To Review Some Steaks

In this final unit of our third humanities course Food For Thought we discovered and some of he creation an destruction of what it takes to get food to us. So we created a food review to explore some home-cooked food and restaurant made food. I decided to compare steak, review steak, eat steak, and determine steak. I hope you enjoy.

Steak is a common food that is sometimes considered a high delicacy food and can other times be considered a pretty commonly eaten food for the general community. Steak is usually served as a whole slab that includes fat and can be also be ordered to the buyers preference whether its medium rare, super rare, well done, or charred. Though I don't eat steak much at all I prefer eating it a over well-done.

Home-cooked steak:

"Home-cooked steak" IF 2017

I first decided to cook and analyze the home-cooked meal of this review. I got these ingredients from a food service that sells the ingredients and provides instructions on how to cook them. I absolutely loved both the experience of cooking the food and of-course eating the food. The stake was only gently peppered and salted to the perfect amount which brought out the most and best flavors or the large steak. When I first platted the steak it was still searing, which was a already a good sign. The aroma of the steak was amazing, you could smell the dripping fried crispy outside of the steak and the peppercorn sauce that I had made to compliment the thick and firm inside. When I cut into the steak it was still very hot but it was bursting with a pungent smell of seared meat. first tasting was the best experience; I put the steak in my mouth and it felt pretty tough but juicy. The sliver of steak that I ate was well complimented by the sauce that made it taste sweet but still a bitter juicy steak. The feeling that the steak had in my mouth was also pretty fantastic because it felt chewy and smooth. The meat was well done with a crispy outside and a smooth melting away inside.

Restaurant cooked steak:
The restaurant cooked steak was also pretty amazing in many ways. I got this steak from Mariano's, which sells cooked meals that are typically pretty great. This steak was served in a piece about the same size as the home-cooked meal which was the perfect size for everyone. This steak was also sauteed the same way as the home-cooked, I had asked for well done and it was a little less done than the home-cooked meal also which I was actually quite excited for. The steak smelled crispy and an almost sweet smell to it. The smell of the sweetness was making me really hungry because it had blended so well with the fresh aroma of the potatoes that had been served along with the steak. When I first cut into the steak, my serrated knife cut through the steak with little effort. First tasting it stake was quite nice when I first tasted the juice and charred meat. I found this steak to be less juicy and filling than the home-cooked steak. The steak felt smooth and coarse as it falls apart in my mouth. Overall I was a pretty great steak that was complimented well with the potatoes it had been served with. It was an absolute adventure from the sweet smell to the dry almost tangy aftertaste; I had never had steak quite like this one.

Concluding:
After tasting both the home-cooked and restaurant steaks I picked a favorite between the both of them. My favorite steak was the home-cooked steak because it presented a lot more interesting flavors and was cooked to my perfect preference; home-cooking steak is definitely recommended. One of the most defining differences between the two steaks was the difference in texture and taste. I really enjoyed the taste of both steaks, with the home-cooked steak tasting more charred and bitter and the restaurant steak tasting more sweet.

When I analyzed the home-cooked steak from the ingredient service they included steak, potatoes, and green beans that are all organic. So the ingredients are coming from certified farmers to give us healthy not-modified ingredients. I also wanted to see if I could use the home-cooked meal in one of Michael Pollan’s five food transformations so we could recognize the quality of the food. I found that the home-cooked steak connected really well to the quality of over quantity transformation because you can get your specific quality while cooking your steaks. If you prefer well done over charred and you cook it that way that would be your high quality food. You don’t need a lot of this one steak to be satisfied, you just need your preferred high quality steak.

Food and Climate Change

In this second unit for our Food For Thought class we learned and discussed about death, greed, and how those topics relate to food. My writing was about how our global food system is being threaten by political instability. I discuss how this can effect the world, look at past examples and see how this went wrong, and analyze solutions to this problem.

Climate change is a global threat that has the world hanging by a string when it comes to environmental changes, political arguments, and most importantly global food. The global food system is the system put in place by all countries that has us all constantly trading food for money and all our efforts are put in to keep the world sustained. I believe that climate change is one of the threatening subjects to our global food systems and I plan to explain why this is, analyze historical consequences, and possible solutions to climate change.

Climate change is a very large issue in our global food system because it can mess up food transportation, food growth, and wipe out species. Climate change is one of the largest threats to our global food system because it can cause storms that can wipe out cities and food transportation methods. Climate change is the changing weather and climate patterns across the world. These climate patterns can be drastic storms like tornadoes and hurricanes. Tornadoes and hurricanes can also both wipe out growing fields and ruin transportation methods for food. This is especially a threat in the 21st century with the incline on CO2 output. Climate change also directly affect the growing process of food with more extreme changing climate such as droughts. Droughts are dry periods of time that don’t have any rain/moisture that usually results in water shortages. Droughts are clearly not wanted for growing food, that’s why we need to do something about this now. Lastly climate change is one of the largest threats to fisheries says Duncan Clark from the guardian, because some fish are already adapting to the climate change by migrating to higher altitudes but arctic fish have nowhere to go. This could be detrimental to our global food system because fish are half the world’s population source for protein.

