Oxfam Hunger Banquet

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Lauren Fay

Last week I went to the Oxfam Hunger Banquet. At this banquet I was placed in the lower class and was told to sit on the floor and would later be given rice and beans as dinner. Before the food was out, we discussed statistics and personal experience. It was weird considering myself as “upper class.” It’s strange to see how our ideas change when we think in terms of the whole world rather than just America. Owning just one car can put you in the upper class of the world. They told us how 50% of the world is low income. The average earnings in a day for someone in the low income group would be $2.

The use of the different foods and how the low income group had to sit on the floor did make the banquet interesting. However, I enjoyed the stories the most. First off the stories on the card we were given as we walked in. We each got a different person from a different place with a different story. I enjoyed exchanging the backstories with my friends. I also liked how they made people stand up and move to show the ability for people to move between classes. However, I would have liked if they showed us more concrete stories and images to make everything more real to us. Seeing images of those in the low income group from around the world, hearing real stories, would have made the banquet an even better experience. The only real experience I heard of was from one of the women attending the banquet. She shared with us how she grew up below the poverty line and struggled to move upward economically. Although I enjoyed the banquet, improvements can be made for next year and I encourage everyone to go next year!

Flaxseeds: Super food or Super Fake?

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Lauren Fay

Flaxseeds are commonly known as a superfood. For my psychology project I delved deeper into this claim to see if it truly was a superfood. Flaxseed is claimed to have many health benefits including lowering blood sugar, lowering cholesterol, reducing risks of cardiovascular problems such as strokes and heart attacks, and reduce in mental health problems such as depression.

After looking through media about flax seeds I do see mixed reviews. Although the websites and articles that say flax seed is beneficial are more popular, there are still many that oppose the food.

The beneficial claims are supported through research and experiments. Experiments have been done that show flax seeds prevent heart attacks and strokes related to cholesterol, they lower symptoms of depression, they increase muscles while decreasing fat. All of this information supports the claim that flax seed is indeed a super food.

You may be asking yourself.. Then why are there people that speak out against flax seed use?

The use of flaxseeds in every day home lives is questionable. Flaxseeds can offer great benefits if used correctly. It must be used in moderation because excess can make you very sick. Flaxseeds should also be used as just that.. seeds! Using flax seed as oil is not only less beneficial (turning the seeds into oil takes a lot of the nutrients away) but it can also make the flax become rancid. A lot of oil is prepared in such a way that as soon as the bottle of oil is opened it can become rancid and cause health problems. So if you are using flax seeds use them in seed form and in moderation and they can very well be a super food!

Thanksgiving and ShopWell

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Lauren Fay

While I do hope that you all had a Happy Thanksgiving, I hope you made wise food choices as well. According to the American Calorie Council the average American consumes up to 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving day! That’s more than double of recommended calorie intake for a whole day! Also, a 229 gram fat count. In case you’re feeling a bit guilty about this years thanksgiving, I’ve found some tips to make your next Thanksgiving a little less guilt filled. First off plan your meal ahead. Plan out what you want to eat ahead of time. Don’t just go crazy piling onto your plate. Plan what desert you will eat and how much. Once the meal starts load your plate with all the healthy things first. Salad or vegetables ..whatever’s available! Before you even look at the fattening food, load up your plate so you have limited room for the bad stuff. Of course you can have a little bit of everything (it’s a holiday after all!), but moderation is key! Eating more than normal is fine, but keep an eye out and stay aware! These numbers and tips are from the ShopWell app.

My experience having my first Gluten free Thanksgiving certainly opened my eyes. Having to be weary of gluten made me weary of everything! I ate significantly less and probably much more healthy (less fat and carbs) than the rest of my family. This enabled me to stay awake (no food coma for me) and decorate already for Christmas! Speaking of which.. Happy Holidays everyone!

