Reading Journal Eight

Reading Journal Eight is about Willow Rosenthal, an author and founder of Slicker Farms.

Throughout the reading, one of the quotes I underlined is ‘People who worked the hardest-the farm workers- seemed to be the poorest.’ This shows the unfair life the farmers are going through. Another quote, ‘transmitted his love of gardening’ tells how a skill that is passed down can become a pursuit of happiness. In Rosenthal’s case, gardening was one of her favorite pastimes. The quote, ‘I knew I would be a farmer and sell at the farmers markets to rich people’ represents the Rosenthal’s thoughtfulness and ability to see the consequences of her actions clearly.

I am impressed by Rosenthal’s virtuous dream. Experiencing Oakland’s poor access to food made her to think about bringing changes to the food system in Oakland. She had ‘the idea of farming in Oakland and of providing food for the community.’ This thought of her depicts her concern towards the society in Oakland. She was a proactive person for letting the dream to turn into reality. She began to initiate changes by buying an empty land for $11,000. Then, step-by-step, she developed City Slicker Farms. I adore her for conducting a big project that started from just a piece of land.

Reading this profile induces me to think about utilization of skills. Sometimes, people’s skill cannot be seen because the people have no opportunity to express them. This can be due to lack of motivation and materials or instruments needed to express those skills. Rosenthal realized that the people in Oakland have the ability to conduct the farming in their own house, but they have no instruments and materials needed to do so. Hence, she created a mean to provide the things needed for the society.

Willow Rosenthal is among the great examples of women who change the way of eating!

Reading Journal Seven

Nature and Nature’s God by Matthew Scully is the piece I have chosen to respond for Reading Journal Seven. This piece is about views of a vegetarian.

One of the quotes I underlined, ‘How many people can actually pinpoint some moment in their lives when they decided to eat meat?’ strikes the thoughtfulness of vegetarians regarding meat-eating and their courage to stop it. Another quote, ‘What sickened him one hour, maddened him with hunger, the next.’ shows how hunger can affect the thoughts. Besides that, I find that the quote, ‘We may be predators, but we are the only predator with a choice in the matter’ is strong to stop people from boasting about their meat eating habit.

At the beginning of the reading, my sense of sight stands out when the deer hide is mentioned. It became an unpleasant ‘sight’ when the quarry bleeds. The words ‘dried and smoked; or boiled or baked or fried’ don’t sound appetizing enough to stimulate the sense of taste as the thought of the death of the deer is still vivid. When the author says about ‘nibbling away at our rabbit food,’ I can I imagine sound of crunchiness of the long, orange carrot when it’s bitten and chewed.

A style I note is the writer has presented a manifesto of a vegetarian in which the latter shares the views about the diet he has approached and his opposing views about meat-eating. Besides that, the piece is told from the first person’s point of view. Examples for this are, ‘I enjoy a good feed as much as anybody…’ and ‘For my part, it has always seemed a good rule.’ At the beginning of this piece, the writer has posted questions such as ‘…how troublesome to have to make a choice…?’ and ‘Why is industrial farming wrong…?’ Another style I realize is the writer has used a quote from another piece, The Yearling. This one paragraph long quote is about Jody being sorry for causing a deer to die, but later, being torn between pity and hunger.

I sense hypocrisy when people ‘could not bear to see how it (the meat) was produced’ yet, they eat meat. I felt kind of embarrassed as I am categorized under this group of people! In term of science, humans are animals. The mind is what greatly differentiates human beings from the other animals and I believe this is the reason for humans to be able to adapt ‘unnatural secondary nature’. I belief the author’s point, humans are not meat eaters by nature. Humans have mind to decide. Hence, this might be the reason for the human population to start consuming meat when they choose to taste meats due to curiosity. Our ancestors might have developed liking for the meat which lead to change in the diet of humankind. I wonder what else human being’s ‘unnatural secondary nature’ is.

