The Delicious Dilemna

This unit is about how mechanics and technology play their roles in processing our food. Throughout this unit, we also discussed how mass producing corporations get their profits. In this assignment, we were asked to pick any dish and write a review on the dish when it came from the restaurant and then we were supposed to make it at home and compare the two. It was amazing to me how similar the two dishes were, it makes me realize that I can make my favorite dishes at home and know what's in my foods because I made it! After this unit, I like to analyze foods a lot. To know what these industries are doing with our food is astonishing. I definitely am more careful with the foods I put into my body, now.

Food Review 1 (Restaurant):

LR, "BBQ Bacon Cheddar Wedges at The Italian Pizza Kitchen" 5/23/14, Chicago

This is my view on the dish from the restaurant: I ate at the Italian Pizza Kitchen on 1433 N. Dayton St. My dish was one of their big money makers: The Chipotle Bacon Cheddar Wedges. They used to be a bit too spicy for my liking. I asked around and some people thought it would be smart to substitute the Chipotle sauce for Barbecue sauce. It was such a brilliant idea that I tried it the next time I went. These wedges with the BBQ sauce are quite soggy, but not too soggy. It feels as if it was drenched in sauce with a layer of different ingredients on top. The dish seems to have an assortment of different ingredients. The bacon gives the dish a wonderful kick of salt and crunchy texture. Since I like bacon a lot, it came to my attention that everything else on the dish stood out more in taste than bacon did. You could feel the bacon in your mouth, but you couldn’t taste it. It gave the wedges a crunch but all you taste is Barbecue sauce and cheese. Now the smell is a whole different story, you can definitely smell the bacon in the dish. It had a Barbecue bacon smell. The barbecue outweighed everything in the smell department but you could still smell the bacon. The two smells combined, making some type of barbecue bacon smell.


The tangy taste from the Barbecue sauce made the dish a bit sweet also. This dish, being more salty than anything, is definitely unhealthy. I’m sure when we think of healthy foods, pigs, cheese, and potatoes don’t come to mind but we do have to keep in mind that good, healthy food is hard to come by nowadays. Aside from my dish being unhealthy, it was quite fresh. As opposed to any dish from McDonalds’ industrial food choices, it looked steaming hot and the holding container was foggy. When you open it up, smoke comes out immediately, unleashing the beautiful aroma of the Barbecue bacon. Imagine crispy wedges with melted cheddar cheese spread across the top of them. Smoke coming off of the well-cooked bacon like it just came off the stove, on top of everything happening, the wedges are also drenched in barbecue sauce.


At the Italian Pizza Kitchen, Home of The Barbecue Bacon Cheddar Wedges, the wedges cost $5.00 +tax. For my homemade version of the wedges, the bacon alone costs more than the dish at the restaurant ($5.99)! The prices speak for themselves; the quality determines the price, which determines the profit. If a restaurant knows that they have low quality ingredients then they can sell their food at a price that will guarantee them a profit. These restaurants are focusing on “quantity over quality.” This means that these people that work for these companies are mass producing food at the expense of nutritional value. Most of us don't take into consideration the quality of our food but just look at the price. A reason why it was better to make my food at home is because I know what I'm putting in my food. I thought the restaurant dish had too much salt, so I bought better quality, low-sodium bacon instead. 

Food Review 2 (Homemade): 

DR, "Homemade Loaded Wedges" 5/26/14, Chicago

The homemade version of my Loaded Wedges were quite tasty. Although I didn’t acquire all the ingredients of the restaurant version, I think I did a pretty good job. They tasted similar. The biggest difference had to be the barbecue sauce; it wasn't the taste, it was the amount! Although Garland Jack's Barbecue Sauce is not very unique, I taste a little bit of a difference in the two barbecue Sauces. The barbecue sauce I used for the homemade dish was sweeter, as opposed to the restaurant’s BBQ sauce which had a stronger taste. One ingredient in my barbecue sauce was Potassium Sorbate which is actually safe to consume and is used to prevent the growth of mold. Maybe the restaurant BBQ sauce is homemade, that could make a huge impact on the comparison of the two. My homemade dish was not organic but pretty fresh. The BBQ sauce was pre-made and processed but the cheddar had a very strong smell. When I picked up one of the fries it started to break apart and fall off the fork. The freshly cut wedges hit your mouth with a very cheesy taste. As barbecue dripped off the wedges, you could smell the fresh potatoes. 

