Blog 3: Preparing a Meal

Today I am preparing myself a meal from Frank’s Place, a cafeteria-style restaurant. I grab a tray and step into line. There are many choices but the Vietnamese jasmine rice stands out. I also choose some chicken dummies. Eating at Frank’s is nice because I do not have to cook. The downfall of it however is that I have a limited choice of what I can eat. If there is nothing on the menu I do not like, I am screwed. Thankfully I have not had that happen to me, yet.

After I grab my food I get a glass of water. Next I take my tray of food and sit down while watching SportsCenter. It is nice to sit down after a long day and relax. While I eat I normally think and watch people as they too get food and eat. This experience is much different than what I am accustom to at my home. Every night I would eat dinner with my family at the dinner table and now I constantly eat out, with new people every night.

Pollan’s claim that the American public accepts, “a flood of damaging innovations…such as low-fat processed food,” has legitimacy. I can see how many people are content eating processed foods. This comes from the American public not being informed of processed food. It can be confusing to which foods are the healthiest to eat and frankly some people just don’t care.

Tabita in her blog TABLOG, states it best when she makes up her own definition of “highly processed food” because she is unsure of the true definition. I too find myself unknowing of many of the foods I eat and make food choices based on what I think is the best for me. I think the public should be more informed and should be told of everything that is in the food we eat.

The meal of Vitnamese jasmine rice and chicken drummies good, it did not affect my opinion because I enjoyed my meal. I could make my own food but it is hard to prepare food in my dorm and if I would it would probably be worse for me then at Frank’s. However I try and eat food that is alive like salads or fruit as much as possible so I believe I am living a healthy life. And like Tabita make up my own definition of "highy processed food".

Blog 2: Fake Cheese

Fake cheese does not compare to its real counterpart. The fake cheese looks more rubbery then real cheese. The taste quality is unmatched. Real cheese has a rich creamy flavor where fake cheese tastes rubbery. It also tastes like something has been left out. This taste difference can be attributed to the ingredients used to make the cheeses.

Fake cheese is comprised of vegetable oil and starch when real cheese is made from milk. This could be the reason fake cheese cannot compare to real cheese. The Prabhupadanuga News has a interesting article about fake cheese showing up in German restaurants, stating that they did a taste test, “Some of them are really disgusting (fake cheese), and you can really tell the difference because it’s transparent or white, it has a different texture.”

The fake cheese may or may not have the same calcium as its real counterpart. Sometimes fake cheese omits the word cheese from its labeling. This makes me question the legitimacy of fake cheese and if it is equivalent to real cheese in terms of nutrients.

I made the switch when I was fourteen I found that real cheese tastes better. It may be more expensive because fake cheese does not have the high cost of milk that real cheese has, but I enjoy real cheese. I rather spend more money on food that is better tasting and better for me.

In the future I believe people will still eat fake cheese. One can save a lot of money by buying fake cheese. Also people may not be informed of the products they are buying. If someone has been eating fake cheese their entire life they may not know that they are eating fake cheese. All in all fake cheese is here to stay but I will avoiding it.