Man Candy!

Are we in a new era?
Watch this music video! "Candyman" by Christina Aguilera.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-ScjucUV8v0

Check out this photoset of food...micrographs!
http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2011/12/27/close-up-cuisine/?KEYWORDS=sprinkles

Leaves!

I wanted to write a blog post about some herbs used in spring rolls!**

**I believe Alison addressed spring rolls in one of her blogs. There is some discrepancy about the naming of "spring" rolls versus "summer" rolls versus egg rolls, etc.
But...in my Chinese-Vietnamese family, they are called technically "gỏi cuốn" and the fillings are mostly raw; the entire roll is neither pan fried nor fried. 

The outside wrapping is made of rice paper, and you can fill the insides with mostly anything, but usually the common fillings are rice noodles and: shrimp, fried tofu/veggie mix, boiled pork, and a julienned pork mixture. Sometimes, with hotpot meals, seafood or beef can be used. Rarely are other types of beef or chicken used. Usually, there's a dipping sauce like fish sauce/lemon/shredded carrots (nuoc mam) or a hoisin-peanut sauce.


This is a typical picture of spring rolls, ones we'd eat at my house and that you can find on Vietnamese menus. For the veggies, you'd put in

• bean sprouts
• slices of cucumber
• thai basil
• cilantro
• chives
• sometimes for kicks: lotus root, tomato, roasted peanuts
  
  And there are some more exotic herbs put in, which sometimes people find too strong for them! For instance, I was eating one in my room the other day and my roommate said it smelled like a jungle. I will list them here with their real names and what I call them at home.
  
  I wish I could have gone home to take pics of these herbs in person, but I got them from this website:http://kitchentoworld.com/vietnam-ingredients/fresh-herbs-in-vietnamese-cuisine/
  I also vouch that these herbs make or break Vietnamese food, and paler versions of spring rolls only have lettuce, cucumber, and fewer of these herbs.

• 

  Rau tía tô or Vietnamese Perilla

  I call this leaf, usually dark green on the top with a purple underside, "Tia To." Our rabbits love it. the plants get huge and the leaves can be big as your palm. It has a somewhat sweet taste, but definitely has a medicinal taste to it as well.
  
• This leaf is called "chicken leaf" in my house because it goes well with chicken. It's a long thin leaf that grows on little stalks and has an identifying dark mark on the top, shaped like a U. It has a more bitter taste and is "zingy."

  

  RAU RĂM or Vietnamese coriander
  
  

  

  KINH GIỚI or "Vietnamese Balm" or "vietnamese lemon mint

  This is what I likened to a green version of the "Tia To." It's often eaten with a seafood noodle soup from my dad's countryside, My Tho (Hu Tieu My Tho). It definitely smells a bit lemony-fresh, like zest ( I thought this before I knew the English name).
  

  

  Rau húng lủi or "Spearmint"

  This mint grows quite easily in the sidewalk cracks of my garden. People usually only eat the tops of the stalks because those are the youngest part of the plant, and the least bitter. It's strong by itself, but pairs well with the meat or filling of the roll.

  

  Rau Diep Ca or "Fish Mint" or "Fish Herb"
  

  I always called this one "heart leaf" or as a joke, "fart leaf" because the smell of the leaf is somewhat sulfuric. It doesn't smell like a flower garden.
  
  Interestingly, to some friends, these all taste just like leaves. Or bitter leaves. But for me, I've grown up remembering their individual tastes and how they contribute to the overall taste of a dish, and I can identify them by sight and smell.
  
  There are other herbs you can put in too, but these are the basic ones, and people in my family make a fuss if these aren't present.
  
  That's all for now; hope it was informational! :)

Food for Thought...(note the meta-metaphor title) 8]

Finding food metaphors in my life by myself was a LOT harder than it was in class!
Here's what I found:

1.From the expressions:
"Peachy-keen!"
"As easy as apple pie"
"It was a piece of cake"
"Sweet!"
"Fruitful efforts"

I propose the connection: "Good Fortune is Sweet Food"

Here, I use this particular definition of "fortune," entry 3 from the OED:

A Hogwarts cake like this DESERVES celebration!
Credit: here

The chance or luck (good or bad) which falls to any one as his lot in life or in a particular affair. 