Reading Journal Six

For Reading Journal Six, I have chosen to respond to Melissa Nelson, PhD, an author’s profile. She is also the President and executive director of Cultural Conservancy.

The reading comprises of quotes that stimulate my thinking. One of the quotes that I underlined is ‘I was elated to find and work for an organization that was so aligned with my life passion’. I can’t agree more with this sentence as I a firm believer that people find true happiness and satisfaction when they do something related to their passion. Another quote, ‘…allowed many species of plants and animals to co-evolve with humans’ shows how evolution of a species affects the evolution of another species in the ecosystem. Besides that, ‘…they held important leadership roles within tribes’ is a quote that presents about female leadership. Often, leadership is related to masculinity. So, not many tribes are led by female leaders.

From this profile, I was interested to read about the impacts on culture on the food system and eating styles. I was curious to know how changes in this traditional food system affect the lifestyle of the tribe. For instance, when the tribe switches its diet from eating own farm products to government subsidized food the change results in diabetes that was uncommon before.

Costa has organized this profile by splitting it into three sections. The first is about her background, untitled. The following two parts are titled. These subtopics help to tell the gist of their passage. For example, the subtopic, ‘WOMEN’S ROLE IN WILD CULTIVATION’ shows me that the main point presented will be about women in the tribe and their job scopes in wild cultivation.

Apart from that, this profile is full of substance. It is loaded with information about the traditional food system and its effects on the tribe when the food system changes.

Costa has also presented by widely using complex sentences, often continuously. ‘Melissa found the oral traditions… As a collaborative ethnographer, … It is critical to document and protects…’ is an great example.

Besides that, Costa has presented the profile in third person’s point of view. ‘…Melissa is of mixed-blood heritage’ is an example for this. Occasionally, the usage of direct quote from the main character, Melissa Nelson, PhD gives first-hand experience of the main character of this profile, Melissa Nelson, PhD. For instance, at the second paragraph, the author has presented the exact words by the main character, ‘…This connection to place was visceral and spiritual, not intellectual…’ depicts the exact feeling of this woman without ‘contamination’.

I my opinion, preserving culture and traditions lead to balanced, undisturbed lifestyle. Sometimes, changes that are considered good might not bring the outcomes desired. For instance, the commodity food distributed by the government alters the practice of customs of the tribes. Consequently, the health of the tribe is badly affected.

Sweet Reading Journal Five

The poem, Production by Audre Lord is a piece about harvesting honey. One of my favorite quotes I highlighted in the poem is ‘100,000 bees make a sturdy hive’. 100,000 is the maximum number of bees for a bee hive to accommodate. The more the number of bees, the more powerful is the hive. This quote presents the importance of teamwork for success. Another quote, ‘Tomorrow we make a living two dollars at a time’ depicts the idea that the nature provides income for human

The first line, ‘100,000 bees make a sturdy hive’ is powerful enough for me to think of bees with yellow and black strips with stinger at the back, producing high-frequency buzzing sound. This made my hairs to stand! While reading the lines of the poem after the first line, I imagined a sharp, shiny, hot knife used to uncap the bee wax; a light yellow honey comb with small, hexagon frames arranged in orderly manner with the dark, thick honey dripping from it; the brain alerting, extreme sweetness of the honey in mouth; the air filled with sweet smell of honey; the harvesters’ laughter while having honey feast. Most of the sensory details I experienced were pleasant.

The poet has used simile in the line, ‘Sweet creeps like bees’ to describe the fast flow of honey when it is extracted by the machine. In the same line, she has used another style, personification. She ‘humanizes’ the honey by telling that it ‘creeps’. Apart from that, the poet has presented the poem from first person’s point of view. The use of the word ‘we’ shows that the poet is one of the characters in the poem.

Reading this poem stimulated me to think of the nature’s vital role in providing nourishment and income for the human population. Honey is consumed by human. The harvesters sell honey to gain money, ‘two dollars at a time ‘. Now, I appreciate the Mother Nature more than before.

