The Hubbub about Grub

Cooking Up Culture

[hububaboutgrub]

Rationing Food

Cassie Vann and I took some time to cook an Apple Coffee Cake from the World War II era. This was a time when the United States of America and the United Kingdom were rationing food.

Ingredients

8 apples (2 per person)

4 dessert spoons brown sugar

cinnamon

2 oz margarine/butter

4 oz wholewheat flour

4 dessert spoons of white sugar

weeny pinch of salt

Method

Peel and chop apples into thin slices

Drain a little and place in greased cooking dish

Mix together flour, salt and white sugar

Add in the margarine/butter in small pieces

Pour the dough into the pan

Place the apples on the bread and then sprinkle cinnamon over the apples

Place in over at 350 F for about 30 minutes

It was interesting to see that there was not as much sugar. It really brought up the thoughts about what women had to do to plan for big events where they needed a sweet food. When we tasted it in class, it tasted a little bit unsweet, but the apples really helped that.  It wasn’t difficult to cook and I would have looked forward to the dessert if I were living in that time. 

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Coffee in Costa Rica

     Studying abroad gave me a lot of great opportunities that I would not have otherwise had in my hometown. I visited a cheese factory, a family, a university, a chocolate factory, and a local coffee farm and roaster. The coffee farm had a variety of beans and a man named Gilbert was the farmer. While Gilbert was telling us the history of the farm he said something along the lines of “Usted puede comer el grano de café, pero no comer la mitad.” So, thinking I was such a brilliant speaker of Spanish, I only listened to the first part. I ate the whole coffee fruit. It was sweet, until I got to the part where I didn’t listen. The middle of the bean was bitter and chewy and I tried to find a place to politely spit it out. It was embarrassing but an interesting experience. Gilbert showed us around his farm and told us about the care for coffee beans and picking them.

            After Gilbert’s farm, we walked a few blocks up the road to la finca bella. We met a woman whose family produces coffee. They had a coffee grinder that was a huge wooden bowl and a heavy pointed wooden stick.

The woman told us that traditionally, a family found their daughter a husband by getting the bachelor to grind coffee beans in under 30 minutes. We went inside her house which doubles as a little local coffee shop. Her coffee is organic and she only sells it from her house. I asked her why and she says it is too much trouble and does not pay enough to take it up to the city of Montverde.

            I made a few connections between these two people and Tony’s farm from the Reichman article. These people did not work for big chains, nor do they sell their coffee to big chains. The woman especially was trying to make it work, owning a small business. But she eventually gave up because she was discouraged by the cost, labor, and difficulty of selling the coffee. I feel like Tony still works for his dream but also may one day be overcome with the difficulty of owning a small business. 

[hububaboutgrub]

Memory Food

    Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 3 oz. package jello (lime) 
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream together butter, sugar, jello, eggs, and vanilla.

Add dry ingredients, mix well.

Put the mix into pampered chef cookie gun, the Christmas tree pattern is best, then use the cookie gun to shoot cookies onto the pan, place on greased cookie sheet, and flatten with fork or bottom of glass.

Bake 6-8 minutes until golden brown.

Makes 2 dozen.

  I choose this recipe because they evoke strong Christmas memories. In fourth grade the students made a Christmas cookie cook. I entered peanut butter reindeer cookies, but my mom’s best friend entered Christmas Jello Cookies. I ate them in class and my mom’s best friend brought them over as a gift. I loved those cookies so much. My mom ended up making them every year after. The recipe also makes a ton of cookies so they were easy gifts. If you look at this experience from Mintz’s suggestions, one can find some politics in these cookies. While not necessarily between coffee and sugar, the sugar offers a sweet bond to be created between families. 

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Cookbook Explorations

In the cookbook Mrs. Anderson’s Fourth Grade Cookie Recipes, there is a collection of cookie recipes from every student in the class. The cover has a gingerbread cookie on the front, colored with crayons. Inside the cookbook, the recipes are in different fonts on every page and accompanied with a holiday themed picture. Before this post, I had only looked for the Christmas Jell-O Cookies when making Christmas cookies. However, now that I have explored the cookbook more I see that it was made of recipes that families had collected and preserved and showcased in this community cookbook.  The cookbook says that the students were all part of a class, but it also suggests that people passed down these recipes and picked out their kids’ favorite to submit. Most people wrote the recipes as if most baking skills, like the ones mentioned in Sutton’s article, had already been acquired (305). And to answer Sutton’s questions “how do people learn to cook in different societies, who teaches them, under what circumstances, and with how much stress on observation, participation positive or negative reinforcement?” (305), we can look in this cookbook for those particular questions. For example, this book emphasizes on family recipes surrounding cookies. People in the society of this cookbook mostly learned to cook from families by baking with their families. This points out that it is for special holiday desserts. What the cookbook does not examine is the observation and the reinforcement that children may use to learn how to bake cookies. The cookbook plays to the family identity and the feeling of childhood. Cookies also are often times used as gifts and this may contribute to the community identity that was created in the making of this article. Mrs. Anderson’s Fourth Grade Cookie Recipes are a reflection on a group that has spread out to new schools and states and stages in lives of group members. 

