Monday, December 6, 2010

homemade food instead of fast food

Fast food is quickly served but comes with consequences.  Obesity is one of the widespread result of fast food.  But not only obesity, fast food also takes much longer to break down.  It takes 7 hours of consistent exercise to break down one fast food meal.  At a recent study shows how quickly fast food will show sign of mold.  Consumer investigator Erin smith spend few weeks in a unique project where she placed homemade food and fast food and placed them in zip lock bags.  It took 14 days to show mold in the fast food while the home made meal showed mold right away.  Smith believes meat that goes to fast food restaurant is treated the chemical called ammonium hydroxide.  Regardless what's in fast food eating homemade food is healthy.  Because when you eat homemade food you know whats in the food oppose to fast food.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

research paper

Anger is an emotion related to one's perception of having been offended or wronged and a tendency to undo that wrongdoing by retaliation. According to Videbeck it’s an emotional response to a perceived provocation.  Phycologically a person makes a conscious choice of action when they are angry and therefore sometimes people regret of their choice of action.  Similarly I regret my choice action that took place during my high school year.  It was one rainy day when my friends and I were hanging out.  The topic of the day was culture.  According to CARLA (Center for advanced research on language acquisition) culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization.  These shared patterns identify the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those of another group.  During the conversation my friends comment on my culture got me angry.  Later it turned into an argument which eventually turned into a fight.  Though I regret my choice of action but It’s not only I who gets mad at situations like this.  Most people take culture seriously because a system of value, tradition, customs and National identities makes the world that we live in.   The sense of individuality is what differ the world’s civilization and culture.  .  Different ideas and beliefs is what gives us the sense of diversity and makes cultural interaction an exciting affair.  In the modern world the sense of diversity seems to be disappearing.  Today American culture also considered as international culture.  A wide spread of American symbols has made it possible.  Fast food in particular has a great affect on culture.  Fast food is known as inexpensive food that can be acquired quickly. It has replaced our traditional family meal and became part of our culture.  Today fast food is known as the “the taste of USA”.    Fast food is associated with the concept of ready cooked food.  The growth of fast food is associated with the urban development.  It usually provides take away, takeout food or even drive through which makes life easier.  Fast food became an American way of life and the spread of it worldwide is creating a homogenized culture

            How the American way of life did come about? ”.  It all started when Walt Anderson began selling hamburger sandwich on an outdoor spot.  He flattened the meatball and placed between buns which attract a lot of hungry people with limited time.  They spread the business around as it grew rapidly.  It was built around speed and efficiency.  The importance of time has increased with every new advance in technology.  Now a mother can drop her kids at school, pay her bills online, schedule a meeting, respond to her email and etc.  In short everything has become easier now.  In this age of convenience there is no time for a well rounded meal.  The outcome of this need for speed have interfered our traditional family meal.  TV dinner was invented as TV’s became more common amongst American household.  Cities grew larger rapidly.  As the cities grew larger, agriculture leaned more toward industrialism and advanced technology and so the cars and long commutes became American way of life.  Traditional family meal was lost during all this development. As time passed people became busier and fast food took over traditional family meal gradually.   The need for speed has helped fast food taking over America’s traditional family meal.  It has not only changed what we eat.  It has also changed how we eat.  In the past people used to enjoy their meal while savoring it.  In the present days eating is a necessity to gain energy which helps us prepare to do the next task on our list. As you can see in a fast pace world, because of our fast pace society traditional family meal is replaced by fast food and became part of American culture.  Fast food today is known by the “the taste of USA”.
                        Fast food restaurant not only speed up the food preparation but also create a global standard character in food.  It can offer the same quality food with the same taste and look around the glove.  For ex. Russet Burbank potatoes are used for McDonald fried potatoes around the world because they give the most efficiency.  Similar to the potatoes all the other products in McDonald has the same requirement creating uniformity in food around the globe. In addition to it fast food is the fastest growing food type around the globe and most of these rapid growths are taking place in the developing countries.  There are five fast food restaurants opening up each day around the globe.  Four of these five restaurants open up overseas.  As the growth of fast food increases the uniformity of food worldwide is increasing as well.  In addition to it spread of fast food around the world is creating a homogenized culture.  In developing nations eating fast food is to elevate one’s social status.  Fast food means modernity, and entry to the world culture.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Re-write of Prospectus

