7 December 2016
Madison Simmers is known to be a picky, stubborn eater. However, she was not always like this. As a child, Madison did not even know the difference between what was considered good and bad food. All she knew was that donuts and pizza tasted better than peas and celery. She would eat anything in front of her without any qualms. Lunchables were a delicacy at school. Not knowing that, as was said in Michael Moss’s “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food”, they have “nearly an entire day’s recommended maximum for kids, with up to two-thirds of the max sodium and 13 teaspoons of sugar” (9). Her favorite part of the Lunchables was the candy; she always had a sweet tooth and would binge eat on anything sweet.
This was considered normal in her household because there were always sugary and salty snacks available. It was a habit for her to walk into the kitchen and just grab a snack to walk around with and eat. It was addictive; her mouth was always watering for something to chew on. Something that could not be quenched by apples or carrots; they did not have the amount of sweetness necessary to satisfy her. However, despite the unhealthy snacks and sweets, there was always a nice meal made every day.
Madison’s father would be grilling steak or hamburgers when her mother was not making her own chicken or pasta. If the parents were not cooking, then it was either leftovers or fast food for dinner. There seems to be a cultural value around fast food, such as pizza or Taco Bell. It is a quick and easy way to feed a family; it is also inexpensive. This could also be a way of portraying American society. This culture is a fast-paced system, where the working family is rushing from one event to the next. It is easier for the parents with no cooking time to quickly buy something to eat. Despite this cultural expectation, this was not a problem for Madison and her family. Her mother was a stay-at-home mom, who would find a new meal to experiment with every week. Culture has also been an influence on Madison because, as a child, her diet consisted of what everyone around her was also eating. If the kids were able to have fun making their own food with Lunchables, then she should be able to too. If her family was eating pasta that night, then she should too. It was all about taking in the community she lived in.
If there were one fond memory that Madison remembers about food, it would be when she was 15 and her and her father decided to bake something at 10 o’clock at night. They had opened a cookbook to a random page to create something and it landed on a two-layered chocolate cake. It was something new and adventurous; she had never made anything with her father before. After a quick stop at the grocery store, they had acquired Betty Crocker cake mixes and were baking away. They soon found out that they only had one pan, so it took twice as long as it should have. It did not help that they both had never made a cake before. The result was a one in the morning concoction of a slightly crumbly cake that was covered in chocolate frosting to hide the imperfections. However, she found it satisfying that they managed to put hard work into something and have it come out tasting like it should. Laura Shapiro suggests in “Something from the Oven”, making a cake was more satisfying and fulfilling when there are fresh ingredients being added. The “egg theory” states, “in order to enjoy the emotional rewards of presenting a homemade cake, they had to be persuaded that they really baked it” (75). The emotional connection to the cake made the hard work worth it, because taking time out of the day and putting ingredients together created a product that tasted beautiful.
However, it was a wonder as to why they decided to make a cake in the first place. The family was not a cake-eating bunch. Every time there was a cake made, such as for a birthday party or graduation, there would be leftovers and these leftovers would just sit out and become dry. There just was not enough flavor or sweetness for Madison and her family. They only made a cake because it was a cultural expectation for a gathering of a celebration.
Growing up, Madison’s favorite food was anything meat. It was the juiciness and the taste that made her want more. For Lent, she would, unfortunately, have to settle for something else on Fridays because growing in a Catholic home meant no meat or snacks; she would have to settle for pasta and fish on Fridays. Lent was taken seriously in her household and influenced her eating habits at certain times of the year. She had to be more aware of what she was eating and know what was in the food. When she woke up in the morning, she would have to map out her day and know how much she had to eat. Since there were no snacks, then there had to be full meals without meat. However, as time went on, Lent’s influence on food choice became evident through one experience for Madison.
When Madison was a junior in high school, she drastically changed her eating habits. Her experience of Lent that year was a tough one because she gave up eating unhealthily. This meant eating more fruit, water, and proper portions of meals. Her acquired taste for sweets made this challenging; it had previously been a habit to grab candy that was on the kitchen table. Now there was a need for self-restraint. This experience affected how she would see food afterward.
