Ingrediants:

• Oil
• Sofrito (Homemade Spanish Seasoning)
• Sazon
• Tomato Sauce
• Adobo
• Chicken Bouillon
• Gondules (Pigeon Peas)
• Rice

Steps:

1. Add oil to rice pot
2. Add sofrito and tomato sauce
3. Add adobo, saxon and Chicken Bouillion
4. Add gondules
5. Add 2 & 1/2 cups of hot water to rice pot
6. Bring to a boil
7. Put rice in water for about 5 minutes in separate bowl
8. Add rice to boiling water
9. Leave uncovered until rice absorbs the water
10. Then stir rice making it into a small hill
11. Lower fire to medium let cook stirring every half hour
12. Should be done within 45 minutes :)

Analysis: 

Estimated there isn't a lot of calories that go on in this type of meal. it is a even amount that is good for the human but is also healthy in some ways because the ingredients are made naturally not so much with chemical machines. The body will deal with it in a well way. Becoming full quickly but still enjoying the delicious taste that it consists of. Some possible things that might occur is like blood pressure or even diabetes. 

The ingredients come from a urban country in which the spanish heritage takes place at the most. Such as puerto rico, mexico & Dominican republic. The farthest one that traveled was probably the one that came from the islands because of the fact they go over seas and with ships. It is originally grown from like crops and stuff and even some of the ingredients consist of it being made at home, not so much in the stores. 

This meal doesn't cost fairly much to make once the materials are found and priced. It is a little cheaper but not as cheap as fast food. Healthier of course than fast food. Some businesses that are involved is GOYA in which they are able to provide spices and tastes from the islands and urban areas in order to give the costumers the power to make a food with a delicious spice or flavor.

Reflection:

I learned about certain things that i knew a little bit about but i was able to extend my knowledge on it. I learned a lot bout the body functions and how the body develops during the beginning stages compared to the adulthood. In the beginning stages the child is able to have all of these neurons that help it engage in different things to learn and keep in mind. It is said to be that you tend to learn more when you are in the younger stages of life compared to when you get older.

Aside from the body and the evolution of the human race we learned a lot from the foods and how it is made and what it consists of. In the United States we tend to buy a lot of corn that is why most of our ingredients in our food and materials consist of. I also learned that just because you have a higher paying job does not mean you are the one with the better health. I always thought that if you had a high paying job and money to eat the healthy things you were healthier than the ones with low income. I was proven wrong because that is not entirely true.

In our food system i see me as a human which means that i am able to eat things but not all things. Corn will be a prime example of it because we are unable to digest it. If we was able to change the fact that we can eat corn then it would mean that we might be able to get the vitamins and minerals that we need in order to be healthier than what we are now. If i was able to make changes then i probably will. I think it would be cool to see if we were able to have the certain aspects and things that we don’t normally have.

Ingredients:

2 silver pans

1 1/2 cups of water (per pan)

30 Pieces of chicken winglets

2 Tablespoons of Garlic Powder

2 Tablespoons of Accent

18 oz bottle of BBQ sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 

2. Clean out the pans with soap and water.

3. Rinse each piece of chicken in warm water, then place in the two medium sided silver pans.

4. Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of Garlic Powder and the 2 tablespoons of Accent in each pan.

5. Place both pans in the oven, allow them to bake for 2 1/2 hours or until they get a brown coating.

6. Once finished baking, take them out and pour BBQ sauce. Continue to bake again for another 1 1/2.

7. Allow it to cool for 10 minutes, then serve. 

Analysis:

This dish is a healthy and easy dish to make. The chicken is not only fresh, but its low in calories and fat because it is baked. Out of the whole dish the only thing that has some calories is the BBQ sauce which is about 680 calories. It isn't an unhealthy dish. And considering it doesn't take a lot of ingredients to make its very easy and fast to put together and makes the perfect meat to a normal dinner.

