8/31/07
For the longest time I’ve been craving a hotdog, something that shouldn’t have been so challenging to obtain but managed to elude me. I believe this has been a long time craving, one that has gone away for months but every once in a while rears its ugly head in a painful desire. When you think about it, hotdogs are not a very appealing food. They consist of ground up meat and intestines wound into a sausage shape roll garnished with spices. So way are they so damn good?
I am curious as to why people crave certain things. Is it all mental or can people actually have cravings to the point where it physically hurts? I know for me, I can crave something so badly that my tummy rumbles and I can taste the explosion of flavors on my tongue, but then the feeling passes. By the time I actually get around to eating whatever it is that I am craving I have normally lost that pure lust. Maybe it is just me, but after I am finished eating whatever it was that I had been craving, I am satisfied. Although, it is more because I have fulfilled my craving and less about how spectacular what I just ate tasted. Even if it was really, really good, my satisfaction comes more from the fulfillment of the craving. Why is that? I would assume it all has to do with taste buds, the little bumps on your tongue that tell the difference between bitter and sweet, and spicy and mild. It is mind-boggeling to me that taste buds play a huge part in who you are simply by controlling what you eat. At the same time, your taste buds can adapt and change based on location and age. For example, when I was little, my mom made this dish of black beans and quinua which I abhorred. For years she stopped making it and evidently lost the recipe. Then, a couple of years ago she made the dish and it has now become one of my main food staples. In fact, I am craving that dish right now, and I will probably be craving that dish for a long time since I will not be home anytime soon.
Friday, August 31, 2007
8/29/07
Today we walked around the Seattle P-Patches, the small community gardens that can be found all over the city. The other day we went to the university farm and learned about permaculture. I am amazed at the abundance of self-sustaining gardens that have sprung up all over the world in the most unlikely of places. Seeing all these gardens firsthand made me realize the drastic impact they will have in relinquishing our dependency on foreign oil. In both the Detroit Arcadia article by Rebecca Solnit and The Cuba Diet, by Bill Mckibben, the idea of full force community gardens came after a drastic social or political change. It is weird to think that the emergence of all these new gardens in such numbers is a statement of the times. One, which in a few years we will look back on and analyze. The notion that we, a technologically advanced civilization, are reverting back to the basics by using our hands to reap the benefits, is humbling. With time, maybe the world will be an all-around healthier place. Maybe obesity rates will drop as well as all the diseases that come with being overweight.
In a discussion regarding national cuisine, someone asked if we were bothered by the fact that America is known as the “fat” nation. America is all about efficiency, which in this day and age is synonymous with fast food. Let’s hope that this increasing interest in organic and local foods can symbolize a new era, a return to the outdoors and nature.
Today we walked around the Seattle P-Patches, the small community gardens that can be found all over the city. The other day we went to the university farm and learned about permaculture. I am amazed at the abundance of self-sustaining gardens that have sprung up all over the world in the most unlikely of places. Seeing all these gardens firsthand made me realize the drastic impact they will have in relinquishing our dependency on foreign oil. In both the Detroit Arcadia article by Rebecca Solnit and The Cuba Diet, by Bill Mckibben, the idea of full force community gardens came after a drastic social or political change. It is weird to think that the emergence of all these new gardens in such numbers is a statement of the times. One, which in a few years we will look back on and analyze. The notion that we, a technologically advanced civilization, are reverting back to the basics by using our hands to reap the benefits, is humbling. With time, maybe the world will be an all-around healthier place. Maybe obesity rates will drop as well as all the diseases that come with being overweight.
In a discussion regarding national cuisine, someone asked if we were bothered by the fact that America is known as the “fat” nation. America is all about efficiency, which in this day and age is synonymous with fast food. Let’s hope that this increasing interest in organic and local foods can symbolize a new era, a return to the outdoors and nature.
