1/2 cup vegan margarine (80% fat is best)

1/4 cup  sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg

1 1/4 cups unsweetened applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla

Steps                                             

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Cream margarine until fluffy.
3. Add to organic unbleached sugar and blend.
4. Sift together dry ingredients.
5. Add to margarine mixture alternately with applesauce, mixing well after each addition.
6. Stir in vanilla and nuts.
7. Spoon into 12 cupcake pans sprayed with vegetable pan spray or use paper baking cups.
8. Bake 15-20 min.

VEGAN BUTTER CREAM ICING

1 cup powdered sugar

3 tablespoons cocoa poweder

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoons of warm-hot water

Steps

1. Mix cocoa and powdered sugar
2. Blend in vanilla.
3. Add in water gradually

Recipe Analysis

This recipe doesn't really tie in culturally to me. However, it does tie in slightly to my family. My family has a small history of having lots of health issues so to have recipes that are as healthy and wholesome as possible is often preferred. This recipe is vegan, which means that it does not rely on the use of animals. Soy milk is a very popular milk alternative for vegans. Margarine is also a popular butter substitute.

The cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, and salt are the most whole foods used in my recipe. Some of the stuff is processed. REAL soy milk is fairly unprocessed and because of this it generally would last only a few days in the refrigerator. Processed soy milk is designed to last about 2 weeks or more.

I chose this recipe mainly because after seeing how terribly we treat animals in the production of meats, I thought against using meat for a dish. Instead, I decided that since it’s a Friday, why not celebrate with some awesome vegan cupcakes! Doing something like this is good to bring attention to issues like animal cruelty.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb boneless chicken thigh and/or breast (cut into small cubes/pieces)
2 lemon grass (cut into 4-inch lengths, use only the white part, pounded)
6-8 pieces kaffir lime leaves
1 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon lime juice
Salt to taste

Spice Paste:

1 1/2 inch galangal
1/2 lb fresh red chili (seeded and sliced)
5 shallots (sliced)
1 inch ginger
1/2 inch fresh turmeric
1/4 teaspoon belacan (fermented shrimp paste)

Instructions:

• Blend all spice paste ingredients to a very fine paste.
• Heat up some cooking oil in a work and stir-fry paste until aromatic or a thin layer of oil rises to the top.
• Add chicken and continue stirring until it’s almost cooked.
• Add the coconut milk and continue to simmer for another 15-20 minutes, over low heat.
• Add salt to taste and serve hot.

It's interesting to see where our food comes from when you actually research it and get to know about it a little more. In my country, I always eat different meals and try different things, but one of my favorite dish would probably be the Chicken Curry. Many countries has their own way of cooking curry and what to eat it with, but in Vietnam, we eat it with white rice or bread. My chicken curry has a lot of different spices as you can see above, but it all blends well together. I promise.

Us vietnamese people love to eat our greens, seafood, fruits, and lots of meat! I was raised in a environment where we kill animals and eat them. I guess you can call us meat lovers! One of my favorite chicken to eat is Tyson's chicken because it's so tasteful in my mouth. When I did some research on Tyson's chicken and where it came from, I found out that the chicken are processed and Tyson has its own slaughter house. Although this is probably a bad thing, it won't stop me from eating Tyson. I mean, it's better than McDonald's chicken. The chicken curry does have some nutritious ingredients as well. This dish consist of lime leaves and lemon grass. The name of these different vegetables/plants might not sound good, but it makes this dish even better. It gives a complexity of flavor that distinguishes them from other curries.

According to the Live Strong resource, it turns out that coconut milk can help us level our blood cholesterol and it puts us in a better position of protecting our hearts. "Coconut milk contains lauric acid, a medium chain fatty acid, unlike the saturated fat in meat and more like the saturated fat found in human breast milk." According to Nutrition Data, lime juice provides a really good source of vitamin C and it offers a good amount of potassium. I feel as though that Asian people uses a lot of spice that keeps us healthy in our meals. For example, galangal (ginger) is one of the main spices in the chicken curry and they way it smells, it makes me nose tingle a little bit. Actually, galangal are used sometimes for medications in Asia. True Fact. For example, turmeric was discovered to help treat cancer since it increases liver functions. Since this chicken curry is supposed to be spicy, there's 3 different types of ginger we use and the more I go down the line, the spicier it gets! As we go down the ingredients list, things just get hotter and hotter, but overall, my meal didn't consist a lot of "unhealthiness." Tyson's chicken might be processed, but my spices makes up the healthiness and nutrition that my body needs.  

