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?