Reflection: 

This unit taught me a lot about what foods are healthy and what foods aren't. I have a better understanding of what is good for people ad what isn't. I also understood diabetes and how the body works. Due to this unit I cannot really look at the foods we eat the same because it seems as though the people who are in charge of our food are more focused on getting the job done then making sure the food we eat is safe. The issues I have with our food system is that health doesn't seem to be a huge factor for the people who retrieve the food for us and the people who eat it. All of the healthy foods are way to expensive, but the foods that aren't are cheap. The food industry seems to be a joke. The changes I want to make is to check the ingredients to foods and watch what I eat I'm willing to make these changes because this unit showed me I need to be more careful to what foods I eat.

Zucchini Fries

Recipe

4 large zucchini

3 cups grated parmasean cheese

pepper

oregano

3 cups of eggs whites

Olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees, with oiled large non stick pan. Chop zuchinni into thin fry shapes. Dip into egg whites and bread with parmasean, oregano, and pepper mix. Place on pan and bake for 15 minutes, then flip on the other side and bake again until brown and crisp.

Nutrition:

I'd say that the nutrition for this is pretty okay. The zucchini baked itself is low in carbohydrates, only about 5 net carbs per large zucchini. So this meal is safe for diabetics, because it's very low on the glycemic index with a glycemic of 2, meaning it does not raise your blood sugar to a dangerous level. Mostly because half the carbs are fiber. The vitamins in zucchini are leaning towards high levels of copper, maganese, magnesium, vitamin k, vitamin c, potassium, folate, and vitamin A, while it contains some tract of all nutrients. The egg whites that cover the zucchini are high in protein. About 9 grams per cup, and about 1 carb per cup.  It's low in nutrients though, with only potassium and sodium, but a good source of protein. The parmesean cheese is very very high in fat, seeming as it is usually not that aged and because of industrial food processing. 1 cup is about 30 grams of fat, mostly saturated.  It's even higher in protein at a about 40 grams of protein in a cup. Parmesean cheese is primarily calcium, a lot of calcium, and then a little bit of iron and vitamin c. But high amounts of calcium. I used about half a cup of oil for the entire recipe. Which itself is about 108 grams of fat, which is a good mix of monounsaturated, saturated, and polyunsaturated fat. It's purely fat, and a a little bit of potassium

So all in all, this food in about a serving which seems like about a cup for most is about 28 grams of mostly saturated fat,25 grams of protein, and about 5 carbs. You would be eating a very high amount of calcium,  but with other nutrients such as vitamin k, maganese, magnesium etc. all the nutrients from the zucchini this is a pretty healthy snack.

The fat can help your body absorb the nutrients in the zucchini plus the calcium. There can be very reactions to your body eating this food. One fact is that it is baked and therefore some of the nutrients naturally gets lost on the way. Secondly it contains eggs and dairy. The eggs can cause gas, bloating, and allergic reactions to those who are allergic to them. The parmesean cheese doesn't cause me any problems though, considering I am kind of a lactose intolerant. I get lots of acne when I drink milk or consume dairy, but parmesan cheese never effected me.

Also since all of the foods in my recipe are processed industrially, there is always a zap away of most of the nutrients from being absorbable for the body, and most of the nutrients being present in the food.Then the whole zucchinis being full of pesticides and possibly being genetically modified thing that plays in.But the fat combined with the nutrients of the zucchini can make a nutritious meal.

The food is very high in fat and protein, meaning it will keep the eater satisfied after consuming a small portion and give them steady ongoing energy through the day to burn. It's a good snack for anybody of any activity level. And is a great replacement for other unhealthy choices because It tastes like fries, pepperonis, and resembles carby foods like lasagna. So it's a better decision to eat zucchini fries instead of that stromboli, and the cheese pizza, and those potatoes fries, loaded with doe, carbs, and just empty crap your body doesn't need and will leave you starving the next morning. The zucchini fries will not only satisfy your craving for something fast foody, but keep your hunger tame.