[staff]

[hububaboutgrub]

Starbucks Stereotyped

A regional food tradition that I have seen stereotyped in some way has been Starbucks coffee.  Starbucks takes on a Westernized tradition and has been stereotyped. The kinds of stereotypes that are associated with this food tradition do suggest something about gender, race, class, and power. Starbucks’ stereotype about gender perceives that more feminine men, metrosexual men, or women buy coffee from there. They are also the types that are studious or have some kind of work to do on the computer.  The stereotyped race that takes part in this tradition, are people who identify as white. Class is suggested by the cost of a cup of coffee. Stereotypically it is the upper middle class and the upper class that  is perceived to buy a cup of coffee from Starbucks. The stereotypical Starbucks consumers tend to be younger also. People who hold business meetings at the Starbucks coffee shop, or also maybe show off their money to demonstrate the power. Unlike in Kate Rawson’s article about Waffle House’s inclusiveness, Starbucks tends to have the exclusive appearance. The kind of investigation I might want to do to reconsider the social and/or cultural history that contributed to the reductive stereotype might be one that examines all of the previous mentioned categories. I would want Starbucks to send out a survey or to take one before a person orders their coffee. The survey would ask the participants questions about their identified gender, age, race, sexuality, occupation and class. Each of these elements would be used to determine the accuracy of the stereotype and maybe help discover the beginning of the stereotype. And maybe in return for doing the survey, Starbucks could use it to market towards people who are not buying their coffee.  However, being an inclusive stereotype might be what Starbucks wants. 

[hububaboutgrub]

Our Thanksgiving Comes Early

When my family comes together, it is always a frustrating good time. Thanksgiving, like Siskand says, is an American tradition that often brings families together on the fourth Thursday of November (167). While some of my family comes together on this day, the day that all of the Rogers and “soon to be” Rogers share food, bad jokes, and towels is the Fourth of July.

            The Fourth of July for our family takes place in little New Auburn, Wisconsin- just North of Eau Claire. There are three cottages on Round Lake with “Rogers” on their land deeds. On this fourth day of July rather than fourth Thursday of November, my immediate family and any cousins, uncles, grandparents, gather to share this precious time. Traditionally, the food takes place at my Grandma Ruth’s cottage. This is really where the tradition started with my grandfather. He was the one to call everyone and remind everyone that we’re still putting it on every year. He would cook the burgers, brats, and hot dogs; then curse at the door, as it would hit him in the back on his way to keeping the food hot. Grandma Ruth, my mom, and my Aunt Meredith would come up with the refried beans, Sauer Kraut, and perogies. It was always easy to see the Polish heritage in the way that everyone got excited for the doughy potatoes. When everything was ready, the kids would groan coming out of the lake and everyone would squeeze himself or herself into the cottage for the blessing,  (us kids never leaving our swim suits). My grandfather used to be the one to say it, but the responsibility has since been passed to my Uncle Jim or Dad (if he’s not out sailing). After the blessing, we all went around the dining table picking up our food buffet style. The kids flew to the swings to make sure they had a spot to sit while eating. The adults congregated in the living room or around the fire, though sunset was still far off.

            Right before the sunset, all of the neighborhood would gather for the Round Lake Talent Show. The kids would play their instruments, and the Kruchten girls would tumble, and I would host. The tradition of Thanksgiving is much like our Fourth of July. In Siskind’s words “[it] powerfully shapes a sense of nationality to the emotions of homecoming” (185). Fourth of July brought everyone together and then provided special time for family to watch the fireworks building the sense of nationality. Afterwards, people would stay at the cabin or drive back to their homes, with their tummies full and a little bit more family gossip in them. 

[cookingupculture]

Rationing recipe success, complete with Darth Vader napkins! And, who doesn’t need a close up picture of Shannon’s ham loaf!

