Calderos y Comino: Una oda a mi origen

For this assignment I chose to interview my friend Maharani in the 4 -week Astro Physics program. I introduced her to our inquiry and her first response was “oh thats so cool, I wish I had a blog!”  Here are the questions:  * What do you think about the inquiry, food and identity? * What are some dishes that come to mind when you think about your own food and identity? *How would you define food and identity? She became quite interested in the inquiry and began to look through all the previous blog posts. I explained to her that my posts all had to do with my identity and how this blog has allowed me to explore other cultures as well. She shared that food is a part of identity because its what shapes your pallet and what you grew up eating, which is different for everyone.  Maharani added to the discussion sharing her own experiences with food and her identity. I had the pleasure of being introduced to some of the dishes from her own culture.  Sate Ayam and...

 How GMO Crops Impact Our World?  The 10 on 1 method has allowed me to narrow down some of the main points the article makes. With the help of this system I've been able to further analyze how exactly GMO impacts agriculture and economics worldwide. The article details the pros of how GMO's assist in crops resistance to insect damage and herbicides whilst being more financially accessible. In popular culture, GMO is described as "genetically modified organism" whose DNA is changed using technology. The article finds that the reason farmers turn to crops deemed "herbicide-tolerant" is because they don't have a need to till the soil, meaning they don't have to loosen the soil prior to planting the crop and remove weeds. Not only does this help ensure healthy soil but also lower the necessity of labor and the amount of fuel needed for this process. In addition, these crops have been show to been shown to be less receptive to insects, improving the culti...

“Food through Identity” is such a broad topic to make an inquiry because it encompasses so many experiences and phenomena. All of the students in WRT 104 have been able to share their definitions of "Food through Identity" and recipes with the rest of us. With that being said, we have yet to do our own exploring outside of the classroom on how others view the topic. I have selected two different articles that relate and expand on our course inquiry, one about how food and identity intertwine and the second about how  food is the single great unifier across cultures . Article one goes over food, self, and identity and the social sciences behind it. French author Claude Fischler expands on how food has to do with identity and self, saying that it "central to our sense of identity." The article focuses on how the kind of food you eat and what you eat categorizes your social position and status. He goes on to add that there is a kind of "oneness" and "oth...

Link to PSA:  https://youtu.be/HfWrxGhTru8 In my PSA I would like to increase awareness surrounding representation and quality of ethnic dishes in the dining hall or lack thereof.The specific resources that have been of assistance to me in this process are CapCut, Pinterest, and the Notes app on my phone. All of these programs have allowed me to hash out my ideas and develop a plan. This is incredibly important to my process because I feel it's how I execute my ideas the way I envision it. I feel like making a video PSA is a very creative way of being to relay information and address certain  issues surrounding culture. It's used to reach mass amounts of individuals, thus spreading the message Im trying to get across. The medium wasn't bad but it was intimidating, I was unsure where to go or how to use the programs and make my PSA look presentable. I think that my PSA not only is persuasive but brings awareness to a serious dilemma in Syracuses' dining halls. If Syracus...

As someone who is lactose intolerant I find it ironic how much I love pizza. I think it's just the New Yorker in me to like pizza, especially living in an area where there is a lot of Italian cuisine. One of the mainstream western pizza restaurants that I like is Pizza Hut. I feel like their commercials provide their audience with the right amount of taste and sensory descriptors. Much like in the article provided, sensory language increases positive thoughts surrounding food and taste. In their commercials they make the pizza and food look incredibly enticing from the stretchy cheese down to the crunch that the crust makes, its truly a mouthwatering experience. Pizza Hut does a really good job at including a variety of which is what makes their products look appealing, therefore putting them at an advantage in the advertisement/marketing sector.      The advertisement I've chosen to review is a rather recent and perfectly portrays what I mean when I say that their commer...

To recap, I wrote a graphic novel based off of the argument of the "lunch box" moment ethnic children face when they bring cultural dishes for lunch. i interviewed my friend Alba. She was a part of the first 2 week session and taking international relations course and is originally from Mexico. I felt she was perfect to show the assignment from because she isn't in the class and of ethnic origin. Alba shared with me that in  American/western settings, they arent used to the diversity of food and so they make comments based on their unfamiliarity. Throughout our discussion we bonded together on our experiences as children who had their own experiences in school bringing lunch. She also mention that she was always the odd one out for being the only one without mac and cheese and other  American lunch items. Although this never made her reject her culture or its food it did make her feel excluded. She seemed to know stright away what was happening without any context. Her fi...