Environmental:

None of these products come from sustainable practices. Zucchini are imported from Oregon and sprayed with chemical fertilizers. They come from industrial agricultural which is inherently unsustainable ( deforestation, chemical pollution, importation, fossil fuels etc.). The cows used to produce the milk to create the cheese are factory farmed, loaded with horomones, and living in filth, disease, death, and great pain. The cheese is made on machines by cheesemaking factories, and imported from thousands of miles. Everything on that list is imported. The olive oil from Italy, the zucchini from oregon, the cheese from god knows where, but all of the ingredients come from harmful practices.

Politically/Economically:

The foods themselves aren’t bad, it’s the production, and economy that really make them not even food but imported products. Politically speaking the production/consumption style of these foods say yes to capitalism, and no to traditional ways of attaining food, and more sustainable ones. This meal is brought you by major corporations, and guilds of dudes who like to torture their food in the name of money, production, and takeover. As if we all couldn’t grow our own zucchini, pasture raise cows and culture and age our own cheese, or find our own oils to grind out and make.

This meals cost a lot of lives, land, and ozone that we are rapidly running out of.

Social:

The social is the political. I bought these at a supermarket, from a corporate chain store that exploits it’s workers who sells food products that exploit their workers and their land, and are all about eco-destruction. There was absolutely no social interaction involved in the purchasing of these items. I went to store, browsed through the colorful aisles and located my overpriced items, whose prices are inflated to generate profits for CEO’s and heads of corporations, not the workers, who are paid about 10 bucks an hour at this store. So they check out my items, and I pay the store, and I leave. 

If these items were being produced communally, I would have to talk to actual human beings about the actual foods I want, and make them with actual human beings. Instead, the processes of how the food is grown, imported, processed is all done by machines and their human slaves.

So this food, the way it was made, produced, attained, was pretty anti-social. When I brought it to share with others of course that was social. But the meal itself took a whole lot of antisocial behavior for one social event, which is kind of disturbing.

Reflection:

This unit I haven't learned much about things I didn't already know. Seeing as I just have a broad scientific background in nutrition for a high schooler. I learned about specific diseases and the origins of their names, but nothing truly significant that I wasn't aware of already. I think I learned a lot about GMO and how it effects the environment and it's possible dangers. We covered the Omnivore's Dilemna which is a book I was already aware of, because I had read it's counter book " The Vegetarian Myth" by Lierre Kieth, which I thought made more since. We should've talked about that book, because I think it makes way more sense and incorporates different sides of health debate.

Theres many things I think were wrong in what we learned. Michael Pollan is always pointing towards vegetarianism, but then we talk about how people with traditional diets don't have the flux of civilized diseases that we on a civilized diet get. Traditional diets are most comprised of meat, dairy, and vegetables. Local meat that is. But at the same time we are talking about how meat is bad for you and will give you all these diseases.

Also, the western diet has changed dramatically ever since the FDA proposed that a diet high in saturated fats and meat will kill you, consumption of grain, fruits, vegetables, and non-saturated fats has gone up in the past like 30 years, but heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other illnesses have also risen or stayed the same. Obesity has just grown,even though we are supposedly eating more like vegetarians. I think we focused on Michael Pollan too much, as if he is the chief of modern day health.  There is a whole bunch of things not being taken into consideration, like modern day medicine and how it effects what foods are pushed and which foods aren't.

Like for example to push cholesterol lowering drugs, there was this belief that having high cholesterol was a bad thing that was introduced in the 20th century, and the FDA had to create a diet that would lead to diseases in which high cholesterol was present. There was just a whole a bunch of useful science in this unit I felt was missing. I lot of perspectives of nutrition and diet that were missing. A whole lot of researchers and authors.

