Gma's got my food monopolized!

My first thought on this assignment in coherence with last weeks reading was the impact of the food monopoly in my life. Let me explain, I live with my grandmother who definitely has a monopoly over what I eat. On one hand, I am grateful that she buys and usually has food ready for me after my long days of school and she does comply to some social responsibility to comply to my no meat but fish standards of eating. Other that that, I have little “choice” on what I eat. My cost- benefit analysis as Richard Posner explained that people make in some approximation in their decisions is so true. The food I eat is free and so I could choose to scrap up my almost non-existent income to buy couscous, parsley, and mint for tabouli or settle for Mortons fish sticks with Siracha fancy-sauce. I am aware that I could specifically ask for these things or sneak them into her epic grocery list for the week but my cost to possibly not making her feel that her kind food preparation of leftovers from the day at 9pm when I get home for 2 ½ hour Spanish class isn’t appreciated. If I would decline then it is me who has to scrap together food form items that I still haven’t ultimately chosen, but are only there because she has previously purchased them.

I see my microeconomics of my food “choices” as a very good example of what many people are faced with on a grander scale. In almost every level of food purchases a higher power is choosing for us what will be available for us to eat. Even farmers markets may have a business office that grants permits for booth placement and variety of produce. Grocery stores, as Pollen points out are seemingly stocked by the corn industry, produced under which Milton Friedman aptly described as a governmentally run cartel. As we all could possibly gain form the point of this assignment is the fact that most of us are under the illusion that we are choosing or are able ot choose a vast amount of products, when in fact many of which have been previously filter and displayed right in front of us that we are convinced that it is the easiest and most convenient to our cost-benefit approximations of what we eventually end up deciding on. Yet it seems to me that all of our choices have been laid out for us systematically in on way or another. (for a great explanation of how this works check out Malcolm Gladwell on TED.com explaining how we got so many varieties of spaghetti sauces!) Found here: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce.html

Chai to die for

My roommate Sarah and I went to a cafe in Uptown this weekend called Uncommon Grounds where I had the "orgasmic chai tea" (seriously, that's what it's called) and a "wild blueberry buttermilk scone" (at least I think that was its display name was). Both were fabulous. I've never had chai tea that tasted so, well, orgasmic. It had your typical sweet flavor and cinnamon and cardamom but a bunch of other spices I couldn't even begin to describe. I was also really impressed with the scone. The blueberries actually tasted fresh (not like those weird fake blueberries you get in pancake mixes) and had the perfect scone consistency - not too sweet, not too crumbly, not too dense. Pair that with deep intellectual conversation and later watching "Jane Eyre" at Uptown Theater and my day was complete.

The real question, of course, is why? Why would I go all the way to Uptown (when I live on West Bank) to go to a cafe? Because Uptown is cool. There's a certain vibe there that I just don't get quite anywhere else in Minneapolis (though a few places come close). Uptown Theater was showing the movie, which was the main reason for this excursion, but Sarah and I could have gone to any of the million restaurants/cafes/eateries that inhabit this part of Minneapolis. Sarah had been to Uncommon Grounds before, so she knew the food and drinks were good (especially the tea). But I think the real draw was the atmosphere. Uncommon Grounds is in this old house that's been renovated into a cafe. There's all this plush, Victorian-esque furniture and big band music playing on the speakers. One can almost pretend it's the 1920s while sipping on a concoction totally unknown at that time period.

But out of all the options on the menu, why go for the chai and the scone? Well, Uncommon Grounds is known for their chai, but I probably would have gotten it anyway. It's become one of my favorite teas and, considering I can't make it properly at home, it's something I usually try to get if I go out to a cafe. As far as scones go, I'm a sucker for British-y tea eats. I didn't think about the connection between going to see a film based on a British classic and eating a scone, but I suppose there might be something there. But really, I got the scone because of the blueberries. Though it absolutely isn't the season for blueberries (I fail at this eating locally and seasonally business ) I was craving them and that particular sweetened delectable seemed the most appealing from the pastry case. Also, it's just hard to get good-tasting scones. The ones I've had from Starbucks and Caribou are hard and not very tasty. Thus if I can find scones somewhere else (especially not a chain) and the name is convincing enough for me to try it (how could I turn down a "wild blueberry buttermilk scone?" It sounds like something out of a children's book!) then I'm game.

A lot of this links back to personality for me. I like sitting for hours at a time, just talking, and feeling like a hipster in some little unique cafe. Going to Uncommon Grounds really feeds into that, as it feels like a cross between a small campus coffee shop and the house I always wanted my grandmother to own. When food is catered to my interests (not just a pastry, a scone; and not just any scone, but a wild blueberry scone) then I start gravitating towards specific things. Chai is tasty, it's popular and it's from India (which adds a flair for the exotic), which creates this little niche I like placing myself into. It's not that I think, "Oh, chai is so popular, I totally have to drink that!" or "Ooh, I feel like being exotic and British-y at the same time, let's drink chai and eat a scone." I just do it without thinking about these things. But on some level, there is a sort of truth to that. I do like to feel exotic or popular, even if it's just through my food. I feel like this is getting to something sort of Cartesian, where I'm trying to exemplify what's in my mind through eating habits; the good old mind dominating the body again. Or maybe I just really like scones. Regardless, what Uncommon Grounds does works - and I will definitely be back for the chai again.

