Food, Self, and Society

My life has changed in a noticeable way since I’ve started this blog.  Every time I see something about food, anything at all, it piques my interest.  Of course, it had all been interesting to me before, and I’d always believed in the importance of food and the role it plays in people’s lives, but I’d never invested myself this much into food: its production, its origins, the cultures surrounding it; even the very idea of food became interesting to me – how do people think about food?  Why do they think about food that way?  We can’t always know the answers, but in trying to find those answers (and sometimes actually finding them) we can learn so much about people that the only logical conclusion is thus: food is the most important aspect of any society, in one form or another.

There’s really no point in my having told you all that, except that it’s a simple reflection on who I am, and what it means to be me.  I guess that would help explain my recent obsession with food blogs, specifically the somewhat weird ones (my already-introduced examples of This Is Why You’re Fat and My Food Looks Funny seem to be perfect examples of this.).  It also helps to explain why, when I got my acceptance letter to a study abroad program in Egypt this summer, the first thing I did after purchasing my plane tickets (and telling a person or two) was to look up the general cuisine in the country.  Of course, I would have done this eventually anyway, though earlier on in my life it may not have been the second thing I’d do.  What did I find?  Disappointment.  Then again, that’s not really a fair assessment – I was still (and remain so still) extremely excited, especially given that I’d be immersed in a culture and cuisine that I’ve never experienced before.  The disappointment, then, came from my finding that there is no specifically Egyptian cuisine, that instead there’s a general Middle Eastern diet, with a few Egyptian flares.  If there’s anyone out there who knows differently, please let me know as soon as possible. Needless to say, over the next few months I’ll be trying to eat more and more Middle Eastern food (I love falafel), while also trying to maintain the distinct American aspects of my diet.  I know for a fact that when I go abroad, I will miss barbecues.  I’ll miss the grilled chicken, and MAN will I miss the cheeseburgers!  For good measure, since pork may be hard to come by in Egypt, I think I may make an effort to have a ham and cheese sandwich before I go, eggs with bacon, some sausage and some roast pork.  And the first thing I’ll have when I get back… well, I don’t know.  I guess we’ll see, won’t we?  What I do know, however, is that I plan to maintain this blog through my journey, to document my experiences in the world of Egyptian cuisine.

A second, albeit earlier, adventure was to come yesterday, in the form of an Ethiopian restaurant.  My girlfriend, her brother, my sister and I were to go to the Tim Burton exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art (we didn’t; the exhibit was sold out for the day), the Central Park Zoo, and an Ethiopian restaurant on West 77th Street, just a few yards away from the Shake Shack.  We went through the zoo for a couple of hours, saw a bunch of animals (all of which was exciting, of course, but it’s not the point of the story), walked around, and then continued on our way towards the restaurant.  Between the zoo and what was supposed to be the restaurant, we stopped to rest for a bit in the beautiful Central Park, where we played frisbee for a short while.  Then we got hungry, so we decided to walk through the park to what was supposed to have been the restaurant.  After a twenty-minute walk through the park, we came out directly across the street from the American Museum of Natural History, and lacking a reason not to, we went inside and walked around for an hour or so.  PS, I want to talk like a monkey does with a keyboard.  Not really, but it would be funny.

Then we went to the address Google had given us, only to find that the Ethiopian restaurant we had been looking for had been replaced by a much more expensive restaurant.  Not wanting to spend that much money, we very quickly decided to go to Chinatown and eat at Wo Hop.  Of course, we had been planning to go to Chinatown on the way home anyway, so it didn’t take much convincing.  (The Shake Shack was thought of as a possible option, but the tremendously long line was a very, very big deterrent.)  Other options presented themselves along the way to the train, but all of them proved to be too expensive for our tastes (there was an average menu price for one entrée of about $25).  We were all REALLY hungry at this point, though, so we stopped along the way for dirty-water-dogs.  They were delicious.  Wo Hop was beyond delicious, and well-worth the 25-minute line.  While waiting, we got a paper menu and picked all the things we wanted so that we could just get right to the food when we got in there.  The food was very fresh, coming to our table literally seconds after leaving the various pans/fryers/etc.  And, I got a tee-shirt!  Granted, none of the food we had been new to us, since we’d all had Chinese food before, but the experience was still superb.  There was another restaurant nearby that we briefly thought we’d try, it having been recommended to me by a friend a few months ago.  I was told it was a hole-in-the-wall type of place, but we did not know just how whole-in-the-wall it was.  When we go back to the city in a week or two, I fully intend to go back.  That is, unless I can find a good, cheap food that none of us have tried before, from a different country.  I’ll let you all know how that goes.

