Thanksgiving Dinner

Several days before Thanksgiving break, my family found out that my aunt Joanne had passed away and that her funeral would be the Saturday after Thanksgiving in Austin. So after much discussion we decided to have Thanksgiving dinner at home as planned, and immediately following the early dinner jump in the car for Texas. Waking up Thanksgiving morning after packing my mother was already done preparing the turkey and placing it in the oven. So as my mom began preparing the other dishes my dad and packed and set up everything in the van for the long drive to Texas. Once I had got done packing up the van, I started on my one duty for the big dinner, dessert. My mom had already made cherry pie, so I decided to make chocolate cheesecake. Once the cheesecake was done cooking, and had set out for awhile, it was time to eat. My mother’s huge Turkey was cooked to perfection, and I filled my plate with generous portions of both white and dark meat. My mother had also mad sweet potato casserole, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans, and mashed potatoes and gravy, all of which were extremely good, and made an excellent Thanksgiving dinner. Then for dessert, despite being extremely full. We pulled the chocolate cheesecake out of the refrigerator and ate what turned out to be an extremely fluffy and delicious dessert.

After finishing my last landscape account of the season I decided to venture into the nearby Fresh Market store and to see if they had my favorite ginger ale, Blenheim. To my surprise, after being out of stock since fall of the last year they did in fact have it. After being turned onto Blenheim ginger ale several years earlier, I have frequently ventured to neighborhood higher quality and organic grocery stores to find this rare and spasmodically socked beverage. Blenheim ginger ale is very sweet, but unlike most ginger ale’s contains a lot of ginger making it very hot at the same time, leaving first time drinkers with a burning throat and watery eyes, but once you get past the slight pain of the first swig, the combination of sweet and spicy hot leave the drinker with an enjoyable taste. So needless to say I bought a great deal of ginger ale, just in case it would be another year before I had the chance to buy it again.

After my families early Thanksgiving dinner we hit the road and headed to Austin Texas. After about seven hours on the road we decided that we were hungry again needed to eat. But of course trying to find anywhere open to eat on Thanksgiving is near impossible. So after going through several exits, we found a cracker barrel that was open for Thanksgiving. Looking through the menu I saw that they had Thanksgiving special, consisting of roast beef, turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green beans, gravy, stuffing, sweet potato streusel, and a drink all for eight dollars. So despite having much of the same dishes several hours earlier, I decided to try the Cracker Barrel version. As it turned out everything was very good, but of course not as good as my mother’s home made Thanksgiving dinner.

A Southern Thanksgiving

I decided not to go back home to Connecticut this year for Thanksgiving, but I was lucky enough to be invited to my friend Hannah's house for break. I was excited to experience thanksgiving from a southern perspective, because I haven't really been outside of Atlanta since I've been down here. I was surprised to see that almost everything at Thanksgiving dinner was exactly the same as it was up north, with no real "southern" dishes being served. While thanksgiving dinner wasn't anything new, I got to try a few real southern dishes over the weekend. I tried grits for the first time (I avoided the grits at Brittain on Hannah's advice), and I tried a thing called "sausage log," which is basically a mix of sausage, cheese, gravy, and biscuits, which was fantastic. Overall, I'm glad I got to go to Hannah's house and experience some southern food.

Thanksgiving Cheer

I was sitting with family when my sister announced that it didn't feel much like Thanksgiving. My mom asked her how it would feel more Thanksgiving-y. She replied "Singing some Thanksgiving songs." My mom and I looked at each other. Thanksgiving songs? Personally I just think my sister is crazy, but does anyone actually know of any "Thanksgiving" songs? Later at dinner we had the radio on and some Christmas songs were playing but my sister was changing the words to make them more about Thanksgiving. "And a turkey in a pear tree....."

Inviting? or Stay Away?

The other day my friends and I went to go see a movie at Regal and afterwards we dropped off my friend back at her dorm at Emory. We passed by this restaurant called Lettuce Souprise You and my first though was, "Aww, how clever!" But then I sort of gazed at the restaurant a little too long for its own good and realized how creepy it seemed to be. The name of the restaurant had a witty little play on words that caught my attention but its outer appearance did not look inviting at all. It looked a bit rundown and its location was one I’d be hesitant to step out of the car from. And the only picture I could find online of it doesn’t help its case. I don’t think I want a souprise anymore.

Thanksgiving

This was the my first thanksgiving ....well holidays for it and the best thing about it was ofcourse the 4 days of vacation and no dining hall!!!!but i didnt know that everything would be closed, completely!!For three days everything was literally closed. So i ate complete junk for three day from the gas station opposite varsity......Fun break from the dining hall food i guess but for the first time in three months I was happy that the dining hall opened today!!Me and my friends had a great time in these four days ..saww many movies,relaxed a lot before the massive studying starts next week!!now alll im looking forward to is 12th december...

Thanksgiving post

I must say, there's just something about being on break from school that just makes a person want to eat more than under the usual circumstances. It's like you just feel more relaxed and food becomes more enjoyable. I'm not sure if it's just me or not, but when I'm stressed I barely have an apptetie and I only eat purely for the sake of eating because I know I will pass out if I don't! I mean it's not too too often that I am THAT stressed but I've noticed my stress level go up since I've started at tech. Needless to say, this thanksgiving break was definitely well deserved and far too short.
On thanksgiving day family and friends came over to my parent's house for dinner. I decided to venture out and try to make pumpkin pie! It was my first attempt at any such thing. The only thing I usually make are pasta dishes and sandwiches. I think my pumpkin pie turned out pretty good considering there were no leftovers from it! That could be though from the fact that everyone was just starving and eating anything in sight. Anyways, here's the recipe that I used. It's super fast and really easy, which was a benefit for a beginner such as myself. I thought perhaps someone else might enjoy it as well!

