Our History-
• We come from a long line of cooks.
• Recipes have been passed down for generations, I have the pleasure of extending our traditions to my daughter.
• My mother and I are the “COOKS of the cooks!” The golden question during the holidays is “Who made it??” If my mother or I made it, the pan is guaranteed to be scraped clean before the night’s end.
• We seldom eat other family member’s food. Even on holidays.
• My mother’s family is from Louisiana, and her elders have taught her how to make various cultural dishes from scratch (i.e. authentic Creole, Chinese, Mexican/Latin, Soul food- you name it).
• Heiress is also gaining popularity with her desserts.

Why THREE dishes?
Cooking is a bonding experience for my family and we have such a great time conversing with each other over preparation; there is a certain closeness we share in the kitchen. It was very hard for me to choose one dish to share with the class and nearly impossible thinking cooking as a singular action and not as the collective family experience it has come to be. Therefore, I have decided to present three very different dishes prepared separately from the three of us and explain the different styles and perspectives in the meals we prepare.

I. Gourmet Gigi!
My mother, “Gigi” (as the kids call her) cooks from her soul. As she gets older her meals are becoming more and more celebratory- family members will drive to her house on a random Wednesday evening to “get a plate” of whatever she is cooking. She is very much an old school cook- no cutting corners or calories. She does not cook with ground turkey or any of the modern-day healthy alternatives. Her food is flavorful, filling, comforting and made with love. Today she has prepared for you her “Beloved Chicken Lasagna”- which includes chicken, Alfredo sauce, spinach, ricotta, sharp cheddar and mozzarella cheeses.
(The only shortcut in this recipe is the purchase of a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store instead of cooking herself. All ingredients carefully layered and cooked at 375◦ for 30-40 minutes)

II. 20-minute Mama
While I have certainly inherited many recipes and cooking techniques from my mother and her mother- I am the QUEEN of 20 minute meals! In between working full-time, caring for Heiress and studying, I have minimal time to prepare a good meal for Heiress before bedtime. I try to narrow my meals down to meet three simple criteria- FRESH, FAST & FLAVORFUL. While carbs ae not totally excluded, I do not cook them frequently, protein and vegetables are typically the reoccurring menu items. My cooking varies from my mother’s as I am very particular about the little things- I only eat Chicken breast, I limit my carb/starch intake, I am more conscious of eating healthier and substituting ingredients. . I often fool my mother with dishes like spaghetti or chili beans that I cook with ground turkey because otherwise she does not eat it. Today I have prepared my “Shrimp Fried Caulirice”- made exactly as shrimp fried rice is prepared with cauliflower substituting the rice, including egg, peas, carrots, onion, green onion, sesame oil and soy sauce.

III. Happy Heiress
Aspiring to be a great baker of her own Bake Shop, Heiress created this recipe by accident when we purchased the wrong ingredients for another recipe she wanted to try. With a little improvising her “Cinnamon Rolled Dunkers” became a big hit amongst her faculty and friends at school. Naturally Heiress’ cooking style more so resembles “GiGi’s” style of cooking- as long as it is SWEET and DELICIOUS it is done! Heiress will now give a brief presentation on her cinnamon rolled dunkers.

In conclusion, we hope you have enjoyed our offerings and if nothing more we hope you can taste our pride & passion in our food and understand the pleasure it brings us to be able to make others happy.

The food items that I choose for my presentation is apples and peanut butter.  The reasons why I choose these items are because they have been my favorite snack since I was a little girl and it brings back childhood memories of my mother.  My mother was a vegetarian, so therefore we always ate healthy. We did not eat out and my mother never brought junk food such as cookies, ice cream, chips, cake, candy and soda. If we wanted sweets, she would make us homemade cakes, cookies and ice cream. We always had fresh fruit in the house, so when I came home from school wanting a crunchy snack, my mother would give us apples. As a child, I only liked the green apples. I started eating my apples with peanut butter because I saw my mother doing it so I tried it and I have been in love with this combination ever since. My siblings thought apples and peanut butter was gross, so they had celery with their peanut butter instead. When we did not have apples, I would have my peanut butter alone with a big spoon. We never had what I feel now is tasty peanut butter such as Skippy and Jiff because my mother always brought the healthy peanut butter from the health food store which contained only ground peanuts with no salt or sugar. Since the peanut butter was fresh, it was thick and the oil sat at the top of the container, so it had to be stirred before each use, which created many spills! As an adult, peanut butter and apples are my go to snack, but I do not eat the peanut butter from the health food store! This snack not only brings back childhood memories of my mother, it is satisfying and healthy.

