Wegman's

One of my favorite discoveries I have had during my first semester at Cornell was the grocery store chain by the name of Wegman's. I kept hearing about people going to this place, however, I did not know what it was since it is only found around New York State. A friend of mine told me that I absolutely needed to go since it is supposedly not your typical grocery store. After my first visit, about halfway through the semester, I had to agree with that statement. Wegman's is simply amazing! What struck me was the fact that as you walk around the store, you get the impression that you are walking in an indoor farmer's market. I had never gotten this sensation in a grocery store before and it is pretty remarkable that not a single store but an actual chain can achieve this. You feel this way because there are so many products prepared right on the spot. This sensation is also accentuated by the fact that so many friendly smiling workers will give you free samples of their delicious products, just like at a farmer's market. This grocery store is also big on local organic produces and this tells the customers that they will be able to find fresh nutritious healthy food. As traditional grocery stores are selling more and more processed food, Wegman's felt like a nice breath of fresh air. Interesting fact, Wegman's was recently rated best grocery store chain in the United States by both the FoodNetwork and ConsumerRatings. To conclude, I am glad I discovered this little gem that is Wegman's and I now feel more integrated in the community of Cornell and Ithaca since many of is share the same joy for this wonderful grocery store.

Typical Costa Rican cuisine and drinks

The fact that my dad married "una tica de Costa Rica" and lived there for six years gave me the opportunity to visit the country on multiple occasions. I was lucky to experience their very good traditional food throughout the country. The main dish of Costa Rica is known as "casaso" and like many other Latin American countries, its main constituents are white rice and black beans. Casados differ in what meat will be served along with the rice and beans. The choices are usually pescado (fish), pollo (chicken) and carne (beef). This meal can literally be found just about anywhere in the country. From the capital, San Jose, to a rest stop in the middle of the rain forest, one will be able to savor a delicious casado.

Since Costa Rica is a big producer of tropical fruits, fresh pressed juices are very popular. My personal favorite is named "chan" and come from a fruit resembling the papaya. It is a naturally red sweet drink which contains many gelatinous seeds. It's unique consistency makes it very interesting to slurp. Fresh coconut juice is also a very popular choice. It is usually packed in small plastic bags and  contain a piece of coconut. Although Costa Rica is not known for its alcohol, it still has a major local beer brand known as "imperial" which beer fans will appreciate on a hot humid day.

Poutine: A French Canadian meal to discover

When I decided to go to Montreal for Fall break, I quickly realized that it would be the opportunity to eat a meal that I truly missed. A meal that can only be found in French Canadian regions, more specifically Quebec and New-Brunswick. It is probably the most famous meal of this culture. Whenever someone asks me if there are any typical French Canadian dishes, one thing always comes up to my mind; poutine. This wonder in taste is actually very simple. It consists of fries that are usually homemade, curd cheese, and brown sauce. It is served warm and the hot sauce melts the cheese over the fries. When I describe poutine to someone, I usually get the same response, eww! Although it might sound disgusting, people usually love it once they try it. For example, I brought one of my friend from Cornell, who is Costa Rican, to a bar in Montreal in order to share this meal with him. His first reaction was "wow, this tastes amazing!" His last reaction was "wow, I think I'm gonna have a heart attack now!". It is true that poutine is not very healthy.

Poutine is definitely a very popular regional meal. It can be found almost everywhere, even in fast food restaurants. It is quite fascinating for a foreigner to find out that it can be found in places such as McDonalds, Burger King and A&W. Now that I have described this meal and its importance in my culture, it is time to unveil my true feelings about this meal. I actually don't like it as it is and I always make people turn their head when I order a; poutine without sauce!