Pumpkin Pie:


Ingredients

* 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
* 1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes.
2. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. Cool. Garnish as desired. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.

American Food

I was in Miami during my Thanksgiving break. I thought that I could finally get rid of dining hall for some days, but I was wrong. I figured no matter where I go, I was always surrounded by so-called American food: fries, fried wings, hamburgers. Everyone around me seemed perfectly happy to have the same fries, fried wings and hamburgers with different names. Unfortunately, to me, they all tasted similar to what I had in dining hall. Moreover, when I read US Today, I saw American soldiers in Afganistan were still having fries, fried wings and hamburgers as I did. How powerful is fast food! It makes everyone have the same thing every day.

Thanksgiving

I celebrated thanksgiving this year with my mom, dad, and brother so my family decided to have a small feast because there was only going to be the four of us. We still had turkey but this was the first year where it wasn't the main course. We had a baked chicken, garlic bread, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, fried turkey bits, and apple cider. It felt great being back at home.

New Family

Wednesday morning my alarm went off at 0630. I woke up, ready to go. I got everything prepared, suitcase and backpack, and sat down in my chair. I was to meet my soon to be sister in law's family.

I left the dorm and headed for the Marta station. Apparently, system was off, because the trains were having to share railways. This caused about a 20 minute delay, which could've been bad. However, I had timed in so I would arrive an hour and a half early anyways. Our train finally left North Avenue station southbound to the airport. I could feel my heart beating as my nervousness grew. Would they like me? Would I get along?

I arrived at the airport, and having never been there before, almost got lost. Luckily, the kind airport employees directed me in the correct direction. I checked my bag and headed for the terminal. When I arrived there, everything was fine. However, as time went by, things got bad. First, my plane arrived late, then one of the flight attendants didn't show up. I ended up having an hour and a half delay. By the time the plane began to back out of the terminal, my flight time had changed from 0930 to 1100.

When I finally arrived in Virginia, my brother was waiting for me at the baggage claim. He, of course, was a little mad about the delay. But it was alright, he was just giving me a hard time.

It was another hour drive back to my brother's fiance, Mary,'s house, where we were staying. There I met Mary's sister, mother, father, and daughter, my soon to be niece.

I loved the time I was able to spend with her family. We played apples to apples the first night I was there, and I learned so much about all of them. It was a great time and I'm so glad I was able to spend it with them.

For Thanksgiving, we went out to her father's, Col. Flanagan's, parents house, where I was able to meet more of their family. One of Col. Flanagan's brothers, and his wife and children. For dinner we had turkey, cranberry sauce, green beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and more. It was all so delicious! Then came the dessert! There were cupcakes (basically cake but cut up into cupcakes. These things were huge!), apple pie, pumpkin pie, and ice cream. All of the food was so good, so much better than anything I had had here.

For the rest of my time in Virginia I watched TV and movies with the family. Mary's family took me in as one of their own, and I am so grateful.

It all ended with my flight back to Atlanta. It went much better than the one to Virginia. No delays and everyone showed up. So now I'm back in Atlanta for finals. I'm really looking forward to the next time I get to see Mary's family, which will more than likely be at Jon and Mary's wedding, but I may get to see them for spring break!

Desserts

After I got home on Wednesday, my mom started baking. Now I think my mom is a wonderful cook but she is also amazing at desserts. Every fall and Christmas we have cookie baking days where we just make dozens of different types of cookies and desserts. It is so much fun. For Thanksgiving my mom made a couple different cakes and cookies. We had brown sugar cake, pumpkin cookies with maple frosting, I made the pumpkin pie, and my favorite dessert: rum cake. This cake is made with actual rum (although I believe you can use rum flavoring but it doesn't taste as good) and then has a rum and sugar glaze poured on top. It's traditional to make it in a bundt pan. This cake is just so moist and has a tingly feeling when you eat it. Most of the alcohol evaporates so it's safe to eat. When I was coming home yesterday I asked if I could take the rest of it back with me. So now I have half a rum cake sitting in my dorm room. It's very tempting to just eat it now. Yum

Yummy Shrimp Noodle

During Thanksgiving, it seems that all the international students who plan to stay on campus begin to worry about how are we going to survive without Brittain. We used to dislike Brittain so much back in school days, however, when it was closed, I couldn't describe how we missed it. Fortunately, one friend of mine who lived in North Avenues invited us over to cook some dishes.

It was pretty late and I was starving since all the restaurants on campus were closed. So basically, then I would consider all the food delicious. Surprisingly, he served the dish which was so beyond my imagination. He cooked us a shrimp noodle soup. It has been so long since I ate oringinal soup noodle before. The soup noodle served is always somewhat weired since the noodles are too thin and the soup is too oily. The noodles I had that day really recalled some of my sweet memories back in China especially during the time of Thanksgiving when the campus is almost empty.

It was a pity that I didn't take a picture of the meal. However I managed to find a similar dish on the internet. So take a look~

My Thanksgiving

This year I felt like my Thanksgiving dinner was smaller than usual. Maybe it was because it was just my immediate family at dinner. We didn't have as much food as I thought we would, but what we did have was delicious. We had a turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing/dressing, sweet potatoes (my personal favorite!) , green bean casserole, corn, ambrosia (another one of my favorites), and crescent rolls. It was all so yummy. Here are some pictures of what was left over....

Authentic Chinese food&Turkey

For my first thanksgiving in America, my sister brought me to visit her aunt, Jun, in Alabama, and enjoyed the authentic Chinese food, which totally surprised and satisfied me!