There are over 7,500 varieties of apples and they come in many colors such as red, yellow and green (organicfacts.net). Although there are a variety of apples, they all have different tastes and textures, and only a few are used best in baked goods. Apples are a nutritional fruit that bring many health benefits to the body. Apples have a lot of fiber, which promotes a healthy digestive system, and they are high in antioxidants that fight illness and diseases such as cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes (organicfacts.net).  In addition to fighting illnesses and diseases, apples are beneficial for aiding in weight loss, lowering cholesterol levels, treating anemia, promoting healthy dental hygiene, improving skin and respiratory illness such as asthma (organicfacts.net).

Peanut butter is a healthy fat that comes in two varieties, creamy and crunchy. Peanut butter provides many nutritional benefits such as protein, antioxidants, healthy carbohydrates, vitamin e, vitamin c, iron, zinc and potassium to name a few (organicfacts.net). Consuming peanut butter can also prevent diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer (organicfacts.net). Other benefits from consuming peanut butter are lowering cholesterol levels, blood sugars and weight (organicfacts.net). Peanut butter is a great snack to eat with crackers, bread, pancakes, celery, and alone prior to a work out to give you energy.

References

11 Best Benefits of Peanut Butter. (2017, November 05). Retrieved February 16, 2018, from https://www.organicfacts.net/

13 Amazing Benefits of Apple. (2018, January 17). Retrieved February 16, 2018, from https://www.organicfacts.net/

Image credit to: Nicolas

When I was in high school I couldn’t wait to move out and live on my own and I felt more than ready to do so, but little did I know I was very wrong. My first two years of community college I did close to home, but I got bored and I felt like I was stuck so I did my last year of community college in Long Beach. My sister had also started her first year at Long Beach State which meant I wasn’t completely alone. That first year I realized how bad of a cook I was, I lived off of microwavable burritos, pastaronis, cup noodles, banana bread, and eating out. Whenever I went to the grocery store I had to call my mom because I didn’t know what I needed to buy for certain recipes. I realized I should’ve listened to my mom when she said I should be in the kitchen with her more to learn to cook.

Eating out a lot was not good for my health or my bank account, and neither was anything else I was eating. I learned to make banana bread when I was in high school, my mom would make it because she knew I loved it. She wouldn’t make it a lot since she was busy a lot, she owns a daycare which means she is constantly with the cute little kids and she has school at night sometimes. She taught me how to make it so I could have it whenever I wanted to. My mom is the type of mom who only had sugar-free snacks and cereals at home, rarely did we have things like frosted flakes. Whenever I made banana bread I would add extra sugar and cinnamon when my mom wasn’t looking. It was funny because whenever I made it she said it tasted better but I wasn’t about to tell her that it was because I added sugar and cinnamon, I was not ready to get a lecture.

Image credit to: Simply Anne

Making banana bread when I was away from home made me feel closer to my mom. I’m from Hollister, California which is in Northern California, it’s over five hours away from here. It’s predominantly White and the second largest population is Latino, there’s not a lot of diversity other than that. There also isn’t a lot of diversity with food either, we have the basic restaurants like McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Burger King. I only wish we had the type of food variety that exists here in Los Angeles.

My family is the type of family that is really close, my sister is my best friend, my brother although likes to make fun of us he’s also close to us, I talk to my parents literally everyday about my day and problems I might have. My parents are the type of parents who will support me with anything I choose to do, which is why I love them so much. They are immigrants from Mexico who immigrated to the United States to give us a better life, which is why i’m very grateful for them. This is a reason why moving away was difficult because I don’t get to see them everyday. Making banana bread makes me feel like I’m home.

Pizza is Italian in origin as you would expect, but it could not have been made without contact with the new world. Tomatoes are a new world fruit and thus pizza couldn’t be invented before the Columbian exchange. While there were similar dishes in Italy in the past, (The Aeneid did have the prophecy by about edible tables after all) it wasn’t truly pizza in the sense that we see it today. That honor would be a royal order  in 1889 when the queen of Italy wanted a food served that represented Italy, thus a dish including tomato, cheese, and basil was made and the modern pizza was born. 

