Today I went on the nature walk through central park with Steve Brill, and I have to say, I was surprised with the end results. First off, though, allow me to share me experience with this very strange and knowledgeable man; the second he passed out the consent forms I thought to myself, "this guys going to be all buisiness"; all work and no play, and such. Of course appearances can be deceiving; shortly before we set sail, so to speak, he gathered us all in a small cluster and made an expression similar to that on the face of the person in Edvard Munch's, "The Scream," brought his cupped hands together near by his face, and began omitting a strange conga, esque sound from his moth by banging them together. My point being, he was a strange guy.
Of course, shortly after he started the hike and his strange mannerisms were overlapped by the immensity of his knowledge of plants. After about 10 minutes of waiting, we set off, and about a hundred feet later, we came across, what he referred to as, "Poor-Man's Pepper," which was a small stalk with frayed leaves branching every which way, all beneath a tiny, practically insignificant little flower. He told us the etymology of the name; the exact time period in which the story took place escapes me at the moment, but during this one point in history the pepper plant was so highly taxed that very few people could actually afford it, but because the demand was so high people were driven to find other, more affordable, alternatives. Poor-Man's Peppers is, as it's name states, the poor man's version of the pepper plant. It tastes almost exactly the same as pepper, and could very well be used as a perfect substitute for pepper.
Seeing this brought a flood of thoughts rushing into my brain, not so much about the pepper (ha), but about how perfectly applicable to today this is.
A.) In this day and age, for every North Face or Ghirardeli there is a cheap knock off, which is, more often than not, just as good as the more expensive version, which draws its allure and cost from the name as opposed to the comparative quality of the item itself.
B.) It also goes to show that everything, plants included, has a natural alternative that can substitute for the "real" one. While pepper is no longer a heavily taxed commodity this shows you that you can get this stuff for free and from mother nature's very own backyard...in the middle of central park.
One of the main concepts, aside from the plants in specific, that he talked was how remarkably similar the properties of many of these plants were relative to their synthetic, man-made alternatives. I can't think of any examples at the moment, but the point is that, all the artificial crap that damages Gaia is un-necessary, and that if more people knew about the natural alternatives to what we are so commonly spoonfed by the system, they too would shift their eating habits to healthier and more sustainable substitutes.
I think the ability to self sustain is beautiful; not only does it feel better to be part of the process of handling and dealing with our own food, but it is less harmful to our already taxed environment. Actually hunting down and finding our own food is much more rewarding of an experience than simply paying for it at our local, flourescent bulb lit supermarkets. This, I feel is an important part of living a full and involved life; being part of the process of doing is something we so commonly miss out on in our industrialized culture, and we have grown to take things for granted, thus losing a greater appreciation of them. In doing so, we remove ourselves from all the necessary survival aspects of our lives, which, arguably, will make our experience more dull .
All in all, I'd say I had a fun time and I would definitely consider doing it again to find out more natural substitutes to common foods. Luckily, I bought a massive book on such foods throughout all seasons. Lately I've been trying to avoid buying all prepackaged foods, so this is perfect for me, and, as I am going to Hampshire College next semester, I feel that having this knowledge will be of use to me in the future.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Response to Michael Pollan
Food # 6 - Response to Pollan 1
For this assignment please respond briefly to Michael Pollan's argument, in the first few pages of Omnivore's Dilemma, that we as a culture lack a stable food culture like the Italians or French, are obsessed with health, are confused and anxious about food, and therefore easily succumb to various expert-directed food fads.
What food experts do you and your family pay attention to - scientists, journalists, chefs, commercials on tv, doctors, nutritionists, health officials, book authors?
First off, I'd like to fullheartedly agree with Michael Pollan; we have lost faith our sixth sense that allows us to decide, on our own, what to eat and have become subserviant little minions to the health/nutritionalist experts as a catastrophic result. Crap-tons of people trusted that obese psycho who created the Atkins diet with their health and nutritional well-being simply because he was a certified "health expert." Look at him, he's dead now thanks to his all meat diet. All meat and no carbs makes Atkins a dead boy.
