Industrial Food

In the movies of the Meatrix, I thought it was horrible of what they do to the animals, especially when the pig put on the glasses and saw that all the cows turned so unhealthy and deteriorated. And when they show how they take out the milk from the cows using machines and the baby cows have to drink blood, which causes the mad cow diseases to spread. All because they want the process of getting the final product to be as fast as possible. It is sad that even the workers are getting injured because the bosses wants to make money shows that our dominant foodways is bad and horrible. Even the process of turning the meat into products is bad, the organization and sanitary is very unhealthy and disgusting. In the movie 2.5, the way they cut the meat and by hurrying the process, bacteria and other bad things gets on the products makes me feel that we do not appreciate the animals that has been killed and rather than eating them like God has given them to us, we are doing the opposite. 
In the article, "Industrial Food isn't Cheap", it talks about how the food that we buy that we think is cheap is not actually cheap at all, considering all the expenses that we need to pay to cover the damages industrial farming has done such as "tens of billions of dollars in taxes, medical expenses, toxic clean-ups, insurance premiums, and other pass-along costs to subsidize industrial food producers". I think it tells how it takes up a lot of work just to grow a land of plants because the farmers needs these equipments and needs a huge amount of pesticides because the insects would get immune to it and the damages it gets in to the workers and the payment needed to cover those costs. The consumers that are not farming would not notice it because they are only trying to get the cheapest and good-looking vegetables or meat. It shows how this culture's dominant foodways work that we do not really care about how the plant had gone through but as to whether the plant is cheap or not. Additionally, the "topsoil" that the nature produces, we are destroying it many times faster, causing more chemicals to be put into the soil and into the plant. And I don't think many of the consumers know that we are eating more of the chemicals than the plant.

Omnivore's Dilemma Chapters Reading and Responses Chapter 2 and 7

Chapter 2:

I am surprised to read that the farmers now have to feed around "129 Americans" (34), which have increased the people per farmer that the farmers are feeding than before. But even though one farmer is feeding some 129 Americans, George Naylor, the farmer Pollan is staying with is "going broke" but "he's doing better than many of his neighbors"(34). This gets me thinking why are the farmers are going broke when they are feeding this many people. In the chapter, Pollan later explained because of the tools and seeds that the farmers needed to buy from the companies as well as the companies are taking much of the profit from the farmers that the farmers are getting less and less money. If the farmers are getting less and less money, what will happen when majority of the farmers becomes bankrupt or so and cannot afford to do any farming, what will the companies do? Raise the price of the profit for the famers? If there are less farmers, how are the people going to survive who is buying the products? If the companies hire people to become farmers, are they going to do as good of a job as the pro farmers who went broke?

Another interesting fact that I read was how the corn keeps producing more and more each year because of the low prices but the farmers are in bad shape with their finances. As I was through the part about that, I kept wondering if there was a solution for it, that can make the farmers and their families to survive. Since they have to pay for the tools they bought, the profits that are left would be too little to support them for long but the companies are getting more and more profits. If technology is the problem, should someone create a more easier machine that does not cost a lot?  I think it affects the society as to how corn is spread everywhere, in mostly everything, which is a lot of things, and all of us consumes those things but the farmers are getting less than they work for. The land that the farmers own is eventually going to turn bad because all the nutrients and chemicals that were in the soil is disappearing. Even by adding much more fertilizers and other chemicals like the nitrogen, in the future, I think they will cause the land some troubles. 

Vincent: 

As to the first question, I think its hard to explain how George is avoiding debts because there are so many problems in the first place when George has taken over the land. The land's nutrients has already dried up much if you take a look about it since it was way back in the grandfather's time. Hm, I also don't think the farmers "want" to put in more debt than they should because in the chapter, it says the farmers need to grow more corn to sell more because of the market price keep dropping. I think it is more like a force that the farmers have to be in debt if they are going to be farmers. The costs of being a farmer and the tools and seeds that the farmers needed to buy are already given them a hard life. Don't you think? It is the same with anybody if they want to start their own businesses but it is not like they are able to do anything about it unless they actually get a huge group of farmers (which I don't think there is many percentage of farmers) to fight for with the government or other companies about it.