I wanted to end with a recommendation that’s helping me on my gluten free journey. An app called Shopwell is a great way to organize your diet. On this app you create an account and then you put all the specific aspects of your diet. Any allergies, medical conditions, or just preferences (low carb, low fat, low sodium, etc.). Once you put all of this information in your profile is created. The app has a scanner and you can scan any packaged food and it will tell you if it meets your criteria. The app will give these foods a score based on your profile. The higher the number the better match for you! If a number is highlighted in red then the food should be avoided! If it is highlighted as yellow, you should eat it as a once in a while snack. If it is highlighted in green, then you’re good to go! Sounds familiar right? This certainly reminds me of the British food labeling system we learned about in psychology. This app also has categories that can show you the top products that fit your profile. They even tell you what stores in your area will have these products! It has been extremely helpful for me and I thought I would pass it on! I hope it helps!

The Logo for the ShopWell app.

Dumpster Diving and Food Waste in Popular TV Shows

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Lauren Fay

Recently, we’ve been discussing food wasting and dumpster diving in class. During these discussions, I kept thinking about episodes that I have seen of some of my favorite shows that incorporate either food waste or dumpster diving. There are shows about these topics and documentaries about these very real problems, but I wanted to talk about these problems as seen in popular sitcoms that present the problem in a humorous way. Even though this issue isn’t a laughing matter, I think that it’s great to have television shows that people actually watch showing this very real problem.

In The Office, Steve Carrell plays an incredibly uneducated boss that lives in his own little world. In one episode he gets lost in Scranton, PA (even though that’s where he lives and works) and also doesn’t have any money or a cell phone on him. Starting to get hungry, Michael looks for a way to get food. He stops at a hot dog stand and asks the worker if he can have a hot dog even though he can’t pay. Michael tells the man he will leave his watch with him and will come back later to pay. The man says no and Michael says “what do you do with the hot dogs you don’t sell at the end of the day.” “Throw them out,” the man replies. To add humor to the situation Michael responds with “well then why don’t you throw one out into my mouth.” Of course the man does not go for this and turns Michael away leaving him hungry. Although this is a funny and fake situation, it calls our attention to the problem of food waste. This stand was throwing away perfectly good food at the end of the day instead of giving it to the poor and hungry. Although this a fake stand, I’m positive there are stands in the real world that do the very same thing.

The next show is Seinfeld starring Jerry Seinfeld (as Jerry), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (as Elaine), Jason Alexander (as George) and Michael Richards (as Kramer). In one episode, Elaine gets the idea for a muffin shop that only sells the tops of muffins because the tops are the only parts that people really want to eat. Her idea is stolen and the muffin shop is opened and becomes a hit. After yelling at the man who stole her idea, he lets her become a partner in the business and she tells him he’s making the muffins wrong. He was just making the tops, but Elaine tells him he needs to make the whole muffin and cut the stumps off and throw them away. Kramer is asked to take the bags of perfectly good muffins stumps to a garbage dump. He unsuccessfully tries to throw the muffins stumps away at two different dumps. He gets turned away because what he was throwing away wasn’t garbage, but food. The muffin stumps end up with one of Jerry’s neighbors who eats them all. Again, in this fake situation we see food almost being wasted and thrown away. Of course the stumps do eventually get eaten, but not by someone in need. That food could make a difference if distributed to the right people.

One short example of dumpster diving is in Parks and Recreation where Andy Dwyer (played by Chris Pratt) dumpster dives in order to avoid going back to his job in London. He hides in the dumpster and his wife April (played by Aubrey Plaza) finds him. After encouraging him to go back to work, Andy dumpster dives once more to find his wallet. He also finds noodles and goes to eat them, but April tells him not too.