Ice Cream Spongebob

Earlier than this adventure, however, was a small shopping adventure on Thursday afternoon.  My girlfriend and I were shopping when we heard that tell-tale sign of summer – the ice cream truck.  I just couldn’t resist, so the two of us shared this Spongebob ice cream.  The eyes were gumballs.  He is, or so it seems, the replacement for the Tweety Bird that used to be out there.  Of course, the one from last year is probably even funnier – he’s got fangs!:

Vampiric Spongebob, 2009

I love summer.

Finally, remember the last post I made, where I told you that I’d talk about this week’s Simpsons episode?  Here goes.  The Simpson family went to Israel with Ned Flanders.  While there, Homer has an hallucination in the desert, where the cast of the Veggie Tales movies come to him and tell him that he is the Messiah, and that he is to unite all three of the major religions in the area at Jerusalem.  It’s how he does so that was so interesting, in so many ways (it was so very Homer Simpson-esque).  Instead of focusing on the differences between religions, focus on what’s the same, and how we are all to be good people.  His specific example:

Homer: Celebrate your commonality. Some of us don’t eat pork, some of us don’t eat shellfish, but we all of us love chicken.
Mulism: You can simmer it in a tajeet.
Jew: In a soup, you can boil it.
Homer: Spread the word: peace and chicken.

And with that, my friends, I bid you adieu.

Of course it takes Homer Simpson to unite Christians, Muslims, and Jews – through food.  I don’t want to ruin the episode for anyone who hasn’t watched it, so I’ll refrain from talking about it in specifics, for now.  In the meantime, watch the episode I’ve linked to below; I probably will talk about it somewhat in my next post.  Until then, my friends, I bid you adieu.

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http://bit.ly/ca8c1Y

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.

Aggressive Apples

In my attempts to further my food-based adventures, I’ve stumbled upon “My Food Looks Funny” – www.myfoodlooksfunny.com – check it out, it’s funny.  As the name implies.

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.

Everywhere I look I can’t help but notice the absurdity of what Michael Pollan describes as the “American Paradox” an unhealthy people obsessed with the idea of eating healthily. In my own apartment I see this firsthand in the choices my roommates and I make. One of them J. will take the train one stop to the gym when it’s only seven blocks away. She will also eat a bag of cheetos for breakfast and then for dinner say she’s only having a can of creamed corn because she just came from the gym and doesn’t want to “blow it.” Hmmm… I feel like if I told this anecdote to someone abroad they would laugh and simply think I was telling some sort of joke, sadly it’s not. I’m guilty of this too. I carefully scrutinize the labels of the food I buy, can be seen comparing different products in the supermarket aisle and for the most part eat vegetarian at home because I’m too worried about antibiotics, hormones and all the other scary stuff that goes into raising these animals. Then, when I go out to eat at a restaurant I’m suddenly a different person; one who orders chorizo and items laden with sugar.

It makes me come to the conclusion that the further away we are from our food, the more deluded our choices become. When I’m at the supermarket I can actually see the food in my hands and make choices based on net pros and cons. Meanwhile in a restaurant, there is an additional veil between my food and I which makes it easier to forget those certain chapter in The Ethics of What We Eat or the scene from Fast Food Nation. I’m sure it would also be true that if I grew my own food and literally saw for myself the entire process, I would be “most” conscious of my food choices.

On a brighter note (this blog has gotten way too pessimistic) this past weekend I had the opportunity to venture out to Park Slope, Brooklyn with a friend. We started off our “tour” by going to Gorilla Coffee, which our professor recommended, for iced coffee. Then we walked around the neighborhood checking out the pretty  brownstones, discussing urban development and working up an appetite. For dinner we went to Chiles & Chocolate, a Mexican restaurant, that had some interesting choices on the menu. I ordered vegetable quesadillas and the aforementioned chorizo although I was quite tempted by this dish that had grasshoppers as a topping. My friend ordered chicken mole which had chocolate as an ingredient which made for an interesting earthy taste. From there we went to check out some local bars and now I’m sort of wishing Sunnyside could hurry up and become a neighborhood’s neighborhood.