After reading the poem, I became curious to know the detailed process of harvesting honey. I was curious to know more about bees and honey as well. Therefore, I did some extra readings about bees. Now, I need to explore about honey harvesting process and honey!

Food Interview

Simon Ye was my subject of interview about food. He is an international student from China studying in Iowa State University. Therefore, I was curious to know his traditions practiced in his home town to cook and how he is coping with food in American environment.

China is a big country. Different regeions in China have different cooking traditions. Simon's hometown is in North part of China, a city near sea,called Wen Zhou. Seafood is easily available and popular there. There are a lot of ways to cook the seafood in Wen Zhou. One of them is boiling, the simplest way to cook. Boiling seafood without any other ingredients and eating them on the spot preserves the real taste and smell of the seafood. However, people with low preference for the smell of the seafood boil the seafood with garlic as garlic removes the 'bad' smell of the seafood.

Another easy way to cook seafood is stir-fry. According to Simon, 'Stir fried seafood is tastier than boiled seafood, but stir-frying causes the seafood to lose it's original taste'.

People in Wen Zhou prefer to eat cooked vegetable rather than raw vegetables. Normally, vegetables are stir-fried. The yellow rice wine added to make the vegetables tasty. As a final process of cooking vegetable, soy sauce is added. The people here add little salt in their cooking, especially vegetables.

During his stay in the US, Simon doesn't cook often, since he is having meal plan on campus. He misses his traditional Chinese food. Luckily, having restaurants that serve Chinese dishes makes the situation better for him even though the taste is not exactly as same as the traditional one that he used to cook.

Interviewing Simon made me realize that people miss the food they used to eat when it is not available. =)

Reading Journal Four

For the Reading Journal Four, I have chosen to respond to the profile of Marion Kalb, a co-director of National Farm to School Network.

While reading, one of the quotes I underlined is ‘school lunch is a perfect example of our dysfunctional food system…’. It is sad to know that school, a center of education and learning that should set a good example of food system, is having a bad image of food system. Another quote is ‘Nearly 30 million children eat school lunch five days a week in the United States’. Here I learnt that school has significant role in diet of children population, directly.

I admire Marion Kalb for appreciating food, the basic fuel of life. I admire her more for taking further step by spreading the sense of appreciation for food due to social awareness. She had helped villagers in central Africa through ‘market garden’ so that they can earn extra income. In another program called National Farm to School Network, she kills two birds in a stone by creating a direct link between farmers and school districts. This has helped the farmers to have a continuous, stable income and the school children to have nutritious diet. Marion has great contribution to the society for enhancing the quality of food system. I respect this woman

The obvious technique used by the writer to present her work is third person’s point of view. The whole profile of Marion Kalb is told by Costa by using the words like ‘Marion’, ‘she’ and ‘her’. Examples are ‘Marion Kalb has worked diligently for more than twenty-six years… ‘, ‘She kept her position as executive director for twelve years’ and ‘… Marion is trying to work herself out of a job.’

Besides that, Costa has presented the work in simple and direct language. One of the examples is ‘She pursued a degree in Political Economy at UC Berkeley, fascinated by how corrupt political arrangements tie people to lives of poverty‘. Here she points out the corrupted politics directly instead of shadowing the message in the sentence to present it indirectly. The usage of simple language throughout the profile is a great way of communicating the message with vast population of English literate people. An example of usage of simple language is ‘Farm to school has seen much success over the past thirteen years, synonymous with the growing interest and support of sustainable foods.’ This sentence is easy to understand.

The writer has also used criticizing tone in some parts of her work. I sense criticism in sentences such as ‘She pursued a degree in Political Economy at UC Berkeley, fascinated by how corrupt political arrangements tie people to lives of poverty‘ and ‘school lunch is a perfect example of our dysfunctional food system…’. In the first example, she has criticized the politics while in the second example she has criticized the food system in schools.

