Journal Article #6: My Weirdest Food Experience EVER.

My weirdest experience with food was when I went to a Mediterranean restaurant with a close friend. It was my first time in an actual Mediterranean restaurant serving Mediterranean food. My close friend had gone to a Mediterranean restaurant before, but only once. When we arrived, got seated, and got the menu, we had no idea what to order. It was all so foreign to me. There weren’t very many pictures the food and the food’s name on it or next to it. It didn’t help that all the words on the menu were unrecognizable to me. The waiter came by and we asked him what he would recommend to us. He wasn’t too helpful because he recommended five items on the menu but he didn’t describe the dish too well either. His English was a little bit hard to understand and I just ended up picking the first thing he recommended to me. When my friend and I got our food, I had no idea how to eat it. It was a plate full of random splabs of food that did not come with rice. I used my fork to try each and every thing on the plate to see what the flavors were. My friend told me quietly that she thinks that I should eat it with the bread that was given as the appetizer. I tried looking around the restaurant to observe and see how people were eating the food because observation of how other people eat would teach me, somewhat, how I should eat the food. It did not help because everybody had different dishes and they were all eating differently. I ended up just using the bread to hold all the different things on the plate and eat it with my hands because it tasted the best like that. It was the weirdest food and restaurant experience ever--- not knowing how to eat the food that was in front of me.

word count: 326

Journal Article #5: My Dog & My Food.

Human food and my dog. Two things I love in this world are food and dogs. But these are the two things that cannot go together. I will never give my dog human food that I will or have eaten. My dog will never be able to eat what I love without dying or getting really sick. Three things that I can easily think of that my baby puppy can never eat but I love are chocolate, mushrooms, and berries. I have to admit though, being the not so tidy and clean person that I should be, I have left mini chocolates pieces and chocolate mocha coffees in my car with my dog. Thinking that my baby would never be naughty and chew or eat anything my car, he has on several occasions already, eaten all the chocolate stuff in my car. The first time, I seriously freaked out and wondered why I was so dumb to leave my chocolates in my car. My girlfriend quickly tells me to feed him a spoonful of hydrogen peroxide. She researched and heard from a couple of friends that a spoonful of hydrogen peroxide is safe for dogs and will help them throw up whatever is in their stomach. I quickly let my baby lick a spoonful of hydrogen peroxide and quicker than you know it, he threw up everything in his stomach. With no side effects, that is my choice of a solution when he eats something that he should not have. I have more than a few stories to tell about my baby puppy and human foods that one journal entry would not be enough to tell them all. But hopefully, you would comment below if you have a story to share too!

word count: 293

P.S.- my dog is too cute!

Journal Article #4: Food Addiction.

I have a food addiction. I suppose all addicts would be too scared to come out and say straight up, “I have an addiction”. But this addiction is different. It is a food addiction. An addiction that has made me spend a load of money on this certain “thing”. This “thing” comes in a variety of ways, textures, and flavors. In order to fulfill my cravings, I constantly “Yelp” for new restaurants and cuisines to see what I am missing on. My cravings for food can come early in the morning when I wake up, in the middle of the day when I am bored, or late at night when I am craving for random food. I have even given in to my addiction after I had a meal to eat some more when I am full. Why this mind blowing experience of eating would feed my addiction to food? The answer is both physical and psychological. My body combines all the different senses together-- from smelling, to feeling and touching, to seeing, and to tasting. It all starts out with looking at the food. It is like a piece of art. I just want to keep staring. And then you see the textures of the food and you imagine how it would feel in your mouth. And then the aromas hit your nose and you start salivating because of how you imagine it would taste. You finally taste it and it is like an orgasmic feeling in your mouth. That is why I have a food addiction. Food is beyond “it’s just to keep me alive.” It is artistically beautiful and an amazing experience that must be continuously felt and fed.

