Hw 6 - Food Diary

      Over the past 48 hours, I have had almost identical meal sets between the two days. Breakfast on both days was Whole wheat toast with a cup of orange juice, I had no lunch yesterday nor today, yesterdays dinner was General Tsaos chicken with white rice from the local chinese restaurant, and todays dinner was a Chicken and bacon ranch with lettuce from Subway. I had no junk food in between and drank nothing but orange juice for breakfast, and water with everything else. My serving sizes were quite large for both my dinners but small for breakfast. I believe my calorie intake was pretty normal, around the recommended 2000 calorie limit.
      The meals I chose were all among my favorite foods, so its obvious i enjoyed the smell, taste and texture of all the foods. My breakfast's which consisted of two slices of Whole wheat toast and about 10 ounces of orange juice are a relatively new breakfast that I'm now used to. I decided to switch from an egg sandwich or chocolate chip waffles every morning to a breakfast that i feel good about eating every morning, and that is much healthier for me. In all honesty, It feels much better knowing you're eating healthy rather than enjoying an unhealthy food with slightly better taste. Lunch has always been a sketchy meal to me. I have days when I eat lunch and days that I don't, however, my reason for skipping lunch the past two days is that I am still contemplating on what to substitute my usual lunch at Mcdonalds with. My dinners are something that I have trouble making healthy. I usually have take-out food for dinner from a local restaurant, and I believe this is a very common trend in American, and especially New York. Most of the people I know, and most of my family that i don't live with, order something from either a deli, the chinese restaurant or the local pizza place.
      In my opinion, healthier options should be just as accessible and common as "normal" foods. There should be a "Healthy" or "under 500 calories" section on a menu, there should just be a menu that is all around healthy, healthy foods just need to be less taboo.  The food I picked to eat over the last 48 hours were chosen mostly by habit. My breakfast has become a habitual meal of whole wheat toast and orange juice, and my lunch's and dinner's are take-out by habit. I chose the specific lunch's and dinner's on a normal day mostly based on how convenient it is for me, and my time restrictions. Altogether I feel good about my choice of food, however I feel that I can improve my dietary habits slightly more, specifically when it comes to dinner. Once I change that, I can feel 100% confident in my food choices.

Hw 5 - Dominant Discourses Regarding Contemporary Foodways in the U.S.

      The dominant discourses that apply to food ways in America is vaguely; healthy food is all you should eat, and fatty food and fast food is what you shouldn't eat. In mainstream society ( Modeling, commercials, and most food advertisements) being healthy due to food is the way to go. When it comes to advertising in the food industry, there is no company that doesn't show its healthy options. Even Mcdonalds for example; with all the negative assumptions placed on them, and the amount of awareness that the people who eat at Mcdonalds have about their food, they still dare to advertise their low-calorie options such as smoothies or a Filet-O-fish over their notorious Big Mac. Why is eating healthy the dominant discourse on food in America, when more Americans are obese than ever before?
      Dominant discourses are also quite contradictory, Why is it that even though a Dominant Discourse on food ways in America is, healthy food is what you should eat instead of fast food, Than why is it that vegetarians are looked down at? Aren't vegetables the healthiest option of food? Is it perhaps that healthy food is the dominant discourse, but still has to be looked at as "Normal" in society? It makes perfect sense, the media and food companies are who set the standard and dominant discourses on food, and they wouldn't want to advertise something as drastic as an all vegetable diet, therefore they throw in a healthier way of having your favorite meal, and there you have it, a "Normal" healthy meal that is excepted in society and is within the limits of the dominant discourse.
       A person who is very educated about food ways in America, and about what is the norm for food eating, would be looked at as a perfect example of what an American should be eating like. The dominant discourse on food, would be perfectly exemplified by that educated American. Dominant Discourses on contemporary food ways in America are that, everything you eat should be healthy, and that fast foods are bad. The media and food companies themselves are what create it, and we Americans are who should abide by those expectations.

HW 4 - Your Families' Foodways

    Up until I reached the age of 13, I ate almost entirely only what was put on my plate by my grandmother. I grew accustomed  to whatever it was that my grandmother fed me. She carved out my ideas of food, and of what I liked. However, at the moment our ideas of food are polar opposites. My grandmother looks at food as being something you eat to fill you up, and satisfy your hunger regardless of it's nutritional value. I, on the other hand feel like you should eat when your hungry, however I believe that the meal you choose should be a healthy meal that satisfies you as opposed to filling you up.
    I look at myself as a good example of someone who grew up with the same exact views of food as the person who raised them, but  than grew into someone who developed their own ideas, with their own knowledge of different foods. I believe that their are many Americans, who even as adults base their diets on what they grew up with. This is definitely a trend that is amongst all Americans, the real question is if these people change their dietary habits based on new things they learn about food. The media and the society around us is what changes most peoples' views on food and how they should eat.
The people who raise us are the people who set a standard for what we should eat for the rest of our lives. It is up to us to keep consistent with those ways of eating, or to change based on the influences around them.
    Overall, parents/guardians have arguably the strongest influence on what we eat, as children we don't know what is "Healthy" for us, we think food makes us big and strong and that's it. It's with knowledge that we grow older with different eating habits, which in my case is what occurred

HW # 3 Fast food insights, and green market realizations

In New York, the society thrives around the idea of convenance, and price. Is it easier to pick up a quick $6 meal that tastes good and fills you? or a few bunches of broccoli and kale for the same price?  Would you rather spend 2-3 minutes eating the very same meal you just paid for? or spend an additional 10-45 minutes preparing your own meal from the fresh vegetables you just got from the green market?
When it comes down to it, the fast food market thrives on the idea of getting attention in order to attract customers. As our class noticed on a field trip to the McDonalds on Union Square; they have small decorative flags in the front, big signs advertising themselves on the windows, colorful eating space, and even an ATM machine. "The food tastes good", a simple short quote from a man enjoying a McDonalds breakfast sandwich. Mcdonalds makes it seem as there is no excuse for why you shouldn't be able to drop by for a quick order of your favorite 600 calorie burger.
The green market however, has an almost conservative approach. All of the vendors there who ranged from egg and cheese vendors to fruits, vegetables and even wool, simply set up there tents, tables, a sign or two, and than sat back and waited for the customers to come to them. One can say that, whereas the green market vendors waited for the consumers to make the effort for their goods, McDonalds makes the effort for you, and tries to handle all of your needs. Making the battle for convenance easily won by McDonalds, But the final question that has yet to be answered is, Why in a battle for convenance, the unhealthier option is in the lead?