Recommendation/ Preference:

I would prefer the homemade meal over the restaurant meal because of the freshness of the ingredients. When I bite into the very delicate, fresh cut, potato wedges you can taste all the ingredients working together. As opposed to the restaurant meal, you can taste the fresh cheddar and you feel more secure eating food that you make your self.

Experimental Taste Test

In my "Food" course this unit we explored the different ingredients used for baking. We discovered that something called a leavening agent was one of the 5 essential ingredient to baking. Leavening agents are assigned to raise the dough so it looks nice and fluffy. We left out the leavening agents for a holiday named "passover" where the jews didn't have time to use leavening agents for their cooking while they ran from. We cooked one batch of cupcakes with a leavening agent; Baking Soda. We then cooked a batch of cupcakes without a leavening agent. For this assignment, we were asked to substitute the leavening agent for two other ingredients. One group of cupcakes being the controlled group and one being the experimental group. I chose Lemon Juice and Olive Oil to substitute for the missing leavening agent.

The Cupcake Experiment

1. Introduction

We are trying to figure out if a acid-base reaction will help the cupcakes rise like a leavening agent would. Baking powder is a leavening agent. When a leavening agent reacts with heat and liquid, it produces carbon dioxide and causes the dough to rise. For our controlled group, we followed the recipe precisely, adding the exact amount of ingredients, mixing our batter until it is smooth, preheating the oven, and baking our cupcakes for 20 minutes in 350 degrees Fahrenheit. For our experimental group, we substituted the baking powder for lemon juice and olive oil. We decided to choose an acid and base because baking powder contains cream of tartar, an acid, and baking soda, a base. Using that logic, we wanted to create an acid-base reaction and therefore, our group chose lemon juice, which has a pH of 2.2, and olive oil, which has a pH of 8. We put in different amounts of lemon juice and olive oil in each of our 6 cupcake trials to see which cupcake rises the most. The ultimate test to see whether we successfully replicated the effects of baking powder is to measure the height of our cupcakes in our experimental group and compare it to the height of the cupcakes in the controlled group.

2. Research Question

Will an acid-base substitute help cupcakes rise like a leavening agent?

3. Hypothesis

If I substitute baking powder for lemon juice, pH of 2.2, and olive oil, pH of 8, in my cupcake recipe, then my experimental group cupcakes will rise less than my control group cupcakes.

4. Materials:

• Sugar
• Butter
• Eggs
• Vanilla Extract
• Flour
• Milk
• Baking Powder
• Lemon Juice
• Olive Oil

5. Procedure

For Control Group:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Grease and flour a 9×9 inch pan or line a muffin pan with paper liners.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.
5. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well.
6. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth.
7. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.
8. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.

For Experimental Group:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Grease and flour a 9×9 inch pan or line a muffin pan with paper liners.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.
5. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well.
6. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth.
7. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.
8. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.

6. Data

Cupcakes	Amount of Lemon Juice (tsp)	Amount of Olive Oil (tsp)	Cupcake Height (cm)
1	1/16	1/16	3.5
2	0	1/8	3.5
3	1/8	0	3
4 (Favorite)	3/32	1/32	3
5	1/64	7/64	3.5
6	7/64	1/64	2.7
Controlled Group	--	--	3.75

7. Graph

8. Recipe in Metric

Ingredients	Amount in Cups/Tsp	Amount in mL
Sugar	1/12 cup	20 mL
Butter	1/24 cup	10 mL
Eggs	1/6 egg	--
Vanilla Extract	1/6 tsp	0.82 mL
All-purpose Flour	3/24 cup	30 mL
Milk	1/24 cup	10 mL
Lemon Juice	3/32 tsp	0.46 mL
Olive Oil	1/32 tsp	0.15 mL