As a personal response to this profile, I would say that improving the food system of school when there are about 30 million children having lunch for five days in a week in the United States is among the best ideas to improve the food system of the future human population in the United States. Children tend to stick to the habit they have learnt at early age when they become adults. Therefore, eating nutritious food during school days helps the children to become adults with good eating habits. Apart from that, being exposed to the food production by visiting farms is a great way for the children to appreciate their food and to learn about food production. A good advocate of food system in school is the right knowledge for children to have a better life in future.

Reading Journal Three (Last Christmas of the War)

For the Reading Journal Three, I have chosen to respond to Last Christmas of the War by Primo Levi. The piece is about two prisoners, the writer and his friend, Alberto’s conspiracy to hide the food the former received from his sister and mother.

As I read the piece, I highlighted certain quotes. For an example, ‘the terms eating, food, hunger had meanings totally different from their usual ones.’ is one of them. The prisoners in the camp eat to satisfy hunger while ‘usually,’ people eat at social events even if they are not hungry to meet the social needs. The food the prisoners consume does not promise taste while ‘usually’ the food people consume is cooked to meet the desired taste. Another quote that I highlighted is, ‘Some other famished man was celebrating Christmas at our expense, maybe even blessing us.’ This sentence lessens the melancholy mood effect of the incident of the stolen jacket. Here, I am also impressed with Alberto’s ability for having a positive view from an unwanted incident. The quote at the end of the story, ‘this would be our last Christmas of war and imprisonment.’ has neutralized the effect on the whole mood of the story by giving hope that the suffering in the camp will end in about another one more year.

When I was reading this piece, my sense of smell and taste became active when the author described that ‘the package contained ersatz chocolate, cookies, and powdered milk’. I was imagining the smell and sweet taste of the chocolates and cookies. When the writer mentioned that he would get twenty-five whacks with a stick for not being able to stitch the registration number, my sense of hearing and touch stood out uncomfortably. I could ‘hear’ the sound of the whip from the air to the writer’s body and ‘feel’ the excruciating pain resulting from the whack!

One of the styles the writer had used to present the story is foreign language. ‘Mazel tov’ was used to congratulate the writer. Another example of this style is found in the supply master’s reply, ‘bekommst du fünfundzwanzig’ which means, the writer would receive twenty-five whacks with a stick. Besides that, the writer had used connotation to describe the hunger and desire for food when he mentioned the food package he had received from his family members.

Reading the story had made me to think about food wastage by those who can afford it. It is a disgrace when people throw away the leftovers while there are underprivileged people who cannot afford to eat the required amount of food to meet their basic needs, at another part of the world. I see the need to be grateful for the food we get and the easy access we have for the food. It is good to take and eat the required amount of food without wasting it.

At the end of Last Christmas of the War, my mind was in wonderment: How would the writer get a needle and thread? Did he able to find them on time? I hope he could sew the registration number on his new jacket so that he would not be whacked.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this story. It was easy to be understood in the first reading and it kept me interested as I was curious to know what would happen to the food at the end.

Reading Journal Two

From the Reading Journal Two, I have chosen The Beatles Live On, The Power of ‘Hello’ and Making It Up as I Go Along. They are my top three favorite essays in this reading journal.

From the essay, The Beatles Live On, my favorite quote is ‘music brings people together’ I could not agree more with this quote because when people sing together or listen to music together, an inner connection can be felt despite the differences between them.

‘Even a dog can wag its tail when it passes you on the street’ is quoted from The Power of ‘Hello’. It sounds funny but, it is meaningful. Here, I learned the importance of being courteous by acknowledging people’s presence.

Another favorite quote is extracted from Making It Up as I Go Along. It is the first sentence of the essay, ‘Just because you have only six plates and three glasses is no reason why you can't invite 12 people to dinner’. It captured my interest to read.