On Thursday, turkey and hot-pot became our lunch and dinner~

As soon as the turkey was taken out of the oven, the kitchen was full of its aroma. Crispy turkey skin shined, inviting us to have a bite.

Hot-pot is my favorite! We had tofu, mushrooms, meat, crab meat, fish balls, needle mushroom  and so on. And the hot-pot was indeed spicy enough! Thanks to Jun, we had such a great meal~

For the last day in Jun's house, he made three Sichuan dishes: sliced beef and ox tongue in chilli Sauce, squid with pickled peppers, and boiled beef. they were all spicy dishes, and reminded me of Chengdu, my hometown with countless delicate cuisines.

GALBI

Galbi is so far my favorite Korean dish.
Galbi refers is made with marinated beef shor ribs in a soy sauce based sauce and sauce made from fruit juice (generally Asian pear juice), rice wine, soy sauce, garlic, sesame seed oil and sugar.


* 16 ribs
* 1 cup soy sauce, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water
* 1 Asian pear, chopped (or 1/2 Korean pear)
* 1 onion, chopped
* 2 tbsp minced garlic
* 4 tbsp sesame oil
* 1 tbsp ground pepper
* 1 tbsp juice of ginger

1. Wash meat. Rarely but sometimes you can find tiny bone scraps stick to the meat. Soak in water for 1 hour, drain.
2. In a food processor, add chopped onion and pear, puree finely. Pour out to a large bowl, add remaining ingredients, stir.
3. Marinate beef for 8-10 hours or overnight. They cook fairly fast, 2-3 minutes on one side.
4. Traditionally, it is grilled with a wood charcoal but certainly you can grill on a gas stove or out door grill.



resources:
http://www.trifood.com/galbi.html
pictures:
raleighseoulgarden.com
chosdownatlanta.com

Miami's Burger

Thanksgiving is not a festival that Chinese people celebrates, I’ve been to the United States for almost 4 years, I have not figured out the history behind thanksgiving. The only thing I know is eating turkey. I didn’t go back to home at Pittsburgh, instead, I went to Miami with three other friends. One of them is Wade, he is a big time Heat fan, and so we went to watch the game of Heats against the Wizards. Unfortunately, the Heats lost. The day of Thanksgiving, we spent most of the day drive down there. Before the game on Friday, we went to the Miami Beach enjoyed some sunshine, the weather was wonderful. After beach, we ate at a restaurant next to the beach called the Jonny Rockets. I ordered the famous burger, which has two slices of patties, lettuce, mayo, barbecue sauce, as well as my favorite bacons. The burger was very tasty, especially eating the burgers at dinning hall basically everyday, the burger at the Jonny Rockets tasted 10 times better. However, the only drawback is the size of the burger, it was too big, after finishing half the burger, the mayo, lettuce, and barbecue sauce all came out of the burger, it was so difficult to eat it as a whole. I was also surprised that the waitress didn’t ask me how do I want my patties cooked. I normally like to eat the patties well down, the burger came out is well down, so there is nothing too much I can complain.

The vacation was wonderful, but the drive was extremely terrible. Dead week and finals are coming, this trip has energized me spiritually, I hope I can do well on the finals.  

So Kong Dong

My friend Jesse visited me from Athens this Wednesday.

He picked me up from my dorm. I did not go to any of my classes but stayed on campus working on my Blog assignment #4. By the time I was done, it was pretty late. So Jesse and I decided to go get some Korean food from So Kong Dong.

I have introduced So Kong Dong before on this Blog. I am glad that I can actually put up some pictures. I ordered a combo of Tofu Soup and Korean BBQ. They were very satisfying.

Thanksgiving without Turkey

Every Thanksgiving my family comes together, and, as usual, we don't have turkey. The reason for this, my dad is allergic to poultry. So, when Thanksgiving comes around we usual have ham, pork, or beef. This year we had beef, mashed potatoes, and green beens. Although we had this Thanksgiving meal on Thursday, we really had a better Thanksgiving dinner with my aunt the next day. That meal consisted of ham, asparagus, and couscous. Have a Happy Thanksgiving Break.

Sweet Potato Casserole

Well, to begin with I have been sick for the past two weeks, but I didn't let that ruin my Thanksgiving! I spent all of the holiday at my Grandmother's house where hospitality and spoilage know no end. The course I look forward to every Thanksgiving is her amazing sweet potato Casserole. It melts in the mouth like a perfect candy, has a top layer of marshmallows, and keeps you coming back for more! Needless to say, my sickness and weak appetite did not keep me from going back for seconds and even thirds. Every Thanksgiving is a good one with Sweet Potato Casserole!

Chicken: The Universal Meat?

I've just realized that chicken is a meat that is eaten just about everywhere. It's frowned upon in many religions to eat certain types of meat, but from what I know, everyone still loves to eat chicken. I wonder how chicken is such a popular meat worldwide, and I wonder how chicken has become most widely spread. Chicken have been rasied in many countries around the world for generations. Perhaps their meat is so common because they don't require a lot of space and they grow fairly quickly. Any thoughts?

The joy of a homecooked meal

It's been a while since I have eaten a meal not prepared by a stranger. I must say it feels good to be able to eat food prepared at home for some reason it just tastes better perhaps because more care is taken in it's preparation and the person preparing the food actually actually knows who they are catering to. I wanted to know everybody's view on homecooked food.