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[hububaboutgrub]

North Augusta's Local

http://manuelsbreadcafe.com

Manuel’s is different from other restaurants in presentation, food choices, their target customers, and food production. In Yan's "Of Hamburger and Social Space", they describe Finkelstein's classification of restaurants. Manuel's could be placed under the "amusement" type of restaurant, but it seems more fitting for it to be classified as a cafe due to its informal nature and ambience. Manuel’s relaxed ambience differs from some chain restaurants in its inviting nature. Manuel’s usually has a movie playing or some type of live music, making the customer interested in their surroundings. It feels high class but still plays to the casual meal. Manuel’s also offers food choices that are dedicated to freshness. I personally don’t know of many other restaurants that have their own private farm only 3 blocks away. I forgot to ask, but it seemed that they only served what was in season in their restaurant as well. With the fresh food however, the prices are higher than your average casual restaurant. The type of guest that Manuel’s is likely to have includes the neighbors from the surrounding quaint neighborhood and also people who value where their food comes from. To the later, it reassures them that the food is fresh that they are eating. They also know that if they have any questions about food chemicals or allergies, that the people in the restaurant know exactly what they are serving. This ties in with their food production. Their local food production encourages them to reach out to other local farmers to provide the food that Manuel’s does not have on the Blue Clay Farm. On the global scale, the local restaurant is mindful of their carbon footprint, sustainability, recycles what they can, and reduces waste. The difference between eating at Manuel’s and your every day chain is noticeable with just one visit. 

[foodosophy]

So the problem for great numbers of Americans is not how to get enough food or how to be well nourished. Instead it is how to fend off the insistent pressure to eat. It has been estimated that at least one in five Americans is ten per cent or more overweight—in most cases the consequence of giving in to that pressure and eating too much.

Margaret Mead, Why Do We Overeat?

The Myth of American Eating Habits

At first glance, this quote may seem contrary to what you are used to hearing. In all forms of media, Americans are often depicted as being either obscenely obese or dangerously anorexic. The words may seem harsh as descriptors for these two groups of people and I do not mean to offend, but these phrases are more accurate of the given description. The image of Americans that exists today comes from Hollywood and that isn’t necessarily the most accurate depiction. From the silver screen to reality television, you can see Americans divided into either one of these categories with only a few notable exceptions. (Shows like Girls and Glee are assumed to portray a more realistic view of Americans when it comes to body shape and ethnicity.) Yet, rarely do we talk about the possible insistent pressure to eat.

The second we wake up we are bombarded with advertisements for grocery stores, restaurants, beverages and other types of food sources. Even as young children, we begin our use of food as rewards. When we go to the doctor, we’re given a lollipop. After a successful school year, we’re given a pizza party. During the holidays… Well, there’s a reason we gain weight during the holidays and it’s not because of all the jolly going around. It’s food. Mead touches on our use of food as a means of teaching children what is good and giving food as signs of love. This really goes along with her idea that there is an insistent pressure to eat rather than an inability to know what is good and bad for the body. 

(via foodosophy)

[hububaboutgrub]

Abigail Saguy, from the video above, considers different perceptions of obesity. In Margaret Mead’s article, “Why Do We Overeat?” she argues that the obese are socially punished for being “bad”. Both Saguy and Mead agree that there is “weight-based discrimination”. The myths are that people who are overweight are indulgent and unhealthy.

            However, Mead concerns herself with the glorification of food.  She says, “For the majority of Americans food is omnipresent” (19).  She argues that it goes beyond the supermarket, onto the streets, and in advertisements. I say it goes further than that. Food is present in many aspects of Americans’ lives including: work meetings, politics, social lives, and glorified on social media. I’ve even come across a twitter account labeled “Food Porn”.  How can the blame fall on heavier people when Americans surround themselves with food? The obsession with nutrition, the obesity epidemic, and the abundance of food may reflect that America indulges itself on food-based information. Can America control itself on the amount of daily food related encounters?

            Day to day examinations of people’s health tends to be very superficial. People tend to look and “see” in a moment whether someone is healthy. If the person of judgment appears to be too skinny the word anorexic comes up. If the person of judgment appears to be heavier or even if their stomach protrudes a little more than what is “normal”, an average person would classify them as fat. Mead reminds her audience “there are many and very different origins of overweight” (20).  At the beginning of the video, Saguy mentions that there are “several people who have normal BMI who are unhealthy”. The myth is disproved by the fact that people who appear to be obese are not necessarily unhealthy.

            Just because a person is overweight does not mean they are indulgent or unhealthy. While our society continues to be obsessed with food, people will continue to judge by external features. Hopefully one day, the judgment will be first on people’s actions.

[nowyourecooking]

Saturday history lesson - in candy! Check out this poster from Chasing Delicious.

