Senior Project

Sources & Annotations:

1. Pollan, Michael. The New York Times, “Farmer in Chief”, Oct 12, 2008. Jan 21, 2010.

“Even food-assistance programs like WIC and school lunch focus on maximizing quantity rather than quality, typically specifying a minimum number of calories (rather than maximums) and seldom paying more than lip service to nutritional quality. This focus on quantity may have made sense in a time of food scarcity, but today it gives us a school-lunch program that feeds chicken nuggets and Tater Tots to overweight and diabetic children.”

-I chose this quote because it sparked a possible focus point on the topic of food.

-I especially like the line, “Even food-assistance programs like WIC and school lunch focus on maximizing quantity rather than quality…”

-Brings up a good point. I think that America has grown so accustomed to making the most money that we can and taking short cuts to do it. That we begin to cut the natural/organic-ness out of our products.

-I mean what the heck is a Dorito? Can you go home and make yourself some Doritos? I think NOT!

2. Unknown. Cheap Ass Food.com, “Upgrade Ramen”, Jan 21, 2010. .

“#1 way to upgrade from Economy to First-class, my research suggest adding the incredible edible egg. One way to add protein with out the cost of mad cow. Additional add-ons are tofu, onion, green onion, bean spouts, the list goes on; also if you have any leftovers, great way to make space for your selves.”

-Although this not a strong accredited source. I found it super interesting.

-I mean it demonstrates that we can still try and make our unhealthy but very cheap foods…at least semi-healthy. By adding our own fresh foods that we’ve cooked rather than store bought stuff.

3. Phillips, Peter. Global Research.ca, “Global Starvation Ignored by American Policy Elites”, Sep 5, 2008. Jan 21, 2010. .

“For a family on the bottom rung of poverty a small price increase is the difference between life and death, yet neither US presidential candidate has declared a war on starvation. Instead both candidates talk about national security and the continuation of the war on terror as if this were the primary election issue. Where is the Manhattan project for global hunger?”

-I was drawn to the quote above simply because it said, “For a family on the bottom rung of poverty a small price increase is the difference between life and death…” It’s simply a powerful sentence because I mean that’s the reality for most people around the world. Depending on how poor a person shows their chance of survival. When you’re poor you have fewer resources, less money, less of everything.

4. Bloom, Jonathan. Culinate, “The food not eaten, food waste: Out of sight, out of mind”, Nov 19, 2007. Jan 21, 2010. .

“In America, the fourth Thursday in November gives us special permission to heap food on our plates. While this ritual used to be unique to Thanksgiving, it has become increasingly routine in our daily lives.”

“Because America produces twice as much food as needed per person, Thanksgiving’s celebration of abundance seems outdated. Yes, we cherish this holiday. But we’d have more cause to give thanks if we valued food more and made better use of our excess.”

-The holidays and excuses for eating tons of food.

-Giving thanks to our food?

-Yes, we cherish this holiday. But we’d have more cause to give thanks if we valued food more and made better use of our excess.” …Put a fun twist on those words.

Write-Up:

Possible Senior Project Topic: FOOD!

I was driven to focus on this topic for various reasons including the Farmer & Chief reading, our environmental science garden, and my general curiosity to dig deeper into this topic.

I’m not exactly sure on what I want to want to cover about food though. Food alone is too broad of a topic. One of the few things I need to decide upon is whether I want to focus on food domestically i.g. California and America OR focus on food on a more global scale.

What I might want to focus on specifically:

Quality vs. Quantity!

-At this point in time, America is choosing quantity. How is this affecting Americans?

- Growing so accustomed to taking short cuts when it comes to food.

-Taking out the natural/organic-ness of our products.

-Eating all this unhealthy food, causes health problems.

Ways to eat healthier, but still keeping cost down!

-Referring to the “Upgrade Ramen” article/blog source.

-Maybe for my senior project I can focus on inexpensive ways to eat healthier. By adding our own fresh foods that we’ve cooked rather than store bought stuff.

Starvation!

If I do choose to do my senior project on starvation, I’ll probably base it around this fact…“For a family on the bottom rung of poverty a small price increase is the difference between life and death…” It’s simply a powerful sentence because I mean that’s the reality for most people around the world. Depending on how poor a person shows their chance of survival. When you’re poor you have fewer resources, less money, less of everything.

“Giving thanks to our food?”

Yes, we cherish this holiday. But we’d have more cause to give thanks if we valued food more and made better use of our excess.” …Put a fun twist on those words. And base my senior project on things that relate to those words.