9. Conclusion

From this experiment, I learned that an acid-base replacement for Baking Powder, really does rise the pastry! While my trial cupcakes did not rise as high as the ones in the controlled group, one trial cupcake was only 0.75cm shorter than the controlled group cupcakes. This was the 4th cupcake where I put 3/32 teaspoon of lemon juice and 1/32 teaspoon of molasses. I believe that the 4th cupcake was one of the more shorter cupcakes because the batter was more acidic than alkaline. Given that baking powder is slightly more basic, pH of 8.5, my batter would also have had to be slightly more basic to replicate the effects baking powder has on the pastry. Therefore, my 4th trial cupcake proved my hypothesis right because the height difference was less than less than the controlled group’s cupcakes. In conclusion, while the 4th cupcake was the lowest among my experimental group, I decided to submit my this cupcake because it tasted the lemony delicious and quite different. It’s hard on the outside and moist on the inside. This project has led me to experiment with my cooking more.

The Life of Garlic Mild

This unit is about how different foods and ingredients get to their destination. Throughout this unit, we also discussed the environmental and social effects that each step of their journey, has on the world. In this assignment, we were asked to pick a specific food and create a presentation on how they get to their destination, using an advanced system called, Prezi. I never realized how careless some companies can be with their food. I also realized how many of the foods I eat are actually grown. I definitely look at my food differently due to the fact that people don't check crops all the time.

Life Begins In A Garden

In my "Food" course, this unit we explored the characteristics of good soil. We have also discussed how the ecosystem is full of life and how some organisms support each other. For this assignment, we were asked to create our own virtual organic gardens. The long process consisted of finding out the dimensions of the "raised" garden and finding out if the soil was ready for planting. I ended up planting an assortment of plants, including a "nitrogen fixer." A nitrogen fixer is a plant that is grown within a garden to create essential compounds to help all the plants grow healthy.

My garden will be held in the backyard of my home. My home is on the southside of Chicago in Calumet Heights. My backyard is large and full of plants and dirt. My garden will be 50 inches by 50 inches by 12 inches, approximately 18 cubic feet. Just the right size, so I can fit all 10 plants that I plan to plant. In class, I learned that plants need 16 different nutrients to grow and survive. The 3 most important elements are Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K). I believe that the soil is good and alive because it receives sunlight and occasionally mulch too. Of course I’m not dirt so I conducted a test on how good the dirt really was.

After conducting the soil test, I will know what lives within the soil and what is required to add, so that the crops can be as healthy as possible. From my soil test, I learned that my soil has a pH of 6.5, a surplus amount of phosphorus, a surplus amount of potassium, and a surplus amount of nitrogen. After all my tests, I realized that my soil is surplus and top grade in all categories. This means that nothing is needed to add to the soil in order for me to proceed planting procedures.

I will be planting the following: Broccoli (Early Green), Onions (Valencia), Pumpkin (Howden), Basil, Maize (True Gold), Rosemary, Eggplant (Brinjal), Beetroot (Shiraz Tall Top), Kale (Red Russian). I will also add alfalfa because it is a nitrogen-fixer and it improves the condition of the crop. All these plants have a soil preference pH between 5.5 and 7. Look below for a sketch of my garden.

This is a winning combination of plants because they are companion plants and they have a mutual relationship. I'm growing Corn with Pumpkin because pumpkins smother the weeds and helps corn roots retain moisture. Onions are planted with beetroot because onions improve growth and flavor of beets. Broccoli and Rosemary are planted together because Rosemary helps repel harmful insects from their aroma.

In conclusion, my garden has surplus dirt and great potential for growing crops. Most of my plants benefit each other vastly or are neutral towards each other. My garden sounds good! 

Lemon Prince of Sou- Air

In the "Food For Thought" class, this unit we have explored the history of agriculture and the difficulties of cultivation. We talked about different people's theories about why we should or should not use "natural farming." For this assignment, we were assigned to pick an ingredient from a recipe that we thought was sacred to our family. I chose the lemon from my Great Grandmother's "Big Mama's Lemon Pound Cake." I chose the lemon because it makes the cake special. Without it, it's just a cake. I found that my family has a very rich history filled with great cooks.

Below is a food family tree that I created. In the picture you will see that I like Nachos. Brother: bananas, Mom: spaghetti, Grandma (Mom's side): crab, Grandfather (Mom's side): barbeque ribs, Great Grandmother (Grandpa's side): ham, Great Grandfather (Grandpa's side): catfish tails, Dad: tacos, Grandma (Dad's side): shrimp.