The first pizza in the Americans was in New York in the early 1900’s. Italian immigrants knew of pizza and thus it became a quick and easy meal to have for themselves and serve for others. This type was NY style pizza. An extremely thin pizza with tomato, cheese, and dough cooked quick over an open flame. This combination is truly the first thing that most today would call pizza in the Americas. Eating this pizza is typically done by folding it in half due to its thin properties that is mathematically sound.

Pizza became popular and moved across the country gaining variations. In Chicago, a thick pizza pie was created with stuffed ingredients and baked in a thick pan. This deep dish pizza is very unlike the NY style pizza and cannot be eaten as easily. As this is a shift from an on the go easy to make and eat meal to a more sit down experience, the two styles are as far apart as you can get and they each have their own supporters.

When it comes to most modern pizza chains, however, the type used is a middle ground usually pan or hand tossed pizza which is thick enough to not need folding but thin enough to eat without a knife and fork like deep dish. Each chain has their own twists to them of course mostly when it comes to the mixture of ingredients in making the dough or sauce. Pizza Hut, for example has a cheese sauce, which I used for the presentation.

Now why is pizza made like that? Well spinning the dough in the air allows the moisture to be kept in as well as make the dough even without tearing it. This is especially the case for NY Style and pan/hand tossed pizzas. As for the cheese, mozzarella is used over other cheeses due to its browning and stretchability which makes pizza making a whole lot easier. 

As for why I love it myself, it is a personal reason. Star Wars Episode 1 was being promoted by Pepsi and as a small Star Wars fan and with parents who were also fans we had to get all the toys. And who had the toys? Well the Pepsi owned Pizza Hut/Taco Bell/KFC nearby. As I was too young to handle most the food there and the kids meals had a pizza option anyway, that is what I got and loved. This easily edible option that I could eat with my hands and spend time with my family is what made that love so strong. Didn’t hurt that the Pizza Hut Book It program made me focus on schoolwork. Lastly, it was the only food I could make with my mom at home since, well she didn’t cook. At all. But we were competent enough to grate cheese and spread sauce on a Boboli ready made pizza and of course be able to eat something you made. No other food for me has that connection.

As a working mother, wife and student, I must admit that there are many nights that I pick up dinner for my family in effort to save a little time. It could be Costco pizza one night and Taco Bell the next.  One of my husband’s favorite ways to spend time and to show his family love and care is to take us out to dine at restaurants.  I would never want to deny him that simple pleasure but feel a twinge of guilt whenever we go out.  I am not proud to say that my family eats out as often as we do.  It can be as many as four times a week. So, when I take the time and make the effort to prepare a meal, I like to make things that are both healthy and delicious.  It is my way of counteracting some of the effects of our not-so-healthy meal selections.

I realize the importance of adding fruits and vegetables to our meals, so I try to find different ways to prepare foods that are out of the ordinary and good for us.  My Easy Caesar Salad is usually served as a side dish, but it is also an easy item that I can prepare at a moment’s notice.  I can also add shredded chicken to the dish to make it an entrée.

I prefer to use romaine lettuce when making salads because the nutritional content is greater than what you get from iceberg lettuce.  Per cup, romaine lettuce provides more than 10 times the vitamin A than iceberg.  Vitamin A is important for healthy teeth, skin, and body tissue.  Vitamin A also helps with the enhancement of vision, particularly in low light.  Romaine lettuce contains 48 micrograms of vitamin K, while iceberg contains 17.  The body needs vitamin K for protein building that supports healthy bones and tissues.  Vitamin K is necessary for the clotting of blood.  Romaine lettuce is a good source of folate.  Romaine lettuce provides 64 micrograms of folate per cup while iceberg provides 21 micrograms.  It has been found that people who consume adequate amounts of folate may be at decreased risk for developing cancer.  Folate may also help alleviate symptoms of anemia and depression.   I have also found that buying lettuce by the head lasts much longer and is less expensive than buying pre-cut lettuce in bags.

The pumpkin seeds, also known as pepitas, add a nice crunch but they are a great addition because these small seeds pack a healthy punch to the dish.  The pumpkin seeds are my secret weapon.  A 1-ounce serving of roasted pumpkin seeds has almost 14 grams of fat, all but 2.5 grams of those fats are heart-healthy mono- and polyunsaturated.  Pepitas are loaded with essential fatty acids, EFA, omega-3 and omega-6.  Omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation and may help lower your risk of heart disease, cancer and arthritis, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center.