Climate change is not new, it has taken down many civilizations before, let's not have it take down us. One civilization that had suffered the dangerous effects of climate change is the Indus civilization. The Indus civilization existed from 2600 B.C.E - 1800 B.C.E and was in what is now modern day Pakistan and Iran. The civilization was doing great until some sudden environmental changes occurred like floods, salinization, and changing rivers courses. These environmental changes had left the Indus in a really weakened place which was perfect for Central Asian raiders to come finish the civilization off. The Indus weren’t able to adapt to these drastic environmental changes. The climate change had ruined their agriculture, which had made it a struggle for existence for the Indus. Another quote that supports my research is from Empires of Food by Evan Fraser and Andrew Rimas; " Climate change, too, is a catastrophe  we hold in common with our forebears, instead of blaming sunspots and volcanoes, we have to blame our fossil fuel habit."

The Indus civilization ended due to climate change, but that doesn’t mean we need to. Unfortunately the Indus had fallen and were not able to address the situation that led to their demise. Some of the reason the Indus had fallen had been because of their own farming mistakes and methods like moving large amounts of soil. The best way for all the 21st century countries to learn from the Indus is to recognize and analyze that some methods we are doing will result to our downfall.

The best was to help climate change is to put out less greenhouse gases, which is causing climate change. The best way reduce the output of CO2 into the atmosphere is to plant more trees, create laws that can significantly reduce the CO2 output, and spreading awareness about climate change. Plants are the largest consumers of CO2, so planting more would only help us take in more CO2 to balance out our outputs. Creating laws helps us enforce and limit our carbon output, this could just be enforced to large companies that dispense a lot of CO2. spreading awareness is one of the most helpful ways to solving the climate change problem. When spreading awareness it also helps to make the consequences of climate change aware so there is more of a motivation.

Overall it’s really important that we focus on having a working global food system that won’t need the threatened by climate change. Climate change changes global climate and weather patterns and can cause storms that could ruin our food transportation system. Climate change affects fish which supply 50% of the world’s population protein intake. Climate change can also cause droughts that leave areas completely terrible for farming. My recommendations include planting more trees, enforcing CO2 reduction laws, and spreading awareness. These three solutions could also help solve two sustainable development goals, life below water and zero hunger. There will no longer be trouble with fisheries because fish will no longer need to migrate and fish near the arctic will be able to stay put. Solving climate change helping keep our global food system alive so everyone who has been eating won’t need to go hungry. Now, will we solve climate change to keep our global food system alive?

Sources:

Clark, Duncan. "How will climate change affect food production?" The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 19 Sept. 2012. Web. 23 May 2017.

Fraser, E. D., & Rimas, A. (2011). Empires of food: feast, famine and the rise and fall of civilizations. London: Arrow Books.

"Primary History - Indus Valley - The end of the Indus." BBC. BBC, 2014. Web. 23 May 2017.

The Journey of Wheat

In our first unit of our new humanities class Food For Thought we learned about the ingredients of food and the journey it takes to get to us. Throughout this unit we focused on the energy, the work, the history of food, how food has shaped our society, and how we've changed food throughout it's journey. I learned that this very important ingredient impacted myself, my family, and my ancestors. For my action project I worked on researching about wheat and where it originates from. I hope you enjoy.While working on this unit I discovered that corn is in almost everything.

I started out as a vegetable that was sometimes picked and eaten by hunters and gatherers. Soon these hunters and gatherers realized my potential to help them thrive along with me. I am wheat. I first started to get farmed in 8000 B.C.E in Ancient Mesopotamia , back then I grew in smaller stalks than I do now. I don’t remember exactly where I had started to be grown but I’m sure it was around the Karacadag mountain range in what is now modern day Turkey. Starting in Mesopotamia in the Fertile crescent which is now countries like Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey, and Jordan I started as both emmer and einkorn which were both younger versions of me that I later decided to change/ evolve into what is now called wheat.

About 1500 years later in 6500 B.C.E I started to spread to more countries and regions close to ancient Mesopotamia like India, Cyprus, and Greece. This started because Mesopotamia was expanding and innovation was occurring with development of stamp seals and cylinder seals. These seals were created to put drawings, and forms of written communication on. Because of this large expansion to Cypress, India, and Greece I traveled and kept more civilizations alive for longer.

Between 6500 B.C.E and 6000 B.C.E I managed to also travel to Egypt where one of the biggest discoveries was made that had me in the spotlight. In Egypt in 6000 B.C.E I was used to make baked bread. Bread is one of the world’s biggest food milestones because of how much more foods it is mixed with, how many food were made from it, and how relevant it still is.

About 3000 years later in 3000 B.C.E I traveled to the British Isles and Scandinavia. This was still the result of local expansion from Greece. The British Isles were very enjoyable to be planted there because they used me in both the making of foods but I was also able to help build and sustain houses on the shingles of their roofs. 

In 2000 B.C.E I was still being grown and being produced more all across India, which allowed a lot of travelers to spread their civilizations along with me over large pieces of land. I was able to travel in 2000 B.C.E to China where I was also grown to help later civilizations like the Huang Ho.

From China I traveled to places all over the world; going to newly developed countries and continents that have been around for a long time in places like the Americas, Africa, and the rest of Europe.

Now in the 20th century I am used in all kinds of dishes that include the main ingredient flour in foods like, pies, crackers, and still bread. I am also being used a very important ingredient for a family in Chicago IL, they make beignets. A family member quoted saying “ Beignets help bring our family together in a way of joy and strength because it helps us all understand who we are.”I’m very glad I could be part of something so important to a family’s life, and I couldn’t have gotten there without the journey.