I think are biggest problem with our food system, is our food system itself. Capitalism, and agriculture are inherently harmful to the environment and not that healthy for us. There's evidence that the human brain has shrunk 5% over the last 10,000 years. Humans are shorter, and fatter. This is because of agricultural foods. The human brain could not have grown so big off of plant protein and wheat. Think of all the wheat and plants you'd have to eat to get the protein you can get in just two servings of steak. Like that's a lot of food, a lot of carbs you'd have to consume, and that can be a recipe for weight gain.

I don't think their is any choice I can make to counter the effects of living off of industrial agriculture. I can try to buy foods that aren't as bad as others, but in reality my consumer choice doesn't change the fact that what I bought took a whole lot of pollution, death, and suffering to import. And that I when I dispose of it the chemicals in my food product, and it's packaging will go back into the environment as pollutants.

Recipe

Food Item:

Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

What you will need:

All the ingredients

1 Big sized pot

1 Medium sized pot

1 Big Bowl

Directions:

1. Gather all the ingredients and have them out. 

2. Boil two pots of water. One big pot for the pasta and one medium pot for the broccoli. 

3. When the big pot comes to a boil put the pasta in and continue to stir occasionally.

4. When the medium pot comes to a boil put the broccoli in and continue to stir occasionally.

5. While the water is boiling cut the tomatoes, cheese and roasted peppers into bite sized pieces. 

6. When all the ingredients are cut put them into a big bowl. 

7. Chop up the whole red onion and a little bit of garlic and add them to the bowl. 

8. Once all the ingredients are cooked and cut stir them all together into the bowl.

9. Add oil and vinegar salt and pepper to the mix. The amount is up to you. 

10. Then enjoy! :)

Analysis: 

The ingredients in the pasta salad were all bought from the grocery store. All of the items were technically processed, yet still healthy. All the vegetables we bought, which meant they were processed because of everything they went through to get to the store, but it is still healthy. The cheese and pasta although not bad for you were processed. There are a lot of carbohydrates in pasta, which is okay on occasion but not excessively. Eating pasta everyday is not healthy or good for you. The pasta salad itself would not be healthy eating everyday because of the excessive amount of pasta and ingredients like olive oil. Yet, some of the ingredients that are in the pasta salad are okay. Broccoli, depending on how it is made on how it is prepared is fine eating everyday. Though roasted peppers, grape tomatoes, onions, and cheese are really tasty and okay to eat in moderation, these are items that should not be consumed on a daily basis. Cheese is very high in calories, so it would not be a good modification to one’s diet. All of the food was was made and processed in the United States. None of the products are made out side of the country, which means that none of the food was imported. None of our food items were grown organically. Because all of the food is processed there are fuels that take part in the getting to the store, which tends to make it not environmentally friendly. Buying all the products came to a total of $20.00. With serving about 10 people, makes the cost per person about $2.00. This is a lot cheaper then fast food and it happens to be a lot healthier. (Still can’t eat it everyday) No items were grown ourselves, all were purchased at the store. So although it is not that environmentally friendly or healthy it still better than most foods.  

Reflection:

Looking back at this unit, I have actually learned a lot. Since I keep Kosher, I was never really aware or open to Non-Kosher food items. I know my facts and information (for the most part) about Kosher foods and what that means and what I do and do not eat but I never really knew about all this other information. I learned a lot more about organic food, and what that really means. My parents never really buy organic, they just try to be healthy. It has been interesting to actually see facts and statistics about the leading causes of death in the United States and how a lot of it can revolve around the food we eat on a daily basis. I have watched Food Inc and Super Size Me before so I was already informed about mass production of food, the meat and how large companies receive it, and the workers. Yet, just because I have already watched it I was still able to learn a lot more with our class discussions and the different perspectives other people brought to class. Now, being much more informed with a larger variety of food I believe it will help me and other I know. There are way too many problems with false labeling, or the rules to label certain products one thing or another. I know I will be on the look out on what I am actually  consuming based on the labels and what they say. I will, of course stay keeping Kosher, especially after watching Food Inc for too many times. I am willing to be more careful on what I buy, and to really make sure I am more aware of the ingredients and what goes in to making the product I am going to buy. Especially with what I ma buying, because staying healthy is something I would like to do, to live a long and happy life! 