At some point last week I declared to the world (via this blog) that I would watch “Supersize Me” while eating McDonald’s this weekend with my sister and a few friends.  It was to be a party, and my expectation was that I would not want to eat fast food for a very, very long time after this.  It seems like a logical conclusion to come to, given that the whole point of the movie is to show how excessive intake of fast food will make you sick.  Indeed, after this weekend, I will do my best to avoid such foods as long as possible.  (I say “as long as possible” because I know that I don’t have the willpower to avoid these foods for that long.  I know that eventually, I’ll be unable to resist the temptation of those golden fries, despite knowing how processed and bad for me they are.  I know that eventually, I’ll want crown-shaped chicken nuggets.

Burger King's Crown-Shaped Chicken Tenders

It was not, however, Morgan Spurlock and his McDonald’s exposé who turned me away from all this.  I had come to that conclusion a full day earlier in my three-day-long adventure in fast food.

Day 1

The journey began, like so many journeys do, on an absolutely beautiful Thursday morning.  The sun was shining, my stomach felt great (it had hurt me a LOT the night before, though I still am not sure why), my teeth weren’t bothering me (I’ve been delaying calling an oral surgeon to make an appointment to have my wisdom teeth pulled), I had dropped my sister off at school, my girlfriend at her internship, and damnit, I was feeling good.  Not great, mind you – I had to go to school soon and begin four or five straight hours of work on various papers and projects.  In the mean time, however, I was looking forward to parking in the newly-built parking near the ferry (actually, about a ten or fifteen minute walk from the ferry, depending on your pace) garage and taking a nice, leisurely stroll to The Pastry Shoppe, where I’d gotten the best cup of coffee I’d ever had (and still have ever had) in my life last week.  While there, I figured, I would also treat myself to a cookie (their hamentaschens are great, and very big).

Anyway, I was walking along, enjoying the sunshine, and crossed the street to the side of the street where my destination awaited.  However, as I crossed, I saw the Greek restaurant down the block that I had promised myself last week I would go to this week.  I was torn.  Though I really wanted the amazing coffee, I wanted to broaden my food horizons, so to speak… and so I went into the Greek restaurant, Papouli’s (see below for address and directions from the Staten Island Ferry Terminal):

View Larger Map

The first thing to notice about Papouli’s is this amazing mural painted on the right-side wall when you walk in.  It’s beautiful.  The next thing to notice is the service – the owner works right out front and serves you, pays attention to your needs, talks to you when you want to be talked to and leaves you alone when you want to be left alone to eat (somehow he knew the perfect moments for each).  Whether you’re the only person in there (as I was for about ten or fifteen minutes) or one of many, you get the same level of attention from the staff, which is to say, you get incredible service.

But how was the food?  Amazing.  I got Belgian Waffles (the owner was very proud to be newly offering them, and asked me to please comment on their quality as they had created the batter themselves and wanted to improve upon it where necessary).  Realizing full well that getting a familiar breakfast food was not going to broaden my horizons, I asked him what his favorite Greek pastry was, and was given a short lesson about the various different Greek desserts, what season they are usually eaten in, what’s in them, what they’re eaten with, etc.  This was incredible, and I loved it.  I don’t recall the name of the pastry I got, but I remember the flavor.  I remember the flaky crust with a light dusting of powdered sugar, I remember the slight taste of wheat, I remember the dousing of honey… I remember closing my eyes and just basking in the satisfaction that a simple, deliciously crafted pastry could bring.

I didn’t want to leave, but I knew that I had schoolwork to do, and lots of it… so I dragged myself off of my stool by the counter and walked out, beaming from ear to ear, into the sun for the nice, warm stroll to my car (next time, if it’s that nice, I’m parking on the roof of the structure.).  I didn’t do any of this, however, before paying my bill (and leaving a 42% tip – the service/food/atmosphere was that good), having a short conversation to say goodbye with the owner, during which I assured him I’d be back the next week, and having one last sip of coffee (you get a cup of coffee with free refills if you eat breakfast in the restaurant between 7 and 11 am, though they deliver locally too).

