Mohamed Marzouk's Cous cous

Recipe

Ingredients:

  • Cous Cous
  • Chick peas
  • 2 2/3 cups of water
  • 2 2/3 tea spoons of salt
  • your choice of spice

Materials:

  • Actual Cous Cous
  • Pot
  • Big Spoon
  • Microwave to speed the heating of the cous cous
  • Another pot to stir the sauce for the cous cous
  • Plates to eat the cous cous!

Steps:

  • Open cous cous from container, put it in pot
  • Add water, salt and mix the cous cous
  • Although some people prefor to heat the cous cous using an oven, I've found simply using a microwave is sufficent.
  • Use the other pot to start making the sauce for the cous cous
  • Either use already made sauce and add more spices or ground up your own tomatoes.
  • Combine both the sauce that has the meat in it and the couse cous
  • Eat up!

Analysis:

Cous Cous is a food that is very popular in the Mediterranian. The Mediterranian includes Countries such as: Italy, Spain, Tunisia, Morrocco. These places eat cous cous a lot. Cous cous has become a trend around the world too. Especially in places like the Middle East, North America and South America. The United States has particularly adopted Cous Cous as a favorite. It travels over 2,000 miles to get here- the natural kind, that is. Some cous cous is getting picked here, caushing it to have more pesticides in them. 

There are many, many variations of making Cous Cous but the one I explained above is the my Mom's recipe she's been using for many, many years and it's customed to eat it like that where I'm from. Cous Cous can be a very healthy food- it doesn't rival brown rice when trying to eat healthy but is still a healthy alternative to pasta. You can cook Cous Cous with lots of vegetables and healthy lean meats. Depending on how much you buy, this could be a very cheap meal when looking at this bare bones. Most of the food here is not processed because usually you can pick the vegetables that you want to cook with or the kind of meet. Also, when looking at the container of cous cous the nutrients are very healthy. Though cholesterol is a bit high, there is low sugar, fat, but again, high on carbohydrates. 

The money goes towards farmers because they help dig up the cous cous because it is a grain. Cous Cous is usually picked without much pollution or immorality like you see the meat companies do here in the States. Since cous cous is in such a high demand, people are hired more to make them across the pond, so I feel as though politically, the people win. Also, the quality of food is better so people will enjoy cous cous more and the demand will keep growing. Cous cous could be become one of the most sought-after foods in the world.

This recipe has been in my family for many generations and lives on. My mom makes really great cous cous and I don't think the other types I've tried really rivals the kid she makes. The times i've gone to tunisa, I've tasted amazing cous cous and wish to travel to Italy or Spain to  try some more.



Personal Reflection:
I think there are lots of problems with our food system. I don’t think it necessarily comes from the food makers or the people who eat the food, but rather our economic status. I believe that obesity comes from socioeconomic status rather than what people put in their mouth. I know that sounds absurd at first, but people need to eat, right? When you’re poor and need to feed your family food to keep them from not starving, anything really matters; eating healthy is not the one concern. Going to the dollar menu at Mcdonalds and spending 10 dollars to fill your family up or just getting heat-up dinners that are high in transfat and generally bad for you is something that you need. I feel like if we want to make a difference now, we need our Government to strive and implement programs where people who are in need can receive the food they need, but also getting healthy food in the process. When the doctor from Camden came told us about his work and finding, he made a valid point about the correlation of cheap food and no money. I feel like I can accurately base my opinion on credible research like that. I feel like what I can do is try to make aware stores like Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods that do have some healthy but cheap alternatives to people so they can eat and be healthy

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