Personal Reflection

I think that America is considered the "Fat" country. This country has been trying to live right and healthy but I feel like America contradicts what they think they are and what they say to others. Compared to the world, America seems to have the most fattening in food. McDonalds would be a perfect example for fattening. The reason why is because they use meat that has certain fattening in the meat and it cause the Americans to gain weight. In the movie Super Size Me, the man clearly shows that he was gaining a lot of weight by eating McDonalds every single day. I think that fast food is probably one of the biggest problems in our food system because for one, it's not healthy for our body and it's not the right food. Because of fast food, people are getting obese, diabetes, high cholesterol, and many more. But if people were to eat healthier, they would be in better shape and there wouldn't be so much people dying because of diseases.

Cook Time: Approximately 45 minutes

Servings: 4

• 4 cups of rice
• ¾ cup of water
• 4 tbsp of vegetable oil
• ¼ stick of butter
• ½ of whole chicken
• 2 tbsp of curry powder
• ¼ tbsp of black pepper
• 1 small onion
• 2 stalks of scallion
• 3-4 pieces of thyme
• 3 pieces of garlic
• 1 tsp of chicken seasoning
• ½ tbsp of pimento seeds
• 2 Irish potatoes
• Salt for taste

Instructions for RICE:

1. Wash rice twice to remove starch.

2. Put rice into pot and add just enough water to cover the rice.

3. Add a pinch of salt, butter and stir.

4. Place stove on medium heat until water boils.

5. After water boils, turn the stove on low heat.

RECIPE ANALYSIS

Surprisingly, I estimate that approximately 80% of my meal was processed. The processed ingredients included the rice, chicken, curry powder, black pepper, and butter. On the other hand, the whole foods included the onions, thyme, garlic, potatoes and scallion since my mom buys most of our fruit and vegetable at the farmer’s market at Reading Terminal. However, if this meal was prepared in Jamaica, over 95% would be whole foods. This is because the chicken would have been raised on a farm, the curry seasoning would have been homemade and all the vegetables would have been from a garden.

After completing some calculations, I estimate that each full serving of curry chicken and rice has approximately 640 calories (48% fat) and 18 g of protein. As you can see this meal is high in fat and also in protein. If this nothing but this meal is eaten everyday, obesity, diabetes and possibly high blood pressure could occur. However, if eaten in moderation, this meal can provide you with healthy benefits since it is also low in cholesterol and high in protein.

The ingredients for this meal originated in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Texas, Wisconsin, New York and Florida. The food that raveled the farthest was the curry powder that was manufactured in Doral, Florida, 1,297 miles away. The potatoes traveled all the way from Rosholt, Wisconsin, 1070 miles away. The potatoes were organically grown with a limited amount of pesticides. As stated previously, the vegetables (onions, scallion, garlic, thyme) were local produce that was bought at a farmer’s market. I estimated that my meal traveled more than 7,000 miles, which is bad for the environment because of all the pollution.

The cost of this meal was approximately $15. The most expensive ingredient of the meal was the chicken at $5. The corporations that made money of this meal were the Wakefield Food Group and Purdue. In addition, local farmers made money off this meal. Cooking this meal at home is more cost friendly and healthier because a full fast food meal for four people would cost more than $15 and would be unhealthier.

I am used to getting a home cooked meal everyday and I do not eat fast food that often. I believe this enables me to make healthy food choices, even though most food items nowadays are unhealthy in some way. The cost of this meal would have been reduced to about $7 since everything would be grown at home.

SELF-REFLECTION

This unit has further informed me of the flaws in our food system and the factors that contribute to it. I also learned of the prevalence of obesity and heart disease in America society. It is interesting to see the connection between the way Americans eat and the diseases are now affecting a large part of the population. The most interesting thing I learned about was food deserts and how popular they are in America. Food deserts help to contribute to high levels of obesity in low-income areas where residents do not have access to healthy foods. Based on the research we did in class about food deserts in our own communities, I found out that I actually live in a food desert. I also understand this because people in my community usually shop at corner stores and Chinese stores. This is why people of a lower socioeconomic status have higher rates of obesity.

The biggest problem with our food stem is the lack of federal regulation. Food companies have essentially bought out the government and is often lobbying to get laws passed in their favor. This makes companies feel that they are all powerful, which leads them to abuse their workers and animals. I am willing to change the way I eat but I have to think about the budget of my family. Eating healthily means more money. I am going to stop eating at much fast food, especially at McDonalds. I believe that this is something that I can achieve by eating more often at home.