word count: 282

Journal Article #3: Spicy Town

Last Sunday night, I visited a new restaurant called Spicy Town in Fremont. My girlfriend wanted to bring me to Spicy Town to try their spicy food which she said it was amazingly good. When we parked and was looking at the outside menu, we found out that they were serving all you can eat hotpot style for only $18.99. It was really cold on Sunday night so we decided to try the all you can eat hotpot because it was so cheap and it would keep us warm. I was very open minded about this restaurant because this restaurant was specifically for spicy food. I love hotpot and spicy soup bases, so I imagined it should be really good. The only restaurant that I can recommend for amazing spicy hotpot was Little Sheep Mongolian hotpot because their soup base is so good that you do not need any extra dipping sauces. When our orders came, we realized that they were very small portioned. It was a good thing because you do not want to waste food at an all you can eat place. The soup base was very spicy but other than that, not very flavorful. It was not comparable at all to Little Sheep Mongolian Hotpot. My ratings for this restaurant is that I would go again because it is good for the $19 dollars but if you I can spend more money like in the $60+ range, then I would rather go to Little Sheep Mongolian Hotpot.

word count: 250

Journal Article #2: Supersize Me

Supersize Me, a documentary by Morgan Spurlock, was first played at my highschool in a physical education class during junior year. After watching two hours of this documentary, I finally stopped eating fast food. Actually, it wasn’t all that hard for me to give up eating fast food. My parents were very healthy and cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner for my brother and me almost every single day of the year for almost 15 years of my life. Soda wasn’t an option as a drink in my house. My house barely carried any juices or milk too. My mom dedicated two hours after her 8 hour work shift to prepare and cook a three course meal and home cooked soup for the whole family every night. Fast food was the very last resort of food when my parents could not cook. When we travelled to Reno or a random place once every year, they would allow us to eat fast food when we stopped at a pit stop to fill up gas or to take a break from driving. When I gave up eating fast food seven years ago, it didn’t seem like I was giving up on anything because it wasn’t part of my diet anyways. When people ask me how I can give up on such a delicious thing, I can’t really remember what was so delicious about it? The greasiness? Or the unhealthiness? Whenever I try snacking on one fry or one nugget now (I have only made this an exception once or twice because I was starving and there are no other possible way of actually eating a real meal), I get seriously nauseous and I usually have the feeling of purging out that fry from McDonalds or whatever fast food place that fry was from. I wish the world can see how unhealthy and disgusting fast food is because eating it is adding %$^#^ to your body.

word count: 322

Journal Article #1: No Reservations

Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations is a show that I am in love with and will endlessly watch it on hours at end. I have watched all the seasons and almost every single episode. Anthony Bourdain travels to many different parts of the world and tries the food that is native to that region. He skips the food made for tourists’ appetites and goes straight to what is popular with the actual people of the communities. The most interesting countries that Bourdain have traveled to are the Asian countries like Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, and Vietnam. I have enjoyed watching these episodes because I love eating Asian food too. The vibrant, distinct flavors from various countries are completely different from each other. Bourdain isn’t afraid to try foods that seem taboo to Americans, such as intestines, stomachs, livers, hearts, and other animal parts not traditional to American cuisine. His taste palette is not selective and it is similar to my food palette too because it relates to how I view my food. I love trying new dishes and cuisines, even if it is not an Asian cuisine. His show makes me want to travel to different countries of the world to try food native to their lands. Also, Bourdain’s skeptical and sarcastic attitude about the places, people, and culture of the country he is traveling to makes it a very entertaining show. His “realness” allows his audience to identify and connect with him while he is traveling and showing his audience around the country.

word count: 254

FOOD JOURNAL!

So, I have decided to be eco-friendly and post all my food culture (NUFS144) journal articles into here. (jk. im ALWAYS eco-friendly ;D)

Actually, I found this video really interesting. It is a 13 year old girl who has the power and guts to silence the world in 5 minutes. If you don't believe that she will silence you for 5 minutes about our world dying and how we are wasting food, then please click on the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYZeXIN1cZA&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Someone we can all learn from because her words are powerful and wise.

If you decide that this video is interesting or any of the above (or below) posts are interesting, feel free to comment & please do so :) ill be really happy!! :)

<3 estherbaby.