The obvious similarity of the three essays is they are told from the first person’s point of view. Hence, I know the exact thoughts and feelings of the writer about what had happened in his or her life.

Besides that, I can sense optimism in all the three stories at some point. In The Beatles Live On, the narrator’s father was hopeful to get back his family’s dog by playing the Yellow Submarine aloud in the car. For the Power of Saying ‘Hello’, the founder of the company motivated the narrator by saying that the latter could go for the most top position in the company. As a result, the narrator became a Vice President of the company. The essay of Making It Up as I Go Along is full of optimism. The writer had a positive view at everything that happened in her life. Even when her restaurant bankrupted, she just walked away satisfyingly for the lessons she had while running the business.

The three essays differ from each other in term of theme. The Beatles Live On is about association of a boy’s family music with the memory about his father, while The Power of Saying ‘Hello’ is about a man who learned the importance of acknowledging people’s presence in his life and practiced it. The last but not the least, Making It Up as I Go Along is about a woman who did not plan for the upcoming events in her life but enjoyed doing them when they come along and she enjoyed learning from them.

My favorite essay is Making It Up as I Go Along because I enjoyed reading the experience of the writer who was open to learning all the time. The writer learned new things by doing anything that came along in her life. For instance, when she ran the restaurant, everything was new for her. Despite running a business, her goal was not money, but knowledge of handling business. She was a flexible person who did not follow preset rules and procedures. She made steak for dinner by busing only a knife and scissors! She was a creative person who can come up with different recipe. When I read this essay, I feel like someone is describing a part of me as I share the similar attitude as the writer.

As a personal response to Making It Up as I Go Along, I would like to say that having the urge to try new aspects promises knowledge that enriches our life.

Review of Indian Takeout

I have chosen to respond to the writing piece entitled Indian Takeout by Jhumpa Lahiri. The story is about a family that brought the edible goods and kitchen appliances to Rhode Island from its visits to Calcutta. While reading, I have highlighted three quotes that express the main ideas of the story. The are found below.

‘Trips to Calcutta let my parents eat again, eat the food of their childhood, the food they had been deprived of as adults.’

‘It was enough, that first lonely evening, not only to satisfy our hunger but to make Calcutta seem not so very far away.’

‘The world, the culinary world in particular, has shrunk considerably.’

The writer cleverly describes the points in detailed manner to make the audience experience a vicarious thrill. The first and foremost sense that stood out while I read the story was my sense of taste. For an example, when the narrator’s father suck ‘the pits lovingly smooth’ I could ‘taste’ the softness and juiciness of the yellow mangoes. Besides that, when the narrator’s mother ‘breakfasted shamelessly on sticky orange sweets called jelebis’ which were ‘easy to succumb’, I could feel the irresistible sweetness of the jelebis.

Apart from that, my sense of sight was alive when the author described the father as a man who ‘insisted on packing the goods himself, with the aura of a man possessed: bare chested, seated cross-legged on the floor, determined’, I could imagine a man with masculine mental and physical attributes. As the reading progress, ‘a bumpy, bright green bitter melon’ was mentioned. It made me to imagine the exact features of the melon.

At the end of the story, my sense of smell was active when I learned that the neglected food suitcase smelled of cumin.

A writing style the author used in the narration is diction. She had used a good selection of words to present quality, style and sound of the points in the piece. (http://www.answers.com/topic/rhetoric-and-figures-of-speech-related-word-list)

An example of diction can be seen in the second paragraph of the story that is quoted below. Here, the author described the characteristics of the suitcase that was used to store food.

‘Our treasure chest, something we called the Food Suitcase, was an elegant relic from the Fifties with white stitching and brass latches that fastened shut with satisfying clicks. The inside was lined in peach-colored satin, had shirred lingerie pockets on three sides and was large enough to house a wardrobe for a long journey. Leave it to my parents to convert a vintage portmanteau into a portable pantry. They bought it one Saturday morning at a yard sale in the neighborhood, and I think it's safe to say that it had never been to India before.’