A few years ago my mother went on the weight watchers, points system, and I don't recall her losing any weight, which is not to say that systems such as this don't work, but its just interesting to see these highly praised diet plans fail. Its not so much the controlling that prevented my mother from dropping a few pounds, but more so the outlook. How do we as Americans look at eating?; with enough self control and hard work we can look forward to a brighter, lighter, and thinner future.
I see a direct correlation between the outrageous number of hours most Americans work per week and the way we eat. According to the documentary, "the overspent American" Americans work more hours than any other people on the entire planet, even more than those little Japanese kids that we've stereotyped into being workaholics. Just think about it; people all around the country wake up at 8 AM (if they are lucky), they have no time to make themselves breakfast, and because they are such a rush they buy the quickest, most convenient food possible; fast food. Then after hours of work they take their car/subway back home, possibly grabbing a snack along the way, and then they sit, exhausted, on their couch in front of the boob tube while they stuff crap down their throats. When we start gaining weight from all this quick, lazy eating, we are too exhausted and busy to have time to think about and savor that which we eat so we go to the professionals after years of mindless subserviance to our superiors, or those with the big label on their collar, and we trust people like doctor Atkins with our diets. It all kinda makes sense. This is not to say that the french are always out and about, eating wholesome meals in stead of junk food, but Americans are well known for their crappy eating habits and tense work situations. Stereotypes are there for a reason.
My family has never really relied on health professionals with the exception of my mothers encounter with the weight watchers diet. We've all gone with the flow and changed it for ourselves without the advice of health officials. We have, however, changed our diets according to commonly known things about eating, just like yur average American. Recently I've been paying attention to Dr. Andrew Weil; a friend of mine told me about him and his vitamin system, and while I did not buy into it (literally) I did consider doing it for some time.
For this assignment please respond briefly to Michael Pollan's argument, in the first few pages of Omnivore's Dilemma, that we as a culture lack a stable food culture like the Italians or French, are obsessed with health, are confused and anxious about food, and therefore easily succumb to various expert-directed food fads.
What food experts do you and your family pay attention to - scientists, journalists, chefs, commercials on tv, doctors, nutritionists, health officials, book authors?
First off, I'd like to fullheartedly agree with Michael Pollan; we have lost faith our sixth sense that allows us to decide, on our own, what to eat and have become subserviant little minions to the health/nutritionalist experts as a catastrophic result. Crap-tons of people trusted that obese psycho who created the Atkins diet with their health and nutritional well-being simply because he was a certified "health expert." Look at him, he's dead now thanks to his all meat diet. All meat and no carbs makes Atkins a dead boy.
A few years ago my mother went on the weight watchers, points system, and I don't recall her losing any weight, which is not to say that systems such as this don't work, but its just interesting to see these highly praised diet plans fail. Its not so much the controlling that prevented my mother from dropping a few pounds, but more so the outlook. How do we as Americans look at eating?; with enough self control and hard work we can look forward to a brighter, lighter, and thinner future.
I see a direct correlation between the outrageous number of hours most Americans work per week and the way we eat. According to the documentary, "the overspent American" Americans work more hours than any other people on the entire planet, even more than those little Japanese kids that we've stereotyped into being workaholics. Just think about it; people all around the country wake up at 8 AM (if they are lucky), they have no time to make themselves breakfast, and because they are such a rush they buy the quickest, most convenient food possible; fast food. Then after hours of work they take their car/subway back home, possibly grabbing a snack along the way, and then they sit, exhausted, on their couch in front of the boob tube while they stuff crap down their throats. When we start gaining weight from all this quick, lazy eating, we are too exhausted and busy to have time to think about and savor that which we eat so we go to the professionals after years of mindless subserviance to our superiors, or those with the big label on their collar, and we trust people like doctor Atkins with our diets. It all kinda makes sense. This is not to say that the french are always out and about, eating wholesome meals in stead of junk food, but Americans are well known for their crappy eating habits and tense work situations. Stereotypes are there for a reason.