Chapter 7:

This chapter was really interesting and when Pollan was calculating how much corn he is eating from that meal that was bought in McDonald, I started to wonder how much corn I was eating too. Fast food restaurants have become a popular place for many people to eat but unlike Pollan's wife, Judith, who thinks that "having a fast-food lunch meant giving up a 'real mean,'" (109) shows that Americans are eating it to become full but not exactly "satisfying" what you are eating and tasting. When Pollan asked his son, Issac how the chicken nuggets taste more like chicken or like the old ones but Issac only responded that they "taste like what they are, which is nuggets" (112), which proves another point (even though he is young) that some Americans are not distinguishing what they are eating, but simply looking at it, they say what the name of it is. Also, Pollan said we are all "corn eaters" but I don't think many of us knows that because we are not aware of it since corn is invisible in the food, except for actually eating a real corn. Corn is convenient because it is cheap and it is use to feed the animals in the farm and then using corn as an ingredients to make the food. This is the same as the fast food restaurants creating a convenient way of eating and how the car makers are making the car to have food holders. By eating with one hand and driving with the other plus can switch off between foods with ease because there are holders, which seems to me that we have also become cheap, in a way. Because in the past, everybody have to work with their hands and the tools that they have, unlike the technologies that is occupying now. They have to work day and night which shows the obesity rate also decreases too because they are using so much energy in growing the crops (corn). Now that they have big machines, it is must easier to grow the corn (and producing cheap corn) and the farmers just need to sit around in the tractors, pushing this button and the machine would likely do half of the work or more. Since America is a urban place, there are so many cars but so little bicycles and walking (maybe). The people are all trying to make things more convenient so they can multi-task better but because of that, the food that they eat while multi-tasking gets less attention since they might not even be thinking about the food, just eating it to fulfill their basic needs. I think it is also why obesity rates rise since we are not paying as much attention as to what we eat (except for Pollan's wife and others who pays attention) and all the convenient things that we make thrives from our sense of wanting to be lazy or to be able to do more things in one go. 

I wonder where does the corn seeds come from because the companies are selling 1st generation seeds and since the farmers are growing more and more corn, how does this all go?

Where did the flavor of the chicken go in the chicken nuggets rather than the salty flavor and the corn that is in it?

Kiana's blog (somehow can't find the comment button on hers so the comment would only be on here): 

I agree with the "real meal", and I think we think of food very simply, just the looks and the taste of it, if it is good, then it is good (and sometimes wondering what's in it and sometimes not). I also agree on the convenient that the fast food restaurants made to the consumers. By eating the food they have wrapped and created for convenience, they get huge profits too since the consumers can just buy more food but still have room to hold the food in places and not spilling anything. And yup, we really do take advantage where the food actually comes from and how corn is one of the main food that is used to make so many other food and things. People may love the convenience but if they don't look at the food that they are eating, I think the food loses some of its values and the ones that are making the food would have less expectations because the food makers are always trying new recipes but if the people do not notice the ingredients, it is hard for the food makers to accept the whole compliments. 

Food Assignment 7: Tamagoyaki

Tamagoyaki!!! ~~ Tamagoyaki Recipe


How I did on cooking the tamagoyaki:

May 23---> 

Response to the quote from Omnivore's Dilemma

"Whatever native wisdom we may once have possessed about eating has been replaced by confusion and anxiety. Somehow this most elemental of activites - figuring out what to eat - has come to require a remarkable amount of expert help" (Pollen 1 of the Omnivore's Dilemma). 

I do not think you have to have an expert's help to know what you should eat. In some cases, I think anyone can tell if the food is healthy or unhealthy. The biggest person who have influence on me or more like nagging is my mother because the mothers are the one that makes food best for the children. However, a lot of the times I do not like what my mom makes so I don't eat it. I am a picky eater but a lot of the times, the food that I eat, I do not get "confusion" or "anxiety" because it is something that I have choose to eat. I think I would get those feelings if it is from experts because they are the ones that knows that you should eat to become healthy but that does not mean it will suit your taste. I heard that if you do not feel happy eating the food, then the food would not really help you. I think the expert is a lot of the times, myself because I know my tastes best but I have to put my health in care too. I can eat unhealthy food but in return I have to eat healthy food to balance both out. 

