Foster's Food

Omnivores Dilemma Polyface Farms

fkelly — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 23:26:24 +0000

This was by far one of the more interesting readings we have done. I enjoyed learning about this concept of a grass run farm instead of the horrible corn and grain feed farms we have recently been talking about. While reading about how Joel runs his farm only using a field of grass for both his cows and chickens and his pigs clean up the cow barn in the back I began to wonder why didn’t every farm farm like this. Soon it was clear that the reason why they don’t all farm like Polyface is because of us. We as a consumer have such a high demand for chicken, beef, and eggs and having it cheap that we created this industrial nightmare. Joel is an inspiration to farmers every where and more should try to follow him and his healthier concept of farming.

Everything has Corn

fkelly — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 07:08:46 +0000

I had no idea that everything we eat actually has corn in it. Soda, meats, dairy, and snacks all have corn it them. It was interesting reading about how things contain corn such as the animals eating corn as their food source and soda containing high fructose corn syrup to give it taste and flavor. I can to the conclusion that even our fruits and vegetables can have corn cause the manure used to fertilize the soil comes from animals that have eaten corn. But I’m sure that’s pushing it a little far. I always knew that processed food contained corn but I never knew that our meats like steak and chicken and fish also contained corn just from the animals eating it. I didn’t know that corn is actually a grass as well, a very tall thick piece of grass.

Bottom Dollar

fkelly — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 07:05:23 +0000

Name of Location: Bottom Dollar 533 Wallace Street. We got there around 12:10 pm by car on November 18, 2011. The weather conditions that day were sunny forecast with a high of 72 degrees.

The outside of the building is very simple with a orange and tan sign saying Bottom Dollar just like any other grocery store. When we first walked in I noticed that the check out lines are spaced out more than at Giant and Safeway. It also had a very distinct smell, almost like a warehouse kind of smell where products and items have been sitting around for a while. The theme of the store was as simple as the outside with the green brown and orange color schemes. The shelves were also spaced out more than at other stores such as Giant.

While walking around looking at the merchandise I noticed that the single most obvious item that stood out was the meat section. If I shopped here regularly I would not fail to check the expiration date on everything that I bought because the meat looked brown and dry. I noticed the chicken legs they had were enormous and this made me think about our latest topic about steroid chickens and how they are huge now. I also noticed while walking through the produce section that every single bag of grapes was open and clearly some where missing. I thought this was very odd. Their bananas were also from Costa Rica Dole.

For the customers they were typically minority and elderly. Leading me to believe that retired folks came here to shop for the low prices. Hence the name Bottom Dollar which signifies bottom prices or low prices. The cars they drove were also old and beat up from what I saw in the parking lot. Workers were your average looking store worker so there was nothing unusual or interesting there. I saw that they put a lot of bargain items toward the front of the store to try and lure in more sales because of the low prices. For the shopping patterns of the shoppers it was kind of hard to tell if there were any because there weren’t very many shoppers to begin with but from what I did see was they would enter the store, grab a cart or basket, and trail off to the right of the store and work there way around.

The biggest thing I found unusual was how they were able to price things so low with competitors like Giant and Safeway who are selling the same kind of merchandise. I personally love to bargain shop considering that I’m a college student who goes to school and doesn’t have a whole lot of cash. It is definitely my favorite place to shop for beer and snacks because the prices are so cheap. I also have a bottom dollar card for those even lower special prices. Overall it was a clean, great store beside from the sketchy looking meat and produce I would totally shop there for most of my items. The workers were friendly and customers were more than willing to say hello and smile as you walked by.

Banana Cultures

fkelly — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 07:12:04 +0000

It was interesting to see how this one culture was so dominate on growing and selling bananas that if they didn’t have them their culture would ultimately collapse. One question I had was why are they called the United Fruit Company when first of all they only sell bananas and second I was just wondering why? I was also a little confused about the spray they used. Was is good or bad? Because some workers applied it and others had to wash it off. Also I’ve seen different sizes of bananas before and had a question about if that fungi had anything to do with why some bananas were bigger or smaller at times in the stores and shops or was it just a different type of banana?

