So I was watching T.V. a couple of days ago and this awful commercial came up. Apparently now, if you buy a bucket of KFC chicken, each purchase that is made, 50 cents will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. What in the world is going on here? Why would this ever become a partnership? Does nobody realize the hypocrisy in this? KFC is donating money to help find a cure to breast cancer, when the actual food at KFC causes health problems. Well now this will give people an excuse to go and buy some friend chicken without feeling guilty that they are eating it. I was reading a Washington Post article about this called “Is buying KFC by the bucket a good way to fight breast cancer?”. I the article, Jennifer Huget says that “studies have shown that an increased rick of developing colorectal, pancreatic, and BREAST CANCER is associated with high intakes of well-done, friend, or barbecued meats…” Way to go America!!!!! You are now one big contradiction!
An issue came up with my friend Costa and I while we were eating a salad which i have never considered. Apparently we underestimate how much our bodies crave whole foods. What are whole foods? Anything that hasn’t been processed. For example, eating and apple is very different from drinking apple juice. There are certain key ingredients that your body can be missing. When you cook whole foods you are also taking away certain substances that you could have had if the food was uncooked. Vitamins are not foods, and according to Costa they are “just singular chemicals”, whereas food contains properties that can only be found and made in nature. This can also be considered when you are sick and need vitamins. Vitamins are “chemicals that lack important food substances that you can only get with food”. And this comes as no surprise to me. Whole foods contain natural vitamins and minerals that the food produces itself, antioxidants, etc. Most of the time, when eating processed foods, you are not only digesting chemicals that are found in whatever whole food, for example vitamins found in an apple in apple juice, but also chemicals and vitamins that are not found in that fruit. Eating processed foods and drinks can make us forget to eat other foods that we need. If I were to eat an apple, I would have to eat something else as well to get all of the nutrients that I need, which encourages exploring different types of whole foods and what each one can do for your body. This I think is much better than eating a cliff bar and calling it a day. After this discussion I was convinced that I should start eating more whole, uncooked foods. When we get into the science of food we can learn a lot more about what we are actually eating, and the implications of our actions.
I will keep it short and sweet this week. I really want to raise the issue of campus food, and why it is so unhealthy. I think it has a lot to do with the University’s budget. For example, Lehman College doesn’t not have a big budget right now, and that can be easily seen when you enter the cafeteria. There is nothing but fast food there, with a small salad bar in the Blimpie station. I really think that colleges should try harder to make the food that the students are eating more enjoyable and healthy. The patties at the burger station resemble the frozen ones that we saw in Fast Food Nation, which is not surprising. A week ago I went to visit some friends up at Wesleyan University, and I wasn’t surprised to see how much better their food was. Why wouldn’t it be when tuition there is 52,000 a year. That money has to be going somewhere, right? I hope I’m not asking for too much, but it would be nice to walk into the Lehman Cafeteria and be able to choose forma wider variety of foods, instead having to see the same burger and pizza stand every single day. Anyway, the moral of today’s rambling is more money for college equals better food for college.
Yesterday morning I woke up fairly late, around 12, for my 2 o’clock seminar class. I love Tuesdays because nobody is home when I wake up and I can cook whatever I please without having to listen to complaint about how bad the apartment smells. I woke up with an empty stomach that was growling “FEED ME!!!” So, I went to the ktichen to see what I could make for breakfast, even though it was half past 12 in the afternoon. Here is a list of things I found in my kitchen for the sole purpose of a deliciously filling breakfast that would make any French person or diabetic cry: Pancake mix, chocolate chip cookies, whipped cream, vanilla ice cream from costco, eggo maple syrup (which anyone could hardly call syrup), and of course my savior, Nutella. So I started off by whisking the pancake mix in with water and two eggs. After that I added the chocolate chips to the mix, along with some vanilla extract. Don’t ask me why, but I always see chefs use vanilla extract when they are making a desert mix, so I thought “why not!?”. I cooked the pancakes with a generous amount of butter. The mix gave out 4 flapjacks. Basically, I piled on a couple of scoops of ice cream, some maple syrup, and the whipped cream to top it all off. If you are wondering what I did with the Nutella, then you should know that I smeared a generous amount on the flapjacks before poouring the maple syrup, Yum! If this was ever on a menu at a restaurant, it would be called the “gut buster”. I actually couldn’t even finish the damn thing. I hung my white flag up about 3/4th of the way through, and threw the rest out. I always feel guilty throwing food out in the garbage. After the breakfast that should have been a brunch I felt full and tired, and a little horrible for feeding my body such unhealthycarbs. This is definitely a breakfast that SHOULD be shared and SHOULD be eaten no more than once a month. The concoction was amazing, an explosion of different sweet flavors in my mouth. The only thing that made me feel good about eating this was that the pancake mix was whole grain and supposedly ”healthy”, but ironically I turned it into an unhealthy guilty pleasure. Im just thankful for having a fast metabolism and burn most of what I eat through swimming.