My Realization
8/28/07
Food plays a key role in culture and society. It is through food that people make connections with one another. In some cases, the time taken to sit and eat a meal is the only social time a person has in their day, and therefore they want to make the most of it. In my family we always tried to eat dinner together. As we got older and busier we ate our weekday dinners less and less, but we always ate Friday night dinners together without fail. This is because it was Shabbat. Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, lasts from sundown on Friday night to an hour after sundown on Saturday night. In most Jewish households, it is customary to have a large Shabbat feast carefully laid out on a white table cloth adorned with a wine goblet and two braided loafs of bread called Challah. At my house we normally had guests join us for our meals. The purpose of Shabbat is to make a differentiation from daily life. In doing so, everything slows allowing a person time to connect to their physical surroundings and their family (both blood and non-blood related), in essence, their community. I guess I never stopped to contemplate what this meant, regarding my relationship with the Jewish community as a whole. It felt so mechanical and permanent. I guess I forget that other religions don’t have this concept, this unifying force. It made me think of class today when we talked about how anthropologists have a tendency to want to explore the exotic culture of a far away land when they could just as easily spend their time researching their own culture.
Taking a closer look at Jewish cooking, I am becoming increasingly aware of how food defines this religion. Jews are more or less classified into Ashkenazim or Sephardim- those whose ancestors hail from Eastern Europe or Spain/Morocco. Since the foods that grew in those regions are very different, traditional Jewish food depends on where one’s ancestors are from. This makes me question, how important is food to the Jewish people? Is there a Jewish cuisine?
Food plays a key role in culture and society. It is through food that people make connections with one another. In some cases, the time taken to sit and eat a meal is the only social time a person has in their day, and therefore they want to make the most of it. In my family we always tried to eat dinner together. As we got older and busier we ate our weekday dinners less and less, but we always ate Friday night dinners together without fail. This is because it was Shabbat. Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, lasts from sundown on Friday night to an hour after sundown on Saturday night. In most Jewish households, it is customary to have a large Shabbat feast carefully laid out on a white table cloth adorned with a wine goblet and two braided loafs of bread called Challah. At my house we normally had guests join us for our meals. The purpose of Shabbat is to make a differentiation from daily life. In doing so, everything slows allowing a person time to connect to their physical surroundings and their family (both blood and non-blood related), in essence, their community. I guess I never stopped to contemplate what this meant, regarding my relationship with the Jewish community as a whole. It felt so mechanical and permanent. I guess I forget that other religions don’t have this concept, this unifying force. It made me think of class today when we talked about how anthropologists have a tendency to want to explore the exotic culture of a far away land when they could just as easily spend their time researching their own culture.
Taking a closer look at Jewish cooking, I am becoming increasingly aware of how food defines this religion. Jews are more or less classified into Ashkenazim or Sephardim- those whose ancestors hail from Eastern Europe or Spain/Morocco. Since the foods that grew in those regions are very different, traditional Jewish food depends on where one’s ancestors are from. This makes me question, how important is food to the Jewish people? Is there a Jewish cuisine?
Monday, August 27, 2007
Early Morning Rendezvous
8/24/07
Last night I was on an adventure that took me out roaming the streets at four thirty in the morning. I wasn’t doing anything special, just wandering the ave on a beautiful night in the early morning hours with a new friend. There is something so freeing about being awake when the rest of the city is sleeping, you feel so alive; alive and hungry. The latter presented a problem. It was one of those nights perfect for a sketchy greasy spoon 24-hour diner. However, there was no such place walking distance from campus. This concerned me greatly. For logical reasons, how could a college campus that is relatively busy at all hours of the night not have a place available 24 hours? It’s just a preposterous notion. And on a nostalgic level, many of my favorite memories from high school involve eating curly fries at Mel’s Diner late at night (early in the morning) after a school function. I want them to be memories I have from college too. So I set out on a mission to find a place and I came back empty handed. Even my veteran University of Washington friends were shocked when we drove past the burger joint Dick’s and it too was closed. Maybe it is just slow right now and eventually there will be a 24-hour place. If not, I might have to go into the food business to rectify this situation.
