Dumpster Diving in NYC ?

Posted on November 22, 2015 by Olivia Silvestri

When I hear the word Dumpster I automatically think of a huge container that is filled with piles of grarbage spanning from food/drinks, to furniture and maybe even clothes. During one of our RFT-LC 13 class meetings my class and I watched a film on people called Dumpster divivers. At first I was a bit grossed out thinking that people who dont really need to be rumaging through the trash was, in order to attain perfectly fine items in the dumpster. But the more I watched the video I was actually very intreged and suprised how much good food was being thrown out for no reason.

In the video when the guy was outside on the streets and there were huge bags filled with freshly made bread it made me think of how wasteful many people are. When I saw that bag filled with loafs of bread I thought to myself, why wouldn’t these places donate their extra food to a homeless shelter or soup kitcken? I think that is these loafs of bread that are going in the garbage can be used to benefit many starving Americans.

I believe that these resturants and supermarkets should donated their extra food to charities that could use these products to support people in need. I feel instead of filing up garbage bags of food to be discarded owners of these places should drop of the excess food to places who would put these foods to good use.

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.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Shannon Bailey

One of the most interesting things I’ve seen lately was the documentary, “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”. It is about the life and work of a sushi chef in Japan. Jiro Ono is the owner and head chef of Sukiyabashi Jiro, one of the highest rated restaurants in the world.

Jiro Ono in front of his restaurant, Sukiyabashi Jiro.

The Michelin Guide awarded the restaurant 3 starts. What makes Jiro’s restaurant so unique is that it a very small place, but it sticks to the discipline that it needs to in order to provide the best product to their customers.The dedication to detail and to upholding their standards is inspirational. These sushi chefs spend years of their life and many early mornings working hard to please their teacher, Jiro. Before they create some of the best sushi in the world, they must learn from the man who does it best. The first few months of their apprenticeship is spent cleaning the kitchen and doing everything possible to stay in Jiro’s good graces.

Daisuke Nakazawa

At four months, you may be allowed to handle fish, or take care of preparation in the kitchen. After about five years, the apprentice moves up to working behind the sushi bar, assisting the other chefs, assuming they have proven their ability. For Daisuke Nakazawa, this process seemed as if it was taking forever. He was set with the task of mastering the preparation of tamagoyaki or, “grilled egg” which is a type of Japanese omelette made by rolling several layers of cooked egg. Occasionally they include shrimp puree or grated yam. Nancy Leson of the The Seattle Times reports that, “under the stern eye of Jiro Ono: months of failure, 200 rejections and, finally, approval.”

Below is a small clip from the documentary that I couldn’t figure out how to embed on to this post.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFP5xD2l3ro

In the documentary we also see Jiro’s oldest son, Yoshikazu, travel to the fish market. This is a process that takes place every day in order to make sure that the ingredients are fresh. When watching this documentary you learn all about the Japanese fish market, as well as the way in which they find the best fish. As they go though the market, they talk to each of their vendors. These are individuals which Jiro has deemed masters in their field. The most impressive thing to me was that the process of buying tuna is set up as an auction. Although I couldn’t understand what they were saying some of the time, it was interesting to hear the men who were in charge call out numbers and write down names as if they were trying to auction off an antique lamp.With the best fish their vendors could find, Jiro makes the night’s menu based off of what was available that morning.

I recommend this documentary because it is interesting to see how one of the best restaurants operates. It is available on Netflix and the running time is 1hr 23min. Do you have what it takes to work for Jiro Ono? I sure don’t.

Shannon Bailey

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.

Film Review: “Real Women Have Curves”

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Ariana Gargano

Ever women or even man want a “super model” body that in our society right now is considered attractive or sexy. In the film released in 2002 Real Women Have Curves, they are trying to sh t28434ugd59 ow the opposite and considering the other people who do not look like a model as sexy and attractive too. Women especially have always been the ones who have to look and be portrayed as “sexy” but Ana Garcia our main character in the film is the opposite along with the rest of the cast. Ana is a Mexican-American teenager that has an older sister with the same body type as her and is not married or does not have a boyfriend that their mother is constantly putting them down for and according to her it is because of their body that they are to fat and need to lose weight. Women who have curves can be sexy but if you are told so many times from someone who you value their opinion so much like Ana’s mother, Ana did not consider herself as attractive because of the words from her mother saying how she would never find someone because of how she looks. Ana during the film gets a boyfriend, and she was not so ashamed to show him her body while she is saying how she is embarrassed by her body he tells her “You are not fat. You are beautiful.” Ana’s sister owns a dress assembly company that they make dresses that Ana, her mother, and other close friends work for. All the women who work in the shop are not skinny like Ana’s mother Carmen wants and thinks everyone should look like while she is overweight herself. The shop is very hot so Ana and everyone in the shop start to show each other the things about their body they do not like but start embracing. Carmen is disgusted while Ana and everyone else learn the values of their body and being beautiful and comfortable in their bodies like they should be.

The Sugar Film

Posted on October 3, 2015 by Ariana Gargano

Soda, cakes, cookies, candy, ice cream, etc. are the most consumed high sugar processed foods in America. But some “healthy” foods like yogurt and energy bars and whole-grain bread are also high in sugar. Obesity is not just a problem in America. A lot of people think that most of the causes of obesity come from eating the bad high sugar foods like soda or cakes and cookies but how could that be a big effect on obesity if healthy foods like yogurt and whole-grain bread have a high level of sugar? A film called “That Sugar Film” a man stopped eating healthy food and started to eat 40 teaspoons of sugar a day that is the amount consumed by the average Australian. In America, the average teen consumes 28 teaspoons of sugar a day. What Mr. Gameau does in his study is that he does not consume candy, soda, ice cream or other clear sources of high sugar foods but only ate foods that people think are healthy but are loaded with sugars, like low-fat yogurt, fruit juice, cereals and health bars. After one month of his experiment, he found out that his health and weight became out of control.After 18 days, he found that he had developed fatty liver.

He decided to do this experiment because how many problems everyone had with sugar. Everyone knows that by drinking a lot of soda, eating donuts and cookies would make you gain weight but what people do not know that by following a ‘”low-fat”, diet with healthier foods or snack that you think you will not gain weight but those things contain almost the same amount of sugars added to it just like the candy and ice cream. Another thing he found most surprising was that with everything he ate he never felt full and it was affecting his moods and was trapping fats in his body.

A study also was done in Australia that 55 percent of people get their nutritional facts from food labels and only 25 percent of people get their advice from outside sources. The government had tried many different things to change the food labels to make people stay away from the bad foods. However, the nutritional facts on the back of packaged foods is trying to convince people to stay away from high sugar foods only but not exactly every high sugar foods. There’s no risk of lowering sugar intake, but it was found that sugar is not just the only factor of obesity. Like the other film “Super Size Me” when Morgan only ate at McDonalds for 30 days and gained almost 30 pounds in almost 2 weeks.

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Category Archives: Films

Dumpster Diving in NYC ?

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Real Women Have Curves: Helpful and Harmful

Film Review: “Real Women Have Curves”

The Sugar Film