P5: Eating on the Go

In Horwitz’s “Eating at the Edge” he describes America’s changing eating pattern from one that focused on eating with family and friends, a special occasion to one that focuses instead on the TV in front of us or one that focuses on convenience eating. He uses the good example of  Campbell’s invention of soup in hand, where the eater doesn’t even have to stop walking to have a single serving of soup. The success of the TV dinner was another one of his examples of Americans being not only content with eating in solitude and on the go, but eager to embrace it. I am writing this essay while eating an instant, microwavable lunch of rice. I most definitely have embraced this “American “ value of food being fast and easy. This comfort Americans have compared with people from other nations was noticeable on the space station where the European astronauts made a stronger effort to eat meals together rather than on the go.

Something interesting he talked about was the different lives of American and how they affect their eating patterns. Students and the life of those in academia tent to eat on their own schedule, Horwitz explains "In contemporary American colleges and universities the rhythm of institutional food services and schedules coexists with that of the microwaves and refrigerators found in nearly every office and dorm room." (Horwitz, pg.46) The work of farmers is also task-oriented. Often dinner would not be until 8 or 9 at night at my house, since that was when my dad was home. My brother and I would come home and eat a snack my mom prepared to hold us until that late at night. Both academia and farming are task-oriented jobs, as opposed to clock-oriented jobs that get out at a set time. With clock-oriented jobs it would be easier to eat at a set time every day.

What to write now?

For my first essay I focused on how the town I was from affected how I ate and what I grew up eating. This was mostly German food of simple meat and potatoes, and being in an agricultural area we had plenty of sweet corn and fresh vegetables too.

In my second short essay I analyzed the differences between genders, how they eat differently, what society thinks of how they eat, and how this affects the ads and marketing and vice versa.  This was the most interesting essay for me, and one I will probably incorporate the most for the unit essay.

In the final essay I wrote about the differences between ethnic food and the Americanized version of it. Also how the location of a restaurant can affect what types and how customers act within them.

I can combine the all of these concepts with a general reflection on our society and what affects our choices to eat a certain way or eat certain foods.  Our background and history, our gender and societal values, and our tendency as Americans and individuals to change the original recipes to fit our personalized tastes all affect the choices we make on what to eat every day for every meal.

SE3: The American Way

Sarah Heermann

Writ short Essay 3

The American Way

The Italian restaurant I chose to eat at for this analysis had many features of an average Italian restaurant. White table cloth, served wine and noodles, and had soft guitar music playing in the background. However, it takes a second look to realize this is not really what an Italian restaurant should be.  Authentic Italian food should not come from a chain of restaurants, imbedded in the center of a massive shopping area, and served with alterations to fit a more “American” taste. Our American culture has changed our perception of all kinds of food, including Italian, and in an ironic twist this causes anything truly authentic to seem like a poser of what we believe to be authentic.  I sat in the Brio restaurant next to the Cherry Creek mall enjoying a meal for over an hour, and noted some interesting details that led me to these conclusions.

            The location of this restaurant has an effect on the types of customers it receives. Being next to a mall, many shoppers laden with bags come in during the day, most likely in a higher quantity than if the restaurant had a different location.  This causes the general crowd to have an overall more casual look and feel, since most shoppers wear everyday clothing and carry several paper and plastic sacks with them.  Brio is not like a scene in McDonald’s though, people dress up and come specifically to eat at Brio, so not all of the crowd are casual.

The décor in Brio does not reflect the more casual shoppers that come in during the day, but instead reflect the more dressy night time crowd that filters in for a more dressy meal that is still affordable.  The prices in Brio range from 10-40 dollars an entree, and placed next the high-class and more expensive restaurant Elway’s, Brio seems like a cheap option without offending your date. I am sure this is a factor with drawing people into the restaurant, as people usually show interest in the product that is second best if the price of the best is too high.  Inside it imitates the grandness of Elway’s and other high-class restaurants, if not over doing it.  It has waiters dressed in long-sleeved shirts and white table cloths, long and heavy decorative curtains, soft guitar music in the background and matching cloth drapes across the ceiling to draw the eye to the large chandeliers that hang in the center of the room. Additionally, they have several forks and spoons on the sides of the plates, several glasses out (one for each course of the meal i.e. wine glass, coffee cup) and the chairs have cloth tied in the back that makes it seem as though it is a special occasion.

I have been to Brio before during lunch, but this last time I have gone was for an evening meal, and the people behaved differently at night. Many were more dressed up, having come straight from home rather than the mall, they came in larger family groups or in pairs for a couples date, and at night they were generally more mindful of their manners (placing napkin on lap, knife sideways on the plate after use, etc.). Something more significant that I noticed was that the night time crowd never tried to do activities other than eating while at dinner, while the lunch crowd could be seen reading a book, looking at receipts, or even making phone calls.

