Am I Fed Up?

I watched the documentary Fed Up tonight, and it certainly got me thinking. I've been trying really hard to be healthy and the film made me realize that my efforts are in vain. They stated that all foods have an unreasonable amount of sugar in them and the only way to eat truly healthy is to go local and organic, which is hard to do as a poor college student. I think that the audience is everyone in America. Every body eats unhealthy every once and a while, and they deserve to know what is in their food contains. The writer of Fed Up assumes that all people eat unhealthy, however, I do know of some people who can afford to eat all healthy and organic food. The purpose of the film is to persuade people to question where their food comes from and try to eat more organic food. If enough people do that, it would prevent the big food companies from profiting from selling really unhealthy food. The film employs both Pathos and Logos more than the others: logos because it appeals to people's logic with the statistics that the documentary presents, and pathos because it shows many emotional stories about kids who are trying to be healthy that a good amount of people can relate to. They would've been more successful if they were less aggressive with their tactics. They could've been more logical and presented their counter-arguments to build their credibility. In conclusion, I think the film brought up many good points, however, they could've gone about it better.

Blog Mentor

After looking through several food blogs this week, I finally found a blog that truly spoke to me. It's called thelittleloaf, and is run by a woman from London named Kate. With every post, there is a simple picture attached, and the she always relates the recipe to an event in her life. In her bio, she says "Allow a small sense of occasion into every bite you take, bake a little love into everything you make and I promise you'll taste the difference."

Kate inspires others to turn what could be simple dishes into these fantastic meals that look beautiful too. Her website is set up so that you can either look at the home page, which has the pictures of recipes, along with her personal memories having to do with the dish. You can also navigate to an 'about' page where she has a description of her blog and a short bio about herself explaining why she loves cooking. After that, you can go to a 'recipes' page that contains just pictures of food with a link attached explaining how exactly to make it. She then has a description about the cooking book that she wrote, and after that contact information. Thelittleloaf is wonderfully set up and, personally, I really enjoy the simplicity of the blog. 

Kate shares many personal stories with her audience, and she seems to be very responsive to them. It looks like she wants her followers to be able to come to her with any questions. I love how calming the blog is and how it acts like an open platform for all kinds of conversation. I'm excited to continue following this blog and learn more about these awesome recipes!

Living and Eating and Eating and Living

When I'm stressed out, I can go days without eating. I know that's unhealthy, but it's just how it is for me. During International Baccalaureate testing my senior year of high school, I ate a few crackers and an apple a day for over a week because I don't prioritize eating. Other people, however, love to eat. They love the way that food tastes and thoroughly enjoy the meals that they eat. They live to eat, whereas I eat to live. I don't necessarily enjoy the taste of most food. Of course there are exceptions, but for the most part, food is not that important to me. I eat because I have to to survive.

Last night I went to a five-star restaurant in Kansas City called Webster House. The food there was delicious, and if I had food like that readily available for me every day, I would definitely live to eat. That, however, is not a luxury I have. I have a meal plan at Truman, so I eat Sodexo every day of the week. It's not good food, but it's what is readily available for consumption, so that's what I eat. The three-course meal that I had at Webster House consisted of a goat cheese and mushroom stuffed appetizer, which was so full of flavor that after every bite, I sat back in awe for a few minutes. After came a chicken breast that was so tender and juicy that I thought it came straight from heaven. It was accompanied by sliced potatoes that were perfectly cooked in duck fat. For dessert, I had a passion fruit trifle that was almost inedible because of it's richness. This meal took over two hours for me and my date to eat, because it was just so good. Whereas at Truman, I have overcooked rice with a 'authentic' curry or slimy pasta with flavorless red sauce.

Right now, I eat to live, however, if I had better food available, I could definitely see myself living to eat. 

Stumpy's

Eighth grade was the year in which I transitioned from home school to public school. Up until that point, I had lived a very sheltered life and I was really scared to be around all new people. The only reason my parents convinced me to go was because my best friend and neighbor, Anna, also attended Lincoln Prep, and she promised to show me the ropes. Fast forward a year: I was still that awkward homeschooled girl and everyone thought I made my own clothes(????). I was getting used to the public school life, and finally starting to enjoy my time there, however, Anna hated it. Our freshman year, she transferred to another school in the district, and two years after that she moved to a private art school near our houses. I was afraid that we would grow apart once she transferred, and that I wouldn't fit in at Lincoln without her. I texted her a few days after school started freshman year, and asked her to get lunch at our favorite restaurant, Governor Stumpy's Grill House. It was two blocks away from our house, and every other day when our busses dropped us off, we would wait for one another and walk there. When we stopped riding the bus, we would await the familiar "Stumpy's?" text from one another. We didn't have much money and we both have really small appetites, so we only bought the kid's meal items or appetizers. All the servers there knew our names and got our drinks ready as soon as they heard us come through the door, laughing hysterically. Eventually, I got a job there and worked as a hostess for almost three years, before I left for college. Even know, when I come home from Kirksville, Missouri, and when she comes home from Liverpool, England, we immediately go to Stumpy's and sit and talk for hours while eating french fries and a spinach-cheese dip. Stumpy's has been there facilitating our friendship for the past six years, and it's classic food brought us many great conversations and inside jokes that I will forever be grateful for.