Analysis:
If someone were to undertake a difficult endeavor, such as taking a midterm (#ughthisweek!), and found that the exam was actually doable-easy, they might say "Oh, this was a piece of cake," or "it was as easy as apple pie!" Similarly, the slang expressions "peachy keen" and the modern equivalent "sweet!" are defined as "excellent, wonderful" and are used when some good situation occurs, such as getting a good grade, having a positive encounter with the (opposite) desired gender, inheriting a beach house, etc. "Fruitful efforts" refers to having good results with your endeavors, and I associate this partially with the concept of "fortune," because we all know life is unfair, and you don't always get what you deserve, even if you put a lot of work in!

Using sweet foods to express good fortune has logical connections: the taste of sweet was known to early humans as a good source of calories (berries, fruits), as opposed to salty (questionable food source?), sour (unnripe food source?), and bitter (potentially deadly food source). Children prefer sweet foods, and many people have "sweet tooths," so liking the taste of sweet has  been with us since infancy and is therefore, familiar and comfortable. Association of "sweet = calorie-rich" and "sweet = good" is related to other cultural aspects:
-"You're so sweet!/That's so sweet of you!" Sweet as a positive trait.
-Cute names like "cupcake" and "sweetie pie," never mind the sexist overtones...
-Sweets as treats and desserts.

Desserts particularly are of interest. I am reading a book about the history of dessert. For now though, desserts are enjoyed at the end of a meal, treats to be savored and appreciated, both in terms of taste and looks, and sometimes indicative of class or social status. Desserts are not necessary to the meal, but are often used to celebrate occasions (ie; a birthday cake), so this may be a reason why sweets are associated with positive occurrences in life.


2. From the expressions:

Eating crow!
Credit: here

"Eat your words"
"Have a taste of your own medicine"
"Bitter pill to swallow"
"Eat crow"
* "Eat humble pie"

I propose the connection: "Unpleasant, Deserved Life Experiences are Bitter Foods."

Obviously here I am connecting food and medicine as one, but think about the time when medicine was limited to certain foods, herbs, plants, etc. "To eat your words" is to concede that you were wrong; "to have a taste of your own medicine" is to experience something negative that you do to others; "a bitter pill to swallow" does not necessarily have to be a deserved experience, but is yet again another thing that we need to swallow, or tolerate. I was actually partially inspired by Alison's post about "Processing Info is Consuming" so credit goes out there!
Eating crow is a negative expression that means "to be forced into doing something humiliating or disagreeable, or to be proven wrong." Crows already have negative associations, such as being carrion eaters, symbols of death,and troublesome pests. Eating humble pie seems counter intuitive, especially with the word "pie," but I found an account that says "humble" comes from "umbles," the innards of a deer, which was used in a pie for servants and lower class people. From here,

The word umbles is a variant form of an old French term noumbles, (originally from Latinlumulus, a diminutive of lumbus, from which we also get loin and lumbar); umblesseems to be derived from numbles by the process called metanalysis which, for example, turned a norange into an orange; umbles also sometimes appeared in medieval times and later in the form humbles. Contrariwise, the word humble(originally from the Latin humilem from which we also get humility) was frequently spelt and pronounced “umble” from medieval times right down to the nineteenth century. So the figurative sense of umble pie could have appeared at almost any time since the medieval period; indeed, so close is the association that it is surprising that the OED’s first citation dates only from 1830. 

Interesting! But that website looks sketchy and I need to research more, because OED didn't say anything about this... but anyways:
I believe that this association comes from a (natural, but who's to say what's right for everyone?) aversion that most people have towards bitter foods. Evolutionary, avoiding bitter foods could have prevented poisoning (as in the case of inedibles or of toxic things like fungi). Many foods that are inedible and are poisonous are basic, such as soap, paint, cleaning chemicals, hairspray, etc and have bitter tastes. Bitter tastes also usually induce frowning or grimacing, which could be part of the negative association.

3.
Other considerations:
"You're nuts/nutty"
"You're so fruity!
"You're a fruitcake"

"To go/be bananas"
Be right back-stressful morning, hopefully can analyze this later!

Curiouser and curiouser

Everyone misses home at some point.
Or some particular aspect of home...for me, it's PHO.
Goodness! I simply cannot wait until my next bowl.

But, interestingly, I was thinking of the herbs traditionally served with pho: bean sprouts, Thai basil, cilantro, and...what my family calls "see saw" leaf, but what is known to the rest of the world as "saw leaf." Here's a picture!