Madison no longer found the need to satisfy her sweet tooth because her taste buds were replenished with taste buds that found joy in eating apples and coconut water. She found a way to portion her foods, especially since she started to work out during Lent because she had more energy from proper eating. This also became a factor about how she eats now. When she started to work out, she would count her calories and found out which foods were better for her.
Due to this, Madison now refuses to eat certain foods, such as pop tarts or any type of chip or too much bread. She is conscious of what she eats in one day and knows when to stop. This also included eating too much meat. As she began to understand her eating habits and foods better, her taste for meat began to change. It no longer tasted as well as it did when she was younger. It became chewy and the flavor did not satisfy her taste buds as much. As an extreme animal lover, she would also become slightly disgusted with the concept of meat. The idea of her food previously being an animal would pop into mind when eating meat, and this process started to wean her off this kind of diet.
This was especially true about fish. The texture and look were too close to what the fish looked like before it was cooked. The idea of actually seeing what she was eating did not make the food appetizing. This was the same for all seafood, especially salmon and shrimp. Eventually the smell became too much and she would have to leave the room; the smell was strong and acidic-like to her nose. It did not help that her father would make shrimp cocktails and salmon almost every Sunday.
Her parents always took the chance to cook or eat anything that looked like a fancy full meal. This includes a meal of steak, baked potato, corn, beans, asparagus, and garlic bread. Their concept about food was that the more options there were, the merrier the family would be. They did not care if anything was too unhealthy, as long as it tasted good. Despite all of the influences, Madison has changed her tastes and has become conscious of what she needs to eat and how to eat. However, life continues and taste buds will change; whether it is by cultural influence, personal experience, or a new acquired taste.
Therefore, a new acquired taste is what Madison got. Since the start of the semester, Madison was open to changing her lifestyle. She was willing to learn more about the background of the food that she consumes on a daily basis. She had noticed a major change in her eating habit. Madison had found herself being more repellent to just the concept of food, especially when it came to packaged food and meat. When going for a combo, fifteen minutes were always spent trying to figure out what to eat because all the options were unhealthy (everything was packaged, full of fat calories, and dominated by an excess of unnecessary cautious ingredients).
The production of food was stuck in the back of her mind. This ranges from how chemicals can seep into the food through the packaging to the health effects (higher chances of cancer) and the different forms of an ingredient can be made into (such as how corn is made into a highly sugared product called high fructose corn syrup). Madison had also noticed that she was looking less at the labels on the front of products and looking more at the ingredients on the back. She noticed how a product could use the word “diet” to disguise the added cholesterol, trans-fat, or substituted sugar (a “sweetener”). Madison even knows now that products can say that they are rich in a certain vitamin, but that does not mean it is actually beneficial (it is unsure if nutrients work properly independently or being grouped with other natural vitamins).
Being knowledgeable about meat production has definitely affected how she looked at food. It opened her eyes to foods that she would have otherwise never looked at, such as tofu and an array of vegan options. Throughout this semester, she changed her routine of fried chicken sandwiches to try tofu with a spinach salad. She has yet to look back. Her taste buds had shifted from the tempting sugar and fried meat to greens, such as spinach, kale, and broccoli. However, there would be days when she would have a small portion of meat, but not as the main meal.
Despite this, there is a good example of how learning about food and how it opened her eyes and changed her eating habit. Madison had lived in the same dorm for two years, and had gone to the same cafeteria to eat for these two years and never noticed there was a vegan station: the same vegan station sitting across from her fried chicken sandwich area. Eating at this station has helped calm her nerves about what is in her food, for she does not have to worry about unnecessarily added ingredients (such as the antibiotics added into factory-farmed meat). It made it easier for her to enjoy her vegan meal of the day. She saw more options for food and tasted the different types of food out there; food that was better for her health.
Madison is glad that she took the “Industrial Eating” class because now she is more knowledgeable about the choices that affect her daily life. It is new material that she will be using, even after the class has ended.