Very few significant things happened this week as far as food goes. The one story I do this is blog worthy is my pesto story. This past Saturday my mom and I decided to make some pesto together. We went to the nearby farmers market on Roosevelt island and bought fresh basil, walnuts, and garlic. The parmesan cheese and the olive oil we already had. Since we didn’t have a food processor, we used the blender instead to mix everything together, which worked just as well surprisingly. We didn’t really have a recipe, just some show my mom saw on food network. After we made the pesto we let it cool in the fridge. That night we made pasta with pesto and it was amazing. I’ve had pasta with pesto before but the pesto was always store bought. Tasting the pesto that we made can easily exacerbate the different between homemade and not homemade. I have really began to appreciate home cooking more these past couple of weeks. Not only does it save money, but it also tastes so much better. I can attribute this change of diet in my schedule. I’ve had so much more free time lately that I don’t need to rush food. Sometimes it is important to collaborate with someone to make a meal. There’s nothing better than making food with someone else and eating it. Another dish I like to make form scratch with my girlfriend Sue is apple pie. What better way to learn how to make apple pie than by following the instructions in the Joy of Cooking cookbook. Since apple pie is traditionally an American dessert, a traditionally American cookbook is perfect. The process of making food and then eating it makes me appreciate the food that I’m eating even more. I find it funny how many people don’t realize that they tend to care about food more if they took part in making it. It comes as no surprise that someone would enjoy a slice of apple pie they themselves made as opposed to a restaurant. I don’t want to sound cheesy, but that whole “love is the missing ingredient” bologna is true to me!
This past Monday I went to my girlfriends Passover dinner, or Pesach for short. Basically this holiday is commemorating the biblical events of Hebrews’ escape from enslavement in Egypt. Turing this holiday into a dinner is in my opinion fascinating. We went around the table and each person got a chance to read from the Haggadah. The Hagaddah basically gives us intructions to the whole dinner, what to eat, when to eat it, etc… There is lots of Matzah ball soup, gefilte fish, brisket, chocolate covered matzah, and delicious jelly treats. Not only that, but there is also wine throughout the whole dinner. My favorite part of this holiday is how they use food to symbolize the different parts of the holiday. The roasted shank bone represents the lamb that was in the early days sacrificed in the temple on Passover. The roasted egg symbolizes an additional offering. The karpas which is a green herb represents spring and new life. The bitterness of Maror represents the bitterness of slavery that the Jews endured. Of course, the matzah serves as a reminder of how quickly the Jews had to flea Egypt that they had no time to wait for the bread to rise. My favorite part of the dinner came when we started singing. We sang many songs from “Let my people go” to “had gadya”. I think that is it fascinating how the food connects everything together in this very important holiday.
This past Saturday I went to dim sum with my girlfriend and her parents. Instead of going to china town in downtown Manhattan, we went to the chinatown in Brooklyn. Since I’ve never been to a dim sum in my life I had no idea to expect when I heard “Chinese breakfast”. I thought “well, breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, so it cant be that different!” When we arrived at the restaurant, I noticed that we were proibably the only, and I mean ONLY white people there. Yes, I did look around just to make sure. To me this was very new and a little intimidating but I realzed that it only added to the authenticity of the restaurant. Another really cool thing about it is that we sat in big round tables with complete strangers. The table in a way unifies the people that are seated in it in the one main thing everyone has in common: We are here to eat! Sooner or later we started making friends with the people on the table. Now this was the best part, there were little food carts going around everywhere. Basically you would stop the and tell them what you wanted, they would give it to you, and stamp your ticket. I’ve never been to anytihng like this and it was fascinating. Anoter tihng I noticed was that all of the people that were pushing the carts and serving the food were women, and the waiters and sitters were all me. Anyway, it was the first time I tried steamed pork buns, and I must say it was one of the tastier things ive ever had. The dough and the filling wre both so sweet and so savory! Another thing I should note is that the restaurant and how they renovated and catered the place made you feel like you were eating in China. I was very proud of myself because this is the first time I’ve never had to ask te waiter for a fork, it was very exciting. I finally learned how to efficiently use my chop sticks, and after a while it became pretty easy. After we left the restaurant we went to an asian supermarket. Since we were reading Omnivores Dilemma, I decided to look around and check out the ingrediants of certain prodcuts to compare. What I noticed is that almost non of the produdts use high fructose corn syrup, instead they use pure cane sugar, no additives, etc. I guess if you can’t afford farmers markets in new york city, your best bet is to shop at foreign food stores.
Ever since I started reading Omnivore’s Dilemma, I have been looking at ingredient labels in everything I buy and eat. It has become sort of a hobby to better my diet. I have stopped eating fast food, and have not ate red meat in a week. Earlier this week at my cafeteria I was standing next to the “fame grill” which serves all your diner needs: burgers, fries, wraps, etc… While I was waiting to order, I noticed the meat that was getting smacked onto the grill was frozen, and each red disk looked exactly the same. In a way the frozen red disks embellish the industrialized food industry today: uniformity is key. So instead of ordering a burger delux, I went for the grilled cheese on whole wheat bread with waffle fries. I figured since I’m not getting the burger I could at least get the greasy delicious spicy waffle fries. When i came home I started looking through my fridge for products that had ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, corn starch, etc… What surprised me was that the V8 fusion juice in my fridge contained high fructose corn syrup. More than that, it was the second ingredient on the list before water. The list of ingredients goes from most added to least added in the supplement, which means that aside from water, high fructose corn syrup is in this “healthy” drink more than anything else. I felt cheated on and lied to. Or, maybe I should have read the back sooner. Very quickly did I stop drinking V8 and started drinking this new fruit juice that had no added sugars. Although it gave less fruit servings, I was willing to compromise for the safety of my liver. I also started drinking more water, more greens, beans, hummus, whole wheat bread, and as far as meat goes I stick to fish. I thought to myself “at least they’re not getting fed corn, not YET at least…” Reading this book makes me miss the food I indulge myself in when I visit Serbia and Montenegro.