The sharp, rough edges on the leaves makes it  (apparently) simple to see why people call it "saw."
In Vietnamese, it's called "ngo gai," and my family calls it this too! We're not silly all the time! :)

Musings: The botanical name is eryngium foetidum, but is also known by some other names: culantro, saw-leaf, saw-tooth, thorny coriander, and Mexican coriander.
Mexican coriander? I wonder how an herb that I and probably every Vietnamese person on the planet associate with pho also has the name "Mexican coriander." It's native to continental tropical America and the West Indies, so how did it make its way across continents to Asia? Or has saw leaf always been a part of atraditional Vietnamese pho meal, versus beingjust a thing for Vietnamese-Americans?

Here's a study I need to read later: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1999/v4-506.html

For today's analysis, let's meet the Kashi Dark Mocha Almond bar, aka my favorite Kashi bar out of them all. I'm not a big granola bar fan- usually too sweet, too chewy, too mushy, too crumbly, too much of a substitute for a meal...but this one here's a winner for me! According to the box, this is why:

• Dark chocolate greets espresso for a tasty pick-me-up.
• 7 Whole Grains: Our unique combination- for hearty, natural goodness you can see and taste.
• Naturally Sweetened: Rich, dark chocolate chips and wildflower honey for a touch of natural sweetness.
• 4g Fiber: A tasty way to get the fiber you need.
• 6g Protein: From whole roaster almonds and crispy soy grahams.
  These factoids artfully flank a picture of the bar on the back of the box, a golden granola bar studded with chocolate chips and almonds.What stood out to me first as I tried to analyze the box and its language was that these factoids were selected by the box designers to convey the traits of a granola bar that were considered desirable.
  
  • Here's my personal list of what's desirable:
  • -no dried blueberries
  • -not mushy
  • -not too sweet
  • -not too hard/stale/crunchy
  • -not too chewy
  • -enough to fill me up for a while (~2.5 hours)
  • -whole grains
  • -protein
  I would usually eat my bar after a workout for some quick carbs, or when I'm in a rush and need some energy. I believe Kashi appeals to people like me, who consider themselves/actually are active, young, nutritionally conscious.I also get the feel that Kashi  is presenting themselves as an accessible brand, appropriate for young people, working moms, active seniors, etc, providing good, quality food in a non-snobbish way!
  Here's the list of traits Kashi believes is desirable, per my analysis of the box:
  

  • -tasty
  • -hearty, natural goodness from whole grains
  • -naturally sweetened
  • -a way to get daily fiber
  • -protein source
  Confirmed: From the side panel of the box: "At Kashi, our mission is to change healthy eating from effort to enjoyment. For over 25 years, we've been dedicated to making tasty, natural foods with positive nutrition and great taste. We leave out the artificial ingredients and leave in the good-for-you goodness, so you can snack with satisfaction and feel great about it!"This statement is mirrored in the adjectives on the back of the box. Let's analyse them:
  CLAIM 1: Substantial
  "hearty, natural goodness you can see and taste"
  The use of the word hearty describes the feeling of fullness/contentment after consuming the bar, as well as referring to the chunky nature of the added ingredients such as chocolate chips, almonds and to the substantial texture of the granola. Usually, you would hear the word "hearty" to describe a soup or stew. The idea is that the soup or stew is nourishing because it has plenty of nutrients, which are normally found in the chunks of veggies or meat added. You wouldn't usually call a broth "hearty," though I think the Vietnamese pho soups can be considered an exception. OED says: "8. Of food or drink: Yielding good nourishment; strengthening, invigorating." and also "9. Of a meal or portion of food or drink: Satisfying to the appetite; abundant, ample, full." Though neither of these definitions specify that "hearty" usually applies to a soup, stew, or generally, some type of big, comfort style meal as comes to my mind, I believe that if you asked a lot of people to match the word "hearty" to a food, they would mostly ascribe it to soups, stews, and meat/potatoes style entrees (possible experiment?!)
  But anyways, the OED supports the use of the word "hearty" here, to mean that Kashi believes this bar will yield good nourishment and give you strength as well as satisfy you.
  CLAIM 2: Healthful
  "natural goodness you can see and taste," "whole roasted almonds," "fiber you need," "protein."
  The use of the phrase "you can see and taste" implies that being able to see and taste the food in some analytical way is positive. In a world filled with preservatives, additives, colorings, where the food comes from "someplace else" or is manufactured behind closed walls in factories far off, the ability to recognize your food is definitely marketable! I believe the fact that Kashi emphasizes the "see and taste" aspect is due to how many people value natural/green/organic/farmer's market style foods...that you know where it comes from, you can trust it because of course, you must trust your own eyes! The use of this phrase very clearly reflects a current attitude trend towards food and health-consciousness.
  