References

Martinac, Paula. https://www.livestrong.com/article/19382-pumpkin-seed-benefits/. 3 October 2017. Article. 23 February 2018.

R.D., Leah Hart. https://www.livestrong.com/article/408131-nutritional-value-of-romaine-vs-iceberg-lettuce/. 3 October 2017. Article. 23 February 2018.

Alethia Foster

IDS 336-31: Food and Culture

February 22, 2018

Dr. Anne Marie Perez

Food Presentation:  Mangoes

Good afternoon class, my presentation is about a fruit that I love and enjoy and that fruit is Mango.  If you so choose you may eat your mangoes during this presentation it is provided along with Tajin. My family and I eat our mangoes by itself. Mango season in Jamaica is usually between May through July.  There are over 20 variety of mangoes in Jamaica depending on the Parish they may have different names. There are 2 mangoes that have significant meaning to me and they are Julie and East Indian mangoes. I grew up in the Parish of Saint Andrews and other parishes throughout Jamaica. The area of Saint Andrews, although we have many tropical fruits these 2 mangoes has left a lasting memory for me and the memories of growing up in Jamaica. Julie mangoes at the time I was there was one of the most expensive mango along with East Indian mango but, Julie mangoes sold much faster.  Mangoes symbolize to me the many places where I have lived throughout Jamaica when my parents traveled my mother more so, than my father.  We were not rich by any means just lived a modest comfortable lifestyle. My mother traveled to Panama, Curacao, Cayman Islands, and other places for work and leisure travel. I lived around different economic class while I lived in Jamaica. I ate delicious meals cooked in an outdoor kitchen in the rural areas of St. Andrews to eating dinner with the Chilean Ambassador and his family to whom my grandmother for many years was the live in housemaid in Beverly Hills, Jamaica.

Photo via Flickr by Clive Grant used under Creative Commons Licence.

When I was around 8 years old and my Grandmother would sell mangoes at Coronation market on Saturdays earning a living, I would be running around trying my best not to eat on the produce of course, she would put some aside for me that was not for sale. I remember on one occasion my grandmother thought it would be a teachable moment to give me about 2 dozen mangoes  of my own to sell and save the money.  Well, I managed to sell all the mangoes without eating any of my mine I certainly had some from my Grandma’s. During summer breaks I was a tomboy climbing trees in the rural areas.  My friends and I knew which trees had the ripe mangoes and the neighbors that didn’t get upset by us getting mangoes. Some of the neighbors family owned the land and would only come by when the mangoes were ripe to be sold or eaten.  Mangoes are a pretty big deal I love Julie and East Indian mangoes but ate others as well.  Some of our family friends were very particular on which mangoes they ate because of the texture.

Photo via Flickr by Les Bigby used under Creative Commons Licence.

Although these type of mangoes are not available in Southern California in order to not deprive ourselves of wanting the same taste. My family and I over the years have gotten mangoes from family and friends in Florida. However, while checking to get a few mangoes sent over from Florida I found out that tree was swept away by an hurricane.  Although I am not able to eat and taste the same mangoes I ate when I was in Jamaica, I adapted to my environment and became accustomed to the mangoes here in California most of the mangoes I eat here is from Mexico or Peru. I never really paid as much attention to where the produce is from until I decided what food or fruit, I would be doing for my presentation on I had to gather all I need for this food presentation.  

The fruits from Jamaica is hard to find here in California, in order to not be deprived. I eat mango different ways such as in smoothies, dried mangoes, fresh fruits from street vendors among many others.  Now I do my best to eat mangoes without too much added sugar because mangoes is a naturally sweet fruit.  Thank you for your time.

References:

Photo via Flickr by Clive Grant used under Creative Commons Licence.

Photo via Flickr by Les Bigby used under Creative Commons Licence.

Apple pie is one the very best desserts that we or almost every person has tried.  It is considered to be very American and it typically eating around the American holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. But we must first know the apple before we know the apple pie.  The goal is to people eating apples, to get healthier and find ways, fun ways, to get better.

As I presented in class apples are the backbone of apple pie but they are also a very old part of history.  Apples weren’t always in America they have made their way to this great country just like many immigrants who came through Ellis Island.  In America, we had the crab apple but our modern apples probably came from Asia and we can thank Alexzander the Great for finding the dwarfed apples in Kazakhstan then bringing them back to Macedonia in 328 BC (Upton, 2013).