My family has never really relied on health professionals with the exception of my mothers encounter with the weight watchers diet. We've all gone with the flow and changed it for ourselves without the advice of health officials. We have, however, changed our diets according to commonly known things about eating, just like yur average American. Recently I've been paying attention to Dr. Andrew Weil; a friend of mine told me about him and his vitamin system, and while I did not buy into it (literally) I did consider doing it for some time.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Grocery Store and Habitual food
Grocery Store and Habitual Food
Please write a post about how your family uses grocery stores and the variety of vegetables, fruits, roots, grains, and nuts that you eat in a typical week.
You should include your insights about how grocery stores "push" particular types of products, how you learned (or didn't) to eat a variety of foods, and information about your favorite meals and habitual diet pattern.
My parents usually go grocery shopping once a week, but, as I stated previously, my brother and I are often left to do our own thing. My parents usually buy copious amounts of fruits and vegetables that are usually gone within 2 or 3 days. We often thrift shop and because exotic fruits (ie: durian fruit, papaya, mangosteen, leechee, guava, rambutan, etc...)are usually more costly than main stream ones (ie: bananas, oranges, grapes, apples, pears) our fruit selection is fairly homogeneous. I, however, spend any money my parents give me (something along the lines of $20-$30 per day) on different kinds of fruit when I can. Papaya is one of my recent favorites.
I don't eat nearly as much grain as I probably should. I'd say I have a few pieces of what/whole grain bread each day with sandwich toppings (mostly veggies with tofu bacon and mustard), but most of it is just oats mixed with flour and white bread anyway. My parents don't really shop for oats and wheat simply because there is no real demand for it. They only started buying as much fruit as they do after I started asking for it. I eat fibrous, whole wheat cereal every now and again(and only fibrous, whole grain cereal), if that counts for anything.
Most of my meals generally consist of soy, some form of bread (always wheat or whole grain), mustard, veggies, with a large side various types of fruit; most recently its been grapefruit or papaya. I'd say that I'm a pretty healthy person; I eat a fairly wide variety of fruits and veggies frequently, balance it out with vitamins (for what I lack) and eat for the positive feeling that it gives me as opposed to just satisfying the gut urge, which I seldom get, seeing as I snack perpetually throughout the entire day between small meals.
I didn't always eat this way; I grew up eating a pint of ice cream every night with a massive, American- sized burrito for dinner. Over the past two years I came into my own diet-wise and helped to turn my entire family around in a healthier direction. Every member of my family has lost weight since I changed my diet.
Grocery stores may have influenced my eating habits as a child, but I don't feel too drawn to most of what they advertise. I'd say that grocery stores generally guide people towards buying cheap or marked-down foods. When I walk into a supermarket the first thing I usually see is a massive sign reading "discount prices." They try and harp on cheapster within each and every one of us.
Please write a post about how your family uses grocery stores and the variety of vegetables, fruits, roots, grains, and nuts that you eat in a typical week.
You should include your insights about how grocery stores "push" particular types of products, how you learned (or didn't) to eat a variety of foods, and information about your favorite meals and habitual diet pattern.
My parents usually go grocery shopping once a week, but, as I stated previously, my brother and I are often left to do our own thing. My parents usually buy copious amounts of fruits and vegetables that are usually gone within 2 or 3 days. We often thrift shop and because exotic fruits (ie: durian fruit, papaya, mangosteen, leechee, guava, rambutan, etc...)are usually more costly than main stream ones (ie: bananas, oranges, grapes, apples, pears) our fruit selection is fairly homogeneous. I, however, spend any money my parents give me (something along the lines of $20-$30 per day) on different kinds of fruit when I can. Papaya is one of my recent favorites.