  The use of the word "whole" to describe the almonds also reflects this trend. "Whole roasted almonds" is natural, feels unadulterated except for a heating process, because "whole" refers to the shape and state of the almond (ie not crushed or broken) and also "whole" also sounds like "wholesome." You're not getting more than you bargain for in terms of additives, chemicals, etc, but not less either, in terms of a sub par almond. "Whole" here can have meanings similar to "bank and bank" as we discussed in class.
  
   2.a. Of inanimate objects: Free from damage or defect; uninjured, unimpaired, unbroken, untainted, intact.
  

  3a. In good health; free from disease; healthy, ‘well’; (contextually) restored to health, recovered from disease, ‘well again’. arch
  Note that I believe this is important to relate to another entry:
  1. trans. To make whole, heal, cure.

  6. a. Having all its parts or elements; having no part or element wanting; having its complete or entire extent or magnitude; full, perfect.

  So, your almonds are free from defects and have the connotation that they will help make you whole (they are wholesome).
  The mentions of fiber and protein support the claim that Kashi is a bar meant to attract people who are searching for a snack that provides nutrition, reflecting a society as a whole that is analytical of food products and in charge of their own health (individualistic).
  Side question: would the same mention of protein, fiber, health claims, etc. affect a consumer in say, France? China? Possible experiment.

  CLAIM 3:  Luxurious
  "Rich dark chocolate chips and wildflower honey," "crispy soy grahams" "dark chocolate greets espresso"
  Wildflower honey? That sounds so romantic, but is really boxspeak for "we don't really know which flowers the honey came from!" Well of course honey comes from flowers...but the word "wildflower" sounds so...natural, free, flowing. Like Kashi just asked a hive of bees living in an idyllic meadow if they could use the honey gathered from a rainbow of flowers.The National Honey Board says polyfloral honey, or "wildflower honey" is honey derived from "miscellaneous and undefined flower sources." Realistically, this isn't very ideal in terms of tracking ingredients (perhaps someone is allergic to a specific flower) and also means that sweetness is variable dependent on flowers, seasonality, etc. Which means the honey added could possible alter the product, which contrasts with what most consumers want: specificity. But the word sounds oh so nice!
  The use of the words "rich" "dark" soy grahams" and "greets espresso" are on the luxurious track. "Soy grahams" is not really a common word, suggesting that you  by consuming this product, are also uncommon. "Rich and  dark" evoke images of luxurious chocolate, high end chocolate, even though its in the form of chips and is merely mixed into the bar. "Chocolate greets espresso" is a fanciful construction that is meant to capture your attention and ascribe cutesy qualities to the bar, that somehow this bar is kind of like meeting someone in a chic cafe in Paris...chocolate greets espresso, two very French related food ideas.
  
  CLAIM 4: Non Pretentious
  Per previous class discussion: Large pictures on front and back of box, check. Delineation of ingredients and expected outcomes of eating this bar: check. Cutesy swirly fonts, whimsical dot diagrams on the back that makes the bar look like some kind of food that is easily described and broken up into components.
  I contrasted this to a KIND Blueberry Almond Vanilla Var box I had. These bars are more expensive than Kashi bars and feature a white box with a window for viewing bars in clear wrappers.
  White box with minimal advertising, blurbs, and information other than nutrition and a short  list of ingredients: evocative of a modern art museum and the ideas of simplicity and hipness, and if you don't get/like it, you're old fashioned and uncool.
  Logo: bars of basic colors, rectangular. Simple.
  
  
  

  All very modern, concise, and the logo restates the idea that foods you can "see and taste" in Kashi terms and "see and pronounce"  in KIND bar terms...confirming the idea of simple, natural foods being the better choice.
  
