past couple months, I have learned so much about different food values and how different people choose what they want to eat. Some people eat what is healthy, some eat what is organic, some eat what they have with them, and some just eat what is cheapest. For me, most of these things don’t play a large role in choosing what I want to eat. I just eat what tastes good.

            One of the greatest parts of growing up in Wisconsin was the State Fair. This has to be one of my favorite events of all time, and I make sure I go at least once every summer. This is a time when all of the greatest foods in Wisconsin all come together in one great week. It is a food lover’s paradise. There are so many different foods to try, most of them are the same as the year before, but each year, there is some new culinary creation, like deep fried butter or chocolate covered bacon. There are a few favorites that I eat every time, and I make sure to try one new thing each time I go. Necessity number one is the milk. There is an area that sells a cup of flavored milk for just a quarter. The flavors of milk include black cherry, strawberry, raspberry, chocolate (of course), Root Beer, and in recent years, banana. I usually make sure I get at least 2 different flavors every time I go and I am never disappointed. The second thing I make sure I always get is a Cream Puff. These things cannot be good for me at all, but it tastes so good. It is essentially two fluffy pieces of bread, with an excessive amount of cream in the middle of it, with powdered sugar on top. I am pretty sure that zero percent of that has any health benefits, but it’s one of the most delicious things that I have ever consumed. I have always eaten a lot, and most of it hasn’t exactly been good for me, but I was raised eating a wide variety of foods, so I get my fair share of greens in. I love sweets though. I love a nice cold Dr. Pepper or some Twizzlers when I go see a movie. Throughout my entire life, I have eaten whatever looked good at that time and decided that I wouldn’t worry about how healthy it was until a later time.

I love to eat. I always have and I always will. My favorite thing about food is the taste; and I wouldn’t base my food choices on anything besides that. I have my entire life to worry about my health, so in the present, I’m going to eat what I want and not worry about how it may affect my health. I’m not exactly worried about becoming overweight since I’ve always been a very active individual. According to the American Heart Association, regular physical activity helps to “improve blood circulation, which reduces the risk of heart disease, keep weight under control, and improve blood cholesterol levels” Though this doesn’t necessarily mean I can eat whatever I want and be perfectly healthy, as long as I manage to get some healthy food into my diet, I won’t have to worry so much about eating what actually tastes good. To me, food has always been an important part of my life, especially because of my upbringing in Wisconsin. I never want to settle for something to eat just because it is something to eat. I always try to make sure that what I’m eating tastes good and will be satisfying for me.

            I am well aware of all of the studies that say how foods that taste so good can be so bad for you, but it changes nothing. One of these foods is red meat. I can’t even explain how much I love the food you can make with red meat. Whether it’s a juicy cheeseburger, a succulent steak, Mom’s homemade meatloaf, or some meatballs on top of delicious spaghetti, nothing beats a generous helping of red meat. Of course, some would disagree with me. Dr. An Pan did a study that proved that “consumption of both processed and unprocessed red meat is associated with an increased risk of premature mortality from all causes as well as from cardiovascular disease and cancer.” (Ornish) According to this, there’s no denying that a lot of red meat is not exactly healthy for my future, but that doesn’t change a thing. I love meat, and I won’t stop eating it.

            Furthermore, just because something is tasty, does not mean that it has to be unhealthy. In our society, we commonly associate things that are unhealthy as being tasty. Rajagopal Raghunathan did a series of studies that showed that people associate unhealthy foods as tasting better. In one of his experiments, he told participants to try two different crackers and he told them that one of the crackers had 2 grams of good fat and the other had 11 grams of bad fat, “the participants perceived the cracker with the higher content of good (versus bad) fat content as healthier.” (Raghunathan) Alongside of this experiment, he also instilled a hedonic goal into one of the groups by telling them to imagine that they were craving a really tasty snack. Out of that group, a significantly larger proportion of participants chose the “unhealthy” option. (Raghunathan) This study shows how people can perceive tasty food to be unhealthy and that they are more likely to choose this type of food if they are looking for enjoyment out of their food, like me. However, Marilyn Kuntz did a study that examined how Brazilian students, ages 7-10, viewed snacks in regards to being healthy and tasty. She asked the students about foods that were actually consumed during snack breaks, foods they considered healthy and/or tasty, and their desired characteristics of a healthy and tasty snack. (Kuntz) The students considered mostly vegetables to be healthy and sweets and pizza to be tasty. However, when asked what they actually ate, the most common responses were things like packaged snack foods and cookies. Then, when they were asked what they considered a snack that was both healthy and tasty, the majority said fruit. From these observations, we can infer that food doesn’t have to pick between being healthy or tasty, it can be both. I am in agreement with these Brazilian children; fruit is a great choice if you’re looking for something that’s healthy and tasty.