Analysis:

Fried chicken has been a very common entree for all types of cultures that has been around for a while. There are many different twist to the way it can be prepared but it comes down to a few simple ingredients. Chicken, Flour and oil. Since it is made with such simple ingredients it makes it both cheap and a very common food. However it is not very healthy. The chicken its self is healthy but ounce it is covered in four and cooked in the vegetable oil it is then deep fried and makes eating fried 

chicken a lot worse for your body. There are different ways to prepare chicken that will cause it to be more healthy food choice for example if it were to be baked then you would still be able to consume all of the protein and nutrition form the chicken without taking in the bad fatty party of the deep fried flour that coats the fried chicken.

Reflection:

Something that i have learned from this unit is that our food choices can affect a lot more then just our weight. The foods we eat everyday can be one of the biggest contributors to things like heart disease and diabetes later on in our life. I also learned that Americans consume more sugar annually than any other country in the world. This stood out to me the most because it made me really stop and think about all of the things that we eat that have sugar in them or high fructose corn syrup which is the same as sugar. We eat foods that are sweet and high in sugar because it is cheap and we are just so used to them being in our everyday diet. Making diet changes could be so simple and be able to help you prevent dying form heart disease. What shocks me the most is that people are aware what these bad foods do to us but yet we still decide to eat them completely ignoring the damage that is being done for life.

Reese family chicken noodle soup recipe - 

1 whole onion sliced 

3 stalks of celery chopped

3/4 cups of carrots chopped

1 pound of Boneless skinless trimmed Chicken Thigh sliced

10 cups of water poured

2 large russet potatoes halved

2 Table Spoons of parsley poured

1/2 bag of Pennsylvania Dutch yolk free home style ribbon noodles poured

1/2 tea spoon of salt poured

1 teaspoon of pepper. poured

1 table spoon of oil

2 tons of love 

1 ton of caring

: Directions

Lightly brown chicken thighs in vegetable oil... Add two stalks of celery and one onion quartered. Cover with water. Let simmer for one hour. Remove from heat. Place a strainer into a large pot and place cheesecloth in the bottom of the strainer. Pour contents of pot into the stainer. Remove chicken. Break chicken into small pieces- remove as much fat as possible. In a clean pot, add a small amount of oil ( just enough to coat the bottom of the pot) add 3 stalks of chopped celery, one chopped onion, and carrots.  Place a fresh piece of cheesecloth into a strainer and strain the broth again back into the pot to cover the simmering vegetables. Add the chicken, potatoes, additional water. When boiling- add noodles and parsley and cook for 7 min. Salt and pepper to taste

Analysis:

In this meal only about 10% is made up of processed food. The only ingredient that is not a whole food would be the noodles. The majority of the meal is made up of vegetables. This has all of the main necessities for nutrition since it contains protein (chicken), vegetables, and starches (potatoes/noodles). If you ate nothing but this soup everyday you would probably be fine. All of the ingredients in this recipe came from this country and no farther.  The veggies were not all organic, meaning that they were grown with fertilizers and pesticides. Although this doesn't really matter, and takes nothing awake from the meals nutrition value. This isn't an expensive meal to make, the highest priced ingredient would be the chicken. Ideally the majority of the ingredients could come from home by growing your own vegetables, although noodles are very hard to make from scratch and a chicken would be a lot to handle… Which is why we have convenient grocery stores to provide things like this. 

Reflections: 

Ethan: My role in the larger food system is to balance the ecosystem by making sure to eat the things that reside lower in the food chain. As a human I am at the top of the food chain and my responsibility is to hunt and eat.  The biggest problems with our food system is that we over consume proteins and starches which leads to a unhealthy and unbalanced diet that causes diseases of the body due to dietary unhealthiness. We need to switch to eating more natural and energy efficient food such as vegetables and fruits.  I could cut sodas, sugars, caffeine, fast food, and other heavily processed and unhealthy food.  The impact of these changes would probably make my heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys healthier. I am not willing to make these changes. 