  
  
  Interesting. Granola bars are deep.
  Signing off,
  C
  
  Image credits:
  http://www.walmart.com/ip/TLC-Dark-Mocha-Almond-Chewy-Granola-Granola-Bars/13908100
  http://kindsnacks.com/lp/healthy-snacks-2012/?gclid=CLWe0YSG-60CFQVkhwodfWlnMQ
  http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1680&bih=944&tbm=isch&tbnid=xd6ruTEC2uaEgM:&imgrefurl=http://rollingtstores.net/wildflowers-add-joy-help-the-environment/&docid=-kjTtAPrisCh1M&imgurl=http://rollingtstores.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Wildflowers-flickr-jikamajojas.bmp&w=500&h=375&ei=HUooT-iKM4XTiALyhuCRAQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1380&vpy=459&dur=1947&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=107&ty=113&sig=108530818055652867072&page=1&tbnh=139&tbnw=185&start=0&ndsp=43&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:0

 When reading Adrienne Lehrer's piece on "The Culinary Triangle," I was amazed that I have never thought about the structure of food language.  Lehrer works off Levi-Strauss' idea of a Culinary Triangle, which has corners of "raw," "cooked," and "rotted," with the "main" cooking functions being roasting (associated with raw because you can roast something so that it is cooked on the outside yet raw on the inside), rotted is linked with boiling because the boiled "simply resembles [spoiled food]." Cooked food is associated with smoking. In between processes, such as grilling, steaming are the midpoints of triangle sides, and the triangle can also be modified by the medium of cooking (like oil in frying). All in all, this analysis of food meanings is a complex jumble of qualifiers, rules, pluses and minuses.
Qualifiers:
-distance from heat source
-medium: water, fat, oil, wine
-type of heating, direct vs. indirect
-time
-cooking action, vigorous v. non vigorous
-level of submersion
-utensil
-special ingredient
-special purpose

But then I thought, what about foods like salsa, guacamole, antipasto, salads, wraps, hummus, vegetarian spring rolls, ice cream? I suppose the distinction could be that they could be "prepared foods," versus "cooked," because according to Lehrer, "all cooking words presupposes a heat source."
Oed says:

1.  a. intr. To act as cook, to prepare food by the action of heat (for a household, etc.). (Now regarded as the absol. use of 2.)

 2. a. trans. To prepare or make ready (food); to make fit for eating by due application of heat, as by boiling, baking, roasting, broiling, etc.

"Application of heat."

I suppose  this  does  make sense, as foods such as salsa and guacamole are prepared from raw foods, and never have heat applied to them. Thus, if the definition of cooking includes the use of heat, if I made the most complex, balanced salad, then I wouldn't be cooking, I would be preparing it. That makes sense, because nobody ever says "I'm cooking a salad tonight!" or "Let's cook some guacamole!" It is instead, "Let's prepare a salad," or "Let's make some guacamole." But, the culinary triangle describes a set of processes, and even mostly raw, prepared foods involve processes.

I compared the words used in two easy level recipes by Alton Brown,  one for guacamole and one for baked macaroni.  Note the bolded words in the recipe:

 Guacamole:

Ingredients

• 3 Haas avocados, halved, seeded and peeled
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• 1 clove garlic, minced

Directions

In a large bowl place the scooped avocado pulp and lime juice, toss to coat. Drain, and reserve the lime juice, after all of the avocados have been coated. Using a potato masher add the salt, cumin, and cayenne and mash. Then, fold in the onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic. Add 1 tablespoon of the reserved lime juice. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour and then serve.

>>Note, in this recipe for preparing guacamole, the verbs used. Aside from add, place  and serve  which could be applied to any cooking process, the other verbs like toss to coat, drain, reserve, fold in  are processes in themselves, unique and that would need some explanation...especially  "let sit," which sounds weird. Why let sit  instead of stand? Overall, the processes seem to be less intensive than broiling, boiling, roasting, etc.

This makes me wonder how these words fit into the, or next to? the culinary triangle, like outside the triangle? Perhaps they don't fit at all, and these prepared dishes don't count somehow as real dishes, perhaps these are more closely related to the preparation of drinks.

Prepared foods: [-heat], [-vigorous action],[+raw food] and time is not necessarily a factor because the mac and cheese recipe below takes about the same amount of time. 

Mac and Cheese:

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon powdered mustard
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 large egg
• 12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper

Topping:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.

Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

Remember to save leftovers for fried Macaroni and Cheese.

>>Each of the verbs used in this recipe include smaller processes that are similar to the guacamole recipe: whisk, keep it moving, toss. But the recipe also includes processes that are in the triangle, such as: simmer, temper, bake. Again, there is something odd:  rest for five minutes. Thoughts: Cooked dishes involving heat include processes that are in the culinary triangle like simmer and bake, while also including smaller processes without heat, like season, fold, stir. 

