English 2150 Spring 2024: Setting the Table

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ultra-processed-food-health-issues-cancer-early-death-research/

12 Incredibly Heart-Healthy Foods

Food Related Article

I recommend Ceviche de Camarones

   As a young kid, I was a very picky eater. No matter how hard my parents tried to convince me to expand my taste in food, I would always be that kid to ask for chicken tenders and french fries in a restaurant of any kind. Any time I would see something that looked or smelled like something I wasn’t accustomed to, I would automatically reject  it. So, when it came to things like seafood, I could’ve never imagined myself enjoying it as much as I do now.

   By the time I turned 16, something changed. My appetite felt a reawakening all of a sudden, as if I’ve gotten bored of the same 3 dishes that I would always eat. Around that time, me and my family took a trip to Guayaquil, Ecuador. My curiosity grew as every corner I walked there would be many interesting looking dishes, and they all smelled great. But one dish caught my eye in this one restaurant. It was a seafood restaurant, and while I looked at the menu, I decided to be a little daring. I looked at the ceviche (shellfish marinated in citrus and seasoning) side of the menu and there was a shrimp option. Ecuadorians have a different way of preparing it, as they use plantain chips to accompany the dish. My family looked at me with sheer surprise. Never in a million years would they have imagined that I tried something completely out of my comfort zone.

  As I was waiting in anticipation, I started to doubt if I would actually like the dish. I started getting a little antsy and I was playing with my fingers, as I didn’t want to disappoint my hunger. I was really hungry and it would’ve been a let down also to my family because they got so excited that I was finally maturing food-wise. When the food came, everyone got quiet. They all waited for me to try the ceviche and I got kinda nervous because all eyes were on me. So when I mixed the plantain chips with the juices and the shrimp, they were all like, “ Just eat it already!” So after putting that spoon in my mouth I simply said “ I like it”, and everyone nodded in approval. Looking back this was all very dramatic, but I’m glad I went for it, because man, those flavors were so good, the shrimp was nice and fresh. 

 After this, I had the courage to try more and more food that I wouldn’t have previously. To this day, ceviche is one of my favorite meals to eat and I can’t imagine how much longer I would’ve lasted if I kept eating chicken tenders with fries every time.

This extraordinary piece of condiment can go with almost any meal. This changed my life for the better. From only eating rice with meat or chicken with veggies to spaghetti with meatballs, you can literally put this on any dish besides sweets. The spiciness and overall flavor that this adds to the meal is enlightened and can bring joy to anyone that seeks upon it. I literally can’t have my meals without it. Imagine having a full course meal to miss the one thing that you really bring it all together. Just getting the rice out of the pots to cutting the veggies and serving yourself some ground beef. To sit down and find the best possible youtube video to go with it, you just cannot miss it. The sauce brings a pleasure to my mind especially when there is a good video playing. The history behind the sauce is that it was first developed in the 1940s by a Thai woman named Thanom Chakkapak in the town of Si Racha Thailand. I first came across it from my friend’s house that I went to one time. I saw him eating it with his meal and was just curious about that sauce since I’ve never tried or seen it before. I am usually not really open to try new things and stick to the same meals I’ve always had in my life, this was something different. It sort of added an element to my meal that it didn’t have before. It made the chicken my mom made taste that much better whether it was with black beans with rice, yellow rice or brown rice. Hot sauce is more than just a condiment to me. It’s like a way of life. The anticipation of flavor to the heat that it brings to your mouth, to the satisfaction of the meal gradually increases the more you eat. This sauce opened me up to try new things in the world and to consider which I’d probably never looked over before. On the weekends is when I look forward to it the most. Where my mom makes the food fresh and not refrigerated like how it is on the weekdays when my mom puts it in the container. Even on the weekdays rather than spending money to get food at school, sometimes I look forward to just eating my moms food with this sauce that just makes it worth waiting a while to get home.

• Monday, March 4th: Come to class with your hard copy of Michael Pollan’s “Power Steer and with the three quotations that you have identified as being particularly interesting, important, or worthy of discussion.
• Homework for Wednesday, March 6th: Read your classmates’ “I Recommend….” posts. Leave comments on three different posts. In your comment, be sure to identify something specific that you noticed or admired about the post.
• Wednesday, March 6th: Bring the Pollan article with you to class, and be prepared to do an in-class writing assignment, either by hand or on a laptop/tablet.
• Homework for Sunday, March 10th: Find a recent (less than one year old) article that is food related and that interests you and share it to the blog. The article should be fairly short (not a long form piece like the Michael Pollan article) and should be something that appeared either online or in print and has an identified author. Think broadly about food-related subjects of interest to you – whether they are related to business and economics, health and nutrition, ethics and social justice, culture and identity, etc… In addition to sharing your article on the blog, please bring a hard copy of your article with you to class on Monday.

Think about a time when the taste of a food reminded you of a whole experience. The nostalgic memory of a time that long ago when life was stress-free. While I cannot bring you back to your own memory, I will take you to one of mine. But before we go on a trip in memory lane, we need food to open the doors.