Night 1

My friend has been away at school for months, and was back for spring break.  One of the things he looks forward to most in coming to my house is going to KFC for dinner, since it’s a two or three-minute walk from my house.  I was looking forward to that dinner, as I’d been craving fried chicken.  Or maybe I’d subconsciously built up my desire for it, since I knew he was coming over and we’d be having it.  Either way, I wanted it, he wanted it, and my sister (after some convincing) wanted it.  So we went to KFC, my friend (we’ll call him “Ted” in this blog) looking forward to his usual four drumsticks and a small popcorn chicken, with my sister and I eager to try the new filet they’ve been advertising on TV.

The music in the restaurant was great (a song off of Bruce Springsteen’s newest album was the first one we heard, followed by an Aly & AJ song, and a Paul Simon song as we were leaving), and Ted’s food was nicely prepared.  My sister and I, however, had to wait fifteen minutes for our food to be ready, and when we got it, there were literally pools of grease on our chicken fillets.  After taking off as much grease as I could with my napkin, I picked up my fillet with my fork (I wasn’t going to touch it with my hands), and let more grease drip off of it.  This lasted for about fifteen to thirty seconds, after which I commenced eating what I will admit was an absolutely delicious piece of chicken (excepting, of course, the grease).  We got out of there as quickly as possible – we didn’t talk about it; we just wanted to leave.  I was absolutely disgusted, but we’ll talk more about KFC when it comes time for day 3 of my adventure.

Next we went to ShopRite to get some chips and Coke.  The chips were Pringles whole wheat, or something like that, and the soda was just regular ol’ Coca Cola (NOT kosher for Passover Coke like Ted had promised).  We brought all this home and played Mario Party – Teddy once again kicking my ass in it.  I ate way too many chips, and thought I was having an allergic reaction to them.  I wasn’t.

Day 2

The original plan had been to have a day between KFC and our Mickey D’s adventure.  Plans changed, however, and Supersize Me was moved to Day 2.  My girlfriend, her brother and I went to Modell’s so I could buy a bat bag for my baseball bats/gloves/balls etc, so that I could carry it all in my car with me and not have it bang around, damaging things, after which we picked up my sister, went to Blockbuster to rent the movie, and went to the McDonald’s drive-thru across the street.  I wanted to supersize my meal, but forgot to.  I later found out from the movie that this would have been impossible, since shortly after the movie’s release, they eliminated this option.  All in all, the food was great.  I mean, it’s McDonald’s, so it had to be, right?  The funniest thing was a bonus segment entitled “The Smoking Fry.” The nail was in the coffin – I would not eat fast food ever again, for as long as I could possibly maintain that.  We’ll see how long that is (I’ll be sure to let you all know).

Day 3

Day three has barely begun.  I had Peanut Butter Crunch for breakfast.  I am, while writing this (in word, as I have no internet service), in Wagner College waiting for my sister’s SAT Prep course to let out.  I called KFC and complained about the food from Thursday night.  They were extremely helpful and patient, and the wait time was less than a minute, if there was any wait time at all.  I don’t know if I’ll be getting any coupons in the mail, but I really hope I do.  Free food is always, always nice.  Also, we’ll be going to Perkins shortly after getting out of here… I’m not sure if I’ll get pancakes or some other breakfast food or just avoid breakfast altogether and go for a big, juicy cheeseburger (As I typed that, the various images from “Fast Food Nation” came to mind.  Maybe I won’t get a cheeseburger.).  I’ll let you know next time I write for this blog, if I remember to.  Or you can ask me if you talk to me tomorrow or later.

Until then, my friends, I bid you adieu.

Today is Saint Patrick’s Day, for the very few of you who may not have realized this yet.  Today, we’re supposed to eat corned beef and cabbage, and drink Irish beer (if, of course, you’re of the legal drinking age).  Of course, we don’t physically have to, but it feels as if we’re culturally compelled to, even if we’re not Irish, or of Irish descent, simply because we live in this country (but more specifically, because we live in New York City, and even more specifically, because I (and many of my readers) live on Staten Island).

I have one question regarding all this: why?