I don't eat nearly as much grain as I probably should. I'd say I have a few pieces of what/whole grain bread each day with sandwich toppings (mostly veggies with tofu bacon and mustard), but most of it is just oats mixed with flour and white bread anyway. My parents don't really shop for oats and wheat simply because there is no real demand for it. They only started buying as much fruit as they do after I started asking for it. I eat fibrous, whole wheat cereal every now and again(and only fibrous, whole grain cereal), if that counts for anything.
Most of my meals generally consist of soy, some form of bread (always wheat or whole grain), mustard, veggies, with a large side various types of fruit; most recently its been grapefruit or papaya. I'd say that I'm a pretty healthy person; I eat a fairly wide variety of fruits and veggies frequently, balance it out with vitamins (for what I lack) and eat for the positive feeling that it gives me as opposed to just satisfying the gut urge, which I seldom get, seeing as I snack perpetually throughout the entire day between small meals.
I didn't always eat this way; I grew up eating a pint of ice cream every night with a massive, American- sized burrito for dinner. Over the past two years I came into my own diet-wise and helped to turn my entire family around in a healthier direction. Every member of my family has lost weight since I changed my diet.
Grocery stores may have influenced my eating habits as a child, but I don't feel too drawn to most of what they advertise. I'd say that grocery stores generally guide people towards buying cheap or marked-down foods. When I walk into a supermarket the first thing I usually see is a massive sign reading "discount prices." They try and harp on cheapster within each and every one of us.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
May Day
How does the forgetting of a workers' holiday commemorating an American labor struggle show fundamental aspects of the American Way of Life?
First off, I wouldn't call the holiday "forgotten" so much as erased and replaced with jovial and warm hearted Labor day. People prefer to keep things positive, especially if they are taking a day off from work to celebrate it. God forbid they should actually use this precious day off to be productive and commemorate the men that brought to them the eight hour work day.
International Workers Day, or May Day, is a commemoration of the Haymarket massacre/strike in chicago where police open fired into a crowd of workers, protesting for a shorter work day. When an Anarchist group set up follow up strikes a bomb went off in the crowd, killing policemen and rioters alike, the pigs opened fired once again on the crowd of unarmed civilians. The Anarchist leaders of this riot were held responsible and hung for the actions of the irresponsible individuals in the crowd.
Of course, few Americans actually know about this and blindly accept Labor day, a day now reserved for traditional family barbecues and drinking, as an adequate substitution. How typically American. No wonder we as a people are so disgustingly lacking in a voice, our schools don't teach it, our government doesn't celibrate it, and the media exploits it by destroying our brains with alcohol. Its been more or less hidden. What better way to keep people under control than by getting them to ignore their past.
First off, I wouldn't call the holiday "forgotten" so much as erased and replaced with jovial and warm hearted Labor day. People prefer to keep things positive, especially if they are taking a day off from work to celebrate it. God forbid they should actually use this precious day off to be productive and commemorate the men that brought to them the eight hour work day.
International Workers Day, or May Day, is a commemoration of the Haymarket massacre/strike in chicago where police open fired into a crowd of workers, protesting for a shorter work day. When an Anarchist group set up follow up strikes a bomb went off in the crowd, killing policemen and rioters alike, the pigs opened fired once again on the crowd of unarmed civilians. The Anarchist leaders of this riot were held responsible and hung for the actions of the irresponsible individuals in the crowd.
Of course, few Americans actually know about this and blindly accept Labor day, a day now reserved for traditional family barbecues and drinking, as an adequate substitution. How typically American. No wonder we as a people are so disgustingly lacking in a voice, our schools don't teach it, our government doesn't celibrate it, and the media exploits it by destroying our brains with alcohol. Its been more or less hidden. What better way to keep people under control than by getting them to ignore their past.
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