Closet Carnivore

My eating habits can be best described as carnivorous. Whenever I go out to dinner with my friends, I will choose that big fat 500gram juicy steak, served medium well. If my mum ever asks me what I would like for dinner, my answer will normally involve the word “beef”. I love the taste and the fact that I feel nourished after consuming meat.

After reading Omnivores Dilemma, I started to think about meat a little differently. Prior to reading the book, I did actually think that cows were raised in grass fields, living an idyllic life prior to being slaughtered. I thought I was getting to eat a REAL cow. Now, I am thinking hard about what I am consuming and putting into my body. The antibiotics and the hormones that they are putting into the feed of these animals couldn’t possibly be healthy. The fact that these animals are getting sick and were eating them is a little scary. It made me wonder about the rising rates of heart disease and cancer. Reading this book made me scared enough to try and become Vegetarian for a week.

The first couple of days were really tough. I felt weak and lethargic, and my digestive system was complaining to me a little bit, But I stuck it out. By the third day I paid attention to my protein and fiber consumption, and I felt better. It really was not that hard except for the fact that there was little in terms of variety. By the end of the week I felt pretty good, and was not missing meat all that much. I always thought that Vegetarianism would be difficult, but it wasn’t that much of a challenge, though I don’t think its something that I could upkeep for a long period of time. I have resolved to reduce my consumption of meat, only having it once ever couple of days. I feel like it will be a healthier, more balanced choice.

Food and My National Identity

I found the Counihan reading to be quite an entertaining read this week. It was interesting to find out what food means to people in different cultures. I liked the fact that most of the Florentine people are so proud of the simplicity and humble beginnings of their food. One man even proclaimed his preference for the simple foods he would get at home over a renowned French duck dish that he was encouraged to try.

The reading made me think of how nice and quaint it was to have dishes that you identify with, and that are healthy for you. Some of these people ate the foods that they had only because they could not afford the expense of buying dairy products and sugar, yet even when they were in a better financial position they would still choose to eat the simpler foods.

I started to think about what foods that I could identity with, but nothing specific comes to mind, but a variety of things do. I was a little disappointed because there was nothing I felt that truly defined me. I did not feel particularly passionate about a specific dish. I was born Indonesian to an Indonesian dad and an ethnic Chinese Malaysian mother and I grew up for the most part in Australia, and also heavily influenced by American culture. But then I realized that the culmination of things does reflect who I am. I love Southeast Asian and Chinese cuisine. I will not turn down a burger and fries and I’m not afraid to try escargot. I think this makes me a citizen of the world.

Slave to the Meatrix

Once a week (usually on a Sunday), I will indulge in a LARGE bacon deluxe meal from Hungry Jacks (what Burger King is called in Australia). The taste of the juicy meat and bacon on the burger with the ketchup drenched fries washed down with coke is something I find irresistible. I have spent many Sundays lying on the couch with a food induced coma as a result, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. This is a ritual that I look forward to during the week as Sunday is the only day that I allow myself to eat unhealthily.

Although I know that the meat they use in the burger patty and the ingredients they use to make up the rest of the meal are incredibly unhealthy and the means to acquire them are probably morally questionable. I find the greasy goodness of it to be something I cannot avoid. Because it comes from a food chain, the quality is consistent, the taste is always the same, and therefore never disappoints. My weekend feels incomplete without it. I associate with the down time I get to have after a busy week of school, work and volunteering.

After watching the short animation movie ‘The Meatrix’ , really brought the issues associated with the meat industry to the forefront of my mind. I never really thought about it in terms of animal cruelty, pollution, bacteria spread etc. . I mean I knew it was bad, but I never took the time to think about how multi-faceted the problems associated with the meat industry were. For a long time, I’ve taken the ‘blue pill’, envisioning the portion of cow I ate was only grazing in a grass field a week prior. I think maybe its time that I took the red pill and see things as they are.

Southern Fare that has brought us together.

I really enjoyed our class activity of making a batch of Hoppin’ John today. The whole process of coming together to prepare something for all of us to share as a class was an experience that I found to be really pleasurable. It was nice to incorporate that social aspect into the preparation of food, and was fun just to stand around talking while waiting for the Hoppin’ John was simmering on the stove. I also liked the fact that we conducted taste tests, and as a group, decided what seasonings we needed to put in.