Let us go to the kitchen and open the fridge. Take notes on the foil container that is all busted up from when we ripped it open using our primal instincts to just get a taste. As we open the lid, we see 3/5 of a Quesillo with sugary slices of pineapple and cherries in the middle. We could be civil people and cut it for a plate, but there is nothing nostalgic about that. So, grab a spoon and get the biggest piece you can. Get ready, because as the smell enters your nostrils, into your brain where it gets transferred by Serotonin into endorphins the taste is 100 times better. As you slam your teeth into it slows down completely engulfing your brain into nirvana, we finally get taken back to 2016 when we first tried it.

I would be sitting right there, at the end of the dining table when people were yelling at old men on the TV.I would ignore all the banter about politics and just focus on how I am going to obtain the latest enchantment book in Minecraft, mending all my weapons and armor. After the yelling, came my aunt with a brand-new recipe, Quesillo (Venezuelan flan). My family just called it Flan, though I remember not hating but not liking Flan, when she opened the lid I fell i love. The bubbly texture, the spongey feel, the amount of sugar coating on the pineapple splice, and of course how could forget the cherry literally on top. It was a match made in heaven. Nothing in the world mattered in the 5 seconds the small piece of it lasted, not the reports of nuclear testing, not the conflicting ideals of exiting a union, not a world-famous play first starting, nothing. And what’s better than first trying something? Having it the next day all to yourself. It would take me approximately 12 minutes and 45 seconds to finish half of the entire thing, while I did get into trouble you better believe it was worth it.

As we crumble up the lid and throw up the empty container the doors of memory appear again as if it was waiting for our return. We walk back to the door into our empty apartment with an amazing memory with us for the rest of the day, totally not lined with a bunch of political agendas that may or may not still be a thing today.

Grab a drink with me. Let’s relieve ourselves and take a sip of this iconic brown sugar milk tea with boba. Boba is essentially made from tapioca starch and formed into bite sized spheres easy to nibble on. This will itch a part of your brain that you never thought you needed all this time. So delicious you could taste every ingredient that was used in the drink. The brown sugar embedded in the chewy boba pearls that was simmered for hours and hours enhanced the drink overall. As your mouth starts to fill up with boba with every sip, the flavor of the brown sugar just melts in your mouth like candy. The addictive part of the drink is constantly chewing the boba balls like it’s gum. So sugary yet so impactful from the overload of dopamine. As college students who depend on sugary drinks, drinking bubble tea will set us free from this never ending pain: weeks memorizing material, spending hours on assignments, and forcing ourselves to sit in 2 hour lectures. I often scarf down the cold drink waiting to escape and disappear from reality.

Made from Taiwan in the 1980s, Taiwanese immigrants brought this life changing drink into the United States and was then spread through other East Asian populations. With this beverage, I am allowed to sail into the pleasure of tasting the flavors from oceans apart. Bubble tea shops around my neighborhood have mastered every recipe, from refreshing fruit teas to milky drinks. While walking down the streets of Brooklyn, I am able to see a boba shop on every block filled with joyful customers waiting for their cold iced beverage. So calming and graceful it feels like it was a gift from god. I practically live there from getting a drink 3 times a week. Disregarding the absurd amount of sugar and calories in one drink itself, I always indulge in one for my sanity. I tend to build relationships with the workers. They fully memorize my usual order and prepare it in an instant knowing this is what gets me through the dreadful week. Poking the fat straw through the plastic seal was like a burst of pure bliss jumping at you. The need to save as much as you can but tempted to finish the whole thing. A hot and crispy popcorn chicken usually sold at the shop balanced out the sugar. It is the perfect snack to pair with a refreshing bubble tea after a long day of my stomach growling. Try it, you might like it. 

Oh man, I do wish I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in my hand right now. The salty creamy and smooth peanut butter, combined with the sweet and sticky taste of grape jelly. Smash that all in between two slices of toasted bread. The typical American food that anyone can make. The first recipe I learned is PB&J sandwich. It saved me from starvation so many times when I was a youngster, because I was never allowed near a stove and my parents rarely have time to cook. So my dad came up with a life changing idea of showing me how to make a PB&J sandwich. 

I was amazed how effortlessly and quickly my dad can make a tasty treat. The first ever bite of that sandwich made my tongue jump. First came the dry, smooth slavery peanut butter, then came the wet, sweet jelly. It was a flavour bomb. Sweet and savoury flavours hit my mouth like a grenade exploding. My dad just made me into a PB&J addict. Kids would be craving for candy or chips, but all I want for all my meals and snacks is that sandwich.  Everytime my parents would go grocery shopping I would always yell, “DON’T FORGET TO BRING ME THE INGREDIENTS FOR PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICH ”. 

At one point, I was eating so much that my doctor told me my blood sugar level was through the roof when it was my turn for a yearly checkup. I was hoping the doctor wouldn’t mention my sugar level to my parents, but it was too late to stop my doctor. Now I am stuck eating the yucky fish with noodles. Who even eats fish with noodles. 

My hero is definitely Julia Davis Chandler. Why do you ask? Because she invented the PB & J sandwich back in the 1900s. After the discovery, they started serving the sandwich in all public schools. It is the main foundation of a child’s lunch in the public school. You will always see PB&J sandwiches in every single cafeteria. 

Now that I am in my teens, I would still make myself a quick PB&J sandwich whenever I oversleep into the afternoon or If Iam just feeling very tired. Overall, it is a quick and easy meal. I would come home around 10 at night due to volleyball practices and I would have zero energy to cook myself a warm meal, so I would go for my closest and pull out a jar or peanut butter and a jar of jelly plus a loaf of bread.