Week 10: Roast Beef vs. Cold Pork Shabu

Roast Beef vs. Cold Pork Shabu from Hiroshi Sekiguchi and Yuji Miyake's The Dotch Cooking Show (YTV, Japan)

Week 10 
Mon 8.8
In-class: Writers Workshop; Final exam preparation; Presentations
Due: RESEARCH PAPER (DRAFT 2, BRING IN THREE COPIES OF THE FIRST EIGHT PAGES OF YOUR RESEARCH PAPER); REFLECTION 8; SYNTHESIS ESSAY

Wed 8.10
In-class: FINAL EXAM (BRING ONE LARGE YELLOW BOOK), Course review
Catering: Group 4—Dessert Course

Fri 8.12
Due: RESEARCH PAPER (FINAL DRAFT; EMAIL TO ME BY MIDNIGHT ON FRI 8.12) 

A Record 45.8 Million American Using Food Stamps

From CNNMoney.com 08.05.11

Nearly 15 percent of the U.S. population relied on food stamps in May, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

The number of Americans using the government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) -- more commonly referred to as food stamps -- shot to an all-time high of 45.8 million in May, the USDA reported.

That's up 12% from a year ago, and 34% higher than two years ago.

The program provides monthly benefits to low-income individuals and families, which they can use at stores that accept SNAP benefits.

To qualify for food stamps, an individual's income can't exceed $1,174 a month or $14,088 a year -- an amount that is 130 percent of the national poverty level.

The average food stamp benefit was $133.80 per person and $283.65 per household in May.

The highest concentration of food stamp users were in California, Florida, New York and Texas -- where more than 3 million residents in each state received food stamps in May.

The State of Male Eating Disorders

By Catherine Pearson, The Huffington Post
08.02.11

It took Matt Wetsel, 26, more than a month to work up the courage to try group therapy for anorexia, the eating disorder he says consumed two years of his life. A college student at the time, Matt said he would plan to attend a meeting, become overwhelmed and would shy away.

When Wetsel finally steeled himself enough to attend, a woman stopped him and asked if he needed help.

Unable to explain himself, he handed her a flier promoting the group. The woman disappeared, returning a few minutes later with the news that he could not take part. The group, it seemed, was for women only.

"I have never felt so defeated," Wetsel said in a speech on Capitol Hill last spring.

Eating disorders have long been believed to be a female issue. The National Institute of Health estimates that girls are two-and-a-half times more likely to have an eating disorder than boys, while groups like the nonprofit National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders state that women are "much more likely than men to develop an eating disorder." Yet a growing body of evidence suggests that such numbers and statements may not truly reflect the large number of boys and men with eating disorders -- be it anorexia, bulimia, binge eating or the broader category of "eating disorders not otherwise specified."

Earlier this month, the BBC reported that hospital admissions for men with eating disorders increased by 66 percent in the last decade in the U.K. In the U.S., a recent study in the Archives of General Psychiatry found that binge eating and bulimia were indeed more prevalent among adolescent girls than boys, but that the prevalence of anorexia nervosa was exactly the same.

"The one million dollar question is what this means," said Daniel Le Grange, Ph.D, director of the eating disorders program at The University of Chicago and an author of that study.

"We don't know what happens to them, we don't know if [the prevalence] has changed or increased," he continued. "We don't know if the fact that we tend see more girls in a clinical realm means that boys tend to recover more readily on their own; we don't know why they don't come in for treatment more. We don't know."

Sam Thomas, founder of the U.K.-based charity Men Get Eating Disorders Too, echoed the sentiment, saying that the recent findings raise questions about whether eating disorders are up in earnest or if more practitioners are simply recognizing the symptoms.

"We suspect that these new findings are only the tip of the iceberg, as we know that there is still a large majority of male sufferers who struggle to get the help they need, due to the stigma and stereotypical gender assumptions still made about eating disorders," Thomas told The Huffington Post.

For his part, Wetsel -- who has been in recovery for more than five years and has become an eating disorder activist, running the blog ...Until Eating Disorders Are No More -- has written that his recovery mandated he fit himself into a "culture mostly designed, tailored and intended for females." Many of the books he read referenced women only, using the pronoun "she."

Wetsel said he developed a thick skin about such gender issues, but imagines that other men struggle as well, particularly in light of the consternation he faced when telling people about his disorder.

"I want to say, 'Well, what should a recovered anorexic look like? Should I be female? Should I be emaciated?'" he said. "If you saw me around town I'd probably be wearing a band shirt and some shorts cut off at the knee. You'd probably see a few tattoos. I guess no one's expecting someone by that description to have a story about being anorexic."

Which could be a reason why men are less likely to seek treatment: The people around them, including their practitioners, may not recognize the symptoms and encourage them to get help.

"It often doesn't cross parents' or doctors' minds, because the public is so schooled to think that eating disorders are a female thing only," said Le Grange of the University of Chicago. He estimates that generally, for every 10 cases they see in his program, one or two is a boy. Last week, however, he saw four cases alone.

What is needed next, according to Le Grange, are further studies looking at the prevalence and impact of eating disorders in boys and men to better understand any differences in treatment strategies, as well as to assess what happens to boys with eating disorders in the long term.

In the meantime, people like Wetsel -- who was eventually welcomed into the group meetings at his university and said they were integral to his recovery -- are speaking up.

"This is serious stuff. There isn't any room for people to treat eating disorders as anything less than a life-threatening illness," he said. "It's bad enough and hard enough for women to get help and be taken seriously, and men have to deal with an additional layer of stigma that supposedly challenges the way people see their masculinity and sexuality."

