Eating at the Edge

Jamie Horwitz creats a new phrase to discuss the new trend in eating in America, that is “Eating at the age”, which “refers to occasions when food is an additive to a situation, such as a cigarette would be rather than being definitive.”  He writes that, in the modern time, the social function of eating is gradually decreasing.  People are more like to eat with TV, on the road, or even in their own time. On hand food is replacing the food that needs us to eat at a fixed place and a fixed time. It seems like people don’t treat eating as holy as before; they become a garniture of other activities. What horwiz writes is very common in the daily life. For example, on my own experience, I can hardly eat three meals before table with my friends in the custom meal time. Because of the class scheduler, my eating time can be very strange, like 10:00 am for brunch, 4:00 for dinner or no breakfast, 11:00 for lunch, and 5:00 for dinner.  Besides, eating on road is a very common situation for me, no matter in China or in America, the only thing which is different is that the food changes form noodles to hot dog. I always talk to myself it is not good for my health, but it still very hard to change. The situation is more overdraw when the final is coming. I still remembered when I was in China, where the study system is different from America. Generally, we have a week to review for the final exam, and don’t have regular class in that week. Everyone makes himself isolated to the word and try to use every minute to remember more things so that he can get a good mark on the final exam. So you can see that everyone eat and sleep at that his or she own scheduler.  Once, all of us four who live in the same dormitory did different thing at the same time. One was sleeping, one was eating her breakfast, one was just getting up, and the last one was eating her lunch, and problem is that the time was four o’clock afternoon. So I can really understand what Horwitz writes what will happened when “work was measured by the task rather than the clock” Maybe it is what the modern time brings us.  

Third Essay

                             A Chinese restaurant  in America

          Few hundred years ago, we tried to demonstrate that the earth is a sphere, but today, we make it “flat”. Internationalism doesn’t appear in political and business fields, but also in every corner.  Following with the global economic integration, more and more people come to other counties to study, work and live. They cause the cultural integration phenomena today. When the culture travels from one country to another, it changes, but no matter how the culture changes, the core part would never change.

          Food as one of the good presenter for the culture integration today, which also includes many native characters, is great tool for us to detect the differentials between different cultures. So I choose the special community those who eating at a foreign style restaurant, exactly, people eat in a Chinese restaurant which located in a common city in America. This restaurant is the one near DU campus, called Jason Thai.  

There, people can be simply separated into two categories, native Americans and Chinese. We can separate them easily at daily time, because they have different appearances, speak different languages. But this time, the most interesting thing is that, even they eat in a same restaurant, we can still figure out whether a person is a Chinese just by looking at what he or she orders.

          According to my observation the difference begins with the drinking. Not like American restaurants, Chinese restaurants in China always offer free tea for their customers.  But this restaurant doesn’t. Most people just choose free water. The different is that most of Chinese people, especial girls would like to choose warm or hot water, or at least water without ice, but American, no matter women or men, they all choose water with ice. We can see the a little Chinese food culture here. In China, we stress the medical function of eating food. Just for water, we believe it is better to drink red tea in winter and green tea in summer. Even in hot summer, drinking ice water is not good for a person’s heath, especially for girls who are in their “special time”. It is because that when your body is very hot, ice water can easily make you get diarrhea problem, and for the girls it can cause dysmenorrhea. There are too many similar theories in Chinese food, nearly each kind of material has their own characters and function, and if the chef is profession, the collocation of the materials must be paid a lot of attention to. Sometimes, even a native Chinese still can’t explain the reasons for those clearly, but we still try to following the rules, we believe those are effective, because they are what our ancient left to us. At least, they won’t do any harm to our body.  Unlike other country, Chinese pay more attention to the nutritional balance and regimen.

          Another difference is reflected by the menu directly, that is the price. Just like other restaurants in America, the price of each food is similar, around ten dollar, which is the average price for most restaurant in America.  But the price differential between different restaurants or even between different foods in one restaurant is very big. China has a long history, in ancient, different social hierarchy ate totally different thing. Even today, the gap between rich and poor people is still very great, so a lunch for one person can be as little five yuan(about one dollar) , and also can be as much as one hundred  yuan.(about twenty dollar). And the prices are just for two restaurants near one campus.   

We can figure out a person’s socioeconomic start by looking at what they eat easily in China, but in America, we can hardly do that. What rich people and poor people eat in the daily life is not very different in America.  

          My last finding is that what people eat is really different. Chinese would like to eat those more traditional dishes. Americans like to eat spring rolls, fired noodles, and sushi. I suddenly find the reason why the food always changes when they moved from one place to another, not only because of the taste, but also the materials. To be honest, Chinese food can’t be defined by the whole country; it must be separated by the region. Different region have different characters. “The driving force behind Chinese cooking is the desire to adapt and incorporate indigenous ingredients and utilize Chinese cooking technique. Chinese cooking is not a set of dishes. It is a philosophy that serves local tastes and ingredients.” Ingredients can explain the main part of the native culture behind a food.