Emerald Chinese Restaurant

Last night, I had the chance of visiting one of the most authentic Chinese restaurants, I have been to in a while.It was a great change of cuisine.The food was delicious.I ordered the sweet and sour jumbo shrimp and the chicken fried rice.The portions were generous and I ended up taking some home with me.The service was great and I would recommend this restaurant to anyone who wants to taste real authentic Chinese food.There are several places like this scattered across Toronto given the large Chinese population.Don't be afraid to try them out even though the signs aren't in English. :)

Earl's Restaurant @ Square One

I recently visited Earl's restaurant,a popular chain of restaurants in Canada.It was conveniently located on the Southeast side of Square one,one of the largest malls in Toronto.The service at the restaurant was not great as they missed bringing out the soup and were in a constant rush to clear the table despite not being finished.The steak was average and the salads were mediocre.The only good thing about the restaurant was the ambiance.They had good lounge music in the playground which offset the terrible food and service.

The website is below:
http://www.earls.ca/components/com_locations/popups/details.php?cid=39

Lahore Tikka House

Monday night,I had the opportunity of visiting one of the most authentic Pakistani restaurants in North America. Lahore Tikka House,located in downtown Toronto.It was a bit on the pricey side considering that the dishes are usually much cheaper back home.I ordered a butter chicken,chicken tikka,kebab wrap and naan. It was a great break from the food back at Atlanta.I thoroughly enjoyed it and anyone who fancies an authentic taste of Pakistan and must check it out.

Check out their Website:http://www.lahoretikkahouse.com/

Blog Post 4

Pollan kicks off IDOF with an attack on nutritionism, the notion that we can explain everything important about food in terms of its component nutrients. The arrogant assumption accompanying nutritionism is that scientists can create a comprehensive list of everything human health requires and then engineer foods – or processed food-like substances – that deliver them to us, thereby making and keeping us healthy. Pollan lays bare the sad history of scientists’ attempts to do so, culminating in the advice to avoid fat and cholesterol that has so influenced the American diet over the past 30 years and is in the process of being debunked. He follows that up with a discussion of the current western diet and its links to the western diseases: heart disease, diabetes, even cancer. And finally, he gives some advice for how we should eat instead.

This was Pollan's entire book in a gist. His argument is according to him and his editors (I suppose they did edit it) sound. He has done what everyone expects of an author who is trying to debunk popular notions.He has layed the facts bare. He has bombarded his readers with a barrage of statistics and proofs. He rests his case in a manner that he is completely reassured of his credibility. But in his path to proving his case scientifically and statistically, he has forgotten one very essential trait of human nature. Our inability to change and/or effect changes into our lives after a lifetime of routine habits.

Pollan says nutritionism is bad. Lets start by explaining what is nutritionism. Nutritionism, when loosely interpreted, is a mindset that believes that the key to all foods is the nutrients that make up food. So a diet based on facts gathered from this concept states that it is the nutrients that we are having that matters and not what food we are having. Pollan argues that nutritionism has led to a reliance on eating processed foods that are low fat, high in Omega-3 nutrients or overloaded with our friend, high fructose corn syrup in order to fill our nutrition requirements as dictated by science and by eating these foods that manufacturers are engineering, you are robbing yourself of the necessary natural nutrients of foods found in nature (you do need fat, etc. in your diet to survive). So, in its most simplistic form, you are depriving yourself by eating manufactured food-like substances and are not really eating food at all. There Pollan completely debunks the concept of nutritionism.

Then Pollan goes on to show the evils of the western diet. No surprises there he does have to say a lot about the laid back attitude adopted by the people living there with regard to their diet. The emphasis of healthy eating seems lost in the western world.

In all this we come back to the reason why Pollan has failed to create a lasting impact on his readers and help change their ways. Yes his argument is sound. Yes his statistics prove he is right. And yes science is on his side of the argument. But since when did humans like to be told what to do. All humans irrespective of all characteristics are rebellious by nature. as kids we hate being lectured to by our parents. As adults we hate listening to our bosses. And as leaders we hate being burdened by rules and protocols. Pollan does everything wrong while stating his argument. He hopes to completely inundate the rational part of the brain with facts and expect us to grab onto what he is saying. He tries manipulating us into thinking in his way. He has an overbearing tone throughout his book, something that disgusts most of us. All in all he seemed like an all knowing scientist making us want to throw his book in the back of our cupboards after a single reading. This seems like a classic example of literary failures where the author forgets who he is writing for and what are their expectations.