Jamie: Throughout this unit, I've learned a lot about different foods and their effects on our bodies. There were many things that I thought I already knew, but found out a lot more. From reading articles and watching videos such as Food Inc. and Super Size Me, I've found out more information than I had before this class. I think that one of the biggest problems with our food system is lack of knowledge and care. If more people cared about the foods they're putting in their bodies then we wouldn't have such high rates of obesity. I agree that our environment does have an effect on the food choice we make, but they are still "our choices". This was proven in a study with cafeteria food in a hospital. They regard their foods, and people made healthier food choices. So I think the problem lies within people themselves and how they choose to eat. Some changes that I could personally make would be to, cut down on snacks. Most of the snacks I eat are probably high in sugar. Although I typically eat healthy foods and well balanced meals, I know I also take in a lot of sugars as well. I would be willing to make some changes, I just don't really see that happening.

Ingredients  

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 eggs
4 cups panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, or more if needed
1 cup olive oil for frying
1/2 cup prepared tomato sauce
1/4 cup fresh mozzarella, cut into small cubes
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup grated provolone cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat an oven to 450 degrees.
2. Place chicken breasts between two sheets of heavy plastic (resealable freezer bags work well) on a solid, level surface. Firmly pound chicken with the smooth side of a meat mallet to a thickness of 1/2-inch. Season chicken thoroughly with salt and pepper.
3. Beat eggs in a shallow bowl and set aside.
4. Mix bread crumbs and 1/2 cup Parmesan in a separate bowl, set aside.
5. Place flour in a sifter or strainer; sprinkle over chicken breasts, evenly coating both sides.
6. Dip flour coated chicken breast in beaten eggs. Transfer breast to breadcrumb mixture, pressing the crumbs into both sides. Repeat for each breast. Set aside breaded chicken breasts for about 15 minutes.
7. Heat 1 cup olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat until it begins to shimmer. Cook chicken until golden, about 2 minutes on each side. The chicken will finish cooking in the oven.
8. Place chicken in a baking dish and top each breast with about 1/3 cup of tomato sauce. Layer each chicken breast with equal amounts of mozzarella cheese, fresh basil, and provolone cheese. Sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese on top and drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
9. Bake in the preheated oven until cheese is browned and bubbly, and chicken breasts are no longer pink in the center, 15 to 20 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees.

While this isn’t the healthiest meal it could be worse. The frying would be the least healthy part of the process. The calories came out to a little over 700 which isn’t bad. Eating this and only this will result in a decrease in many things but one that sticks out is iron. This meal has little iron and would result in weaker bones. The amount of cards is only about 80 grams which would make a person have much less energy. Somebody who only ate this wouldn’t be able to do much. The food I would have used would not have been locally grown. The tomatoes came from California. So they didn’t travel too far but they did travel. The meal cost under 30 dollars which is more than fast food but also much better for you than fast food. Growing my own tomatoes would have made the cost go down as well as the reifications on the environment.

This unit has taught me a lot. The obesity part of the unit taught me the most. Like most Americans I assumed that obesity only lead to heart disease and diabetes.  To  find out it also causes stroke and depression was eye opening. The study where Australians were put onto the western diet and got many diseases, was the most revealing. It really showed how great out choice in food can affect us and those around us.

As a teenager I can actively choose what to it. A child is at the whim of what their parents want to eat. Now I can help decide what my family eats. I am able to make my family healthier by asking for better foods. This change would give my family more energy and help us to make better choices all around. My family has tried to make these changes. every time we do we all feel better until we slip again. This often happens after about two months. We all exercise and eat right but then a holiday roles around and we all slip back into old habits. It is easier for the youth of my house to make these changes as we all can play sports at our respective schools. My parents have a harder time but support us in our choices.