Support Organic Food (click me!)
This video clip belongs on this blog because it highlights one of the most important things about my blog, which is on supporting your local farmer’s market by buying organic produce. It is a fun cartoon that touches on going organic and how it is GMO free, and is accompanied by a song.
Have you ever wondered where all of the food we eat comes from? Did you ever wonder about the process that our food has to go through before it reaches us?
The films “King Corn” and “America Revealed: Food Machine” are two great examples that I highly recommend, which shows us how some of the food we eat is made and where it truly comes from.
“King Corn” is a documentary that follows two friends Curtis and Ian on their journey to grow an acre of corn. This films follows them through the entire process, as Curtis and Ian study and examine the rising production of corn in America. Before watching “King Corn” I did not know what a huge role some thing as “small” as corn would have in our food industry. However, it’s role is not what I would have expected, and this documentary shows the crazy and sad truth behind the huge production of corn in the food industry in America.
When you first picture a field of corn, you imagine beautiful and bright yellow and green rows swaying with the breeze along the field. This unfortunately was how a family farm looked like many, many years ago, and has been drastically replaced by large industrial farms. Instead of corn being produced for us humans to eat, the main reason why large industrial fields have been producing corn is based on what the government wants.
One of the main purposes of the booming corn industry, is due to the production of high fructose corn syrup, which is a common ingredient that is found in many cheap products like fast food. This corn is filled with pesticides and GMO’s to grow faster, so that they can have enough to feed cattle and produce high fructose corn syrup. The production of high fructose corn syrup alone is disgusting! When Curtis and Ian made it, we saw them mix tons of dangerous chemicals to produce corn syrup. They even had to wear gloves and masks because of how dangerous the chemicals are. And now we are eating it?
The corn is also used as cattle feed. With the ever growing meat industry, all the companies in the meat industries main goal is to make as much as quickly as possible, to make as much money as possible. Cattle are supposed to be able to roam a beautiful green pasture, and eat the grass. However, with the cruel meat industry, these cattle are put into tight spaces with no room to move around, and are fed corn. Natural healthy meat has been slowly put aside by many, and has been replaced by hormone enhanced met, which is extremely unhealthy and has many side effects on peoples bodies.
In “America Revealed: Food Machine”, the host Yul Kwon gives us the big picture and explores an industrial revolution that “has turned our pastures into the biggest, most productive, most efficient food machine the world has even seen.” The food industry produces much more than we can even eat, and a lot of it actually goes to waste. Due to the increasing demand for meat and produce, the system is under pressure and pushes our resources to the limit. In order to keep us fed, every single supply, for outlets such as Subway, Dominos, and supermarkets must continuously be supplied with food for us.
Yul Kwon talks to us about how our produce travels from all around America to reach us. This is bad for the environment as these long distance trips result in air pollution, which contributes to global warming. He also explores a large scale cattle operation which produces beef in what they say is more efficient (a.k.a faster, but not healthier). The cows are fed corn based products that are not natural for them and is used to fatten them up in the shortest amount of time as possible.
His interactions with strangers are so well done due to the fact that he already has background information to add to his conversations with them. In our food industry today, it is all about consumers wanting any thing and every thing that is convenient to them. Which is why he documented a pizza delivery boy as he made over 30 deliveries that night in New York. If Americans want pizza, the food industry will give it to them, even though the condiments have to come from as far away as California, where there are acres and acres of produce like tomatoes and onions.
This Writing about Food class has taught me and inspired me in so many ways that what I could have imagined. Through all the readings we have done in this class, I have been able to read a variety of pieces with writing techniques and styles that I never really understood before taking this Writing about Food class. The readings were very thought provoking and many of them were enticing, as well as persuasive. The way writers are able to make all their words flow so seamlessly continues to amaze me and inspire me to become a great and effective writer like many of them. All of the writing assignments that we have done this semester have taught me so much and have impacted my understanding about effective food writing, especially through the drafting process and conference week. Getting feedback from classmates that could relate and understand my topic helped to enhance and improve my writing skills.
Through my writing, I have tried to form and create a vivid and descriptive piece to help my readers visualize and almost taste what I am writing about, like with my family recipe project on my grandmother’s Assam Laksa. I have also tried to incorporate a similar style to Christina Manweller’s piece “Of Birds, and of a Particular Pomological Fruit” by trying to make my writing balanced, especially when I am giving my readers a lot of information, like in my Food Research Project on Almonds, which tends to put most people off as it can be too overly informative.
My blog has entered, engaged with, and excited the unending conversation of Writing About Food. To create an “unending conversation” I will continue to try to make my writing more conversation, personal, informative, and vivid all in one to make my readers want to continue reading.
“Tell me what kind of food you eat, and I will tell you what kind of man you are.”
Aphorisms of the Professor – Jean Anthelme Brilliant-Savarin
Am I what I eat?
Well, I believe that I am what I eat in some ways, however I am not what I eat in many ways as well. With my Malaysian-Chinese family background, I have been introduced to a wide variety of delicacies and specialties from my cultures that would seem “disgusting” or “smelly” to someone who has not ventured too far out of their “comfort zone”.
As a foodie, I love and enjoy trying new things when I travel all around Asia. From stinky (fermented) tofu, to durian, to fried crickets, there is no food that I will not dare to try! These seemingly “odd” flavors excite my palette, and many of these dishes such as stinky tofu and durian, are part of my culture, and therefore is a clear representation of my diverse background.
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This class challenged me to think more outside of the box, especially on topics that people have heard too much about like why “going organic” is the way to go. I have learned how important it is to add your own personal flare into each of your pieces, especially by adding a personal story that many readers can relate to. Exploring the different ways to describe a single type of food was very fun as we learn to use all of our senses to help heighten the experience for our readers, especially those readers who have never been able to try the dish. This all especially ties in to my favorite assignment we did, which was our family recipe project. Being about to share my own personal background through my food, allowed me to find new ways to express myself on such memorable memories and moments that are dear to my heart. After re-reading so many food blogs that I follow and food books that I have read, I have even more respect for them as they are always able to captivate me through their use of words.
I have learned that there is definitely a side of me that does actually enjoy writing (especially when it’s about food). Through this class, I have been able to explore writing through a whole new “genre” and topic, and I have been able to slowly develop my writing skills through this class. All I know is that as a writer, I need to be passionate and interested about the topic I am writing about for it to become an amazing piece and story that I am proud of, and this class definitely helped me achieve that.
This class has been such a fun writing experience that I am very glad that I took. I have a new found passion to start writing again, and maybe it will take me some where!
Health & Happiness 