The future of food

The chapter The future of food by Warren Belasco's book "food, the key concepts" is about our current standpoint in our society regarding industrialized farming and its problems associated with it along with two solutions (or views) by the author. The chapter starts off by mentioning that conservationists have been worried for a long time about the limits of our technology and the earth's carrying capacity. Our agricultural activity has nonetheless increased faster than expected and has resulted in being a catalyst on an incredible amounts of problems such as malnutrition, pollution, decrease of potable water, global warming, destruction of ecosystems ect. Even if our population levels off, our economic growth may still endanger our world's resources, since for example, rich people consume a much bigger share world's resources for food, transportation, leisure and housing. Another good point by the author is the fact that the future is invented in the present, it is thus the outgrow of current decisions. The author provides two solutions for the problems coming from industrialized farming, the technological fix and the anthropological fix. The first one assumes that the human inventiveness to profit-seeking free enterprises, will beat the odds and nutrition will continue to spread. It keeps the demand for convenience and achieves this through corporate research and development.  The anthropological fix goes a different way. It would change people's value, comfort, and convenience in order to meet the challenges of feeding the future.


I found this reading to be a very nice conclusion to our class about food.  It went in extensive details about our current problems and was very rich in facts and anecdotes. This author, in comparison to other authors such as Pollan, actually provided very thorough solutions. While his ideas about fixing our problems through technology might seem adequate, I do not believe it will help solve the bigger picture.  Even though we continuously keep using new technology to solve problems, it seems like we always end up creating new one which can end up being even more problematic. The use of fertilizers, to increase food yield, is harming our environment by increasing the pH of nearby water and is deteriorating the wildlife. I believe that we should not play around with nature to such extent because as the author mentions, everything is connected.  I have to say that the second solution would probably be the most effective, however, it would be very hard to put in place. This solution requires our advanced country to basically go back in time and give up some of the luxuries that we currently enjoy. For example, we would stop eating pineapples since it takes a lot of energy for it to travel to us and emits a lot of CO2. I feel like the government would have to lead to way in order to see changes like these take place.

Questions:

Can we convince society to live with less than it currently has?

The Scarcity Fallacy

Today's reading, named "The Scarcity Fallacy", talks about the current world hunger problems and includes some possible solutions. It first starts of by looking for the root of the problem. The author argues that failure to produce enough food to our increasing world population is not the problem. Indeed, food is more plentiful today than any other time in history. The real problem is ensuring access to this food and distributing it more equitably.  This task is negatively affected by different factors such as poverty, health crises, political instability, social inequalities, conflicts and corruption and finally "the supermarket revolution".  For example, the problem with our modern industrialized food system is that while it may increase food yields and ship food to more places more efficiently, the increased prices that often accompany such a system makes food less affordable for those in need. Oxfam International, for example, argues that the developped world should not dump cheap, subsidized food aid that undermines local food production and markets in the developing economies it tries to help. A better solution would be to provide money directly and promote local farming. This approach would transmit money directly to those in need, rather than making the global agri-businesses and shipping companies profit from the current system. Other solutions include making food a human right, improving the efficiency and corruption of food aid, and solving social issues such as ethnic and gender inequalities.


This text made me realize that solving world hunger is an extremely hard task to do. It is probably the reason why we still have this important issue in our modern world.  The problem of hunger comes from so many different factors and ties in with so many other problems that it makes fixing it very challenging. For example, a big part of world hunger comes from political instabilities and conflicts. This makes our world hunger problem way bigger and difficult to solve since we are adding other problems on top of it. A vicious cycle can even be produced according to the author. More precisely, established poverty can contribute to further conflict and environmental destruction. This limits food access and reinforces a feedback cycle causing more conflict, which in turn creates more scarcity, and so on.

I'm happy to know that there are multiple organizations trying to make a difference about world hunger. Organizations such as ONE and Heifer International can make a big difference in someone's life.  However, I believe that international policy makers, agri-businesses, people of power, will have to step up and help the best they can because they are the ones who can make the biggest difference.