Besides that, the author had described the irony of not using the ancient food processor despite the unapproved reactions rose from the transportation of it. The example is found below.

‘The most sensational gadget we ever transported was a sil-nora, an ancient food processor of sorts, which consists of a massive clublike pestle and a slab the size, shape and weight of a headstone. Bewildered relatives shook their heads, and airport workers in both hemispheres must have cursed us. For a while my mother actually used it, pounding garlic cloves by hand instead of pressing a button on the Osterizer. Then it turned into a decorative device, propped up on the kitchen counter. It's in the basement now.’

The author has shown another example of diction in the following paragraph.

‘In spite of everything we managed to haul back, the first meal we ate after returning from India was always a modest affair. My mother prepared the simplest of things: rice, some quartered potatoes, eggs if she was motivated, all boiled together in a single pot. That first meal was never an occasion to celebrate but rather to mourn, for the people and the city we had, once again, left behind. And so my mother made food to mirror our mood, food for the weary and melancholy. I remember thinking how strangely foreign our own kitchen felt that first night back, with its giant, matching appliances, water we could safely drink straight from the tap and rice which bore no stray stones.’

In paragraph found above, the author had described her family members' first meal upon their return to Rhode Island from their visit to India. It was not a joyous occasion for them.

Another writing style presented by the author is flashback. The whole story excluding the last paragraph is a flashback of the narrator’s past experience of transportation of food and some kitchen wares from India to Rhode Island.

From the content of the piece, I learnt that the food we are used to eat during the early of our life is the food that eventually becomes food that we yearn for when it is missing. We miss the taste, smell and texture of the food when we have no access to it. Even though the food might be available in foreign country we are living, it might not be the same due to the sentimental values share with the food. For example, Malaysians who like to eat traditional Malay sweet cakes or also known as kuih made from freshly squeezed coconut milk might not like to eat the kuih made from canned coconut milk found in United States. Another reason is the food might not be up to our expectations due to cultural assimilation. For example, Americans who love pizza with cheese and shredded chicken in United States might prefer not to eat the pizza with cheese and spicy, shredded chicken in India.

At the end of the story, I grasped the idea of globalization when the author described that ‘the culinary world in particular, has shrunk considerably’. At the past, people had very limited access to foreign food and groceries. However, nowadays, it is easier to eat food originated from foreign country compared to the past. For an instance, there are two Asian markets in West Ames, Iowa. So, people in Ames can buy groceries from there to try cooking Asian dishes. People in Ames have easy access to the considerable number of Chinese Restaurants in Ames as well. Due to globalization, food originated from overseas has become common for us.

The reading of the story did raise some questions to me. I wondered and still wondering how will be the taste of Moghlai parathasta. Besides that, can I, an international student tolerate the food in United States that differs greatly from Malaysia, my nation for a long term? Will I end up desperately craving for the food like fried noodles, char kuey tiaw and chicken sambal that taste exactly like Malaysian?

Overall, I enjoyed reading Indian Takeout. It gave me a good understanding of immigrants who miss the food of their origin.

Communication (WOVE)

I have been learning to communicate since I was born. I believe that my mom was my first oral teacher as she taught me words with repetition so that I will grasp the word and tell the word correctly. When I could not find the words to express my needs when I was small, I just point the things related to my needs. For an example, if I wanted to eat an apple and I don't know the word 'apple' I point my fingers to the apple I saw to get that apple. I think that was a visual communication. Learning to write was a tedious experience as a kid for me as I seek for perfection when I was small. So, if I couldn't write (or draw, like what I used to think) the letters as it supposed to look like. Once I learned the good handwriting skills, I began to increase my writing skills so that I can express my thoughts clearly. I would like to ace the writing skills so that I can tell my thoughts and ideas to the world without miscommunication. =)