            The bottom line is that I love food. I don’t care what effects it will have on me, if it tastes good, I will eat it. I acknowledge that this eating habit of mine can have serious negative impacts on my future, but I trust that between my frequent exercise and inclusion of a bit of healthy food into my diet, the tasty food won’t negatively affect me. Through my research into how this sort of food might affect me I have learned that it could potentially have detrimental impacts on me, but regardless of any of it, I will not change my ways. I love food to sacrifice giving up the tasty food. I suppose I may reduce the amount of this food that I will eat, but I can’t possibly quit eating it all together, it’s just too good. This diet is not for everyone. Maybe I’ve been blessed with good genes and a good metabolism, or maybe it’s because I am fairly active, but this diet suits me just fine. 

Processed Food In Society

Both articles, “Unhappy Meals” by Michael Pollan and “History of Food Advice” by Melanie Dupuis focus heavily on how the eating habits of Americans have changed over the years. The focus is on how nutrition has played a role in the changing of food and how food becomes less natural as scientists attempt to make food healthier. Pollan makes the statement early on in his paper that most of we eat can’t technically be called food. This is a problem that I consistently see in the food industry more and more these days. The amount of processed food that we eat increases year after year, just because it is said to have some nutrient or another in it.

            The first time this hit me was when I had a job as a babysitter. The kids I babysat were very spoiled so they basically got whatever they wanted. They also watched a lot of TV so they were exposed to many commercials for all those fun food products like Fruit Gushers and Lunchables. So, on any given day, their house was stocked full of all these types of foods. I can’t even quite recall there being actual food in their house, like fresh fruit or vegetables. This is just one example of many that shows the extent to which the incorporation of processed foods has had on society.

            Both of the authors agree that processed food has moved to incorporate more nutrients to be “healthier”. However, while they are doing that, they are adding substances that are harmful for our bodies. Pollan makes the observation that most of what we eat would not be recognizable as food by our great-great grandparents. The “food” that one finds in Lunchables would fall into that category. The things that are in those individual size packages cannot possibly qualify as food. The packages claim some health fact or another, but what they don’t tell you is the amount of unhealthy chemicals they place in their product, or the unhealthy amount of sodium found in each package. This is just one example of the processed food industry, but you be sure that there are countless others that are just the same, if not worse.

Snacking and Mental Health

A common trend that I have noticed in both my own eating habits, as well as those of my peers, is snacking. In the food journals, I noticed that there were not very many large meals that were eaten during the day; rather, both I and my classmates consumed snacks at many different points of the day. I have always wondered if this habit had any sort of adverse effects on my general health and wellness, or if it caused my digestive system to work differently because of this habit. This is a trend known as snacking and Dr. Andrew P Smith addresses this trend in his article “Snacking Habit, Mental Health, and Cognitive Performance.” In his piece, Smith discusses different studies that were done to evaluate the effects of snacking on mental health and cognitive performance.

            Smith cites four different studies, done by both him as well as other researchers. In each of the studies, the same tests are done on the subjects, but different age groups are used each time. The age groups were as follows: sample of the general population ages 20-60, a sample of individuals in their late teens living at home, a sample of people ages 18-30, and finally an elderly sample aged 65+. The studies were done over a span of five years, from 1998 to 2003, with most of the studies being done in 1998 and 1999. The studies looked at how snacking affected mental health and cognitive performance by measuring the test subjects on a few different tests. For mental health, they looked at the Beck depression inventory, emotional distress, and state anxiety perceived stress. For cognitive performance, they looked at free recall (number of words recalled), logical reasoning speed, logical reasoning accuracy, and sustained attention. However, through all of these different tests, there was not enough significant evidence that showed that snacking has any effect on mental health and cognitive performance. The data was inconclusive in showing a trend between snacking and mental processes. Instead, this study showed an unintended result.