The last example has to do more with dumpster diving then it does food waste, but shows the life of a freegan, a group of people we learned about in class. In It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, two of the main characters, Charlie (played by Charlie Day) and Frank (played by Danny DeVito) embrace a life of dumpster diving. In fact they furnish their entire apartment using the dumpster. They find things they need and things they most certainly do not in the dumpster and view it all as treasure. Their apartment becomes insanely cluttered and disgusting and makes for a very funny situation. The episode shows that there are real people that do this and that valuable things can be found in a dumpster, but in this situation not everything you find is valuable. You know what they say, one man’s trash is another mans treasure.

The Terrifying Transition to Gluten Free

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Lauren Fay

I recently discovered that I have Celiac disease. Celiac disease is just a fancy way of saying that gluten and I don’t mix well. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. When someone with celiac disease eats gluten their body makes an immune reaction that attacks the small intestine. This is why it is so important for those with Celiac disease to stop eating gluten as soon as possible.

I was diagnosed last week and was told to start looking for gluten free options. For someone that has been eating gluten free for many years, this is not difficult. For someone who is new to gluten free, it can be very difficult. Due to discussions in my psychology course at Wagner College, I have become wary of labelling and wonder if foods that advertise they are gluten free really are gluten free.

I have discovered that the supermarket near my house, ShopRite, has an entire gluten free isle. Although I will not know if they are completely gluten free, acquiring these foods is a step in the right direction. I have also discovered there are many restaurants on Staten Island that offer gluten free foods. Villa Monte’s gluten free pizza is known by many as the best on the island. Goodfellas offers gluten free pasta options (although I’m still wary about eating there because of their mice problem not too long ago).

Although this transition will probably be difficult in the beginning, I know I will get used to it as most do. This also gives me a whole new field of cooking and baking to pursue! I’m sure I will discover many gluten free dishes to prepare and force them upon my family even though they don’t need to eat gluten free!

Port Richmond Meetings

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Lauren Fay

My friends and I typically go to Port Richmond on Monday afternoons. This allows us to both observe the class and take our mentees aside to talk to them. My mentee has told me much about his life and his love for cooking. He told me that his favorite dish to prepare, serve, and eat is all the same: lasagna. In addition to learning a lot about my mentee, I also learn a lot from the class and I think its important to pay attention during them.

On Mondays the typical culinary class consists of the students being given the recipe they will be preparing for the week and discussing it. In addition to this, each time they do this they learn a little it more about how to accurately read a recipe. Two weeks ago, they reviewed a recipe and the recipe called for 2 eggs. This seems simple right? Two eggs, that’s easy. However, they don’t say what size eggs. There are many sizes, so which did the recipe need? The students were taught that if a recipe does not specify then it means to use large eggs. This is something I never really thought about. As someone who loves baking and cooking, I always just used whatever eggs I had in the house. I never thought that the size of the eggs could impact the taste and consistency of the dish, but as the students and I learned that day, they could.

Here is one of the many recipe given to the students at Port Richmond

The last thing I wanted discuss is something I believe all mentors should take a glance at while they are visiting Port Richmond next time. It is a poster outside the culinary classroom. On the poster is many different jobs and careers in the culinary field. It lists the title, the job description, and the salary. Both students, mentors, and teachers can learn a lot about the different careers the students can pursue from this poster. This can help when advising your mentee or just give an insight into the many culinary career options!

YouTube: Funny and Harmful

Posted on October 27, 2015 by Lauren Fay

Whether or not you’re aware of it, there is a growing entertainment community that many kids and teenagers are influenced by, and that’s YouTube. YouTube isn’t just funny cat videos and videos of people falling anymore. There are real entertainers called “youtubers” that post videos and have strong fan bases. There are many types of youtubers: beauty gurus like Zoella, comedy vloggers like Danisnotonfire, sketch makers like Smosh, and gamers like Pewdiepie. No matter what category these entertainers fall into, they all participate in challenges. Although not always, these challenges often have to do with food. The cinnamon challenge, miracle berry challenge, tin can challenge, and chicken nugget challenge are all examples of how YouTube can influence viewers to do something harmful involving food.

glozell The Cinnamon Challenge entails pouring cinnamon on a spoon and swallowing it. Seems simple right? Not quite. The cinnamon dries out your mouth making it incredibly difficult to swallow. Coughing, gagging, and vomiting can result. In worse cases the cinnamon is inhaled leading to throat irritation and breathing difficulties that could result in damage to the lung. Sure it’s funny to watch, especially GloZell doing it (pictured right), but kids and teenagers started doing it all because of YouTube. The American Poison Control has received over 100 calls because of this challenge.