Cafeteria Commentary: The Reflection and Comic Over the course of this class my main goal was to share the importance of diversity with the class and share little bits of myself through my blog. Every narrative and article I write is with the hopes that I get to reach my audience on a personal level. - I feel like it did both. I feel that the format helped get the point across in the form of visual medium, which would be beneficial to those who are visual learners. However, it did hinder me in the sense that I felt like I needed more panels to properly develop the plot of my story so that its easier to understand for the viewers. I found an article on the website "Eater" called "The Limits of the Lunchbox Moment" that discusses the "lunch box moments" of ethnic children in the cafeteria. The story i'm executing is one of a little boy eating carne guisada, beef stew, and is confronted by another student who thinks it's "gross". This is a c...

Photo Credit: https://www.seriouseats.com/som-tam-green-papaya-salad-5208332 Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXrxFOZlN8M This segment of "Munchies" covers a story about Thai chef Som Tam Jay So, who is considered an icon in the street food game. Jay So owns a quaint little food stall in Bangkok, Thailand, and has a very special item on the menu. So special that it is named after her. Chef Jay So is most well known for her Papaya salad, a Northeastern Thai dish. Papaya salad is considered a staple at her restaurant. The video takes us behind the camera and demonstrates how to prepare it. She and her employees do quality checks and make sure everything is good quality before they put it out. Ensuring maximum enjoyment for all customers. Watching the video made my mouth water like never before.  Chef talks proudly about her dish, and rightfully so. The good food and energy that she puts out is the exact reason I find that people constantly fill her shack and orde...

Going into this class I had never used Blogger let alone even though of creating one in the first place. When I first made my account it looked like nothing I had seen before, there were so many settings and buttons. I was honestly a bit worried that my blog wouldn't turn out well if I didn't know how to use it. At the end of the first class session, I went directly to youtube and Google. I had never used Blogger a day in my life but I wouldn't let that stop me from accomplishing my assignment. I started messing around with all of the switches and settings that pertained to the customization of my blog. As someone who grew up in a technological age, I find it ironic how much I struggle with it on a daily basis. I ended up having my "aha" moment when I was able to edit the font. I was in the main lounge and I blurted out a little whispered "Yay!" Soon enough I learned how to attach photos and add captions to those photos. In two days I created well-writte...

  Recipe as a Narrative Encebollado reminds me of achiote-stained wooden spoons and funny stories. It reminds me of my great-grandmother's love. This stew is one of the more popular ones from Guayaquil, where she lived for many years. One day I would like to learn how to make the dish and become more in tune with the food of my culture. My great-grandmother used to take care of me while my parents went to work and so she was someone that I spent a lot of time with. Although I used to dread soup on hot days, she says that soup is good for any weather because it cools the body and it's yummy so I would eat it. As a young and inquisitive little kid, I would always want to help out in the kitchen so she would allow me to help add veggies and herbs. She always made me feel included and welcome. Some of my favorite memories were made in that little kitchen. All my life I've known my grandmother not to be the most physically affectionate person. Her exterior seems abrasive but she...

 As someone who is from more than one Latin American country, I have tthe privilege of being able to experience the unique and vibrant cuisines my parents grew up enjoying. One of the things that my parents made sure of was to teach me about my background and to have a sense of pride in where my family is from. This meant introducing me to an array of flavors and textures from a young age. I came to enjoy things like ceviche (se-BI-che or se-VI-che) and morcilla (more-SEE-yah) thanks to my parents including cultural dishes in my daily life.  I usually eat more Western foods/meals than traditional but in the case that I was to eat cultural meals for a day this is what I would typically eat.  Heres a what I eat in a day:  BREAKFAST    For a quick and filling meal, I would most likely make a nice warm bowl of Crema de Farina. Otherwise known as Cream of Wheat in America, this warm breakfast item most resembles a porridge in terms of texture.    ...