Too Much Defense of Food

In Michael Pollans In Defense of Food, Pollan discus’s how the change in America’s diet has led to the increase in obesity, cancer, cardiovascular disease and overall poor health in the past fifty years, and has spread these diseases wherever the western diet is consumed. Pollans argument that the western diet is the sole source for the increase in these diseases is insufficient, due to the fact that Pollan leaves out exercise and physical activity as any sort of contributor to the increase in health problems.
First of all, one important change in America’s lifestyle and that of the countries that accept the western diet is the development of a less strenuous, more sedentary lifestyle, thus cutting down on the average exercise and physical work that a person must do every day. It is widely known and accepted that daily exercise and frequent physical activity help reduce the chance of cardiovascular diseases and related illnesses. Yet, Michael Pollan never discus’s how the changes in diet over the past 50-60 years have also been accompanied with changes in lifestyle. Yes, Americans have gone from eating the foodstuffs and diets of their native homelands and have switched to a diet heavy on grains and processed nutrient enriched food products, but as an industrialized nation we have also cut down on the amount of time we spend doing any sort of physical activity. Cars have become more common place and newly developed machines and technology have replaced much of the strenuous work and activity that previous generation’s faced. Furthermore, the increased number of sit down office jobs has contributed to America’s sedentary lifestyle, and has led to a less active generation. So, not only has are food changed but the amount of daily activity has also changed over the past several decades and could be even more important to our overall decline in health than what we eat.
Furthermore, countries who have accepted the western diet would have most likely accepted western lifestyle. One of the advantages of the western diet is increased specialization of labor, meaning that less people and workforce are required to produce the amount of food needed by the community, leading to a greater amount of sedentary, sit down, exercise free, office jobs. One example that Pollan uses to support his claim that western diet is the cause of western health problems is a research study in which a group of aborigines, who had been stricken with diabetes and other modern western diseases, after switching to the western diet, decided to venture back “into the bush”. Pollan explains that after several weeks of resuming their aboriginal diet, they were essential cured from all the westernized diseases they had previously suffered. What Pollan forgets to detail, or purposely leaves out, is the dramatic lifestyle changes other than just diet associated with going back “into the bush”. Essentially these aborigines went from living a lifestyle requiring a lot of work and strenuous exercise in order to obtain the daily supplies and food required to live, to a sedentary westernized lifestyle where food is merely bought and possibly cooked, back to their previous lifestyle involving constant exercise and physical exercise. Yet Pollan does mention anything about how the aborigines changed their lives, other than what they ate. So in reality this example, one of Pollans key arguments, does not provide any real concrete evidence to support his theory.
Pollans argument that the change in western diet has led to an overall decline in health in the United States is ineffective because Pollan fails to address the change in daily exercise that has accompanied the change in diet over recent history. Pollans case would be more effective if he addressed this issue instead of avoiding it, as in the case of aborigines. In all, it is Pollans tendency to stir away from all possible counter arguments that subtract from his overall message.

Pollan leaves readers empty handed (blogpost #4)

Michael Pollan has made it clear in his latest book, In Defense of Food, that he is disturbed by the food industries’ health claims and alterations on the food that the public consumes. He presents his audience with a call to action to ignore nutrition experts and advertisers while relying solely on their common sense and innate judgments on food. As his argument fails to convince us to be oblivious to this new age of the food industry and to tune in our primal hunter-gatherer instincts to help guide us, Pollan never presents a feasible solution to, what he calls, the “American Paradox” and, thus, his argument lacks profundity.

“Scientists can argue all they want about the biological mechanisms behind this phenomenon, but whichever it is, the solution to the problem would appear to remain very much the same: Stop eating a Western diet.” (140-141). Firstly, this is just one of several generalizations Pollan makes throughout his book. He generalizes the Western diet to consist of “lots of processed foods and meat, lots of added fat and sugar, lots of everything except fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.” (89) He further discusses the negative impact of the Western diet by contrasting it with the diets of those in Africa, India, among the Eskimos in Labrador, among the Native Americans, and among several more different groups all over the world. He applauds the diets of the other groups by pointing out the almost complete absence of chronic diseases that had become commonplace in the West. He fails to acknowledge the fact that most of the inhabitants in these regions are not as fortunate as those in the U.S. Food is not as readily accessible to these people and therefore, the likelihood of these people to attain food related diseases is less simply due to the fact that they consume less. He does not describe to us what makes the diet of these people better; he assumes that these more backward societies would have more traditional lifestyles making their food options less tainted by the evils of modern science.

Pollan wrote his book in hopes of improving the health of others, but his advice proved impractical for many of us who live in the current day. He advises us to avoid certain ingredients, food products that make health claims, and to get out of the supermarket whenever possible. A typical American family living in Suburbia or in the city would find all of these tips hard to follow religiously when what Pollan demands us to avoid is clearly inevitable. It’s hard to walk down an aisle in the supermarket without finding a product that does not make health claims nor contain a sinful ingredient. Supermarkets have become the main food provider for many homes. Pollan’s alternative: Whole foods, Farmer’s Markets, or a garden. These food providers don’t live up to the convenience of the local supermarket found every few miles or so in most cities and suburbs. And the costs of shopping at these locations would break the budgets of many American families.

Though Pollan suggests many possible ways to help us eat healthier and states an abundance of facts to support his claims, he leaves his audience unable to follow through with his advice and leaves many other vital facts unacknowledged. To change the lifestyle and eating habits of a whole region is a bold thing to encounter. Unfortunately, Pollan fell short with his argument and left his readers unconvinced.

Pollan, Michael. In Defense of Food. New York : Penguin Books Ltd, 2008.

Blog Post #4: Pollan Falls Short.

It does not take long for Michael Pollan’s audience to grasp Pollan’s main argument while reading “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.” The very first few opening sentences of the book’s introduction offers readers a clear insight of what is to come, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Pollan could not make his message any clearer of what he wants humans to do; or I guess I should say it is clear of what he wants Americans to do. His book targets mainly Americans and changing what he refers to as their “Western Diet.”

The author defines the main features of the “Western Diet” as containing “lots of processed foods and meat, lots of added fat and sugar, [and] lots of everything except fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.” Most people can understand where Pollan is coming from as they think of the “Western Diet.” After all, those two words alone cause instantaneous images to come forth in one’s mind of fast food chains such as McDonald’s ® and Burger Kind ® and greasy and artery clogging foods such as those served at waffle house and various other food establishments. Although Pollan supplies many facts about his claim, he fails to truly convince his audience. Instead of gaining readers’ support he loses it just as one loses his shirt in a messy divorce. Nothing worth having comes out of a messy divorce and the same can be said for Pollan’s argument.

A major flaw in the argument is that Pollan generalizes his claim too much. He organizes his argument to make it seem like every single American follows what he considers as the “Western Diet.” This mistake comes from the fact that processed foods and fast food chains are what are seen right in front of our eyes, everywhere we look. What we see before our eyes, however, is not always the complete truth. Not every American follows that specific “Western Diet.” From person to person, a different definition for the Western Diet exists.

