Michael Nicolella Food Project

Ingredients:

For the meatballs:

1/3 cup parsley

1 egg

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1 spoonful of breadcrumbs

1/2 cup parmesan

8 oz. ground pork

8 oz. ground beef

For the rest:

12 cups of chicken broth

1 lb. of chopped escarole

2 tablespoons of grated parmesan

Add salt and pepper until you find the appropriate amount. 

Process:

1) Put the meat in a bowl along with all of the other meatball ingredients. 

2) Mix until you think its fully mixed .

3) Saute meatballs until they turn brown

4) Bring broth to a boil and add escarole and meatballs first. Make sure the escarole is evenly distributed.

5) Add parmesan to broth.

6) Keep pot under flame and periodically stir the soup for 1hr.

Analysis:

Overall I think that this soup is very healthy due to the escarole which is a vegetable and it makes up most of the soup. All of these ingredients can be made organic. For example the beef or pork can easily be purchased organic instead of factory farmed and they are not farmed far away usually. Escarole is another ingredient that can be easily made organic, although it does depend if its in season which I believe starts in early spring and all throughout summer. This can lead to problems but it can probably be grown somewhere else where it is able to be harvested. Also, even though red meat is proven to not be that good for you, it is a good source of protein and you will mostly be tasting the other things in the soup.

Depending on the quality of the ingredients, this soup can be either cheap or a little expensive since meat is quite expensive, especially organic meat. But the good thing about this soup is that there is a lot and it can feed a very large family. This is definitely nothing like fast food. It will take a good hour and a half to cook this and many of the ingredients are quality. I think that some social issues would arise from the meats in this soup, but that involves any dish with meat in it. There are people like vegetarians/ vegans who don't eat meat and there are people who specifically don't eat pork like Muslims. 

Personal Reflection

I thought that this unit was helpful to many people, including myself because of all of the helpful info that we learned during this unit. Since obesity and diabetes are a huge problem in this country, it seems only right that we be educated on how to prevent this stuff and eat healthier. One of the most impactful lessons that was given this unit was the ted talk by Jamie Oliver. It seemed a little extreme when he told a mother that she was killing her children, but it was true. That showed how childhood obesity affects our lives and how it can ultimately shorten it. Before this unit, I never really knew what organic food was honestly. There was really no obvious way to tell what food was and what food wasn't. Now I know to read the label. Also being someone who's family members are affected by diabetes, it really was a great lesson to learn about what causes it and how it can be prevented. I also noticed through this unit that America's food industry tries to be as cheap and efficient as possible, sacrificing the healthiness and quality of the food. All of these things can be changed, and hopefully over time it will. I have learned a lot of useful things and now i feel confident and more knowledgable in this subject thanks to this unit.

Food Slide