Traditional Japanese food blog post #4

Japanese culture has evolved a lot through history. Japan was the first country to create sushi and now sushi has spread throughout the world. Sushi and Japenese food in general has become a huge hit in America. Although you can get sushi in America, it will not be as authentic as Japanese sushi. Japan uses a much wider range of fish and ingredients in their sushi. It is not even uncommon for Japanese people to use whale meat in sushi! Although sushi is such a popular dish in Japan, it isn’t very easy to make. It is easy for the people in Japan who are used to making it nearly everyday but for us Americans, it is not such an easy task. I will attach a link at the bottom of this post to a website filled with sushi recipes. There are recipes for simple sushi like California rolls or very complicated sushi like spicy tuna rolls. The Japenese created special rice just for making sushi and it’s called “shari”. You can normally find it in your local supermarket or you can make it at home. I will attach a link for a recipe to make shari as well.

http://makemysushi.com/index.php/Sushi-Preparations/how-to-make-perfect-sushi-rice.html

http://makemysushi.com/

Japanese food staples Blog post #3

It has been said before that the Japanese are the most enthusiastic and passionate about their food more than any other race! The Japanese use a wide range of foods when cooking but one food they never fail to leave out is rice. Rice used to be traded as a currency but for years it has been a staple food in Japan. When it comes to harvesting rice, it is not an easy job. Uncooked rice is called kome. It is very labor heavy and so rice is nearly never wasted and always used. The most popular dish that rice is used in is sushi but it is also used in dishes called donburi, onigiri, kayu, mocha and chazuke. Probably the second most popular food in Japan is fish. Because Japan is all islands, fish is a very accessible food and there are many varieties. In Japan, fish can be ate while almost live, raw, grilled or deep fried. A fun fact about fish in Japan is that Japanese people consume a lot more fish than is typical in western countries and this is said to be a major factor in the country’s relatively low rate of heart disease.

https://www.insidejapantours.com/japanese-culture/food/

http://www.japan-zone.com/culture/food.shtml

Health in Sweden

Kate Haase
Mr. Kuykendall
Period C
April 19, 2015


   Sweden is the first Western country to reject the low fat diet and adopt the low carb high fat diet instead. Sweden is the 9th healthiest country in the world, with the United States as the 33rd healthiest. Swedes stick to a pretty healthy regular diet, with fish being an integral part of their diet. Although Sweden is very healthy, fast food restaurants are spreading across the country. Sweden is no United States, but the business is definitely growing. Sweden's more popular fast food restaurant is called Max, which is the equivalent to McDonald's.

  Swedes tend to eat multiple smaller meals throughout the day rather than your average three decent sized meals per day. This helps boost metabolism. As I have mentioned before, the Swedes love their sweets. Dessert is a very important part of their diet and is often had multiple times a day. This does not affect their health too much, as they are an extremely active population.

 Knäckebröd (crispbread)

http://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2013/10/20/sweden-gets-is-right/

http://healthimpactnews.com/2013/sweden-becomes-first-western-nation-to-reject-low-fat-diet-dogma-in-favor-of-low-carb-high-fat-nutrition/

http://www.tryswedish.com/en/eat-like-a-swede/

Jamaican health

Jamaican diets are usually extremely unhealthy and due to this heat disease is currently the number one cause of death in Jamaica. Common foods such as escoviche, jerk chicken and oxtail are high fat meals that are eaten on a daily basis for some Jamaicans. Oil is used to fry almost everything in Jamaica however the worst would be chicken fat that is melted into oil and then used to cook other foods. Jamaicans eat a lot of starchy foods such as rice, dumplings and yams. Recent studies show that Jamaicans are consuming less healthy foods, are less physically active and are eating a lot of processed foods such as salted fish. There are some Jamaicans who are very active and who eat healthy foods only such as curried fish. In my opinion American diets tend to fall under the same regime. With fried foods being the cheaper alternative to healthy eating more and more Americans are taking the easy route.