Questions:

Can we ever end world hunger?
How can I make a difference as an individual?
Is it moral to grow corn for energy purposes when people are starving in other parts of the world?
Can you limit the corporations' influence in poor countries while keeping our lifestyle.

Food Stamps

Today's reading, an article from The NY Times titled Food Stamp Use Soars, and Stigma Fades talks the increasing use of food stamps by our population and the decrease of the stigmas associated with it. The demand for food stamps is currently at record high going up every month and strikingly 1 in every 8 American and 1 in 4 children is fed by the use of food stamps. Thirty six million Americans are now using food stamps in order to help them survive. The reason for this sudden increase, the current recession we are facing which is making a significant number of people to lose their jobs. Unemployment is actually the number reason for someone to use food stamps. The minorities are also most likely to use food stamps. In fact, 28% percent of the entire black population uses food stamps, 15 percent of the Latinos and 8% of whites.  The use by children is also especially high.  For example, 46 percent of the children living in the Bronx live on food stamps. Support for the food stamp program reached a nadir in the mid 1990s but with efforts from Clinton, Bush and now Obama, the food stamp program is now bigger and stronger than ever. One of the steps taken for diminishing the stigma associated with food stamp was to change the name of the program to "the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program" or SNAP.


I was shocked to learn that such a high number of people are now using food stamps. I have actually never seen a food stamp nor heard about anyone using them. This could prove the point that there are still stigmas present with using them. I am glad the SNAP is now working better than ever because without those food stamps, people could use the federal aid for things like cigarette or drugs. At least, we know that people will only use the money for survival purposes. I now wonder what the effects of the increasing food stamp use now has on our country. How long will it continue increasing? Are people now getting too dependent on those stamps? How is it affecting our economy and our tax money?

Never too rich...or to thin

This weeks reading called "Never Too Rich... Or Too Thin: The Role of Stigma in the Social Construction of Anorexia Nervosa" written by Karen Way, tries to bring more light about what is "normal" dieting behavior and weight concern and what is anorexia. Many psychologist and social researchers agree that there has been a trend toward a feminine ideal of unstopping slenderness over the last 30 years. This is becoming a very serious societal issue. One of the reason might be that woman are scared of being overweight since it may lead to social rejection. Studies show that overweight people are often attributed to be morally and emotionally impaired, socially handicapped, lazy, and less intelligent. It even lessens the chances of a woman to get married.  Many industries such as the corporate beauty industry, fashion industry, beauty magazines earn profits by taking advantage of the cultural obsession of thinness.  If they are able to undermine a woman's self-esteem, induce high anxiety in respect to a "feminine" appearance, the product will sell itself.  Another problem is that these companies have so much influence on society that they now define what is a "normal" physical look. As time goes on, they portray woman being slimmer and lighter as being normal and this physical aspect becomes almost  unattainable for a woman unless she has an eating disorder.  Saddening facts, 1 in 25 American females have an obsession with thinness that turns into a life-threatening eating disorder such as bulimia and anorexia.


I found this reading to be very interesting even though I was already aware of most of its content.  I have to point out that most of the citations and studies are from 20 years ago which means that it is probably not the most reliable source of information since our society changes extremely fast.  The writer mentions that "there has been no official response to the problem of eating disorders by a governmental agency, institution, or other influential group, no official investigation and no proposal for reform". I do believe that steps have now be done into solving this problem.  The fact that I am already well educated about this eating disorder proves my point.  A lot of work have been done into making anorexia and bulimia into the required topics covered by most of our public high school's health classes.  Informing young girls (and guys) about the negative aspects of these eating disorders at a young age is a very good measure for solving the problem. I also believe that actions have been recently taken in the modeling industry to stop the trend of ever-increasing thinness.

Questions:

Is anorexia today as frequent as in the 1980s and 1990s or has it slowed down by recent measures taken?

How is the increasing obesity in our country affecting eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia? Are the cases of these eating disorders decreasing because we see more fat people around us and view our normal weight as being more acceptable?