Miracle Berry Challenge is a fairly new challenge to YouTube. This challenge is quite berry interesting and it’s obvious why people want to try it. Eating this “miracle berry” can switch your taste buds so that things that you might normally find disgusting taste amazing and vice versa. Phil Lester and Tyler Oakley did just that and showed how strange the berry’s effects really are. We briefly discussed this fruit in a psychology class, but the reading from our textbook certainly makes me want to stay away from it. The author, Logue, says that miraculin, the substance that causes this taste changing effect, is something that she wants to stay away from because it could have heavy consequences. After further research on the berry it seems that the effects are unknown and that further scientific research has to be done.

Joe Sugg (thatcherjoe) and Alfie Deyes (Pointlessblog)

The Tin Can Challenge is like a lottery, except you don’t win anything that great. The point is to buy a bunch of canned foods and take the labels off, so you don’t know what they are. Then put numbers on the bottoms of the cans and put the same numbers on pieces of paper. Put the papers into a bowl and whatever number you pick you have to eat the corresponding can. Some of these cans have delicious foods and others have extremely disgusting foods. It’s the luck of the draw. Many teenagers are doing this challenge with their friends. I’m not afraid to say that I was one of those teenagers. It is an extremely funny game, but I can attest that you will feel very sick after.

Tyler Oakley attempting the Chicken Nugget Challenge

The Chicken Nugget Challenge is the worst of the challenges in my opinion. For this challenge you are to attempt to eat 50 chicken nuggets in 20 minutes. Yes, you read that correctly. It doesn’t take a nutritionist to tell you that you shouldn’t eat 50 chicken nuggets in one sitting. My friends also attempted this challenge, but I fortunately sat out for this one. I did watch them do it, however. After discovering that this one challenge would make them consume 2,000-3,000 calories, depending on how many they finish and whether or not they use sauce, I was quite concerned. This means that they could eat more calories in one sitting than they are supposed to in a whole day! The fact that kids and teenagers are influenced to do this is extremely unhealthy!

Clearly we see a modern case of monkey see monkey do. We imitate the people we admire and in many kids and teenagers cases, these people are youtubers. I am a huge fan of some of the youtubers named above and think they are incredibly talented and entertaining. However, I would caution viewers to be aware of the harmful effects of these challenges.

Mentor to Mentor

Posted on October 25, 2015 by Lauren Fay

Exterior of Port Richmond High school.

Today was the first day I was able to meet with my mentee from Port Richmond High School. It was actually quite fun so I thought I would write about my experience and give some advice to those that have yet to go from this program at Wagner or anyone that is about to mentor someone.

My first piece of advice would be to not go alone on your first meeting with your mentee. I went with three other mentors: Allison, Shannon, and Kim. Although later on you may want to meet with your mentee one on one, a bigger group at first can make them feel more comfortable and relaxed. One of the mentees was very shy so having more people around helped to get him to talk more. The four of us and our mentees were able to sit down and talk for a period and get to know each other. We learned so much about them. Where they live, their family life, sports they play, television shows they watch, and many other little facts. We also discussed their love for cooking, which brings me to my second piece of advice. Don’t assume they want to pursue a culinary career. Many of these students are in this program because they enjoy cooking as a hobby. So when mentoring them about college, make sure to talk about all possibilities and not just a narrow frame for culinary careers.