The researchers found that most of their subjects snacked very often. The categories of snacking were broken up in to never, once or twice a week, most days, and every day. The researchers found that most of their test subjects fell into either the category of most days or every day. This shows a general trend in the population that we are moving more towards a snacking culture rather than sitting down and having a few large meals a day. This confirms the observations that I made about my classmates own eating habits and a trend that I have noticed within society as a whole. Even though there wasn’t enough evidence to show a direct correlation between snacking and mental processes, I noticed from the data that there was a general improvement in results as snacking increased. Furthermore, the test results showed positive results as a whole, showing that snacking doesn’t have bad effects on mental health.

Overall, the study did not show conclusive results of a trend between snacking and mental processes. There was not sufficient enough data to come to that conclusion. There may have not been enough test subjects to come to this conclusion or maybe there were other errors within the study. I believe that this is a valid hypothesis that snacking has an effect on mental processes and that a potential study in the future would be viable. This study already showed there were minor improvements in mental health and cognitive performance due to snacking, and they certainly didn’t get worse because of the snacking, so by my evaluation, keep snacking. 

Snacking Habits

http://0-search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/919439042
This article discusses snacking patterns within different age groups and how it effects mental health.

Food Log Observations

Something that I noticed pretty consistently was that on the weekends, everybody started eating sometime in the afternoon, and that a lot of meals were consumed at 1 or 2 am. Also, a lot of people ate the same things pretty consistently, whether they were snacks they had in their rooms, or specific foods at the dining halls that they knew would be good every time. There weren't a whole lot of complete meals, many people just snack on random things throughout the day.

My Food Log from the Weekend

Thursday:
1:00 pm- pretzels and french onion dip and a coke
4:50 pm- cheeseburger, cheese fries, baked potato, blue raspberry kool-aid
7:00 pm- orange crush 20 oz.
9:00 pm- beef skewers, hot dog, pepsi

Friday:
12:30 pm- pizza, peach yogurt, root beer
5:45 pm- hamburger, salad, fruit salad, kool-aid
8:00 pm- popcorn, cherry coke

Saturday:
12:00 pm- biscuits and gravy, rustic potatoes, chocolate milk
5:30 pm- tortilla chips and nacho cheese, gatorade
7:35 pm- Caeser salad, broccoli and cheese soup, and water

The History of the Potato

            This morning, as I left my Spanish class, I left Sturm hall, walked through Driscoll, and continued on to Nagel Hall to pick up something to eat for lunch. I decided to pick a selection from their Rotisserie section, which normally consists of things like chicken, ribs, meatloaf, mac and cheese, and some sort of potato dish. Today, I chose the ribs, some mac and cheese, and for my third choice, I could not decide between cream of chicken soup and potato au gratin. I eventually decided on the potato au gratin, a choice I was very happy with. The dish got me thinking about potatoes, and I realized that there are so many different ways to cook a potato. This got me thinking even more. Where do potatoes come from? Who was the first group to consume potatoes? Who would ever think to take that out of the ground and take a bite of it? These questions led to more questions, which caused me to do a little research into the subject matter. I soon found out both the history of the potato and the all of the different ways you can prepare a potato, and let me tell you, there are A LOT of ways that you can prepare a potato.

            I discovered, according to Eugene Grubb in his book “The Potato”, that the potato finds its origins up in the Andes Mountains, nearly 10,000 feet above sea level, with some being found nearly 15 to 16 thousand feet high. (64) To the Peruvians, these potatoes were more than just a source of food. They were called “apples of love” because of their aphrodisiac properties. The Incans fought to the death, just so they could use human blood to fertilize their potato fields. Though no one knows exactly how the potato got to Europe, it arrived sometime in the late 1500’s. Most suspect that the Spanish were the first to bring the potato back, but there is much dispute over exactly who brought it back. From there, the potato spread throughout the rest of Europe and eventually, the rest of the world. Over the years, the potato has received many names. To the Spanish, it is called a papata, a brambor by the Czech, a panbowka by the Polish, and a pomme de terre by the French, which literally translates out to ”apple of the earth”. (Robyns 8) The French have a very clever name for this food since, to many cultures; the potato is eaten just about as frequently as an apple. In 1959, Poland led the world in consumption of potatoes, consuming 550 pounds per year, with East Germany coming in second with 484 pounds per year. (Robyns 131) However, this survey did not include the USSR, which, at the time, was the heaviest consumer of potatoes by far. Potatoes have a very unique history, and have been considered to have been responsible for many important events over the course of the world. One of these events was the potato famine in Ireland. Without this famine, the Irish never would have migrated to the United States and we would not have the strong Irish background that we have today.