Conclusion: Cooking and preparing food involve a set of processes which can be described as in the culinary triangle, cooking process that involve heat use, and processes that are meant to be prepared, and applied only to raw foods, raw dishes, or as steps in a preparation of a heated, cooked dish. 

Spirit of dragons and horses, 龍馬精神

恭喜發財 gùng héi faat chōi!

Today's the first day of the Lunar New Year!

I love close to Stanford, so I was fortunate to be able to go home and celebrate my grandma's birthday and to get a little taste of New Year's. Usually, New Year's entails a variety of traditions:

• illegal firecrackers in public forums
• crowded marketplaces
• red envelopes of lucky money
• lion dances
• tramping to semi rural pagodas
• squeezing into traditional clothing designed for more petite people
• food! especially for me, I love the plates piled high with fruits- tangerines, apples, grapes, etc.

Did you know that when you say the Cantonese "gùng héi faat chōi"  you are not saying "Happy New Year!" as many people believe? Actually, you're wishing prosperity upon them. So, it's used as a common expression, but it doesn't literally mean "Happy New Year", as the way to say that would be the Yale Romanization of  "Xin Nian Kuai Le," or 新年快樂"

You're supposed to do things on the first day of the New Year that you want to happen to you all year, like studying hard, going to a temple to be spiritual, not crying or fighting with your parents, etc. The only thing you can't do is (gasp) sweep the floor, or clean in general, as that represents you sweeping the money and prosperity of the next year out of your house!

You're also supposed to be vegetarian on the first day of the new year, and a variety of roasted meats like pork or duck are eaten on the second day.

And, people traditionally eat a type of  terrestrial photosynthetic cyanobacteria (TECHNICALLY),  which is alternatively commonly known as black hair moss, or a "hair seaweed" on New Year's. The seaweed is known as "faatchoi" ...which sounds a lot like "faat chōi!" The last 2 syllables of the common New Year's greeting sound similar to the moss and that is why the moss is traditionally served at New Year's to the point that over-harvesting has become a problem in the Mongolian steppes, where erosion and desertification is on the rise. As a result, the Chinese government has limited the harvest of faat choi.

Some more interesting foods are tangerines (which sound like the word for "luck"), watermelon seeds dyed red for good luck, lotus seed candies which signify having male offspring (sexists!), sticky rice balls filled with sesame past that signify  togetherness, and a sticky pan fried rice cake that signifies improving your position each year.

On the seventh day of the New Year celebration is a day literally translated as "People's Day" which means "Everyone's Birthday." Because in the old times, people may not have known their actual birthdays (idk how long ago this goes for...haha) they would celebrate this day as everyone's birthday, and eat egg noodles for longevity, like every other birthday.

As a final note on Chinese New Year trivia, pomelos (like grapefruits but bigger) signify abundance, and are eaten with other fruits like tangerines. But on these fruits, as well as watermelons, my mom must always slap a sticker with a lucky odd, similar to that golden word in the picture back there...something like "prosperity," etc. She still has to call me back and tell me why though! It has something to do with the sounds of the words (Oh, the Chinese people.) 8]

This post is dedicated to my grandmother :) 

Wishing her the spirit of dragons and horses, 龍馬精神.

Recipes irritate me. As I was reading "The Anatomy of a Recipe," a piece by MFK Fisher describing the components, composition, and evolution of recipes, I realised what my gripe was. Recipes are intended to be organized, logical pieces that delineate the creation of some dish. The quantities of ingredients should be listed in order of addition, measurements included, directions simple and easy to understand. However, in most of my cooking endeavors, I have often found that taking a risk and trying something new, based on a recipe either from a book or the Internet, is rampant with possibilities for disaster, fraught with uncertainty and situational variation. As MFK Fisher notes, recipes used to be simple and short, with (shockingly) no measurements or helpful qualifiers such as to toast "until golden" or ensure "even browning." They lacked specific time directions, and could even be confusing because of the lack of specificity, orderly prescription of actions, and assumptions.Mrs. Morice's Brandy Cake recipe is an example of this, as Fisher notes that "the mace and nutmeg which have been prescribed are not mentioned again. Any idiot knows that they could be sifted in with the flour, and that of course they would be grated or powdered...but as a spoiled idiot-child of the twentieth century, I want to be told." Now I disagree with his statement that I am a spoiled idiot-child. Even the most clear recipe cannot account for the variation of a different time, setting, even type of cookware, freshness of ingredient, humidity, etc, etc. But Fisher's main point is that a recipe ought to be like a manual, precise and accessible to any type of user. This means that the recipe will list all ingredients and quantities, what cookware needed, and the steps in order, with tips as necessary. Of course I'd like to be told how to make something...but in the end, even if a recipe has all these things, the probability of something happening is high, especially if I have to consult a cookbook to cook in the first place. After reading both "Anatomy of a Recipe" and "Recipes," I have come to the conclusion that I have more faith in "aide memoire," recipes that are merely reminders about food that I'm familiar with or have seen others work with. This of course, assumes familiarity with the ingredients and the desired outcome, which leads me to the second part of my conclusion: that I prefer being taught how to cook, or being helped how to cook. The best chefs always cook for or with others, learning from others. Food isn't just food, and cooking isn't just cooking; it's sharing time with people and communication and variations that a page in a book or on the Internet cannot convey. Looking at the quintessential Mastering the Art of French Cooking, a book intended to allow Americans to enjoy French cooking made simple, I notice that even with diagrams labelled "Julienne" or "Slicing Round Objects" aren't very helpful...a tomato is round just like the example potato, but I wouldn't know to use a serrated knife unless...I had already watched someone else!

