Post 3

P3: Read Freedman and Jurafsky. Explain the connections you see them making between food, language, and culture. What do you find most interesting in their analysis of potato chip advertising? Beyond potato chips, where else can you imagine applying their method of food advertising analysis and what do you think you’d find?

            The connections that Freedman and Jurafsky make between food, language and culture are that the vocabulary and metaphors that are used to advertise food are related to the target audience. The manner in which text is used in advertisement has a lot to say about different classes and represent a variety of class identities. In particular, Freedman and Jurafsky have done some research on how factors such as education and health affect how advertisements are used to attract people across socioeconomic statuses.

            One of the most interesting things that I found in the Freedman and Jurafsky’s analysis of potato chips was how authenticity was defined for expensive versus inexpensive chips. It was interesting to hear that for the expensive chips, naturalness and emphasis on ingredients were mentioned to try and construct a sense of authenticity. On the other hand, inexpensive potato chips mentioned more often stories of its history and locality. The differences that are seen between how these two types of potato chips are advertised says a lot about the people that buy these chips. The manner in which language is used in advertisements contains a lot of information about the values that people hold dear. For instance, I came to learn that the reason that expensive chips tend to have more descriptions about being natural and contain fresh ingredients is because the upper class tends to cherish and care about things that are natural and nonartificial. For the lower/working class history and family tradition are values that are important to them and thus create as sense of authenticity for them. Thus the main issue here is authenticity and how our own personal values affect how we live our live, from something as big as choosing our career paths to something as small as choosing what potato chips we want to eat.

            Based on their method of food advertisement analysis, another type of food that I think would display similar results would be cereal. In any supermarket there are always a variety of cereal to choose from and many of them try to attract different people. The main groups I can see are adults and children. Children’s cereal is always more colorful and vibrant and always talk about having a great taste while the “adult” cereal always talks about having certain vitamins or more fiber and appeal to being part of a healthier breakfast/meal. These types of differences are all around us, and goes to show just how important language is in advertisement as well having significance in social distinctions.

Post 9

             In recent years the United States has been dealing with staggering and alarming rates of obesity, heart disease, and other health problems amongst the population in association to the people’s eating habits. Both Pollan’s “Unhappy Meals” and Dupuis’s “Angels and Vegetables” delve into the politics history of the people of the United States. In particular, on the main questions that both papers try to address is  “what is it about the United States as a nation that commits itself to present excess while placing great hope in future moderation (Dupuis ,1)?” Both authors focus and how events in our past have influenced our eating habits in the present, as well as the consequences of the way we eat.

            The main focus that Dupuis chooses to delve into is the gastropolitics of the United States and how reform and diet are related to one another. In particular, Dupuis focuses on our eating habits being affected by two main things, a messenger, and a mediator (Dupuis, 2).  Dupuis goes on to explain that much of the reforms to our eating habits have stemmed from religion and science  (messengers), but the ones to directly influence others using such messengers are preachers or scientist (the mediators).  Dupuis also goes on that the questions “what to eat?” is not what we should be focusing as a people, but instead focus on the stigma that this questions poses in the first place.

            On the other hand, Pollan’s “Unhappy Meals” is also about our eating habits, but with a higher focus on nutritionism. His article examines the notion of “food” becoming “nutrient” and how there are some serious weaknesses with nutrient ideology. He examines how it is our focus in nutritionism that has led to some of the problems we are facing today. 

In-Class Post 5-15-13

How do you decide what to eat? What values would you like to inform those choices? How and why?

Usually I decided what I want to eat a few minutes starting a meal. I tend to try and eat whatever I have left in my fridge since I dont like things to spoil. I dont usually think very much about why I eat certain things over another. My main issue when I eat something is that I hope it tastes good and is something that I will enjoy. I am currently trying to workout more often as well as eat healthier, so I am choosing to eat more vegetables and fruits over red meat and processed foods.

SE5

Egg-cellent Breakfast?

I have heard many of my friends say that breakfast is their most important meal of their day, while others have told me that it is a meal they tend to skip out on. For me, breakfast is an essential part of my morning and the ingredient that I always make sure to include is an egg. My morning meals have always contained eggs in one form or another, and eating them has become such a habitual thing that I don’t always realize that I consume approximately a dozen a week. Since eating eggs for breakfast has become such a habitual thing, I have never really thought about the health effect and consequences of eating eggs.