Doesn’t it seem a bit ridiculous to anyone else that we are compelled to eat certain foods on certain days?  I know no one is forcing us to eat them, and I don’t want to be accused of being un-American for not supporting the idea of eating what other Americans eat on specific days, but I maintain my position in that it’s more un-American to be compelled to do something that is of such little consequence.  (It’s even more un-American to define what it is to be “American,” other than to consider this country your home.

I should not limit myself to St. Patrick’s Day, however.  Why must we eat fish on Christmas Eve (this is an Italian tradition; I’m not sure if it exists in other cultures, and would be delighted for anyone who is not of Italian descent to tell me what their cultural traditions for this instance are)?  Why must we eat pasta on Sundays?  Why must we eat Turkey on Thanksgiving?  Truth be told, I like most of these foods, so I don’t mind the traditions.  What I do not like is the compulsion that one feels to eat these things on specific days.

And that’s just what food should be – it should be enjoyed, not mandated.  Now I’m off (or will be in a few hours) to have a corned beef and cabbage sandwich, with a side of Irish Soda Bread (with raisins), because I want one, because I like them.

Editorial Sidenote (despite this whole blog being an opinion piece, this is still an editorial side-note): For those of you who will be out partying and drinking today, please do so responsibly.  Thank you.

And with that, dear friends, I bid you adieu.

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.

 Every year for lent I try to give up something that would be a challenge for me. Then I find that after the 40 days are over, I don’t really crave that item any more. One year I gave up peanut butter and haven’t eaten it by itself in a long time. I do, however, have a major soft spot for all things Reese’s. This year, like last year, I decided to give up soda. Unfortunately my experience with soda last year was not like the previous Lenten experiences; after the 40 days I still craved it. This year I decided to really take a stand against it, not only because it would be a challenge but because of the health benefits I would receive. After reading article after article about the dangers of high-fructose corn syrup I knew I had to cut down on my Coke intake. I decided to start my “diet” during lent because then if I cheated I wouldn’t just be breaking a promise to myself, I would be breaking a promise with God. Then I would be forever riddled with guilt (as goes the Catholic tradition).

While embarking on this no-soda journey, I decided to make some other lifestyle changes. I cut back on sweets, since the amount of sugar I intake will eventually lead to diabetes (a genetic predisposition of mine), stopped eating after 9pm (I’ve heard it’s better for digestion if you don’t eat three hours before going to bed. In addition to that I was usually eating after that time because I was bored and needed something to do), started an exercise regimen 3 days a week at the free (!) gym at school, and started eating breakfast with a glass of V-8 Fusion (thanks Ivan) to get my metabolism going . While I disguise this under the muse of self-sacrificing for Lent, it is really me trying to get my act together, take care of myself, and get a body I won’t be ashamed of on the beach.

As I struggle with my new lifestyle I look for alternative ways to quench my thirst. Ulimately water is the best choice and I even bought a reusable plastic thermos (BPA free) so I could be more eco-friendly. The only problem with that is, as I’m running around throughout the day I can’t seem to find places to fill it back up, so I’m stuck carrying an empty water bottle and forced to buy something else to keep me going. I just can’t bring myself to fill the bottle with sink water from a bathroom, I just can’t do it.

Aside from the water dilemma, I’m finding this new lifestyle relatively easy to deal with.  Once I got into the routine of going to the gym, I actually wanted to go – It felt good to release some tension and I can already feel a difference in my energy level and every day little things (such as not panting when I walk up the stairs). I read an article*  about how people are going about healthy lifestyles the wrong way. Most people just go on a diet to lose weight but then don’t keep up with their eating habits, therefore causing them to yo-yo. Exercising and eating healthy is also presented as something we “have” to do. It feels like a chore to most people, when it should actually be something they want to do. If people had the right attitude when approaching lifestyle changes they would be more willing to change. Diets don’t work, the way people eat and think about food has to change.

Trying to eat healthier requires effort, advanced planning, and know-how, the frankly most people don’t have the time to put in. One would think that since we eat so often and everything we put into our mouths has an effect on our overall well being we would be more interested in tkaing the time out to make smart choices, as opposed to spending that extra half hour watching television. But we can’t prioritize for everyone and ultimately it is up to the individual to make the decision for themselves.

*I searched for the article but could not find it again I will keep looking.