Chicken Fried Rice

Friday night:
I had fried rice with chicken at this cute Asian place on Campus. I do not remember the name of the restaurant, but it was really good. I ate there with my roommate and we were the only ones there except there was a little family party going on. So that was a new experience.

Why:
So my roommate and I were really sick of cooking food in a kitchen that is not really clean because our roommate never do her dishes and that is not very tempting to make food in. We were also a little sick of eating out actually, but since the kitchen was in bad shape we had to find a place to eat out. So we decided to just walk down Washington and see if there was anything that could tempt us. Since we’ve only been eating at Applebee’s and really American food and that kind of places so we wanted to try something new and different. It is easy to just eat the same things when you are over here and just stick to what you “like”. So that is why I ate my Chicken fried rice on Friday night.

Northeast Social

I was out to eat with my boyfriend at Northeast Social for dinner last night. I decided upon the pasta primavera - tagliatelle in a garlic cream sauce with haricot verts, carrots, tomatoes and turnips. 

WHY:

Eating at this restaurant (while really good) is a bit dicey for a vegetarian. Their non-meat options are a seasonal gnocchi dish or a pasta special. I ultimately decided on the latter. So, this drastically narrowed my options from the get go. However, this is the second time I've eaten here, so I knew what I was in for. 

I decided to get the pasta special over the gnocchi based on the seasonal ingredients of each. The gnocchi dish was in a sage cream sauce with butternut squash and brussels sprouts. Basically, it screamed WINTER to me, while the other dish contained more 'spring' vegetables. I don't think I can handle eating another heavy, root vegetable laden dish until next October. This actually makes sense, as it's March now, and brussels sprouts / gourds are no longer in season. Continuing, it wasn't just that I wasn't in the mood for it, but I figured that these wintery vegetables also wouldn't taste as good, because their shining moment has passed for the year. 

The price - didn't come into play very much in this food decision. I didn't have much to decide over, and both dishes that I was thinking about were also the two cheapest dishes on the menu. Score for the vegetarians! However, later I did get to thinking over the price of this dish, and restaurant mark-ups. All of the vegetables in my dinner are currently in season, meaning they are also the cheapest on the market right now. Pasta isn't expensive. When paying for this meal, I wasn't paying for the ingredients, but rather the restaurant overhead. I was paying for the the rent and the labor that goes into making Northeast Social stay afloat. I'm alright with this fact though, because it simply is how restaurants stay in business. And I'd much rather be giving my money to a local neighborhood restaurant than any chain restaurant found around town.

Tum Rup Thai

Thursday Evening:

Where I got food from: Tum Rup Thai (Thai restaurant)

What I got: Spring rolls, cream cheese wantons, chicken curry over rice, fried bananas with coconut ice cream.

Reasoning: I was spending the evening with my girlfriend  and we couldn't decide on what we wanted to do for dinner. We were facing a few dilemmas so let me share them. First, we were not in the mood for eating at a restaurant. Second, if we were to cook something couldn't be something that would take up too much time. We were basically going for a very low key evening. She had recently eaten at this (above mentioned) restaurant and really liked it so we decided to see if they would deliver as that would have been the ideal situation. Unfortunately, they did not offer such a service but they did do take-out so we decided that would be our best option since it was fairly close by.
    As for actual food choice, we were both huge fans of spring rolls and they are a nice, light compliment to the slightly more dense and rich curry. We decided on the curry because and wontons because we wanted to share the meal and they were the options we both wholly agreed upon. Finally, she had previously gotten that dessert and she wanted me to try it (and oh my it was amazing) so we got it as well. That about sums up the experience on Thursday night!

:D

Dairy Today articles

I wanted to share these. I think you will find they are relevant, eye-opening, or at least, new information.

Need to know: WE EXPORT DAIRY

1.) The market fluctuates, but some examples are 2008: $3.8 billion. March of last year: $291 million.
2.) Products include: cheese, whey protein concentrate, dry milk, butter fat, and more
3.) Most goes to Asia (China, S. Korea, Japan) but also to the Middle East, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Need to know: What does somatic cell count mean?
The absolute basic explanation: somatic cells show up in milk when cow is fighting infection, an indicator of bacterial presence. SCC is used to grade milk. (This is very basic. There are easy places to learn more.)


==============The articles==============

The first is "Not Good Enough." If you read any of them, read this one. It's short but right to the point. http://www.agweb.com/article/dairy_talk__not_good_enough_/

Second: more about exports. This is facts and figures of the market. Who buys what, how much, and how it has fluctuated in recent years. Interesting if you like economy. *yawn* http://www.agweb.com/livestock/dairy/article/export_bound_u.s._processors_respond_to_growing_global_market_/

Third: More related to the "Not Good Enough." If you want to know the history and nitty gritty about the EU standards, etc. http://www.agweb.com/livestock/dairy/article/400000_by_default__/

Last: A brief accountability action being taken in CA. It made me think of Pollan and the idea of the name-on-the-bag, farmer's reputation, concepts. Keep in mind: CA has many practices, regulations and standards that differ from the rest of the U.S., most significantly with regards to cow care. http://www.agweb.com/livestock/dairy/article/vouching_for_cow_care__/

I really hope everyone can read the first one.

20 Food Rules to Live By

Interesting (quick) NYtimes article I found from a Michael Pollan article. Just some rules to live by with a few illustrations.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/10/11/magazine/20091011-foodrules.html