Comparing Recipes
I decided to look at Mastering the Art of French Cooking  versus Martha Stewart's Hors d'oeuvres to see if I noticed any of the trends described in the reading, and if I preferred either recipe over the other.
Tartlettes
Both: include suggestions for filling the tartlettes, ingredients and quantities, simple command language.
Mastering: includes directions such as "The mixing of pastry should be accomplished rapidly, particularly if your kitchen  is warm...use very quick, light finger movements, do not linger on the dough with the warm palms of your hands. Includes qualities such as "the fat...broken into pieces the size of oatmeal flakes" and "it should hold together and be pliable, but not damp and sticky." Diagrams. Division of main steps into sections.
Martha Stewart: Written exclusive in command form: "Combine, Process, Add." Qualifiers such as "resembles coarse meal" and "slightly larger than pans." Directions and "disaster averters" such as "Continually move the pastry around the board, turning over once or twice, to prevent sticking" and "bake until the edges begin to color."
Conclusion: Both recipes precisely list ingredients and quantities and order the directions in a logical way, all qualities of a "modern" recipe. Though the Mastering recipe appears outdated at first, I prefer it. There is spacing between divisions of steps in recipes, the layout is easier to read, rather than a magazine column style layout in the Martha Stewart book. The language tends to be more passive, which makes me feel less commanded, and also has helpful tips that I would anticipate at the time of the exact step, and would help me avoid mistakes like lingering my palms on the dough. I suppose maybe nostalgia has something to do with this. An older recipe, printed on paper, no fancy pictures, the directions not too clear or too direct, suggesting that cooking is based on aide memoire, and that this book is here merely to help and aid your natural instincts.

Cafe Gratitude

"Strawberries With Sambuca Baba and Acid Honey"

What in the world is acid honey? What's sambuca baba?

The frivolous, confusing, odd combinations of foods on the menu at El Bulli smack of classism. That is, you can't just be any old person to enjoy " sea cucumbers with ham fat and hot yoghurt whey jelly."  It's an acquired taste reserved for the most sophisicated of palates.

But class issues aside, the title of the dish evokes emotion and invites exploration. Curiosity, adventurousness, exoticness, the consonant, 2 -beat sounds of "buca" and "baba" like the beat of tribal drums. A new experience....What's on the menu, really? Experience!

People may make fun of the menu at El Bulli, or criticize the rhetoric of menus with well-founded accusations of branding, exoticizing, fluffing it up, and overusing adjectives and participal phrases. But the fact is, food is an experience. I don't mean the ambiance of the room, the decor, the plating, the garnishes, though these can be part of the experience. I mean how food is an combination of emotion, personal and shared histories, memories and also new ideas.That's why I don't mind the language of menus as much as I do TV or product advertising. I find it somewhat endearing, actually. It's part of the construct of eating, because like the existence of historical fiction, it's one thing to inform people of an event and it's an entirely different experience to have a fictionalized version, with relatable characters, sensor hoy images, and a different viewpoint. I don't mind being hinted at what I should expect to feel. But at one place, you order by telling them how you feel!