          In modern time, Culture is not unchanged any more. One can be changed over time by adding and combining with other culture. When one culture comes into another region, it not only affects the local culture, but also be affected by the local one. But because culture is based on people, the most core part can hardly be change.

P4--- food & community

O’Domell writes the food in Shenzhen, China, and Cate write writes the food for a very special community—the prisoner in a country jail in San Francisco. Cate write the food situation of the prisoners, a community can hardly determine what to eat, and very hard to eat well. Then, given that I am a Chinese, I read O’ Domell’s article carefully, and being curious about what and how he would write about it. In China, there is a famous sentence: eating is in Guangzhou, the province Shenzhen belongs to before it became the first special economic zone in 1978. O’ Domell writes the special community in that place, the immigrations from other place in China. Even me, a Chinese people can hardly image what’s China looked like thirties ago. The changes are very, very big. I can just know the situation from my mother’s descriptions.   At that time, getting enough basic necessities are the biggest whish for Chinese people. Nearly everything is quantitative supply, and the gaps between a rural person and a city person, I still remembered my father told me that one of the biggest reasons to go to a university is changing his rural identity to a city identity. Some people even still want to buy a city identity at 90s, when it nearly has no use any more. As O’ Domell writes, “Hukou” problem is a big problem at that time. Some lovers even be broken by their parents because of that.  So we can image that how risk the first general immigrations afford when they come to Shenzheng to create their new career. Most of them gave up their stable job; leaved their hometown and family; and try to create a new world only by their hands. The food situation wrote by O’ Domell is not just stop on the superficial level about what they eat and how they it. Ti related to the whole economic situation of China at that time. It is rally a special period in the history of China.

Chengdu food

China food has obviously distinctions from one place to another. Different regions all have their over characters of food. Nearly each big city has its special food. Here, I want to write about Chengdu food. As the capital of Sichuan province, Chengdu is the biggest city in Western South in China. The food here belongs to the Sichuan cuisine, which is one of the eight cuisines in China. Sichuan cuisine has special status in Chinese food. It is the most popular kind of food in China; you can find the Sichuan food restaurant everywhere all over the country. It can fit the demand of people in different socioeconomic. The price of these restaurant ranges from five dollar one person to fifty dollar one person. But if you want to eat the traditional Sichuan food, you must go there; otherwise, you can hardly have the chance to taste the real Sichuan food. Once reference the Chinese food, I think most foreigners will think of Kung Pao Chicken and Mapo tofu. Right, they are all Sichuan food.  Most Sichuan foods are very spicy, because the weather there is very moist. Besides, it is also very hot in the summer. So people need to eat some spicy food to sweat. It is good for heath. In fact, Chengdu is famous for its snake, because it is a very young, open, relaxed and fashion city, and has a lot of adventive workers. The cost of a food booth is very low, so many of these adventive workers choose to operate it. Furthermore, the Nightlife there is very abundant. This city has the biggest amount of bars in China. The night market is also very popular. So people usually want to eat some snake in the night. As a consequence, a special snake food culture forms there.

Comparison of essay 2

Sarah Heermann's second essay

Sarah Heermann writes her essay to talk about the differences between the advertisements focus on women and men. According to her observation, she gets a conclusion that “women generally are associated with and value foods that are healthier and more self-conscious, while men are generally thought of as enjoying foods that are full of fat and meat.” I really agree with her. I just did reach on the food I bought and I found all food on my table claims that they contain fewer calories than other similar food.  “0 calories”, “baked not fired” and “vegetable oil” are the reason I bought. No one told me I should buy this kind of food, and I also know it will not have significant effects on my weight; but I still pick this kind food from others on the counter. After read Sarah’s essay, I come up with a question: Is our habit influence the food advertisement or the food advertisement influence our habits? When this situation begins?

The second essay--food advertisements

Writing 1133

Naitong Li

April 8, 2012

                                                                       Food & Advertisements.

                Advertisements seem like have the most vivid and attracting language in the word. They can get you attention within just ten words in two or three second. They include many time characters and cultural value. By searching at them, we can find a lot of interesting things, and it also a good way for us to detect one thing. In order to have a better understanding about food today, we start to focus on the food advertisements here.  