Gerry Chaney – Flickr

From that point on apples were on their way as the Romans shared them with England and eventually to America via the colonist (Upton, 2013).  One of the more interesting points of our trees in how they were pollinated because although seeds were planted there was not much fruit.  So, along comes the Apis mellifera or the European honey bee, shipped to American in 1622, and these bees really enjoyed pollinating because they produced honey 50 times more than our native bees (Upton, 2013).  This was the kick-start the trees needed to become part of Americas snack, meals and desserts.

The symbolism of the apple to America derive from the slogans used to promote patriotism and capitalism.  A common reply to a journalist as to why men and boys would want to fight in WWII was “For mom and apple pie” (Upton, 2013).  Today that slogan would not work but people in were less knowledgeable as today and we need a much better reason to fight in a war than an apple pie.  Another slogan giving by the apple growers was “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” which was a very smart campaign to get apples into the grocery cart and it gave the industry the monetary boost it needed because of the negative press of prohibition hard cider (Upton, 2013).  In the early 20^th century, catchy slogans were very necessary to keep products moving and although, nutritionally, apples speak for themselves the statements made to the public while eating an apple told people that they supported our troops and prohibition.

One way to get me to eat apples, aside from peanut butter, is to put them into a pie crust or a cupcake.  The dish I brought to the class was the apple pie cupcakes from a recipe at Spendwithpennies.com.  I wanted to make an actual pie but struggled with the individual presentation per person.  This recipe is extremely easy and time efficient.  The recipe calls for 1 box of white cake mix, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 can of apple pie filling plus whip cream (Holly, 2015).

Holly – Spend with Pennies

I added more apple to the recipe to increase the apple ratio and for presentation purposes.  Make the cupcake mix, add cinnamon then put three scoops of the mix and one scoop of filling.  Bake at 350 for 18-20 and you’re done (Holly, 2015).

My favorite way to eat these is to heat up two of them and put some vanilla bean ice cream on top.  Apple pie cupcakes are a quick and easy way to eat apples plus you can take them places because of there so small.

References

Holly. (2015, March 22). APPLE PIE CUP

CAKES. Retrieved from Spend with Pennies: https://www.spendwithpennies.com/apple-pie-cupcakes/

Upton, E. (2013, July 11). Apple Pie Isn’t Really “American”. Retrieved from Todayifoundout.com: www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/07/apple-pie-isnt-really-american/

My mom used to make banana cake with yellow cake mix when I was younger. For all of our birthdays, my brother, sister and I, she would make this cake. She would also make the cake whenever we had bananas that were getting old to not waste them. I would always beg her to make the cake because I loved it so much. She finally taught me how to make it when I was about 10 years old. After I learned I made it often for myself and for many family get-togethers at our home. Everyone was always very impressed that I could bake at a young age, to which I responded that I loved deserts and the way it tastes which is how I learned. I also learned how to make brownies and cookies soon after learning about cakes. None of the baked goods I made were from scratch, because I really like the taste from the box or making cookies from the dough, especially because I can eat the dough raw while baking them. Of course, this resulted in many iterations of cakes and brownies, like nuts in both and raw oatmeal in brownies to make them chewier.

The way I was taught to cook and bake was without measuring cups. It is a source of pride for my family and other families of Persian background to cook without measuring and without following strict instructions from a cookbook. This way every family has a unique way of cooking and baking and recipes are shared verbally at the dinner table at events and family get-togethers. It is important to compliment the hosts on their way of cooking/baking, but also share your methods of cooking/baking the same dish. Each person sharing their recipes promises to try the other’s way, but mostly to be polite. No one quite remembers or is willing to give up the way that works for them and how they like the food to taste.

Bananas are a good source of potassium. I know this because I used to get leg cramps often and my parents told me to eat bananas to stop getting the cramps, and it really works! When all the ingredients are mixed in, I know it is not a healthy mix at all. But I don’t frost the cake because I prefer the authentic taste of banana cake by itself without frosting.

Most organic bananas are being grown in Central America and imported into the United States. This is because some of the arable lands for organic farming comes from farms which used to be rainforest. When clear cutting the rain forest with fire, nutrient-rich soil results which can be used for organic farming. Not all organic farms use this method, and farmers had to relearn how to plant crops because they were used to monocropping.

Hope you enjoyed my post and trying the banana cake during my presentation. It felt very nice to share an intimate detail from my family with everyone through food. I also really like hearing about the other foods and desserts that people bought and look forward to the next few weeks when others will share.