Cafe Gratitude is a chain of organic, vegan restaurants that emphasizes a lot of raw foods. Their menu is probably the most ridiculous I have ever heard of. For instance, you'd walk in and declare"I am Extraordinary" to recieve "our BLT with sauteed maple coconut bacon, romaine lettuce, sliced tomato and avocado. Served with spicy chipotle aioli on an organic wheat bun." If you felt in the mood for the soup of the day, just say "I am thriving!" Being mystical deserves a dark chocolate macaroon. Being transparent denotes elaborately specific sushi.

Cafe Gratitude is committed to celebrating human existence and the earth by providing high quality, organic food. Their mission statement and the whimsical, non-offensively unique titles of their dishes remind us that the cafe is an experience, a novel one:
"Our food is prepared with love. We invite you to step inside and enjoy being someone that chooses: loving your life, adoring yourself, accepting the world, being generous and grateful every day, and experiencing being provided for." Maybe that's why I don't chafe at their menu titles. Unlike a snooty expensive restaurant, I am not lured into a dish, forgetting that it's an experience, through long words or foreign ingredients. I don't feel tricked, don't feel like anything here is being puffed up. Thish  feels simple, even though Cafe Gratitude is just as guilty of menu sensationalism as any.
How could anyone resent....
I AM COMFORTED Oven roasted rosemary yams served with your choice of our spicy nacho cheese, sweet tamarind or spicy coconut mint chutney  .
 "Oven roasted": past participal phrase, check. Fluffy.
"tamarind": sufficiently unrecognizable for most.
"coconut mint chutney": distinctly exotic.
Horrid qualities of "menuspeak" are here, and even a dictation of how you should/could feel when you want a yam.The idea of being comforted with this dish is tolerable, though. The name gives me an expectation, and reminds me that food has emotions and people attached to them, a story of a feeling. This isn't just food. It's experience. And it's more of an experience for me to embrace than an experience that is shoved down my throat.

Look for yourself!:http://www.cafegratitudela.com/menu

Origins

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet."

Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2) 

I'm taking this class because I'm a people-person.
One day, I'm going to become a physician. But for me, I'd want to help people heal with an emphasis on prevention. Food ought to be our first medicine, and it can can heal us up to a certain point of imbalance, when drugs are then called in because the compounds naturally found in food aren't enough to fix the problem.

Food is complex. It's political, emotional, socioeconomic, familial, symbolic. It reflects on your personality, upbringing, morals, values. Food choices are ritual, sacred, traditional, subject to criticism, both self and from others. Food is an everyday choice, a struggle or joyful experience for some, an afterthought for others. But you are what you eat, and many health issues are traced to food; healing is linked to nutrition. We can't separate our diseases, disorders, and woes from something we are so close to. So, what people choose to eat, and consequently in some manner, their health, is affected by all these considerations and connotations of food.

A Sampling of Complexities Related to "Food"

"Vegans, reductionist theory, accessibility, vitamins, deficiencies, diets, obesity, disadvantaged people, soy/rice/gluten-free, high fructose corn syrup,  corn sugar, lawsuits, disorders, factories, organic, free-trade, monopolies, agribusiness, environmentalism, social bonds, culture, but most of all, attitudes."

So one key to healing is food choices, and what influences food choices...

• Take sugar for example. What is the difference between the allure and hype of lollipop purchased at a gas station and a lollipop, premium perhaps, purchased at Dylan's Candy Bar? Why do people show a statistically significant preference for a food that sounds "homey?" 
• Food deserts...food inequity. Why is finding fresh, affordable food, specifically fruits and vegetables, more of a challenge for poorer people than richer people? Why is socioeconomic status the most revealing factor in rates of health problems?
• Fast food, slow food, organic, fair-trade, conventional.  Health education. Nutrition, reductionist theory. Why are our food choices so complex? Does our obsession with labelling, calorie counts, and ideas of healthfulness spurred on by near-meaningless labels like "natural flavors" and "fat-free" spur people to make less-than ideal food choices? Do we shy away from information or embrace it?

And what is language's role in this? Language: names. Myths, stories, advertising, promises, information, associations, ideals. We talk about food, and that has an obvious hand in our food choices. We are told about food, we learn about food, and we are advertised to.

That's why I'm in this class! I want to learn about how we communicate about food influences how we perceive food, and maybe shed a bit more light on how we choose food.

Language background: English, Vague knowledge of French, Rediscovering Cantonese, Smattering of Mandarin, Comprehension of Vietnamese.

Food background: fascination with fruits; love of pastries; food as a cultural tradition; research of food and connection to environment; Eating Animals PWR class; interest in psychology of food choice, idiosyncrasies, and food production.