More authentic restaurants would be smaller, not a part of a chain restaurant that appeals to the masses and would prepare the food using more Italian methods rather than Italian inspired American dishes. Americanizing ethnic foods is very popular among chain restaurants. Just like any large corporation that seeks to gain the approval of the masses, changing their product to appeal to a more “American” taste just makes sense especially when considering profits. According to “La Gazzetta Italiana”, only one-third of supposed Italian food actually come s from Italy.  Freshness and quality after being shipped is also in question. (Janice Therese) Of course under these new considerations few people will ever have “true” Italian food, but even the recipes involved in cooking and methods of production have differed to appeal to a more American taste. Authentic Italian food comes in smaller portions, with much simpler ingredients, uses less cheese and toppings if none at all, and most surprisingly to me Italians do not use tomato sauce at all. They focus on freshness, and make meals from scratch so waiting a long time for a meal is a major difference. (Ledblimp, 2010)

The restaurant Brio is one I always look forward to eating at. The food here of course is Americanized, being part of a large corporate chain that want to sell food in mass quantities, but this restaurant is still one of my favorites. It has the convenient location of being close to the mall, which affects the types of customers it gets, but it also has an atmosphere of grandness in both decoration, good quality of food, and service without the hefty price prices that are perhaps a more unique and authentic restaurant would have.  All in all, I prefer the American way.

Resources

Janice Therese, M. [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.lagazzettaitaliana.com/italian-food-american-history.aspx

Ledblimp. (2010, August). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.lifeinitaly.com/forum/threads/11472-Differences-between-Italian-amp-American-style-Italian-food

research for SE3

http://www.lagazzettaitaliana.com/italian-food-american-history.aspx

In my next short essay I want to explore the Americanization of Italian food, and how large chains like Brio (where I chose to do my research) appear to be small and authentic Italian restaurants.

P4: We Are Not So Different After All

As I have mentioned in an earlier post, food has a strong connection to history as well as the present. In this first article by O’Donnell where he talks about the history of china and how the transition from fish to beef was associated with the switch from communism to capitalism. This article has been my favorite that we have read so far. With the mix between history, culture and sociology it kept me interested, and it addressed the issue from several different angles.

Anyways, the article discussed the changing culture from one that valued a more community oriented and valued self-sacrifice to one that valued individualism and focused on competition (even in immoral ways) to get ahead. Self-sacrifice was a main disappearing cultural value that the author focused on, and interviewed an elderly lady about why eating cornbread was considered special. His comparison between the fishermen being fast and cunning to the beef eaters that are slow was amusing.  But it should be noted that cows can run fast, and fish do not have horns or an aggressive nature.

The second article by Cate was also interesting and kind of touching. I often have an incorrect idea that all men in prison have lost their human traits, or are so hard core and that they prefer to do everything alone. The picture of the three inmates praying over a creative concoction of ramen noodles was like a reality slap to the face. I instantly felt sympathy and compassion I would not have felt if I had simply just seen them sitting at the table. I felt instantly connected to them in a juvenile thought of “hey I do that too!” this entire article made me realize how separated and dehumanized criminals are, and how difficult it must be to become accepted again. I know that was not the point of the article, but the action of breaking bread and sharing meals is such a universal idea that it seems to connect all cultures and brings people to realize we are really not so different after all.

Traditional Holyoke Food

Traditional Holyoke food would have to include sweet corn. I grew up on a corn farm, and the surrounding area is all agriculture. Everyone has sweet corn available to them, most grow it themselves. Some farmers sell it in town to those that don’t have their own garden but the grocery store never has it to sell since the corn grown locally is better and more fresh than the corn the store would have to order in.

The food is representative of the community and place since it is a small agricultural town, and everyone participates in the fresh sweet corn every summer.

Comparison of Essay 2

I have only read a few other essays,  but a difference I see is mine focused mostly on the difference between genders and how they are commonly portrayed in ads through the values we have as a culture.

The first essay I read discussed the granola bar industry and how they have recently broadened their customers to include not only athletes but also people that are more health conscious.
http://yumyummyyumm.blogspot.com/2012/04/nature-valley-and-powerbar.html

The second essay made  comments on how unhealthy companies make themselves more appealing by advertising healthier products, and how they manipulate their ads to draw in more  customers.
http://shelbyspinach.blogspot.com/2012/04/real-fruit-smoothies.html

These two focused more on the ads and the companies motivation (both to be healthier) to create such ads while I chose to highlight upon the values within our culture that drive the company to see their approach as one that would be effective.