Since I was a child, I have always eaten eggs in the morning whether they are hardboiled, scrabbled, sunny side up, or even poached. Having a breakfast without eggs are like having a burger without meat or a sandwich without bread, possible to eat but not enjoyably in the least. Through out the years, I have also noticed just how prevalent eggs are in breakfast meals. Through advertisements on television and in magazines, eggs or always portrayed as an essential part of a complete breakfast. Images have always centered around eggs next to sizzling bacon, potatoes, and a glass of orange juice to depict what an ideal breakfast looks like. I feel like most people, myself included, tend to look at this and completely agree. I see my breakfast meals including eggs as an ingredient, yet I never as myself if eating eggs all the time is good for my health.

A lot of talk has been brought up about the benefits and disadvantages of eggs in a people’s diets and how that affects one’s health.  Eggs contain a lot of essential nutrients such as minerals, folate, B vitamins, proteins, and monounsaturated fatty acids that are necessary in a normal diet. However, eggs also contain approximately 200 mg of dietary cholesterol. Cholesterol is also a necessary nutrient for the function of the human body, but in high enough concentrations can lead to complications such as cardiovascular disease (Djoussé and Gaziano 964).

            The problem that eggs face is that they provide a variety of essential nutrients, but over consumption may lead to health complications. In an article by researchers Djoussé and Gaziano (2008), it was found that “the consumption of ≤ 6 eggs/wk has no major effect on the risk of CVD and mortality and that the consumption of  ≥ 7 eggs/wk is associated with a modestly greater risk of total mortality.” Thus, one can eat about an egg a day without risking potential health problems, but anything over said amount can lead to complications further in life, specifically cardiovascular disease.

            I never really knew much about the health information of eggs until I did more research on the subject. I found the articles I read about eggs and health very informative and I think that I may change the amount of eggs I eat on a weekly basis. However, I think that making a change ma prove difficult because of how habitual eating a dozen eggs a week has become.

Cited Sources

Djousse, Luc, and J. M. Gaziano. "Egg Consumption in Relation to Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality: The Physicians' Health Study." The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 87.4 (2008): 964-69. PubMed. Web. 13 May 2013. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18400720>.

Research Possibility (Essay 5)

One of the things that I found interesting after looking at some students's blogs was eating frequency. I came across an article in which they made an associating between type 2 diabetes and breakfast omission.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3325839/pdf/ajcn9551182.pdf

Observations of Post 8

After looking through most my classmates' blogs detailing their food journals, I came to notice that a majority of the students do stick to about 3 meals a day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). Many people tended to eat the same things with respect to tail. For instance, bagels would be eaten in the morning as well as cereal, eggs, etc. This made me think about how much of the food we eat pertains to time and how specific food items are mostly eaten within specific time slots.

Post 8: Weekend Food Log

Friday May 10^th

10:40am: 2 fried eggs, 2 sausage links, and a ginger ale

1:15pm: Chai tea bobba

4:30: Turkey Cheddar baguette (lettuce, tomatoe, & pesto dressing), lemonade

7pm: Tilapia w/ lemon pepper

11pm-2am: 3 Rum & Cokes, 2 Long Islands, 1 tequila shot, 1 Corona

Saturday May 11^th

3am: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes & gravy, and a cup of Chicken w/rice soup

11:30am: Kix cereal with almond milk

12:13pm: ~8-10 pretzel sticks and ~2 tbl spoons of pinon hummus

1:30pm: 2 Mini Babybel  cheddar cheese rounds

2:15: Coca Cola & trail mix (chocolate chips, pumpkin seeds, dried apples, sunflower seeds,

3:25pm: 2 bacon cheese burger from Wendys, strawberry lemonade, large friees

Sunday May 12^th

11am: GoGurt Yogurt, 1 glass of orange juice (no pulp), 3 breakfast tacos (consisting of southwest-spiced chicken, green chili, russet potatoes, tomatoes, salt & pepper, and onions)

1pm: ~9 handfuls of movie theater popcorn

3pm: Wishbone Restaurant 4 piece shrimp combo (consiting of 4 friend shrimp, mashed potatoes and gravy, ~2 tbl spoons of ketchup, 2 pieces of texas toast, and ~24 of sweet tea)

5pm: Sonic Route 44 cherry limeade

            9pm: 3 Bacon wrapped asparagus, pan-fried salmon w/ butter capper sauce, and baked golden   w/ garlic.