Madison Simmers is known to be a picky, stubborn eater. However, she was not always like this. As a child, Madison did not even know the difference between what was considered good and bad food. All she knew was that donuts and pizza tasted better than peas and celery. She would eat anything in front of her without any qualms. Lunchables were a delicacy at school. Not knowing that, as was said in Michael Moss’s “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food”, they have “nearly an entire day’s recommended maximum for kids, with up to two-thirds of the max sodium and 13 teaspoons of sugar” (9). Her favorite part of the Lunchables was the candy; she always had a sweet tooth and would binge eat on anything sweet.
This was considered normal in her household because there were always sugary and salty snacks available. It was a habit for her to walk into the kitchen and just grab a snack to walk around with and eat. It was addictive; her mouth was always watering for something to chew on. Something that could not be quenched by apples or carrots; they did not have the amount of sweetness necessary to satisfy her. However, despite the unhealthy snacks and sweets, there was always a nice meal made every day.
Madison’s father would be grilling steak or hamburgers when her mother was not making her own chicken or pasta. If the parents were not cooking, then it was either leftovers or fast food for dinner. There seems to be a cultural value around fast food, such as pizza or Taco Bell. It is a quick and easy way to feed a family; it is also inexpensive. This could also be a way of portraying American society. This culture is a fast-paced system, where the working family is rushing from one event to the next. It is easier for the parents with no cooking time to quickly buy something to eat. Despite this cultural expectation, this was not a problem for Madison and her family. Her mother was a stay-at-home mom, who would find a new meal to experiment with every week. Culture has also been an influence on Madison because, as a child, her diet consisted of what everyone around her was also eating. If the kids were able to have fun making their own food with Lunchables, then she should be able to too. If her family was eating pasta that night, then she should too. It was all about taking in the community she lived in.
If there were one fond memory that Madison remembers about food, it would be when she was 15 and her and her father decided to bake something at 10 o’clock at night. They had opened a cookbook to a random page to create something and it landed on a two-layered chocolate cake. It was something new and adventurous; she had never made anything with her father before. After a quick stop at the grocery store, they had acquired Betty Crocker cake mixes and were baking away. They soon found out that they only had one pan, so it took twice as long as it should have. It did not help that they both had never made a cake before. The result was a one in the morning concoction of a slightly crumbly cake that was covered in chocolate frosting to hide the imperfections. However, she found it satisfying that they managed to put hard work into something and have it come out tasting like it should. Laura Shapiro suggests in “Something from the Oven”, making a cake was more satisfying and fulfilling when there are fresh ingredients being added. The “egg theory” states, “in order to enjoy the emotional rewards of presenting a homemade cake, they had to be persuaded that they really baked it” (75). The emotional connection to the cake made the hard work worth it, because taking time out of the day and putting ingredients together created a product that tasted beautiful.
However, it was a wonder as to why they decided to make a cake in the first place. The family was not a cake-eating bunch. Every time there was a cake made, such as for a birthday party or graduation, there would be leftovers and these leftovers would just sit out and become dry. There just was not enough flavor or sweetness for Madison and her family. They only made a cake because it was a cultural expectation for a gathering of a celebration.
Growing up, Madison’s favorite food was anything meat. It was the juiciness and the taste that made her want more. For Lent, she would, unfortunately, have to settle for something else on Fridays because growing in a Catholic home meant no meat or snacks; she would have to settle for pasta and fish on Fridays. Lent was taken seriously in her household and influenced her eating habits at certain times of the year. She had to be more aware of what she was eating and know what was in the food. When she woke up in the morning, she would have to map out her day and know how much she had to eat. Since there were no snacks, then there had to be full meals without meat. However, as time went on, Lent’s influence on food choice became evident through one experience for Madison.
When Madison was a junior in high school, she drastically changed her eating habits. Her experience of Lent that year was a tough one because she gave up eating unhealthily. This meant eating more fruit, water, and proper portions of meals. Her acquired taste for sweets made this challenging; it had previously been a habit to grab candy that was on the kitchen table. Now there was a need for self-restraint. This experience affected how she would see food afterward.
