In Bodley's book, he states that over-consumption of food is a "dimension of the culture of consumption, and it is a form of malnutrition..."(148). Next time you go out to eat with a group of friends and/or family, keep track of your consumption. According to Brian Wansink from the University of Illinois, the atmosphere and the environment of where you eat can influence how much you eat, and how long you eat for. For example, dimmed or soft lighting can lengthen a party's stay at a restaurant. In addition, the presence of other people can influence the amount of food you eat. A research done in 1992 showed that meal size increased as the number of people present increased.
Every time I go out to eat with my family, I get shoved with food by my parents and their friends. Since my parents prefer not to take home any leftovers, they rely on me to finish the rest of the food; I guess that's why they refer to me as the vacuum cleaner.
In Chapter 4 of Bodley's book, Bodley states that Over-consumption malnutrition is attributed to the "nutrition transition" (148). This is the change from complex carbohydrates, whole grains, and vegetables to fats, simple carbohydrates, or sugars. While observing the isle of bread at this grocery store, I noticed that the majority of the bread being sold were white bread. The healthier multi grain bread with fiber were noticeably outnumbered. In addition, the healthier multi grain bread were more expensive than the plain white bread.
As a part time poor and starving college student, I try to save as much money as I can. When I am off at college, I have to buy my own food and cook for myself. The bread that I tend to buy are the cheapest ones available. I may only save a couple dollars but a couple dollars here and there will add up to an extra meal.
Reading “Inundation” in the Annual Editions Anthropology book caused me to realize that I completely take resources around me for granted, like water. After reading the article a couple of days ago, I passed by this water fountain and decided to take a picture. Water is essential for daily living, and is readily available wherever I turn—-sinks, showers, toilets, water fountains, and even refrigerators are sources of clean water. It is available for purchase in any store I walk into, or any vending machine I approach. I can take a 15 minute shower with warm water and drink some whenever I am thirsty. This all seems obvious, but the thought behind this is, what if we didn't have clean water in the US for daily living? In contrast, the Kiribati people are having a hard time surviving with their subsistence lifestyle, which is being affected by climate change. Blair and Beck wrote, “As ever-higher high tides penetrate these atolls’ porous coral foundations, they foul the only reliable source of fresh water” (p179). I can’t imagine living among a population where over 95% of the children have intestinal worms due to bacteria in their water, let alone having only brackish water to drink when I am thirsty! Life for me has been very easy, and I have never had to deal with actual hunger or thirst. It is always a punch in the face to realize that I have all the basic nutrition and resources that I need to survive, while others are completely struggling to get by.
This is a picture of the cafeteria in Merritt College. I talked to an employee at the counter (who isn't pictured here), who said that the menu and schedule were a bit different for the summer, because there are less students around. The cafeteria is open 7:30am-3:30pm, Monday to Thursdays. On Fridays, nothing is open due to budget cuts. The basic foods sold here are sandwiches, salads, hamburgers, and fries, along with a large selection of snacks such as chips, soda, cookies, candy, fruits, and even Kimchi noodle bowls of ramen and spam musubi. He said that if one wanted to eat a healthier meal, the salad was the best bet, but one could also choose the turkey burger which had no fat, veggies sandwiches, or the Gardenburger that I think has a veggie patty. He didn't give me a straight-forward response when I asked him what he thought was the unhealthiest food on the menu.
This cafeteria is probably similar to cafeterias anywhere else. It contains a wide selection of food, whether healthy or not, and is a frequent stopping point for students and workers on campus. It is convenient and available. However, I wonder how nourishing this food can be if one were to depend on the cafeteria for meals everyday. What are the foods made of, such as the veggie patty and fat free turkey meat? What about the packaged and processed chips, cookies, candies, and sodas that were readily available? It may be easy for people to just buy cafeteria food out of convenience because they don't have time to make lunch everyday and consume it, but not even think twice about what is entering their bodies, causing over-consumption. This reminds me of how Bodley describes over-consumption malnutrition as a "change from diets rich in complex carbohydrates, whole grains, and vegetables to diets based on fats and simple carbohydrates, or sugars" (p148). A cafeteria is probably meant to quickly feed many people at once, but I feel like it has become such a process that one may not even consider the lack of nutrition or quality of the food they are eating.
I consider myself lucky to have grown up near Chinatown, the place where my mom frequently went to go buy groceries. Whenever my mom prepared to go, she would make sure to bring my sister and I along, even bribing us by promising “I’ll buy you whatever you want!” so we would help her carry all the bags. Walking through the streets and cramped stores of Chinatown was nothing like going to a supermarket. There were no shopping carts, no such thing as discounts, very little advertising or fancy packaging, and the stores rarely accepted anything other than cash. However, the streets were always full of people, and the stores crowded with customers. I think it was always primarily the cheap prices and wide selection of fresh fruits and vegetables that always attracted people like my mom to Chinatown. It is amazing to think that I can buy a package of bok choy or a pound of apples for probably 1/3 of the price in Chinatown than at Safeway! Sometimes I feel dissatisfied after walking out of Safeway and looking at my receipt, even after all the savings I’ve accumulated with my club card. I can’t imagine life without a Chinatown, a place my family can turn to for reliable cheap prices on fresh food, and void of excessive advertisements on every flat surface. However, sometimes I wonder how the merchants of Chinatown must fare. Do they have to lower their standards of living to maintain such cheap prices? How is it for competition, since there are many other stores selling exactly the same thing? I often see vendors sitting outside behind the stands of fruits and vegetables. Sometimes they will try to convince customers to buy some fruit or veggie by allowing the customer to eat a piece. It's interesting overall to see the different methods of selling food, the different prices, as well as the different quality of food and environments.
This is a fruit stand at a baseball game. Fruit is a great option for snacking at a ball game. Ball games are known for the kinds of foods they have. Lots of fried foods like chicken or fish and chips and hot dogs are common. Foods such as ice cream and churros are abundant at the games. There are even vendors going all throughout the stands selling crackerjacks, licorice, and peanuts among other foods. You can buy cotton candy, candy, pizza, and nachos at a ball game. Making the choice to have a piece of fruit where candy and ice cream is readily available is a smart snack choice.
This picture was taken at the blood drive I went to this past week. It is a selection of snack foods meant to replenish donors immediately after their blood donation. It consists of prtezels, shortbread cookies, honey-roasted peanuts, granola bars, fig newtons, and oreos. These foods are meant to give donors a blast of calories and immediate energy. It is good that they are in small packages because they are easy to eat and there is a wide variety. Impulse foods are meant to be enjoyed right away in order to satisfy cravings. These snack foods are meant to satisfy hunger after blood donations. In the Bodley text book on page 148 it states, "Over-consumption malnutrition was becoming a global health problem attributed to the "nutrition transition"-the pervasive change from diets rich in complex carbohydrates, whole grains, and vegetable to diets based on fats and simple carbohydrates, or sugars." Since these snack items are mainly simple carbohydrates they are not as good for you as complex carbohydrates. They should be enjoyed in moderation for better health.