"My Food Family Tree," Created By DR. April 21st

"Quantum Lemons Make You Seem Like a Sour Puss!" Created By PATTIV. April 21st

What are you looking at? I’m Lemon, Lemon Soury, but call me Lemon because I don't like you like that. Don’t even think about putting me in your mouth! I may not look big and strong but try me! If you do, get ready for a change in facial expression! Why are you still here kid? Ok look, you have no IDEA what I've been through today! I've been cleaned and thrown around all day, and they wonder why I'm sour!! Look kid, I can be good Lemon or I can be bad Lemon and you don't want to see bad Lemon. You have never seen anything as bitter and tasteless as me! Kid, getting on my good side can be your only chance at surviving a taste of me.

I grew up in India. There isn't much to tell you about my childhood, why are you all up in my business anyway? I grew up around many other fruits and vegetables. There’s 23 different kinds of me! Me and my brothers were all healthy as babies. We all grow up to be really great additions to dishes. That’s pretty much my childhood. Since you wanted to know so much. Overall, India was a nice play to be back in my day.

Me and all my brothers end up spilt into many different countries. Some of us go to the United States. We’re processed and boxed, just to get to our destination, whether it’s Illinois or Paris, or anywhere else in the world. The worst thing about lemons is that we go bad, I don’t know about anyone else but they always said that I was a really sour lemon. Whenever I was tried I was spit out immediately. I couldn't be put into dishes because of the severity of my sourness. I am the baddest of the baddest of lemons. I’m so sour that I’ll make your face permanently change to the face you make when you taste me. Don't try me.

I plan on living a really long life. Maybe have kids with the woman of my dreams. Well that's too much work. It's not like I like life anyway. I just would not prefer to die. I am finally unboxed into the "Supermarket," I have only heard stories of the Supermarket. They said only the lucky ones make it out before the "humans" come. Oh yea, did I tell you that people have these theories of the "human," people are so stupid these days. I heard rumors around that I ended up at some place named Sam's Club in Chicago and there was a barrage of "humans" coming in by morning, yeah right, and I'm super lemon (sarcasm).

Morning came and I was rather cold. I realized that I had been put into a group with more lemons like me, some were happy. Yes, I said "happy," I have NO idea why, though. I could hear chatter in the distance. A "thing" walked past me. Oh yea did I tell about the "things," they took care of us when we were kids in India. These "things" were really big and had things coming out of their body and they could move around and hold things with them! Lucky lil monsters! I swear I hate life, I hate you, I hate everything.

One of these "things" had eventually came over to me and picked me up. I wasn't scared, Lemon Soury DOES NOT GET SCARED. You better ask someone. I realized that I was put into a see through bag and thrown in a rectangular shaped holder of some kind. I was then put into a larger bag by a older looking "thing." Before I knew it, I was moving, not me, but whatever I was in was moving.

I took a nap and when I woke up I saw something sharp coming at me. I spit at it and tried to roll of the counter that I was on, but no luck, I ended up getting cu-- OW! My dangerously sour juice starts to drip out as I'm squeezed. I am put into some kind of batter with some of my wheat friends. As horrible as I felt, I could still see my juice being battered with the wheat.

Some hours had past and I was in a black garbage can. I could hear voices in the background. Someone said, "Grandma, you know what makes your cake the best?"
She answered, "What sweetie?"
The thing said, "Your internal recipe book, and how you can memorize your own way of cooking things, this is excellent!"

I guess my time has come earlier than I had expected. As I die slowly I realize how old I was, maybe a couple thousand years old. To tell you the truth, I did live a pretty amazing life. I think I'm going to cry, nah, I think not. I still don't like you.

References:

“Lemon”, Julia F. Morton. Web, April 15th.
“Lemon History”, the nibble. Web, April 15th.
“Top 10 Lemon Producing Countries in The World”, wh?ch country. Web, April 21st.

Group Project - Micromentary

We had Experiential term and during this term we learned ASL, and Deaf culture. I worked in a group with some of my classmates to make a micromentary. We all had roles to take place during this project. We learned how to work together and listen to each others ideas. What we are most proud of is how our micromomentary came together we worked really hard on it!

