Going to the banquet yesterday it really opened my eyes to see how other people live. When I walked in I was given a card that showed me were I was to sit. I saw that people were being put into different areas of the room. Some people were sitting at nice tables with chairs and some were places on the floor.  I was with the low income population so I had to sit on the floor. My card told me that I was a 40 year old women who worked on a farm in Haiti. There was an area with middle class  families and hight class families. Everyone had a different background story for why they were in their specific class.

At the end when we got to eat it wasn’t what I was expecting it to be. Those of the high income class got to have wine, salad and chicken. The middle income class got to eat pasta with a little bit of butter, a piece of bread and water. And the Low income class, which was me, only had rice and beans, not even a drink of water. This was really eye opening to see that this is actually how people today live. Not everyone can get full course meals or even a drink of water. It showed me to stop taking what I have for granted and to really look at what I have in life because not everyones life is that great, some people don’t even get enough food to feed themselves let alone their families.

Going to weddings I usually see and eat the same foods all the time. My cousins wedding was a little different .The past Saturday my cousin got married at the Marina del Rey in Queens. The place was beautiful and I was expecting an extravagant wedding party. When they told me they were having  huge cocktail party and to be ready to eat I thought they were kidding, Turns out they weren’t. Walking into the room I smelt all the different foods that were made and being put out onto the tables. Iv never seen that much of a variety of food.

When I waked in and saw all the food I was ready to eat. The first station was filled with pastas(hot and cold), mozzarella and tomatoes, salads, vegetables,rice, stuffed peppers and mushrooms, antipasto, breads and crackers. The second station was all fish. They had a sushi bar, fried calamari, rice with shrimp,fish salad, grilled vegetables with shrimp, and baby scallops. Looking at all this food before the wedding even started I was thinking of how I was going to eat my actual meal. The food wasn’t over. My cousins wife loved her bbq/home cooked meals. Along side the room there were mash potatoes(with toppings of bacon, cheese and gravy) There was a little stove cooking baby steaks, hot dogs and hamburgers. Mac and cheese and fried chicken was her favorite so they also had that. At the end of the cocktail hour dessert was put out that consisted of little pastries and fruit. They wanted to have everything that they liked and I think they definitely  accomplished that.

If theres one thing I look forward to on thanksgiving its my grandmas sweet potatoes. They aren’t just an ordinary sweet potatoes. The recipe has been passed down for many years. When it was my grandmas turn to make them, she didn’t let us down. They were just as amazing as they always have been. In the recipe, she uses two whole sticks of butter(which is a little crazy), brown sugar marshmallow fluff and regular mini marshmallows.  When it comes out of the oven the little marshmallows have a light brown coating on top and the smell of brown sugar fills the kitchen . Just thinking about them makes me mouth water. Since Iv been watching  and helping my grandma make them for years, when I have my own family I will make them for my thanksgiving and hopefully they enjoy them as much as I do.

Every week I travel to Port Richmond High school, where I meet with my mentee in her cooking class. The class cooks new dishes each week. Friday, the day I usually go is eating day. The children finally get to eat the dish they have been preparing all week. We are allowed to try the foods too but I never do. Last week they made some type of eggplant dish.

I didn’t really know what was in it so i didn’t try it. I don’t usually try foods unless I know everything that was put into it. Like we leaned in class I have neophobia. I just can’t get myself to try new things. I see all my peers trying it and they say it is really good, but for some reason I will not eat it. It doesn’t matter how many people  I see trying it, I cannot get myself to eat it.This has become a big problem because I eat the same almost everyday and I don’t open myself up to the different varieties of food that there are. I hope one day ill become brave enough to try different things and open up my food preferences.

When arriving at  Main street, Flushing,it was a whole new world. Every where you looked you either saw a new Chinese food place, an unreadable Chinese sign, or millions of people scrambling to get to where they needed to be. This part of town was predominately Asian. While trying to find a dumping place White Bear, my group and I had gotten lost. The one and only person there who understood us guided us to the place. When we walked in it wasn’t your everyday Chinese food place. It was a little hole in the wall that people could just walk right by. To be honest, walking in there I didn’t know how the food was going to be. When we order the women didn’t really understand us so she kinda just gave their most popular dish. This was dumplings with hot sauces and some type of brown power.

When the members of my group tried them they said they were really good but for me looking at them was the farthest I would go. Relating to class, you can say that I had neophobia. I don’t really like tasting new things especially if idk what they are giving me. The women just gave us what she thought was the most popular and even though they might have been really good, I couldn’t bring myself to try them. Seeing that nothing was in english it was a lot harder to find things to eat because we didn’t know what anything was.Hopefully next time I can get over it and try one the of the foods.

When reading the Callahan article on weight stigmas, it really left me thinking about people and their everyday lives. This article opened my eyes up to see how obesity is very prevalent in America. People need to start realizing this and changing the way they live. They need to understand that being overweight is not okay and isn’t the norm in America. By looking at all the problems Callahan showed in his article, I feel it is necessary and important that doctors, parents, and teachers educate children on what obesity is, how it can affect their lives and ways they can avoid becoming obese.

People should be aware of the physical effects that obesity can have on ones body. Callahan said that 65% of people who lose weight don’t keep it off. When these people lose the weight, they should he motivated to keep it off. Exercising and working out should be a main part of their day. These people should want to become healthy, not only for themselves, but for their family and friends. They should want to be able to to go out and do things and not be ashamed of what they look like.