                I will write four food products here. They are all just on my table now. So they are all very common in our life. The first thing I want to analyze is a kind of beverage. The brand is “Sobe Life water”.  The brand is written in the middle of the bottle. On the top of the bottle is a word as big as the brand name that is “0 calories”.  The numeric “0” is written in an emphasis way, big than others and bold. The phrase following it is “no artificial sweeteners”. Under the brand name is written the flavor—black and blue berry with other natural flavors. Next is the word “antioxidants”, “Vitamins C, E” and “mixed with berry and grope seed”, which written again on the back of the bottle. The products are focus the young people and especially those who care about the calories take in amount. To be honest, the reason why I bought it back is seeing the 0 calories word. Though I know it has no use to help my diet, the word 0 calories seems like have magic power for me. I usually couldn’t help to buy the food if I see this word written on it.

                The Second thing I want to discuss is the “Nutella”.  The brand name is written visibly in red color. Under the bottle is the sentence “Hazelnut Spread with Skim Milk & Cocoa”.  On the left side of bottle, it writes “The original hazelnut spread”, “Made with over 50 hazelnuts pre Jar”, “Contains No Artificial colors” and “Contains No Artificial Preservatives”.   On the back of the bottle it writes an example of a tasty yet balanced breakfast: a glass of skim milk, orange juice and Nutella on whole wheat bread. I think this food is focus on the people who are worried about the breakfast. I bought it because it seems make the breakfast very easily. After all, after I came to here, the breakfast became a big problem for me. When I was in China, I could by it on the road and ate it on the bus. But in America, there is no food booth on the road any more. I must get up earlier and cook for myself. I bought it because it can give me a quick and nutrient breakfast.  

                The third thing I want to describe is The Heinz tomato ketchup. On the front of the bottle, except the brand name, there just a tomato picture with two phrases “Grown not made” and 57 varieties. Besides, there is a time under the brand: 1869. On the back of the bottle, it writes:  “Only the best tomatoes for the best ketchup”, “Did you know that every tomato in every bottle of Heinz ketchup is grown from Heinz seeds? Grown not made…”and “One reason why no other ketchup tastes like Heinz Ketchup!” This product doesn’t have special customs because everyone in America needs it. So it attracts customs by the numeric 1869, which means the brand has a long history. And there are a lot of similar products in the market, so they say their taste is different like others because they use natural tomatoes.

                The fourth thing I write here is the “Calee” shrimp flavored chips. On the front of the bag, except the big words “Shrimp flavored chips”, there is just one word, “baked”. On the back of the bag, it writes “A toasted light snack, with a touch of shrimp” A delectable new snack made with tidbits of shrimp, wheat flour and pure vegetable oil blended together and toasted to a golden crispy crunch. This product attracts its customs by showing it is made by real shrimp and the pure vegetable oil, which are all healthy and valued things. It also attract me attention by the word “baked”. The first impression the word gives me is that it is different from fired, so it seems healthier.

                Through looking at the four advertisements together, we can find that except the good taste. One thing is emphases by the four advertisements are the resources of the masteries. Each of them says they use the really thing in the word to make their food; there is no artificial thing. And another thing is very important is the calories they include.  We can find that the modern people are care about their weight more than before.  And with the development of chemical industry, people are very care about whether the food they eat is natural.  In one word, we achieve the result from analyzing the food advertisement that people pay more attention to the heath today.

 

advertisment language

           In the article, “Authenticity in America: Class Distinctions in Potato Chip”, Joshua Freedman and Dan Jurafsky keep focus on the language art on advertisement. They found different socioeconomic class has different language characters. As a result, the advertisements for expensive and inexpensive usually have significant different in language using. They use chips as an example and explore those expensive chips advertisements prefer to use long sentence and hard words while the cheaper ones prefer to use common and short words. That is because higher socioeconomic class usually means higher educated level showing by the complex sentence. They also find that the heath part is more important for expensive products than inexpensive products. Besides, according to their observation, the expensive chips advertisements use unique, comparative and negation word more. Finally, they talk about the importance of authenticity in food advertisements and how it varies in expensive and inexpensive chips advertisements. In my opinion, I think these differences on language using in the between expensive and inexpensive food advertisements occurs naturally. We can image that, at first, there were no advertisement in the word. Then, sellers want to promote their products by using advertisement. I think everyone want to buy a food which is heather and sounds more “noble”, but how much they want to pay for this is depending on their economic situation. For the lower socioeconomic class, the little tiny diction in these parts doesn’t seem important for them. Most of them don’t want to pay much more for it. But for the rich people, they don’t have any worries about money. What they pay attention to is just the quality of the food. The expensive products must show their unique characters that are worth to be paid more.  So their advertisements become different from the cheaper ones. After all, they must have something better than the others to attract the rich people attention. And the better things must are the rich one really seek. Expect chips, we can also find this situation in other products, such as milk, bread, and bottle water. For example, different brand water bottle has different slogan. Most of them are stress they are pure and healthy. But the expensive one are more focus their source of water, and the naturalness.  They focus how their water is different from others and how it is good for people. They also focus on their packing, have more different types, and look more exquisite. They often have complex names.