Assignment: Synthesis Essay

How would you characterize our society's obsession with dieting? What can be said of our insatiable desire to have the perfect body, especially through diets? And when do our physical perfection fantasies meet the reality of American obesity rates? What do you make of preoccupation with being thin? In a concise essay, synthesize the following diverse texts into a snapshot of America's current dieting obsession:

• Sara Rue 2010 Print Advertisement from Jenny Craig
• “What's the Best Diet? Eating Less Food” by Tiffany Sharples from Time 
• “Choose Your Bad” Cartoon by Cathy Thorne from EverydayPeopleCartoons
• “10 Things the Weight-Loss Industry Won't Say” by Trevor Delaneylisa Scherzer from SmartMoney
• “Hottest Bodies 2010" from People
• "Overweight and Obesity Statistics" from The US Department of Health and Human Services
• Scene from “Brush with Greatness” from The Simpsons

Requirements:

• MLA format, including parenthetical citation
• 3-page minimum 

The best papers will:

• Stay within the parameters of the prompt
• Have a concise thesis
• Find "common threads" amongst a diverse group of texts and combine them to create a "snapshot" of America's current obsession with dieting
• Properly cite evidence using MLA's parenthetical citation method
• Conclude with a summation of your points
• Be in MLA Style

Due: Mon 8.8

Extra Credit Assignment: Comparative Analysis Essay

Anthony Bourdain's journey from lowly seafood cook to world-renowned chef was long and colorful. In his career, he has paid his dues in a number of somewhat questionable eating establishments, but also reaped the rewards of an uncompromising work ethic and an undying love of food. In a concise essay, compare and contrast Bourdin’s formative years in Provincetown with his time as an executive chef in New York City. Use specific examples from Kitchen Confidential to support your thesis.


Requirements:

• MLA format, including parenthetical citation
• 3-page minimum 

The best papers will:

• Stay within the parameters of the prompt
• Have a concise thesis
• Clearly support their thesis with solid evidence and a logic structure, highlighting similarities and differences in Bourdain's experiences then and now
• Properly cite evidence using MLA's parenthetical citation method
• Conclude with a summation of your points
• Be in MLA Style

Worth up to 15 pts.

Due: Due via mail on Fri 8.5 by midnight

Week 09: Orecchiette with Greens

Orecchiette with Greens from Giada De Laurentiis' Giada at Home (Food Network, USA)

Week 9
Mon 8.1
In-class: Presentations, Reading discussion
Due: EDITORIAL ESSAY (FINAL DRAFT; ATTACH DRAFT 1 TO BACK)

Wed 8.3
In-class: Writers workshop; presentations
Due: RESEARCH PAPER (DRAFT 2, BRING IN THREE COPIES OF THE FIRST SIX PAGES OF YOUR RESEARCH PAPER) 
Catering: Group 5—Cheese Course

Fri 8.5
Due: EXTRA CREDIT ESSAY (EMAIL TO ME BY MIDNIGHT ON FRI 8.5)

Week 10 
Mon 8.8
In-class: Final exam preparation; Presentations
Due: REFLECTION 8; SYNTHESIS ESSAY

Wed 8.10
In-class: FINAL EXAM, Course review
Catering: Group 4—Dessert Course

Fri 8.12
Due: RESEARCH PAPER (FINAL DRAFT; EMAIL TO ME BY MIDNIGHT ON FRI 8.12) 

I decided to cancel our field trip so that we could concentrate on finishing up our summer session. Note new due dates for the remaining assignments (including your research paper, which will now be due via email on Aug 12th). 

Here is a roundup:

Mon 8.1: EDITORIAL ESSAY (FINAL DRAFT; ATTACH DRAFT 1 TO BACK)


Wed 8.3: REFLECTION 8; RESEARCH PAPER (DRAFT 2, BRING IN THREE COPIES OF THE FIRST SIX PAGES OF YOUR RESEARCH PAPER) 


Fri 8.5: EXTRA CREDIT ESSAY (EMAIL TO ME BY MIDNIGHT ON FRI 8.5)


Mon 8.8: REFLECTION 8; SYNTHESIS ESSAY 


Fri 8.12: RESEARCH PAPER (FINAL DRAFT; EMAIL TO ME BY MIDNIGHT ON FRI 8.12) 

Reflection 8: Eating with our Eyes—Exploring Food Blogs

Special occasions can go badly in Cake Wrecks.

An increasingly popular segment of blogs has been those centered around food. The topics of these blogs range from amateur cooking to specialty foods to culinary photography. In short, there is a food blog for just about any taste (pardon the pun). For your final reflection, peruse the various food blogs below, find three that pique your interest and write about them. What are they about? What attracted you to them? How do they lure in readers? Finally, can the joy of food be successfully translated onto a computer screen?

• Food Porn Daily
• 80 Breakfasts
• not martha
• Great Food Photos
• Sugar Stacks
• Cooking with Amy
• Tartlette
• Food Goat
• Last Crumb 
• What the Hell Does a Vegan Eat, Anyway?
• Pork Cracklins
• Cake Wrecks
• Chocolate & Zucchini
• BBQ Junkie
• This is Why You're Fat
• Vegalicious
• delicious days 
• Smitten Kitchen
• Chubby Hubby
• Pinch My Salt
• Cupcakes Take the Cake
• Sexy Food
• Extra MSG
• Kitchen Chick
• Men Who Like to Cook
• Sunday Suppers
• Lemonpi
• I'm Basil. I bake.
• Matt Bites
• Dessert First

Required:

• MLA format
• 2 full pages

Due:  Mon 8.8