            After discovering the history of the potato, I inquired about how it has been used over the course of its history. The Potato Cookbook by Gwen Robyns was a wonderful source of information for this part of my inquiry. From this book, I learned that there are 4 different groups of potatoes: the round white group, the round red group, the russet group, and the long white group. (Robyns 9, 10) Within each of these groups, there are even more subgroups of potatoes that I will not go into since there are so many. From this point in my research, I took interest into the different ways that I could prepare the potato. I was very surprised by my results. I had always known that there were plenty of different ways to cook a potato, but I had not realized there were so many different ways. To begin with, Robyns lists a few lesser used ways to cook the potato, boiling, steaming, baked potatoes, roast potatoes, foiled potatoes, French fried potatoes, and potato chips. (40) The more commonly used ways of cooking potatoes were given their very own chapters. These include mashed potatoes, filled jacket potatoes, and skillet potatoes. In the chapters describing these ways of preparation, Robyns gives around 25 or more different recipes to cook the potato in that manner. After these ways of using mainly just the potato, I learned that you could also make potato soups and potato salads, and that you could even use potatoes in making pastries, flans, and pies. The most interesting recipes I found for these desserts were for Potato Chocolate Gateaux (French for cake) and Chocolate Éclairs. (Robyns 112) I was amazed by these results. I had no idea that there were so many different ways you could utilize something as simple as a potato. Robyns’ cookbook certainly gave me a lot of insight into the world of the potato.

            After doing all of this research, I thought back to my meal earlier in the day, my potatoes au gratin. I was surprised to not find any recipes for this particular dish, but I decided that it may have been listed under a different name. I don’t believe that my discoveries will by any means change the amount I consume potatoes, but it will definitely change the way that I eat them, at least once I have the ability to make that decision. When I am living off on my own next year, I will keep these recipes in mind and potentially try some of them out (I may even take a try at making potato wine.) One thing is for sure though, the next time that I am consuming a potato, I will think back to the Incans, who shed blood for the creation of this wonderful spud.

Eugene, Grubb. The Potato. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1912. Print.

Robyns, Gwen. The Potato Cookbook. Stemmer House Publishing, 1976. Print.

Pollan, Estabrook, and Cook

Before reading these pieces, I had already previously been exposed to the horrors of the food industry. A couple years ago, I read Fast Food Nation, which let me into the world of the fast food industry and showed me the terrible things that happen in that industry. However, most of that had all gone to the back of my mind before reading these. These pieces really brought back all of those memories and reinforced them. I previously had some knowledge to how bad the poultry industry was, but I did not realize the exact extent that it went to.

            Each of these different pieces goes about the different food industries in a different way. For example, the infographic by Cook goes through the process of how chicken’s go from the factory to the sale, and all the dangers that are involved in that process. It shows a bunch of numbers that really make you realize the extent to which this industry goes. It tells how many chickens are killed each day, how many workers are injured in this process, as well as how chicken consumption in the US has increased in recent years.

            The introduction to Tomatoland shed some light on a subject I had never considered before. I had no idea that the tomato industry was so bad and that they essentially use slaves to work there. The introduction uses a personal story to lead into his overall message and brings up points that he will elaborate on later in the book. He discusses the process of creating these industrial tomatoes and how they look perfect but have nearly no taste at all. He compares them to home grown tomatoes that while they look terrible, taste delicious. His way of explaining these processes is easy to understand since he uses personal references to relate the content to the reader. 

The final piece by Pollan essentially is a review on a book written by Peter Singer. He discusses how he tries to defend his personal views against what Singer says in the book. It seems as though Singer has a come back to every statement Pollan would try to make against the book. He makes a few valid points about animals and how society treats them.

Potato Research

A food that I thoroughly enjoy and try to eat as much as I can is mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes do not include very many ingredients. They include potatoes, garlic, and any other seasonings that you might choose to add to the dish to give it your own special flare. My interest lies in potatoes. I would like to know the history of potatoes, where they come from, other purposes they serve, and interesting dishes that include them. I think a good place to start this research would be with a book I found of Amazon titled 

Potato: A History of the Propitious Esculent. This source seems as though it will give a very good explanation of the history of potatoes and will be very helpful for my research.

http://www.amazon.com/Potato-Propitious-Esculent-John-Reader/dp/0300171455/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367435880&sr=1-3&keywords=potatoes