Besides the fact that Pollan generalizes his case, his most significant mistake occurs when he fails to recognize the other side of his argument. This is to say that he does not take the time to identify the benefits of processed food. This causes him to lose credibility from his potential supporters. Processed foods do actually possess quite a few advantages over organic foods. First benefit, it is cheaper for a country as large and populated as the United States to make processed foods as opposed to organic foods. Organic food requires an abundant amount of money and energy to grow and it is sometimes a waste when that money and energy can be utilized on more useful resources. Second benefit, processed foods are convenient and available everywhere. Yes, processed foods may not be the healthiest option, but it is definitely not the worst. Processed food eaten in appropriate proportions and mixed in with some organic foods is actually pretty healthy. Keep in mind when eating processed food, too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing.

Pollan makes it seem that all that is required of a person to be healthy is to just eat organic food. That is completely false. On the last page of “In Defense of Food” Pollan ends his claim by writing, “The cook in the kitchen preparing a meal from plants and animals at the end of this shortest of food chains has a great many things to worry about, but ‘health’ is simply not one of them, because it is given.” Most doctors will agree that eating organic foods might be the “healthier” option, but it is not going to lead a person to direct health. Real health comes from both diet and exercise. Pollan mentions nothing about exercise in his drawn out book.

Although Pollan’s book is filled with an overwhelming amount of facts to support his claim, he falls short in succeeding to convince his audience. He chooses quantity of facts rather than quality of facts for his book and this trick is evident as one approaches the end of Pollan’s “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.”

Blog Post #4

In the era of warfare, the importance of food was emphasized.  In contrast with the modernization of society and prosperity of technology, the development of the food industry and food products offer the consumers beyond basic food. The avant-guard author Michael Pollan wrote the book “In Defense of Food” to share his insights on the current American’s diet as well as how the nutritional values of the food sold in the market related to the health of the consumers. In the book, one of the arguments that Pollan focused on was the eating trend of western diet, and how the consumer becomes the victim of the modern food industry’s civilization.

 Entering the 21st century, humanity has made a significant stride on the living standard. Life’s pace in the city has also increased dramatically. In order to match the intensity of life’s pressure, the production of food to support humanity as effectively and quickly become the priority to sustain consumers. In order to achieve the goal, modern technologies are required to increase the production of food in a short period of time; therefore, processed food was introduced to the public. Pollan provides an example of research done on a group of diabetic Aborigines started on his take of a western diet. He provides sufficient medical background to explain the reasons behind the cause of the disease; however, he simply concluded his argument with statistics on the increasing diabetics in the American society. Pollan was attempting to lead the readers to the direction that the western eating habits are the major cause of poor health of general American public. On the contrary, Pollan did not provide detailed information on what the general American public eats, and how the western diet contributes to the increased health problems related to food. Instead, Pollan could make his argument more convincing by comparing the western diet with other cultural diets around the globe, and provide statistics to support the argument. Later in the book, Pollan used many pages to state his opinions on how many Americans need root canals, braces, and tooth extractions because of the western diet. This statement was misleading and inaccurate. The scientific reasons behind all teeth problems are poor personal hygiene, improper brushing of teeth as well as lack of regular teeth maintenance. Through out the entire book, Pollan consistently provides information and evidence of current American’s food society, however, he didn’t realize the lack of effectiveness of the evidence and how the readers will respond to the information. 

 Later in the book, Pollan once again stated five lines of evidence on how the American food industry has changed over the past decades. Examples include, how the food quality has changed to quantity, the food culture has turned into food science, etc. In the modern society, in order to support the massive population as well as for economic reasons, the food production has made a significant change compare to more traditional methods. Pollan has endless amount of evidences and statistics on the development of western food trends; however, he does not successfully convince the readers by simply stating the evidences and statistics. Pollan should focus on advocating the American public how to eat in a healthy way, at the same time stating evidence and statistics to convince the readers. As a well-known writer, Pollan should write a book towards a wide range of audience. The majority of readers of the book are Americans who grow up eating western diet. It is difficult for people who grow up eating western diet, while a person is telling them the eating habit is the origin of disease. Instead, Pollan presents many negative aspects of current food markets in America. He does not provide feasible solutions to fix the problems and convince the readers of his argument. Pollan simply blames the cause to the west.  

American Society's Relience on Nutritionists

In Michael Pollan's latest book, In Defense of Food, Pollan argues that as a society, American's depend on the views and theories of nutritionists and scientists overly much. We look at food labels, nutrition facts, articles, and periodicals. Pollan believes that we should learn to eat correctly ourselves. However, Pollan contradicts himself in the book, giving out his rules to follow.

Pollan begins the book by making the claim that any "packages elaborately festooned with health claims (Pollan 2)" should be avoided on the basis that it is not really "food". These labels are done by nutritionists and scientists that have prepared these foods to contain, or not contain, certain things, such as vitamins, nutrients, and cholesterol. This in itself both points to his argument and contradicts it. He is telling us the fact hoping to broaden our perspective, while also telling us something that we should do.

Pollan spends an entire chapter in his book, simply describing how far off the science is from being accurate, beginning on page 61. In the way Pollan describes the science, taking the nutrient completely out of its environment to study how it reacts with different ingredients, he shows just how wrong the scientists are. He states "it takes the nutrient out of the context of the food, the food out of the context of the diet, and diet out of the context of the lifestyle (Pollan 62)". According to Pollan, it is wrong because a nutrient will react differently when it is in the food, then when it is out of the food, and when combined with other foods. In this chapter Pollan does a good job of not contradicting himself, not really giving out advice to follow, other than proving his point that the way this science is being done nothing.