A product describe for evian water: Uniquely balanced, unlike any other

evian® is all natural and perfectly pure.

Each drop of evian starts as rain and melting snow on the peaks of the Northern Alps. It filters through layers of glacial sand on a 15+ year journey deep in the heart of the mountains. Through this process, evian is filtered naturally, without chemicals, giving it the purity, mineral content, and taste that nature intended.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25o8R34yXqI  Smart water commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7fre8mnKeI Evian water boy

The first short essay

Writing 1133

Naitong Li

1, April, 2012

                                    My memory of food in Wuhan

            China has the greatest food culture in the world. The food there can be divided into two kinds; the first one is often related to the special festivals. People have particular food to eat in every festival, such as dumplings for Spring Festive, moon cake for Mid-Autumn, and Glutinous rice ball for Lantern Festive. The other kind is related to particular region. Different areas in China have different food, which is very distinctive compared with others. For example, spicy food is the main food in Sichuan province, the areas around Shanghai usually prefer to eat sweet and light food, Shanxi province has the greatest variety of noodles, and Guanzhou province is famous for its soup. For me, the most significance of food is that exploring food in one place can help me know the climate and people’s character here. It is a very interesting and direct method. Furthermore, food helps me to keep memory of one city, and a period of life, especially my experience in Wuhan.

            Before I went to Denver, I was studying at Wuhan University of Technology. Wuhan is the biggest city in the center of China, Hubei province. I had lived there for two years. Those two years were the most relaxed and exciting period in my life. Getting rid of the high pressure of the college entrance exam, moving to a totally new place, and meeting a lot of new friends from many different places all made my life very colorful. Today, most of my classmates at that time transferred to American University for further studying, and when we got together to recall the time we spent together in Wuhan this spring break, food is a very important topic in our conversation. At first Wuhan is famous for its snake; there are many special and delicious food here. And the food there also carries too much common memory of us. Hot Dry Noodles, Wuchan fish and a kind of soup were three kinds of food that we were most missing.

            Hot Dry Noodles, is one of the five famous noodles in China. It is the most popular food for Wuhan, and enjoys a high reputation for its low price and good taste. When you mention Wuhan to an outsider, the first thing he or she thinks of is it. It is an essential part of the Wuhan diet, eaten by almost everyone daily at breakfast time. Unlike other kinds of noodles, it doesn’t a lot of soup, so people can bring it easily. Because Wuhan is a very big city, and the traffic there is not very good, people usually choose some food they can eat when they on the road so that they can sleep more in the morning. At this time, the Hot Dry Noodles becomes the best choice.  I can still remember the picture that I was eating it on my way to classroom in a hurry with my friends. It is always the starting of my daily life.

            Wuchang fish is another representative food in Wuhan. It is famous because it mentioned in many verses. For example, China's Chairman Mao Zedong in his poem "Swimming" writes: "I have just drunk the waters of Changsha. And come to eat the fish of Wuchang." In my memory, I ate Wuchang fish with my classmates when we went to East Lake for spring outing. We tasted the terrific fish, drinking and laughing, meanwhile, enjoying the marvelous view around the lake and reciting those romantic verses. The breeze from the lake with the intoxicating odor of flowers made us feel really great. This fish help me to record a happy experience.

            The soup made by spareribs and the root of lotus is the most common of soup in Wuhan. My roommate, whose family is in Wuhan, always brought this soup from her home to us. Her mother cooked it for us, and we shared together. Because the other three people, including me, are all come from far away from Wuhan. So we could only go back home twice a year in summer and winter holiday. Tasting the soup let us think of the flavor of our mother, it helped us experience the warmth of home. The time in every week that we enjoying the soup together was the sweetest time in our dormitory.

            Beside these three kinds of food, there are still many kinds of food in Wuhan take an important position in my memory. Like Zhou Black Duck, which I often mailed for my old friends who didn’t have a chance to Wuhan to taste it by themselves. Yuba, the first and last thing I ate at Wuhan. ShuangpiNai, a dessert likes pudding, which we often ate when we studied in the night to prepare the exams. Miba, a light sweet pie made by rice, is my favorite staple food. I can hardly to stop listing. These foods were all important for me, not just because they were delicious, but also because they were a significant part of my life in Wuhan. It helped me record my life in Wuhan, which was full of my sweet, warmth, and exciting memory.  It is the food helped me to keep my memory in Wuhan vivid.  

 Hot Dry Noodels

Wuchang fish

















The soup made by spareribs and the root of lotus

Zhou black Duck

 Shuangpi Nai

 Yuba

Miba