Last night I was on an adventure that took me out roaming the streets at four thirty in the morning. I wasn’t doing anything special, just wandering the ave on a beautiful night in the early morning hours with a new friend. There is something so freeing about being awake when the rest of the city is sleeping, you feel so alive; alive and hungry. The latter presented a problem. It was one of those nights perfect for a sketchy greasy spoon 24-hour diner. However, there was no such place walking distance from campus. This concerned me greatly. For logical reasons, how could a college campus that is relatively busy at all hours of the night not have a place available 24 hours? It’s just a preposterous notion. And on a nostalgic level, many of my favorite memories from high school involve eating curly fries at Mel’s Diner late at night (early in the morning) after a school function. I want them to be memories I have from college too. So I set out on a mission to find a place and I came back empty handed. Even my veteran University of Washington friends were shocked when we drove past the burger joint Dick’s and it too was closed. Maybe it is just slow right now and eventually there will be a 24-hour place. If not, I might have to go into the food business to rectify this situation.
When Food Means More Than a Good Meal
8/23/07
Today I made an elementary Obento. A bento, for those of you that don’t know is a lunch box Japanese mothers make for their nursery age school children. In Japanese culture, this lunch box is much more than a mere supply of nourishment. On the physical level, through the labor intensive and time consuming process this lunch box represents a mother’s love for her child. On the metaphorical level, it symbolizes the perfection the child should strive for during his life. In the upper echelons of Japanese society every aspect of life is so competitive that these lunch boxes are haute cuisine. Take a minute and try to remember what your lunch looked like when you were in nursery school. Can you picture it? I know that I can’t. But I can guess; a peanut butter and jelly sandwich sliced into triangles with the crust cut off, an apple juice box, a small container of apple slices and perhaps a string cheese. Nothing took very much preparation time, lots of items were pre packaged- grab and go. In my world, everything is about efficiency. I remember how jealous I was when my friends had lunchables in their lunch. I am hesitant to make any comparisons between them and Bentos but that was the first thing that came to mind. When lunchables, the ultimate portable snack were all the craze they were a status of “coolness”. Just as the women who creates the bentos are graded for their presentation the child who eats all of his in a timely way is praised. They are regarded with admiration and used as a model to which everyone should aspire. What is it about American society that needs to change? How can we feel good about ourselves and the lunches American school age children eat when Japanese mothers create labor-intensive miniature masterpieces daily with scrupulous effort? Often times parents showed their love for their children in other ways. I remember a lot of kids would get messages, pictures or inside jokes written on their napkins or on their paper bag lunches. Although it does not hold the weight of an Obento, it is a step in the right direction. In the article by Ann Allison titled, Japanese Mothers and Obentos: The Lunch Box as Ideological State Apparatus, she comments on how the Obentos have become a symbol of moving into the real world. I like that notion. That the very basic thing we need to survive is our entryway into an entirely new realm of possibilities and obligations.
So here are two pictures of my Obento.
Today I made an elementary Obento. A bento, for those of you that don’t know is a lunch box Japanese mothers make for their nursery age school children. In Japanese culture, this lunch box is much more than a mere supply of nourishment. On the physical level, through the labor intensive and time consuming process this lunch box represents a mother’s love for her child. On the metaphorical level, it symbolizes the perfection the child should strive for during his life. In the upper echelons of Japanese society every aspect of life is so competitive that these lunch boxes are haute cuisine. Take a minute and try to remember what your lunch looked like when you were in nursery school. Can you picture it? I know that I can’t. But I can guess; a peanut butter and jelly sandwich sliced into triangles with the crust cut off, an apple juice box, a small container of apple slices and perhaps a string cheese. Nothing took very much preparation time, lots of items were pre packaged- grab and go. In my world, everything is about efficiency. I remember how jealous I was when my friends had lunchables in their lunch. I am hesitant to make any comparisons between them and Bentos but that was the first thing that came to mind. When lunchables, the ultimate portable snack were all the craze they were a status of “coolness”. Just as the women who creates the bentos are graded for their presentation the child who eats all of his in a timely way is praised. They are regarded with admiration and used as a model to which everyone should aspire. What is it about American society that needs to change? How can we feel good about ourselves and the lunches American school age children eat when Japanese mothers create labor-intensive miniature masterpieces daily with scrupulous effort? Often times parents showed their love for their children in other ways. I remember a lot of kids would get messages, pictures or inside jokes written on their napkins or on their paper bag lunches. Although it does not hold the weight of an Obento, it is a step in the right direction. In the article by Ann Allison titled, Japanese Mothers and Obentos: The Lunch Box as Ideological State Apparatus, she comments on how the Obentos have become a symbol of moving into the real world. I like that notion. That the very basic thing we need to survive is our entryway into an entirely new realm of possibilities and obligations.