Madison no longer found the need to satisfy her sweet tooth because her taste buds were replenished with taste buds that found joy in eating apples and coconut water. She found a way to portion her foods, especially since she started to work out during Lent because she had more energy from proper eating. This also became a factor about how she eats now. When she started to work out, she would count her calories and found out which foods were better for her.
Due to this, Madison now refuses to eat certain foods, such as pop tarts or any type of chip or too much bread. She is conscious of what she eats in one day and knows when to stop. This also included eating too much meat. As she began to understand her eating habits and foods better, her taste for meat began to change. It no longer tasted as well as it did when she was younger. It became chewy and the flavor did not satisfy her taste buds as much. As an extreme animal lover, she would also become slightly disgusted with the concept of meat. The idea of her food previously being an animal would pop into mind when eating meat, and this process started to wean her off this kind of diet.
This was especially true about fish. The texture and look were too close to what the fish looked like before it was cooked. The idea of actually seeing what she was eating did not make the food appetizing. This was the same for all seafood, especially salmon and shrimp. Eventually the smell became too much and she would have to leave the room; the smell was strong and acidic-like to her nose. It did not help that her father would make shrimp cocktails and salmon almost every Sunday.
Her parents always took the chance to cook or eat anything that looked like a fancy full meal. This includes a meal of steak, baked potato, corn, beans, asparagus, and garlic bread. Their concept about food was that the more options there were, the merrier the family would be. They did not care if anything was too unhealthy, as long as it tasted good. Despite all of the influences, Madison has changed her tastes and has become conscious of what she needs to eat and how to eat. However, life continues and taste buds will change; whether it is by cultural influence, personal experience, or a new acquired taste.
Therefore, a new acquired taste is what Madison got. Since the start of the semester, Madison was open to changing her lifestyle. She was willing to learn more about the background of the food that she consumes on a daily basis. She had noticed a major change in her eating habit. Madison had found herself being more repellent to just the concept of food, especially when it came to packaged food and meat. When going for a combo, fifteen minutes were always spent trying to figure out what to eat because all the options were unhealthy (everything was packaged, full of fat calories, and dominated by an excess of unnecessary cautious ingredients).
The production of food was stuck in the back of her mind. This ranges from how chemicals can seep into the food through the packaging to the health effects (higher chances of cancer) and the different forms of an ingredient can be made into (such as how corn is made into a highly sugared product called high fructose corn syrup). Madison had also noticed that she was looking less at the labels on the front of products and looking more at the ingredients on the back. She noticed how a product could use the word “diet” to disguise the added cholesterol, trans-fat, or substituted sugar (a “sweetener”). Madison even knows now that products can say that they are rich in a certain vitamin, but that does not mean it is actually beneficial (it is unsure if nutrients work properly independently or being grouped with other natural vitamins).
Being knowledgeable about meat production has definitely affected how she looked at food. It opened her eyes to foods that she would have otherwise never looked at, such as tofu and an array of vegan options. Throughout this semester, she changed her routine of fried chicken sandwiches to try tofu with a spinach salad. She has yet to look back. Her taste buds had shifted from the tempting sugar and fried meat to greens, such as spinach, kale, and broccoli. However, there would be days when she would have a small portion of meat, but not as the main meal.
Despite this, there is a good example of how learning about food and how it opened her eyes and changed her eating habit. Madison had lived in the same dorm for two years, and had gone to the same cafeteria to eat for these two years and never noticed there was a vegan station: the same vegan station sitting across from her fried chicken sandwich area. Eating at this station has helped calm her nerves about what is in her food, for she does not have to worry about unnecessarily added ingredients (such as the antibiotics added into factory-farmed meat). It made it easier for her to enjoy her vegan meal of the day. She saw more options for food and tasted the different types of food out there; food that was better for her health.
Madison is glad that she took the “Industrial Eating” class because now she is more knowledgeable about the choices that affect her daily life. It is new material that she will be using, even after the class has ended.