1. Introduce your topic and discuss its importance.
"The making of menu"Fast food and culture is related. Fast Food is a type of imperialism where culture is the main target.  Fast food industry is growing in a fast pace due to the fact that it's very convenient. Today at least five fast food restaurant open up around the world.  Four out of these five restaurant open up overseas.  As you can see consumption of fast food is not only spreading within USA but also spreading worldwide.  Now the taste of USA (fast food) is spreading to every corner of the world creating a homogenized culture.  For ex. Germany is now Americanized.  According to studies consumption of fast food in Germany is now greater than USA which later promotes to other cultural changes; such as music, art and etc.  With the epidemic growth of fast food, increase in obesity rate is also spreading worldwide.  For ex. in the past finding an obese person is very rare where now obesity is a normal state in Japan.  This is the reason spreading of fast food became a big issue for some people
  2. Introduce your question and working thesis?
Throughout this essay i will be investigating the spread of fast food. How fast is it spreading and the effect of it on the society and health? I will be also asking how spreading the taste of USA influence other culture? In short ill be introducing the problem created by the spread of Fast Food, especially culture.
3. Discuss specific tools and sources that you will be using to conduct your research.
To investigate on this topic i will be using the book "Fast Food Nation." I will also search through books related to Fast food Nation. I will be using Internet. Subscrition dabase, lexus nexus and other databases that i will be using to investigate. 

Monday, November 1, 2010

prospectus

The making of a menu.  Homogenization of taste in the world through fast food or gastronomic imperialism.  In today's age of convenience we (American) like to live life in a fast lane where everything is ready to go. Our fast food is an example of it.  Consumption of fast food is not only increasing in the United state but also spreading worldwide in a fast pace.  This taste of USA is creating a Homogenized culture.  Some views this as a type of imperialism.  In this essay i would like to investigate why we eat the food we eat.  More specifically,  how the spread of fast food is affecting other countries and their culture.  For this research i will use the book "Fast food Nation" by Eric Sclossers. I will also look into magazine and newspaper article.  I am hoping subscription database will be one of my main tool

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Consumer vs. corporation's responsibility towards animal welfare is my topic for the ethics of food cluster.  i have decided to talk about this topic because most of us believe that it is mainly corporations responsibility towards animal welfare. One of the most common question is " Is corporation only obligated to maximize the money or do their obligation extend further than that"? The funny thing is, i never really thought about animal welfare until few weeks ago yet it doesn't seem to have any affect in my life.  Now that most of us know about animal's environment at the factory farm it seems like it only changed some people's mind.  We still go to these fast food restaurant and tend to forget about animal welfare.  My personal experience says it a lot.  For ex. after having fun at the park my friends and i always head towards one of these fast food restaurant.  While we enjoy our meal we talk about the game that took place at the park and other stuff. Not once, any of us think about the animal welfare.  We, consumer wants better quality food in cheaper price and that's exactly what the corporations providing for us.  Some might complain that corporation at least should increase the awareness of animal's inhumane conditions by labeling them or advertising them.  I believe its not going to make a difference since it didn't make a difference in my life.  I believe if consumers really cared about animal's inhumane condition then they wouldn't mind paying a little extra for their meal and that way corporations will be forced to improve farm conditions.
Is it only corporations obligation or it should be both corporation and consumer's obligation to improve animals conditions at the factory farm.  What i have decided to do is increase awareness of  my friends about animals inhumane condition at the factory farm and see if it affects their life any way.  I have decide to talk to them about different factory farm every week and see what it leads to? I am expecting to learn who is responsible for the inhumane condition at the factory farm?

Thursday, September 30, 2010

revision

 Saturday evening, driving through traffic with my friend in the city.  It was a rainy day with a cloudy sky.  We were both super hungry.  You can only imagine how it feels to get stuck in the traffic while your stomach is empty.  The windows are closed, barely any noise.  All we can hear is the growling of our stomach consistantly and the more we hear it the more we get hungry.  What we needed to find is a place to eat with fast service_ the quality of the food didn't really matter.  So first we look at a gyro stand, but the line was too big that we got tired of looking at it.  All of a sudden we see a king with a crown on his head standing with a sandwich and soda with a logo on the side saying "BK".  We were not just happy but beyond it.  So we raise the speed limit and drive towards the restaurant like a kid going for a candy or a toy.  So we approach toward the drive through and we can already see the menu.  Not that we needed the menu, because we already knew the menu so well.  Just when we thought everythings going right....BAM!  All the misery tumbles down.  We see a big line of cars ahead of us and a big line right behind us made us feel like we are stuck in the middle of nowhere. Cursing out our luck, in about less then 5 minute we hear next.  And it was already our turn to order food.  By the time we went to the next door the food was ready.  As we drove out digging for food looking at the side mirror at the same time, we see BK walking away from us.  Thats when it hit me that it was a fast food restaurant and so the service was fast saving both of us for the time being.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

descriptive writing

i was driving back from the city with my friend.  it wasn't quiet raining but drizzling that day.  We were on our way to a birthday party.  All together we were starving and had very little time.  So we decided to entere a BK drive through expecting to get cheap food in very little time. There was a huge line of cars ahead of us.  It almost felt like one of those never ending traffic.  Very little time and starving at the same time made us impatience.  All of a sudden we see the line in front of us disappearing and thats when i realize that we were in a BK drive through.  It doesn't take long to get food from from there mostly because people are already familiar with the menu and by the time you go to the next window your foods ready.