Food Journal

fkelly — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 07:01:16 +0000

Sunday: Cheese and pepperoni pizza and mozzarella sticks and water

Monday: Lunch; Sandwich with bacon, lettuce, tomato honey mustard chips and water

Dinner; Pizza, the same sandwich and cup of noodles

Tuesday:Lunch/Dinner; Chicken, stuffing with gravy, rice, cheese pizza, yogurt with granola and water

Wednesday: Lunch; sandwich with turkey, lettuce, tomato, pepper jack cheese, pesto mayo and chips and water

Dinner; two pieces of quiche, ham, potatoes, water and two cookies

Later: two festivals from the underground both with side salad and a coffee

Thursday: Lunch/Dinner; Pork with gravy, cheese pizza, tortellini with tomato sauce, meat balls, onions and tomatoes water, salad with ceasar salad lettuce with feta, thousand island dressing and chicken.

Chicken Food

fkelly — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 08:10:26 +0000

I never knew chicken was once not a big source of food in America. The fact that it grew up to be a huge source of protein in meat begs the question why chicken? And not another kind of meat. When the booming chicken processes first started, americans were actually healthy from it and now from things like chicken nuggets from Mcdonalds we are not so healthy anymore. Not to mention the assembly line for chickens looks horrific!

Silent Spring

fkelly — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 05:21:44 +0000

I had no idea that our country created over 200 forms of pesticide each made to do the same thing as well. The more I read the more I felt and realized how pointless and bad for the food and environment these insecticides really were. But I also learned a lot about nature and crop growing from these excepts such as how bad single crop growing is because for example if an insect only eats wheat and you only grow wheat then you have a big problem on you hands. Another thing is that in the second except about how killing off the moth population was a total waste of time and money just goes to show how bad these -cides really are and pointless.

Forging Talk

fkelly — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 23:18:10 +0000

My initial thoughts about forging for food and eating nothing but wild food seems like a waste of time and too much work for three meals a day. But what I soon learned was that I grew an interest to picking wild food and the next time I’m in the woods I will keep an eye out for sumac which was my favorite thing by far, among other things. The sumac tasted like natures sweet tart. A three inch long bud of little red berries that you put in your mouth and chew. My next favorite thing were the nuts part because that’s the biggest thing around here with all the big trees. Last night as I was waiting for a friend I actually found one of the nuts she talked about and had to feed us. It was really cool to be able to point out that specific nut which I can not remember the name of and eat it. I will soon be calling myself Bear Grylls like on the show Man vs. Wild.

School lunch Politics

fkelly — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:55:16 +0000

I never knew school lunches and politics were linked so much. It was very interesting reading about how politics formed lunch programs and nutritional plans for child’s health. I think the biggest question I had was whether the plans were for us as a country trying to look better and healthier or was it all entirely for the children? I think the government used these school lunch programs and such to further push there way into society and schools. They had a lot of problems with these school lunches with parents and children and I thought a solution for that would be simply just packing your own kids lunch. And if you couldn’t afford buying a lunch for you kid then just deal with what you are given. I think every kid should be entitled to a meal so they can eat. Even though a lot of children are starving everyday in America for no reason. I didn’t agree with the reasons why the programs were started as well. For example like getting rid of agriculture surplus.

Hunting and Gathering

fkelly — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 06:52:11 +0000

After reading a couple chapters out of the Omnivore Dilemma I had a couple questions. He talks about how he learned to hunt and gather food right out of the woods and survive off of it. One question I had was what it would be like to have a garden that you actually had to live off of and how if your crops didn’t grow you would go hungry. Whats that feeling like when you have to hunt for your food if you wanted to survive?

I noticed you have to learn a lot about nature before you can hunt and gather like your life depended on it. One of my next big questions was how I wondered if the dilemma was just one part or multiple parts? Such as allergies to food, food eating habits or even business and ethics on animal houses.