                    

How May Deaf Culture Become Mainstream Culture? from GCE on Vimeo.

We learned that as early as 1000 BC the Deaf were discriminated against due to their permanent loss of hearing and outrageous claims that deafness was a sign from God to show his anger towards humanity. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, there were very high limitations in educational opportunities for Deaf children in America. In the 1800’s there were about 30 deaf schools that opened across America. The Cobbs School, Alexander Graham Bell School and Gallaudet were the first schools to present curriculum based on oral learning and ASL for both educational and cultural purposes.

We watched Sound & Fury a documentary following a 5-year old girl with the desire to learn spoken language by getting a cochlear implant. Her parents were deaf and proud members of the Deaf community and feared losing their daughter to the hearing world. This showcased the struggles of being a member of both the Deaf community and the hearing world. There is much controversy surrounding cochlear implants which is believed to be a cure to deafness. This technology is controversial because it threatens the survival of the thriving Deaf language and Culture.

Today, it is easy to see the importance and prominence of Deaf culture in schools, sports, and Art. We visited the Children of Peace School in Chicago that focuses on integrating hearing and deaf education. We were surprised to see hearing, hard of hearing, and deaf students learning in the same classroom. We also attended a basketball torment for the Deaf where Deaf teams from as far as Boston competed for the title of champion. I was in awe by how highly athletic these players were and how everyone knew each other. We witnessed the same type of talent and friendship when we watched the documentary Deaf Jam, which showed a group piece performed by Aneta, a Deaf poet and Tahani a spoken word poet .They captured the vision of Deaf and hearing worlds coexisting.

"D"eaf Culture

Throughout the Experiential Term, we were asked to immerse ourselves within the Deaf Culture by learning American Sign Language (ASL). In this month, I have experienced going off on my own during school hours to meet people in the Deaf Community. Although it was difficult to partially learn, a whole language in 3 weeks, the takeaway was much bigger than sign language.

I went to Holy Trinity's Children of Peace School for the Deaf.

"Define Disability" By DR March 21rst 

If you were there, you would understand the difference between “disabled” and “different.” These kids aren't missing out on anything, they can do anything a hearing kid can do. I believe that this goes against the meaning of "disability." When I visited the school, I didn't see a lesser being of any sort, nor did I see any disabilities. I saw kids playing with toys, learning how to cook, and acquiring knowledge.

LaRabida Children's Hospital inspired me the most because of their purpose. They are not a "blood & guts" hospital which means they do not deal with broken legs or arms, but they deal with disabled kids with rare diseases and kids that may need special attention. At this hospital, they have school set up by mental levels and grades, they also have food for all the children and ASL teachers to help the mute and deaf kids communicate. This is so inspirational to me because of their dedication to these kids whose lives who are at stake. I find it very courageous and mindful to take care of high risk kids in their environment. This is the hospital I go to, so when I visited this hospital it provided something a lot deeper than a tour. I find it very courageous and mindful to take care of high risk kids in their environment.

I would like to thank LaRabida for opening up about their Disability Services and letting me and my peers tour their amazing facility. They have really changed my perspective on the world's view towards disabled children.

In my group, I was responsible for coming up with questions and guiding our story. My two roles were Editor & Interviewer. It turned out that my questions guided our message and purpose. I contributes to the creation of our Guiding Question. Working in this group, I learned my own definition of "disabled" and my own perspective on what's inferior and what is not. I also learned that working in groups can lead to bigger and better things in the long run. Throughout this whole project my group mates made this easier by playing their roles really well. I am definitely most proud of my contribution towards sub and guiding questions. I also went out and got other peoples perspective on Deaf Culture.

I was transformed throughout this term by learning American Sign Language and getting close to deaf people. When you talk to a deaf person, you think of the fact that they can't hear, but what you're missing is the fact that they can talk/communicate. When I used to think of being deaf, it was scary, but now I just believe that it is just like hearing. My way of looking at it, is that deaf people can hear. They hear silence, which is more beautiful than screaming and police sirens everyday. 

We can live in another person's shoes by simply engaging in their culture and looking deeply into their perspective on things. Throughout the Experiential Term, I have realized the key to happiness is what you make it.