Whether or not you go alone, my last piece of advice is to think of some questions you’d like to ask them before going. Having the conversation flow easily will relax your mentee and make them open up more. Ask them a mix of questions about themselves and about cooking. For instance I asked them a question about their favorite sports team and then Kim asked about their favorite dish to prepare. We went back and forth with different questions. We also asked them if they had any questions for us about ourselves or about college. We told them about our college experience thus far and asked them what their plans are for the future so that we can help them prepare and give some advice. I believe it was a very successful first meeting and hope all of you have a similar experience.

Real Women Have Curves: Helpful and Harmful

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Lauren Fay

For the most part I really loved Real Women Have Curves, but because of recent discussions I may have a minor problem with this movie. If I had seen this movie a month ago, I would have 100% loved it, but now I’m a little unsure.

The reason for my love of the movie is because of its fantastic message. I think encouraging all women to be comfortable in their skin is an amazing thing. Everyone should feel confident and attractive. We see Ana struggle with this concept for the entire movie. Her mother, a person that should be supporting her, is the one that constantly reminds her of her weight. Her mother is clearly the antagonist and makes Ana feel extremely self-conscious. Ana overcomes this adversary and leaves her verbally abusive mother to pursue a better life in NYC.

This is empowering to more than just those struggling with their weight. It empowers women, minorities, the poor, and anyone that feels they cannot do something to be brave and do what makes them happy. The movie has a truly beautiful message.

However, because of writings by David Callahan (that social pressure should be placed on the overweight to make them feel shamed into losing weight), I have slightly mixed feelings. I completely believe that everyone should be encouraged to be who they want to be, but being overweight isn’t just about self esteem. Being overweight or obese can cause serious health problems. While this movie encourages women to feel beautiful no matter their weight, it may also encourage some to not try to lose weight.

This feeling beautiful while overweight may cause women to think it is not important to try to strive to lose weight for their health. Weight should not important on the societal level as this movie suggests, but it is important regarding individual health. Also, I do not completely agree with Callahan on the shame aspect of his article. Although some people may respond well to tough love, not everyone does. Everyone is different and needs to have their own approach to losing weight. We must cater to the individual, not the masses.

Friendly Food Cue

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Lauren Fay

Food cues are all around us at all times and they usually make us want to eat more. I thought I would post about one of my favorite dishes to make as well as examine the food cues associated with this dish in my life since I always make it when my whole group of friends get together. This dish would be my brownies!

My Brownies are made from scratch; no Betty Crocker boxes are allowed here! They are extremely time consuming and are a lot of hard work, but they are definitely worth it. Having to melt the chocolate just right and even deciding what kind of chocolate I want to use can take up a lot of time. I’m not going to post my whole recipe because I did make it myself, but I will always make them upon request.

This brings me to the food cue portion of this post. Am I the food cue? Are my friends the food cues? Are we all the food cues? When they come back from school, I want to do something for them to make them happy. A lot of them are having trouble adjusting to school and a nice treat always lifts everyone’s spirits! So perhaps they are a food cue for me to make and eat this dish. I had already planned on making the brownies for them since I always do when our whole group gathers (there are about 20 of us, so it’s rare when we can all come together). This would mean that they are a food cue for me. However, some of them asked me to make them as well. So not only are they food cues for me, but I’m also a food cue for some of them. The fact that the thought of hanging out with me makes them think of brownies means I am a definite food cue to them.

Another element of these brownies is commensality. The brownies aren’t just delicious treats and evidence of food cues, they are a method of sharing between my group of friends. The brownies will be on the table and around them will be all of us talking, sharing stories, and reliving memories. Perhaps these brownies will even be the reason we recall some memories, like the time I made them for the cast party after a lot of us were in our school’s drama production of Our Town. Not only are we being brought together with the brownies, but we are being brought together because of brownies. I guess you could say food does a lot more than satisfy hunger.

(The link in the beginning is a short explanation of food cues and how you can try to avoid some of the more common ones!)

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