Baruch College is represented through 160 countries. Students who are in-state, out-of-state, and international come here. Along with them, students bring a part of their home and culture, including a variety of foods.  Even though Baruch has a cafeteria, the fact that it is surrounded by an immense number of places to eat goes out so show the diversity of food that enters Baruch’s campus. American fast food restaurants such as McDonalds or Subways, food carts such as those across Baruch’s 25th street plaza- from the American coffee and bagels to Egyptian coffee cart vendor to Greek gyro to Korean Kimchi soup, and even restaurants such as the Indian Saravanaa Bhavan, or the Vietnamese Baoguette or the Thai Little Basil. Whether you are in the mood for some traditional home style food, or taking a risk mood, you can find it all at Baruch.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/09/business/a-juice-and-croissant-with-that-starbucks-latte.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Starbucks, the famous coffee spot has been around for years, and will stay for years to come. Originally, Starbucks was known for only their coffee. However, Starbucks has been evolving to provide products that move beyond coffee. They aim to change their name from being purely associated with coffee, to a food and beverage cafe. Starbucks has done things to move towards this goal such as removing the “STARBUCKS COFFEE” from their logo in order to remove the coffee generalization of Starbucks. This new change is going to be a challenge for Starbucks. Starbucks has been struggling to keep customers throughout the day rather than just an early morning coffee. Now, Starbucks has been selling pastries, healthy juices such as Naked and Evolution Fresh in order to to create more variety in the stores.

Elaine Sciolino’s article  “A French Dining Staple Is Losing Its Place at the Table”  published in The New York Times on July 30, 2013 discusses how the French are eating less bread than they had throughout history. Bread is the staple food in Europe. According to the article, “The average Frenchman these days eats only half a baguette a day compared with almost a whole baguette in 1970 and more than three in 1900. Women… eat about a third less than men, and young people almost 30 percent less than  decade ago.” This decline has gotten many worried. In particular, Onservatoire du Pain which is the bakers’ and millers’ lobby is so worried about the topic that they have started a nationwide campaign. In their campaign, they are promoting the benefits of eating bread, including the fact that it leads to good health. Their slogan is similar to the American Slogan “Got Milk?” Some of the reasonings behind why eating bread is declining includes losing weight, saving time, and skipping breakfast. Bread is losing its place to “rivals like breakfast cereals , pasta, and rice.” The article also includes another reason which researchers and bakers believe is one of the main reasons why the decline is taking place. According to the article, the methods for making the bread has changed greatly throughout the past century. The quality of bread has gone down greatly since the 1920s. This is because of the mechanization which contribute to “the making of bread that lacked taste and aroma” as well as “the transition from slow breadmaking with a sourdough base to a quick process using yeast.” Also, these days the bread is artificial compared to the traditional French bread. These breads are full of additives. Thus, the traditional baguette is more expensive than the ordinary baguette. Aside from discussing the decline of the bread in France, the article also discusses how important bread is to the country buy talking about the national bread festival and an annual contest. The national bread festival is “held every May around the feast of Saint Honore (the patron saint of bakers) so that the French can sample different breads, learn how bread is made and even learn how to become a baker.” Aside from this, the city of Paris holds an annual contest “to select the city’s best artisanal baguette maker, with winner’s breads then gracing the tables of President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace for a year.” Both these events emphasize how important bread is to the country.