Curried Fish

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon minced Scotch bonnet chile pepper (see Tip), or to taste
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme or 1/4 teaspoon dried
• 1 14-ounce can “lite” coconut milk
• 2 pounds mahi-mahi fillets (see Note), skinned, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon salt

My personal diet consists of traditional Ghanian home cooked meals. Mainly rice, plantains or yams make up most of the meals at home. Every now and then when my family goes on vacation we'll go to chinese restaurants and fast food places but at home the diet is very healthy. In the book, "Like Water for Chocolate' by Laura Esquivel, the power of food and emotions was closely tied together. When Tita felt sincere sorrow and cried into the cake it somehow affected everyone who ate the cake to feel the same way she did. When Tita felt a deep desire for pedro and baked the rose petals with her blood into the meal everyone who ate it felt a deep desire as well. At Alexs' wedding when Tita made the Chiles with all her heart everyone found a deep desire to make love with someone as soon as they ate it. The magical effects of Titas emotions on the food she creates makes her into a special character that draws people together.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20130612/health/health2.html

Local Jamaican influences

Due to the extreme diversity in Jamaica food is drawn from all sorts of sources. Some of the most common ingredients in Jamaican food is Ackee, Escallion, Scotch bonnet  and Sorrel. Ackee is found in west Africa and is popular in many Jamaican foods and is usually served with either rice or cod. Ackee is extremely toxic and must be used very carefully in order to allow it to be edible and not poison the consumer. Ackee is also a major money maker for Jamaica as they export it to several countries across the world. Escallion is commonly known as the welsh onion and is used across Jamaican foods but mainly shows up in salads. Escallion is usually mixed with thyme, scotch bonnet, garlic and pimenta. Escallion is also used in various spice mixtures and a few soups. Scotch bonnet is a type of chili pepper found on the Caribbean Islands. Scotch bonnet is primarily used in foods such as jerk chicken in order to give it a unique flavor. Scotch bonnet is one of the hottest peppers on the island and is used in a lot of traditional Jamaican cuisine. Sorrel is a festive plant that is dried and used mainly for the festive drink ironically called sorrel as well in Jamaica. Sorrel is made by extracting the leaves from the plant, drying them over a few hours and then cooking with other ingredients. Sorrel is a popular drink in Jamaica and is almost exclusively made at Christmastime to celebrate the occasion.

Jerk chicken recipe

Ingredients

You will need the following ingredients to prepare enough jerk chicken for 4 people:-

 One 3 1/2 lb chicken (3lb of chicken breasts may be used if preferred)
 6 sliced scotch bonnet peppers (jalapenos may be used if scotch bonnet peppers are unavailable)
 2 Tbsp. thyme
 2 Tbsp. ground allspice
 8 Cloves garlic, finely chopped
 3 Medium onions, finely chopped
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. salt
2 Tsp. ground black pepper

1 to 2 Tsp of the following (to taste)-ground cinnamon-nutmeg-ginger
1/2 cup olive oil 1/2 cup soy sauce of one lime cup orange juice cup white vinegar.

Ackee and Saltfish recipe

Ingredients

You will need the following ingredients to prepare enough ackee and saltfish for 4 people:-

 1/2 lb Saltfish (dried, salted codfish)
 12 fresh ackees or 1 (drained) can of tinned ackees
 1 medium onion
 1/2 tsp black pepper
 3 tbsp of butter
 1/2 a hot chilli pepper (ideally Scotch Bonnet)
 1 sweet pepper
 1 chopped tomato
 1 sprig fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme



Optional ingredients:-
2 cloves of garlic
4 Scallion (or spring onions)
6 Slices of bacon

Sorrel recipe

Ingredients

You will need the following ingredients to prepare 2 litres of sorrel:

 1 lb Sorrel sepals
 1" of ginger
 5 tbsp sugar
 2 litres of water
 A splash of rum (ideally Jamaican white rum) Optional spices
 1 tsp cloves
 1 tsp ground pimento
 1 tsp cinnamon
 1 tbsp orange peel
 1 tbsp lemon peel
 1 tsp mace
 Optional alcohol
 Wine
 Sherry
 Rum

http://www.jamaicatravelandculture.com/food_and_drink.htm

Polish Health

Poland

Blog Post No.4

2015-4-18

By Daniel Wojcik

If you want to eat Polish food, you're going to want to stop counting your calories.  Polish food is very hearty.  Meats, especially sausage, are a large part of the polish diet.  As Poland is one of the worlds largest producers of cereal crops, bread and various other wheat-based foods are very common as well.  Polish food has not changed a whole lot in recent memory, but in the past it has been influenced by other European cultures as I mentioned in my first post.  One of the largest influences was Italian food.  While domestic vegetables had seen some use beforehand, Italian cooks popularized the use of vegetables such as Celery Root, Lettuce, Leeks, and Cabbage during the Renaissance.  The Italian cooks had such a large influence that today some of these vegetables are known as włoszczyzna, which is derived from the Polish word for Italy.   

Some Polish foods are not as healthy.  Pierogi, the Polish national dish, are often fried.  Pączki, like I mentioned in my second post, are very popular, and not very healthy as you might expect from a doughnut.  However, in some ways Polish food is similar to American food.  While the preparation is vastly different, a lot of the ingredients are similar, so it's not hard to strike a balance between tasty and nutritious.

Is It Healthy?

Blog Post #4
April 17, 2015
Hannah James

Strictly traditional Southwestern American Indian diets are extremely well-rounded and healthy. This is due to the fact that their highly active lifestyles called for it. Traditionally, the men would hunt and the women would cook and take care of the children. Both gender roles needed good diets to keep them healthy year-round. Over the decades, European influence has turned the diets of Southwestern Natives to become less healthy. More traditional meals, like a Navajo taco (often called fry bread), are now fried in oil as opposed to baked in the oven. This adds more trans fats and sugars into the meal. As American tribes are a large part of American history, they're diet progression as followed the same as the average Americans: becoming more and more unhealthy as the years go on. Dessert fry bread is personally my favorite Native dish. It's toppings include honey or agave nectar, powdered sugar, cinnamon, and chocolate. Bellow is the current recipe most people use to create Navajo tacos*:
Ingredients

2 cups flour

1⁄2 cup instant nonfat dry milk powder

1 tablespoon baking powder

1⁄2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons shortening

3⁄4 cup water

canola oil, for frying

Directions

Mix together flour, dry milk, baking powder, and salt. Add shortening and rub mixture with fingers till coarse crumbs form.

Add water and stir with a fork till dough clings together.

Knead on a lightly floured surface till smooth (2-3 minutes).

Divide into 6 portions and keep covered with plastic wrap.

Shape each into a 6-7 inch circle.

In a 9x2 inch pan or electric skillet, heat 3/4 inch canola oil to 375 degrees. Fry each piece of dough till it is puffy and golden brown, turning once with tongs.

Keep warm in 200 degree oven on baking sheets lined with paper towels till ready to serve.

Add any desired toppings to the fry-bread. This can include what we consider "traditional" taco toppings or other, more dessert-like, toppings.

Completed Fry Bread

My personal diet also follows the tract that most Americans are on: not very healthy. While I am a vegetarian, that does not make me any healthier than my peers who are not. I love greasy foods like fries and drinks with empty calories like pop. One thing I can say about my personal diet is I never got into the "fad" diets many have fallen into. You'll never find me on an all kale diet or going through a "juice detox". 

In the book, Water for Chocolate, emotion and health are closely tied to food. The emotions Tita and other characters feel are emoted through the food they eat and the food they eat affects their physical and mental health. For example, Tita and Mama Elena have never gotten along because of Mama's desire to keep Tita unwed. When Tita tries to cook for her mother, she refuses to eat the meal because anything Tita cooks for her tastes "bitter". This bitter tastes shows us the relationship between the two characters. 

*Recipe and directions for Navajo Fry Bread courtesy of Food.Com (click link to see full recipe)

"Native American Food." Native American Food. Web. 18 Apr. 2015. <http://www.indians.org/articles/native-american-food.html>.