The whole social aspect of preparing the Hoppin’ John reminded me of the Rouse and Hoskins reading that we had to do this week. It described how food brings people together, and strengthens the bonds between them.

After our batches of vegetarian and non-vegetarian versions of collard greens and Hoppin’ John were done, we all tasted the fruits of each others’ labor. I found our Hoppin John to be a bit bland, and the vegetarian collard greens to be a bit bitter, but thoroughly enjoyed the collard greens with the bacon bits in it. Although I had not encountered this particular vegetable, I was amazed at how well it was prepared to mask the bitterness of the greens. However, the whole point, as in the reading this week was not to ‘simply fill one’s stomach’ but to come together and strengthen the social bonds between us all.

Raj Patel = Enlightenment

Sitting in for the talk that Raj Patel gave today was a very eye-opening experience for me. The views and opinions he expressed were very well informed. He effectively communicated the urgency and importance of the issues because they were backed up well by his arguments ( eg. 5 reasons why food has become so expensive). I was definitely inspired by his passion, and was waiting for words of advice, empowering words that would encourage us to do our part in fixing the problem of the imbalance in the worldwide distribution of food.

However I was a little disappointed when the words did not come and at a loss because he seemed to offer no solution, or ideas about individual stances we can take to help with imbalance of food distribution in the world. I thought that I was making a small difference by trying to buy organic and local, but I was informed that it really was not that effective.

Nasi Kuning: The Alternative Birthday cake

When people think of birthdays, images of balloons, steamers and the all important birthday cake come to mind. For me, there is another crucial part to this picture…

For most people, most birthday parties or gatherings are usually ended ceremoniously with the blowing out of candles and the eating of birthday cake. Throughout a lifetime, the meals served at a persons’ birthday party will have evolved from PB & J sandwiches as a child to pizzas as a teenager to gourmet dinners as an adult. The only constant is the ceremony of having the birthday cake.

However, being part Indonesian means that the actual meal itself is guaranteed to be ceremonious and fairly constant throughout my life. My grandma would usually make me a tower of ‘nasi kuning’ (directly translated as yellow rice) in the shape of a cone that is meant to symbolize prayer to Allah with condiments served around it, including meat, fried tofu, omelet and a variety of things to symbolize abundance . Although it is traditionally a Muslim Indonesian practice to serve this at special occasions, my grandma would often place a small pile of noodles around the cone as a tribute to our Chinese heritage because noodles are meant to symbolically extend the length of your life according to Chinese culture, and you are meant to eat it on your birthday.

Although we have migrated to Australia and we are not Muslim, this little tradition of having nasi kuning has been continued by my mother (who is Malaysian). The condiments that surround the tower of yellow rice have evolved somewhat. This reminded me of the enmeshing of cultures through food in the reading ‘ Purity, Soul Food, and Sunni Islam’ where they prepared Southern Food along with elements of Middle Eastern Food. In a subtle way, we are creating our own linkages between the cultures we have lived and grown up with, and the ones that we are living with in the present.

The Future of Food :A Bleak Prospect

Although technology has introduced a lot of benefits in terms of reducing labor and increasing yields in food production, one must question if this progression in technology continues to be beneficial for the people who use this technology ( the farmers) and those who actually consume the products of their labor.

I found the book ‘All Over Creation’ to be an enjoyable and at the same time, alarming read. I felt that it brought awareness to the issues of the dangers of biotechnology in a very entertaining way. While I was actually reading the book, I actually thought that some aspects of the story were fictional. These included the examples of biotechnology that were being described such as the seed plants that were designed to kill its own embryo so that farmers would have to continually buy seeds from the company. Although I took the message seriously, I didn’t realize that it was actually occurring.

While I was watching the documentary, ‘The Future of Food’, I actually came to the realization that the issues and stories were actually true. The ‘fictional’ company in the book was in actual existence. It was a scary thought. I was truly disturbed by the actions of the Monsanto company, how they abused their power for their own selfish gain by attacking those who are weak. They took advantage of the farmers, suing them for seemingly unimportant and petty things. The farmers could not possibly help the fact that some of the Monsanto seed ended up in their fields. I felt outraged that they are looking out for the financial future of the company, and not the long-term health of their customers and nation. It is disgusting.