Pollan than makes the mistake of writing two entire sections describing his own rules to follow. The first one starts on page 161 and is telling us, the readers, what to eat. He tells us things like "eat like an omnivore" and "eat mostly plants, especially leaves", "eat wild foods when you can" and the one that really gets me "eat more like the French, or the Italians, or the Japanese. Or the Indians. Or the Greeks." The last one is a not great advice at all. Just because something works for one group of people, doesn't mean it'll work for everyone, notice how those listed all eat differently. Everyone has different make-ups, different life-styles, and different likes and dislikes. For example, a Marine can't eat like the French all of the time, because most of his meals are taken out in the field, with MREs (meals ready to eat) that are packed with calories. A Marine in the field doesn't have the time to sit back and take his time to eat his meal.

For his second section, which starts on page 183, Pollan discusses how to eat. This section includes advice such as, "paying more, eating less", "do all of your eating at a table, don't get your fuel from the same place your car does", "consult your gut", and "eat slowly". Some of these make since, but still he is contradicting his original philosophy of figuring out your own method of eating. Pollan is trying to get everyone to follow his steps.

Pollan successfully manages to convince people not to trust nutritionists and scientists, but he fails at his attempt to make America self-reliant, as he gives out his advice in, and at the end, of the book.

Pollan, Michael. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. New York: Penguin Books, 2008.

Blog Post #4

Blog Post #4

In the book, In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan centers many of his arguments around the “Western Diet.” He defines the western diet as consuming “lots of processed foods and meats, lots of added fat and sugar, lots of everything except fruits, vegetables, and whole grains” (page 89). In actuality however, this isn’t what most “Westerners” eat. If by western he is referring to the western hemisphere then he is leaving out many different cultures and people. What about Canada? Mexico? The rest of Central and South America? Do those people not count as Westerners too?

Pollan is more or less referring to Americans when he references the Western diet. Probably on average more Americans eat a processed diet than don’t, but not all Americans eat this way. There is still a large group of people who try to stay away from having a diet consisting solely on processed foods. More people these days are going the organic route, but price and availability are deterrents for some. Also, even people who do cook meals at home can’t completely stay away from all processed foods. According to Pollan, most of what we eat is made of corn, and it is. Many food and food products we eat and use contain high fructose corn syrup. It’s hard to stay away from it.

So even if we need to get away from the Western diet to improve our health and lives it’s going to be very difficult and probably won’t happen in our lifetime. This whole culture of relying on processed foods is too ingrained. It’s going to take a big catastrophe to finally convince people “enriched”, “lowfat”, and “fortified” foods aren’t all the good they’re cracked up to be. Pollan’s argument to “Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.” is simple enough, and possible, but when he goes on to explain what food to eat it becomes more complicated.

It really seems like the average consumer has little choice in what they eat. Even if people want to eat a healthier, less Western diet, it’s going to be very hard. There really is no escape from “processed food land.” I’ve talked to a nutritionist before and her advice was everything you need in the grocery store is on the outside perimeter. Your fruits, vegetables, meats, and dairies are all on the walls. Don’t even go into the center aisles except for your breads and (healthy!) cereals. No junk food, no frozen food, no processed food.

Even with this advice however, even our meats and vegetables are processed. The cows we get our meat from are fed on pastures that were probably fertilized, were fed a diet rich in corn and supplements, and injected with hormones and antibiotics. So the products we think are relatively organic and free from processing are just as processed as the sugary, low cholesterol, lowfat breakfast cereals we’ve come to associate with “bad foods.” Our vegetables and fruits are genetically altered to produce high yield corn, two inch across strawberries, and large bunches of broccoli, all at the cost of poor nutrition.

Pollan makes some great arguments, but the truth is, not many of them are well supported. The “Western diet” (however untrue that title may be) is what it is because there aren’t many alternatives. Pollan’s logic in his argument that people can change the food industry isn’t even plausible. People are going to eat what they are given as long as they aren’t directly dying from it. It also doesn’t help that they are being told what they are eating is healthy and good for them even if it might not be. Pollan makes arguments, tries to back them up, but in reality they are relatively weak. Sure he has lots of evidence but the logic of it just doesn’t hold. The state of the people who eat the Western diet are perfectly okay with what they are eating, otherwise they might try to change it.

Blog Post #4

Michael Pollan has an idea. “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” In his book, In Defense of Food, Pollan states his case against overly processed foods, the food industries tactical efforts to convince the public that things like diet soda can have health benefits, and the overall unsatisfactory eating habits of the Western world, in particular, the United States. Pollan recommends only eating things that would be recognizable by some one’s great grandmother. Sounds like simple advice, but maybe not as simple as it seems. Eating healthier usually requires spending more money on food, another thing that Pollan recommends doing. Even more importantly, it requires the public to alter their lifestyles. Eating food ones grandmother would recognize is only part of the puzzle. Another larger piece would be to eat in a similar atmosphere that our grandmothers ate in. Pollan makes a good point that many of the chemicals needed in “the tangible material formerly known as food,” aren’t necessary if people give themselves the time to prepare and eat their food without feeling rushed.

It is interesting how in a country obsessed with health, the number cases of diabetes, high blood pressure, and other ailments seems to be on the rise. Maybe Pollan is right in stating that the public can’t just go by a label that says “new and improved with extra vitamins” on a breakfast bar. Would it be possible to eat healthy all the time in society today? Maybe, but it would be difficult. However, the point Pollan seems to be making is not to give up ones day job and become a farmer to provide vittles for one’s family. He just wants everyone to take a look at how and what they are eating and make better choices. It seems to be clear enough to understand. However, it can bring people onto the defensive for several reasons. For one, lifestyle changes are difficult. Also, there are many food industries that have more to gain from the public, financially, when their eating habits are still non stellar. Along with that, the health industry itself is a huge money making machine that stands to gain more if their expertise is “needed” by the public to help them figure out how to get healthy.