So here are two pictures of my Obento.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Chipotle, Authentic Mexican Food?
So I am sitting here in the computer lab and it is my second day of class. Everyone around me is typing away and here I am, utterly lost. I am not good at this creative free write stuff nor am I known for my cooking abilities and I would not by any means call myself a food connoisseur, although, I do love to eat. Evidently, I am way out of my league. While trying to figure out how to use the time today, I decided I wanted to give myself some structure and therefore start with a title. My thinking was that after the title, everything would fall into place. But a title holds so much weight. How does one chose before they figure out what they are going to write about? I guess it's like the timeless discussion of which came first, the chicken or the egg.
Since this is my first blog I thought it would be appropriate to introduce myself and my love for authentic Mexican cuisine. Maybe it is because I am from California or maybe it is innately in my taste buds but Chipotle just doesn't cut it. I've traveled a bit in my life for extended periods of time and they have always been a culturally eye opening experience. No matter where I am in the world, I can no doubt find a Mac Donald’s or a Pizza Hut yet I have been unable to find a Burrito that came close to rivaling that of California's.
My top 3 favorite Burrito Places in San Francisco:
1) La 'avenida Taqueria
2) Papa Lote's
3) Gordos
For example, I spent last year in Israel. Granted there is not a large Mexican population there, but my heart leapt every time I saw the word Mexican or Taqueria plastered on a sign. I faithfully wanted to believe that somewhere in that little country filled with people from all around the world that there would be a place that could at least make an elementary burrito of beans and rice. That, for some reason was a concept that could not be grasped. Instead, I would whine to my friends about how badly I wanted an authentic burrito and explain to them incessantly that it was a misrepresentation to call something a burrito if it was missing a key ingredient (such as beans or rice). They would nod their heads in agreement as if they understood and then utter the phrase, "yeah, if only there was a Chipotle". I would let out a sigh and shake my head slightly to show my disapproval, Chipotle is by no means AUTHENTIC MEXICAN FOOD.
Since this is my first blog I thought it would be appropriate to introduce myself and my love for authentic Mexican cuisine. Maybe it is because I am from California or maybe it is innately in my taste buds but Chipotle just doesn't cut it. I've traveled a bit in my life for extended periods of time and they have always been a culturally eye opening experience. No matter where I am in the world, I can no doubt find a Mac Donald’s or a Pizza Hut yet I have been unable to find a Burrito that came close to rivaling that of California's.
My top 3 favorite Burrito Places in San Francisco:
1) La 'avenida Taqueria
2) Papa Lote's
3) Gordos
For example, I spent last year in Israel. Granted there is not a large Mexican population there, but my heart leapt every time I saw the word Mexican or Taqueria plastered on a sign. I faithfully wanted to believe that somewhere in that little country filled with people from all around the world that there would be a place that could at least make an elementary burrito of beans and rice. That, for some reason was a concept that could not be grasped. Instead, I would whine to my friends about how badly I wanted an authentic burrito and explain to them incessantly that it was a misrepresentation to call something a burrito if it was missing a key ingredient (such as beans or rice). They would nod their heads in agreement as if they understood and then utter the phrase, "yeah, if only there was a Chipotle". I would let out a sigh and shake my head slightly to show my disapproval, Chipotle is by no means AUTHENTIC MEXICAN FOOD.
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