[hububaboutgrub]

Eating Against the Identity

My grandmother leaned across the table with a hushed voice, telling me the story. They found left over regurgitation under the shower mat and the doctor says she’s not supposed to exercise.  We both know this person is not outside the stereotype that is paired with anorexia nervosa. She’s white, upper-middle class, and follows mostly what Bordo describes the stereotype as.  However, when Bordo describes women and men “across race, ethnicity, nationality, and age” she is fighting the pressures of cultural norms through promoting “analyzing complaining, organizing and protesting” (12). Eating disorders affect identity as well as cultures globally and locally.

Identity can be defined in different ways, and can have different meanings in different contexts. For example, someone may describe their identity as calm and relaxed when they are with a group of their friends. They may describe their identity differently when they are in a work setting.  Disease identity is a context that may not look further into a person’s overall personality.  During my psychology class we were discussing the important difference between saying someone has something (like depression) and saying someone is something (like depressed). Saying someone is something gives that person a label. A label has different stereotypical definitions underneath. In this instance saying a person is anorexic leads way to the picture Bordo describes on page one. While people do not necessarily want to be anorexic, they may still have an eating disorder that they do not feel they identify with. Identity may affect people with eating disorders by not supporting people to claim them and look for proper care and diagnosis.

Eating disorders in Bordo’s article are localized and globalized. The article’s title points out that eating disorders are “Not just ‘a white girl’s thing’”.  Globally, people with access to social media see who and what is “in” right now.  This sways what people eat or don’t eat so they may decrease the distance between themselves and what they see as “perfect”.  The westernized world cradles this problem. Eating disorders are localized by the different cultures recognizing them. By recognizing that eating disorders go outside the stereotype, people of different cultures may identify themselves with having and owning their disorder.

            Identity has been influenced by eating disorders that are globally and locally recognized. While the world continues to gradually increase information sent out, it is slow to change the views of itself. I agree with Bordo’s argument that the tide of social media is too overbearing to overcome, but can be fought with “analyzing, complaining, organizing and protesting” (12). Analyzing identity and the global and local affects is my way of fighting.  

  Link to picture: http://naosouexposicao.wordpress.com/tag/transtornos-alimentares-2/

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70's Global-localization

McDonald’s offers an easy example of globalization, but also demonstrates localization through the different specifications that McDonald’s presents in unique cultures. I visited McDonald’s Japan website and though I couldn’t read the language, there were a few apparent differences I did not need to read to understand. First I noticed, at the top of their screen, was a promotional for their American Vintage 70’s burgers. The commercial starts off with people continuing about their every day mediocre lives, then comes three disco dancers who bust out of the McDonald’s singing a song from the 70’s and shaking their hips. You notice people smiling as they watch the dancers and kids become excited. I personally don’t see a McDonald’s and think I should hop into some platform shoes and go to McDonald’s- maybe that’s just me. However, this pushes the point, made by Yan in his “Of Hamburger and Social Space” that eating the food creates an “American” experience, or at least what is perceived to be. I think this type of experience could be compared to that of when Americans go to a restaurant that claims to have a different ethnic culture. We have an expectation of what it should be like and that kind of restaurant is here in the United States. However, if one visits a local restaurant serving cultural food, it most likely would not be exactly like the American restaurant due to localization. This ties into the American Vintage 70’s promotion, which may not be as exciting to American’s because it’s not an abnormal or special experience.

            Another difference I noticed was the drinks they served. They are coke products, but some I do not recognize. This makes me wonder if Coca-Cola is localizing drinks for McDonald’s and also selling them through McDonald’s too.  Coca-Cola and McDonald’s are both globally recognized and working to appeal to different cultural tastes and needs. 

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Coffee Buzz

Many American’s morning routine includes drinking a cup of coffee.  In Reichman’s  “Justice at a Price”, he poses the question, “In a world where individuality is valued, how does one simultaneously depend on mass-produced goods and assert individual creative autonomy?” (109).  Mass-produced goods provide that certain good to a large amount of people. The good that is created generates creativity by the production of a proto-type and also forming a way to manufacture the product. The coffee in Black Gold displays creativity because there had to be a structure that was formed to mass-produce it and different flavors are most likely created from those farms. Reichman tells a story about Tony Chan who uses creativity with his own flavors and also by setting up his own system to sell his coffee (104). Creativity could also be considered when a specific brand is made. Specific brands might draw consumers, even as they are seeking to establish their own food traditions because they are recognizable and familiar. Even if the brand does not come from the place wishing to create a food tradition, the people recognize the brand and make it their own.

Buona Café, a small local coffee shop in Augusta, produces its own coffee.  As I’m going there next week, the questions I have for the owners include: Where are your coffee beans grown? How do you come up with new flavors? Are you always in contact with your farmer? 

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Hollie McNish, “Embarrassed”