So because of the recent snow storms, my family has been relying on the local Gristedes for food. We don’t usually shop at Gristedes because they overprice and we like to buy in bulk. There is a Costco right off of Vernon in Astoria that we go to for our food needs. Let me tell you, Costco is like god’s gift to mankind. They have everything you could possibly need in there. Food, clothing, household appliances, liquor store, electronics, etc. The list goes on. It is the third largest retailer in the United States, and ninth in the world. Fun fact that i did have to look up: Costco is the largest retailer of fine wine in the world, now that’s pretty amazing. My mom and I took a trip this weekend to stock up on food. My favorite activity when I am there is to sample food. On most corners and turns in that store, they have people giving out samples of anything, be it yogurt, burritos, cheese, the list goes on once again. Here’s the most amazing part of this store: they carry their own brand. Kirkland Signature is Costco’s store brand, and most of their products are by that brand. Of course, they have major brands, but they also have the Kirkland brand more most items which costs less. What I noticed last time is that customers prefer the store brand rather than the popular brand, and I asked one shopper why, and he said “because its the same quality, but cheaper, I feel like i’m robbing this place every time I leave!” Of course i was also thinking about the reading that we had for this week. Would Costco be able to survive in a low income neighborhood? I would imagine so, because not only do they sell bulk for discount prices, but as of 2009, they also started accepting food stamps. This is a store that you go to with the intention of buying a large amount of food, so that you don’t have to go back for I would say weeks, or maybe once a week. I find myself indulged in everything the store has to offer. Once you’re done shopping, you can stop by their pizza shop and grab a slice. I think to myself, this is ridiculous, how many people do you need to run a store this massive? And that made me think about how many jobs it could give residents in low income neighborhoods. There is a high demand in jobs and money, and food. not to mention workers get discounts in the store. The problem with Costco is that it would never survive in an urban setting, it needs to be somewhere in the open. Warehouse stores can’t be build on level because of their size. This is the first time I have thought about Costco in this way, because usually i’m there eating away at the samples. After leaving Costco it made me realize how lucky I am to have a car to be able to drive to Costco and buy large amounts of food.
So this weekend was the Metropolitan Swimming Conference championships at Rutgers University. The whole team had a great time together. We left Lehman at around 6 and settled into our Comfort Suit room at around 8. The great thing about this trip was that we all got $80 from the college on food expenses. I roomed with my two friends Chip and Chris at the hotel. When we settled in, the first thing we all wanted to do was eat. Since we were on a budget, we had to be smart about where we ate, and what we ate. I looked out the window of our room and noticed that there was a Wawa conveniently across the street from the hotel! If you don’t know what Wawa is, its a convenience store and gas station, think 7 Eleven minus the gas station. If you haven’t heard of Wawa, that’s because they are mostly located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S, and also operate in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, so you won’t find it anywhere in New York. They seriously had everything in there, but nothing was really that healthy. I found it a bit difficult shopping for food, because usually my mom does that, so i couldn’t distinguish between what i needed and what i wanted. I immediately ran towards the sandwich station. At first, i was just standing there, looking around, waiting for someone to take my order. After about 3 minutes or so i had realized that you don’t even have to talk to the people across the counter to get your sandwich. There are touchscreen panels where you place your order. I thought that was pretty ridiculous. Why is Wawa wasting money on this when customers can just call out their order? I actually like talking to the people across the counter, and now i can’t even do that… The first night i purchased a Philly cheese steak, beef jerky, orange juice, lunchables cheese and crackers, two power bars, and a snickers ice cream bar. As my roommate Chip said, we “pigged out”. That night, i fell in love with Wawa. Unfortunately, nothing they sell is very healthy, but when you are at a swim meet for three days, that no longer matters. That same night, one of our teammates came into our room to use our bathroom to throw up. Apparently, the Philly cheese steak he ate got to his stomach pretty bad. Regardless, i continued to eat my philly cheese steak because it just tasted too good! Fortunately, i didn’t have the same problems as our teammate did, although i remember vividly the woman behind the counter taking the meat out for my sandwich. The meat must have been sitting in the pot on the counter all day, but honestly, when you are as desperate and as hungry and i was, you would probably ignore that and continue eating. Here’s what i’m getting at: fast food is bad, but sometimes when you don’t really have a choice, it may be the only option. I am a big fan of “slow food.” I love a nice home cooked meal, but my guilty pleasure is “pigging out” with fast, unhealthy, greasy food, but who care when it tastes good!