May Day [draft 2]

I did not think there was a May Day before or did I think about how the workers struggle in the past to get this day. Because seeing how it is today, I can not imagine much of a protest or riot that can happen. The rich people's power is still dominant in the economy because they are the ones that has the power get what they want. Even though there is a free market, it does not really change how some people have more or less money. That affects how when the people want to go fight for the workers' rights that they do not have enough courage to defend what they want or throw a revolution.
I think why other countries celebrate May Day while United States don't is because the workers are afraid of the government but other countries, they fight until they got the May Day they want. In the wikipedia site, International Workers' Day, May Day is celebrated as a national holiday while in U.S., May Day was called "Labor Day"; we don't celebrate it as much as the other countries, walking in a big parade, shows our lack of appreciation for that day, or just that the bosses won't let the workers a day off. It also shows that U.S. is a country made for making money and living our whole lives by working, without much of a day off and giving a big part of our money to the government and rich people.

Grocery Store and Habitual Food

The grocery stores that I have visited this week, the Trader Joes and the one near the school, are different than the ones my parents go to buy the groceries. Sometimes when I go with my mom to buy the groceries, typically, the common fruits (sometimes the popular fruits of the season) and some vegetables would be out in front of the stores. I think it is because the fruits and vegetables cost less than meat. In my view, I think the fruits and vegetables looks more nicer as a display than the meat because for meat, I can see the blood, and for the fishes, the eyes and their constant moving in the water are rather scary and the customers would back off. The grocery stores tries to "push" the particular types of products that are cheap and the customers that do not need to think that much about how much one costs (the 19 cents per banana (Maggie)). I thought it was also confusing to see how my mom pick out her fruits and vegetables, to see if its fresh, or big, or which one has the bigger amount. As for picking out the meat, it is hard to use our own hands because it is the butcher who would get the meat for the customers and sometimes that causes problems because the butcher sometimes gets whichever one to finish the job and then the customers would argue. Then there are times when my mom would bargain with the sellers for a cheaper price but not necessary in a grocery store but the tiny stores that sells meat or vegetables.

My mother would usually buy chicken, fish, pork and/or beef but in most of the meals, it is fish and chicken since my sister and I are a picky eater, giving a hard time for my mother to choose. Vegetables she would buy are broccoli, green beans, celery, chinese lettuce, bak choy, fu gua (bitter melon), and tofu. Fruits that I eat in a typical week depends on what my mother buys such as oranges, kiwis, bananas, mangoes, apples and pears. Whenever my mom would cook meat, depending on way she cooks it, steam, or fried, I would choose it base on how it looks than how it taste. If I can see the blood vessels, or sometimes when the chicken is steam, or when the fish is steams, the skins are one of the parts that I do not like to eat. And the main dish that my family always have is a bowl of rice and it is a cultural food that chinese people have. Also, thinking about the food and the feeling towards how the dishes look like at first can affect people in eating. For me, I would eat the food if I am hungry but not necessary eating all on the dishes if some of the food do not suit my taste. And then by putting that thought of not wanting to eat that food because it does not look good to me affects and pushes the disgust higher. Then I would refuse it as much as I can. Because my family does not have much fancy feasts or too much of a variety unless its a holiday feast, I think I like simple dishes rather than having too much food in a dish. In a way, I think it waste food unless I could finish it all but if I can't, it feels as if all the food that I bought is going to be leftovers, which I do not like especially leftover meat. I think it is good to have not the same dishes everyday but having so different variety of food frequently is rather troublesome even though I would inspect the food that my mom made. I would have to pick this ingredient and that ingredient but if the prices are high, then I would feel a bit down for not able to make it. I think it depends on the feelings of what we are eating and if we have the effort to make them. If we have the effort to make the food by ourselves and buy the ingredients by ourselves, I think we would feel a sense of accomplishment for making the dish. Then we can eat it more comfortably, slowly, enjoying the food and able to think about the cooking process, and the taste.

May Day

I think why other countries celebrate May Day while United States don't is because the workers are afraid of the government but other countries, they fight until they got the May Day they want. In the wikipedia site, International Workers' Day, May Day is celebrated as a national holiday while in U.S., May Day was called "Labor Day"; we don't celebrate it as much as the other countries, walking in a big parade, shows our lack of appreciation for that day, or just that the bosses won't let the workers a day off. It also shows that U.S. is a country made for making money and living our whole lives by working, without much of a day off and giving a big part of our money to the government and rich people.