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Pollan is basically stating that there is no great secret to better health. The fact is it is just that easy-and that difficult. So instead of taking a vitamin that has the same nutritional value as a serving of broccoli, eat a piece of broccoli. Hard to do that in a car on the way to work? Then reserve time in the day to eat at home, as a family. Now there is a concept! The benefits to this will not only bring physical health but emotional and familial health as well- an added benefit. Pollan is correct in his suggestion that more time spent on preparing and eating foods will give betterment to the lives of those willing to put in the effort. The health of the eater would improve and maybe his or her family relationships would too and that would be the icing on the cake.

Not strong enough to defend his food...

In today’s day and age Pollans ideologies appeal to a small audience, and even if he wanted to change the mindset of all his readers his writing techniques and methods would fail to do so.
In his current book his organizational way of writing, in which he meticulously makes an index with each and every chapter talking about a specific detail might educate the reader in some way but his writing is flawed in logic.

As a reader we have the right to have our opinions and ideas. When an author wants to put his point across he should try and convince the reader as to why his opinion is the right opinion rather than force his opinion. In the 21st century many people would defend Pollans argument saying that the world has gone into the hands of the supermarket tyrants, processed food giants but if thought about it, doesn’t anyone understand that we ourselves allowed them to develop. He argues that there are more diseases now than ever, people are unhappy now more than ever and he points his finger straight towards the so called “western culture”. But is it only the western culture that is responsible? And how is it that only the Americans constitute the “western culture”?

Being a non-western myself I know that these problems are faced in other countries as well. Obesity, hypertension and other `diet’ related diseases are there in other countries because of their staple diet and junk food intake, not just because they have started to follow the American culture. The main reason as to why people were fit during our grandparents age was because of their lifestyle. They had to do more physical work while we tend to have a more of a sedentary lifestyle. So it’s the way we live our lives that decides our health now rather than how much of processed food we eat.

As a reader one major drawback I found in his writing was that he kept on giving scientific facts. While proving a point it is necessary to give evidence for your stance however too much of plain scientific talk like in Pollans book fails to stimulate the readers mind as the reader looses interest in the subject itself. For example when he talks about the various acids or risk factors for CHD or even the general surveys. These facts are either unnecessary or too hard to follow for a simple man.

The other factor that was a drawback in Pollans argument was that he was not able to justify his counterarguments. He seemed to beat around the bush by just providing the facts and scientific knowledge. In today’s world people buy the things that they like. People have grown up eating all sorts of food and have made the conscious decision as to how much of organic food has to be eaten and how much of processed food. The government bodies that check and make sure that the food put up in the markets is eatable and good are set up for a reason. Even though the food might be genetically engineered and processed it is still food which can be eaten. These industries only flourish because there’s a demand for them so technically we are not forced into eating the processed food we actually prefer it.

In conclusion Pollan shows that he has strong ideals, however he fails to put his point across to us readers. In all if the world itself is happy with what they eat and how they live then why would they want to change their lifestyle?

Take Pollan With a Grain of Salt

By, LOGAN BETZEN

While reading through Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food I was surprised to find him preaching to Americans about how we are becoming more and more obese because we are eating processed foods. In spite of FDA approval of all food on the shelves these days, he thinks that we should only be eating organic, locally-grown food. Economically, this would never be possible. Our economy thrives on the food market and who is Pollan to tell people not to eat what is sold in grocery stores?

For one thing, Michael Pollan believes that Western culture is only America. His argument is always geared toward an American audience, but simply refers to his audience as the ‘Western culture.’ His broad generalization is inconsiderate and rude. Pollan even states that we should have a Greek diet even though one would normally consider Greece as part of Western culture. It is almost as though Pollan believes that Western culture is the only technologically advanced culture and therefore the only producer processed food. He continuously mentions how all other ‘cultures’ eat better because of their lack processed food. This is disrespectful to those countries that he considers less-advanced, but with better diets.

In Pollan’s In Defense of Food the author throws plenty of random statistical data at the reader to persuade the reader that his argument is without fault and impossible to question. One may fall for his tricks, but I have not. I have noticed that the data he provides (especially about rising obesity) could be cause by a lot more than our abundance of processed food. For example, as an economy, such as America, grows people become wealthier and therefore more able to afford all the food that they so desire. This abundance of food in our homes can easily be the cause for rising obesity rates. I, however, am not writing a book to persuade readers to think so.

Eventually, Pollan begins to ramble about why our ‘Western’ diet is so unhealthy. He mentions chemicals and preservatives in food and how most of our crops these days are from genetically engineered seeds. My question is, “What is the problem?” All foods available on the market today have been tested to be perfectly safe by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Even though the idea of ‘fake’ and ‘engineered’ food may sound questionable they have all been proven safe. Pollan’s argument that anything non-organic is unhealthy is quite skewed.

Also, Pollan continuously makes blanket statements that our ‘Western’ culture (really he means Americans) diet consists of nothing other than processed, genetically-engineered food. Obviously, not everyone in this country is obese. Not everyone eats at McDonald’s everyday. There are plenty of people throughout the country that are happy and healthy without any extremist advice from Michael Pollan. I merely urge readers of Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food to be cautious when deciding whether or not his arguments are sound and to be taken seriously or as just a fun, out-of-the-box read.