An Italian Town Says Yes, Please, to Cheese by David Prior published on October 2, 2013 in The New York Times describes the international exhibition Slow Food International, which takes place over a weekend in September, every two years in the Italian town of Bra. The northwestern Italian Town Bra, is the home of this event, and has been the most successful year thus far. Slow Food International is a reunion of the world’s artisan dairy producers,  affineurs (cheese agers), shepherds and cheese experts. This year was the record high of artisan-produces cheeses exhibited from Europe and beyond. It was also the first time international Cheese makers participated. “Cheese has grown from a handful of Italian vendors in a single piazza to a sprawling event that fills streets, churches and schools in a celebration of all things dairy.” The most delightful success of Slow Food International has been the increase in the knowledge of endangered goods, through “Ark of Taste, a growing international catalog that lists and profiles products that are at risk of being forgotten.” To have the theme of “Save a Cheese!” Slow Food International saved the best seats in the town for the shepherds and makers whose cheese products were under most danger because of the industrial production and changing consumer tastes, such as “Sir iz Mijeha (“Cheese in a Sack”), a cheese encased in an entire sheepskin from Bosnia and Herzegovina; obscure Alpine cheeses wrapped in hay and wild herbs; the hard, spindle-like, smoked Oscypek from Poland; and a selection of Irish raw milk cheeses that have quickly risen in stature since regulations banning their production were struck down.” Places that are not usually associated with a culture of cheese making were also given a push, including Turkey and its string cheese and Ethiopis with its Karrayyu. “You can taste the breed, the grass the animal ate, if it comes from the mountains, hills or valleys. You can taste the expertise of the cheese maker and their culture. It becomes a pleasure, and the difference becomes the real strength,” said by Carlo Petrini, the guru of the slow food movement, to explain the importance of saving and celebrating artisanal, raw milk cheese.

Vivian Yee’s article “In Age of Anywhere Delivery, the Food Meets You for Lunch” published in The New York Times on October 5^th, 2013 discusses how easy it has become for New Yorkers to order food anytime, anywhere. Throughout the past few years, technology has made it simple to do things using only your fingertips. People can make appointments, order clothes, and check their Facebook statuses “in the flicker of a smartphone screen.” Now life has gotten even easier for New Yorkers by having food-delivery apps “to order anything their stomachs desire to the very spot where they stand.” Yee mentions how these days, food deliveries are not limited only to houses and offices “or even, for that matter, to a place with an address.” One can have their breakfast, lunch, dinner, or anything in-between delivered wherever they desire, ranging from parks and beaches all the way to piers. Yee also shows how great the service of the deliveries are compared to other states by including a fragment of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s interview in which Sotomayor mentions how quickly food is delivered unlike Washington D.C. New Yorkers have taken advantage of this luxury. According to the interviews conducted for this article, people order for their food to be delivered to save the time and trouble. Food is delivered to police officers while they are patrolling, businessmen sitting in their cars, picnickers in parks and beaches, gyms where people are working out, and even workers working in a manhole! Restaurant owners don’t mind all these requests for deliveries because their sales increase and they get business. According to Robert Asmail, the manager of Due Fratelli Pizza in Park Slope, Brooklyn “…we go anyplace! It doesn’t matter! …I don’t care….They buy, we send it out.” So do you plan on being like all those New Yorkers and have your food delivered?

On October 8, 2013 the front page of the Business Day section of the prestige The New York Times featured an article written by Hilary Stout titled “For Shoppers, Next Level of Instant Gratification” discussing the innovation of a new method for shopping. Various companies, which include Mastercard, Condé Nast, and Peapod, are experimenting a new and convenient way for customers to experience “shopping nirvana” as Hilary puts it. Was there ever a moment when you just finished pouring the last bit of your favorite cereal and wished that you had another box in the cabinet for the next day? Well in the future, hopefully with the success of this innovation, you will be able to scan the bar code on the back of that cereal with your phone, allowing you to purchase the product again. This will then send a order to a retailer (hopefully a local one), telling them you would like to purchase that product, and the retailer will ship your order to your house so once again you can enjoy your favorite box of cereal. This innovation isn’t limited to only the bar codes of physical objects in front of you but as well as virtual products you see on television. Maybe the company that makes your favorite cereal has a commercial advertising a new flavor and you want to try that product. Well, if quick enough (don’t worry, you have plenty of time), you can scan the code off the television to make the purchase. “Instant gratification” as Hilary labels yet, how satisfying the future of shopping looks.

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