Final Portfolio

       I used to stress the importance of food in my life, but I have never imagined that food can define myself before I took Eric’s writing course. During this course, I gradually find out the relationship between what I eat and myself. I understand the personal, cultural, environmental, and social significance of what we eat. I also develop my writing skills based on various inquiry and research. I finished five short essays and two extend essays during the class and I would like to analyze three of them to show my writing progress, including the first short essay, which talks about food values in my life, the fifth short essay, which focuses eating habits, and the first extend essay, which analyzes the cultural metaphors of food.

The first short essay is The Significance of Hot Pot in My Life, which talks about the significance of food in my life. I describe the personal, cultural, social, and familial significance of hot pot in my life in details. Personal experience and memory are both inquiries in this essay. For instance, by recalling the vivid description of food, “life is a dish.” from my Chinese teacher in junior high school, I began to explain how my life looks like a hot pot in a specific way. I described the reason I love to eat hot pot and the unique way I cook hot pot. Moreover, a grand hot pot not only combines my parents’ love to me but also means friendship and acceptance. As what I mentioned in the essay, even though many people believe that hot pot is very simple and easy; however, the choice of ingredients and the preparation of seasoning ask me to maintain a positive and optimistic life attitude. The significance of hot pot is a microcosm to display the significance that food has in my life. I have always believed that one’s passion for cuisine is the best way to display one’s positive attitude towards life. Similarly, I used to believe writing a personal experience is simple and easy; however, after a peer review section of this essay during the writing class, I began to learn how to draw a clear timeline in this essay, from primary school to college. I realize the importance of timeline and emotional expression during writing an inquiry about personal experience.

The second short essay I would like to analyze is Irregular Breakfast Eating. Based on what I find in my daily food journal and those of my classmates, I did a research about the harm of skipping breakfast. Since the article should adapt to popular audiences, I think it is important to choose a specific group audience. The essay is adapted for college students. Indeed, irregular breakfast eating or always skipping breakfast is always associated with being overweight, the low frequency of health promoting behavior, and even high possibility of cardiometabolic risk. In order to illustrating these points, I first describe a common phenomenon of college students who always skip breakfast in order to appeal for consensus. Then, I quote data from three journal articles, comparing the physical conditions between breakfast eaters and skippers. Statistics contribute to my grounds of argument, appealing to the writer’s believability and qualification. Furthermore, I also learnt how to find source from a professional field, such as medical journals. I consider statistics is the best way to supporting ideas in this essay.

The last one I would like to analyze is my first extend essay. It is a researched argumentative essay towards food and culture. Drawing from previous writing in class, I incorporate several academic researches to introduce The Cultural Metaphors of Food. I always believe that food is an engine of metaphorical meanings that spread throughout people’s life. The essay focuses on the cultural metaphors of food, in terms of religion, gender, family, local and national identity, and social hierarchy. Unlike the former short essays, which all extend some certain sources; I provide a lot example in this one, from ancient Chinese celebrity to contemporary America scholar. Combined with a great amount number of examples, these terms help us to define what we eat and what we should not eat. These metaphors of foods also determine people’s food habit and eating quality. Culture guides people’s choice of food, and what we choose to eat defines who we are.

To conclude, writing a personal blog about eating is a very interesting and useful thing for me to practice writing. Gradually, I become more familiar with different concepts of rhetorical situations, and the basic elements of rhetorical analysis. I understood that it is important to provide evidence and reasoning for my viewpoint. I also learn how to incorporate a source into my piece of writing. I enjoy every time of peer review. By receiving feedback from my classmates, I can get specific suggestions and revise my essays. I would apply all of these what I learnt in this course to my future writing projects. At the end of the course, I believe that I already become a proficient academic writer as well as a more reflective eater.

Short Essay1

The Significance of Hot Pot in My Life

       When I was in junior high school, I remember my Chinese teacher used to explain, “Life is a dish.” Sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy, all of these flavors constitute the natural of life. I have always believed that this is a vivid metaphor about life. However, more specifically, I would like to explain how my life looks like a hot pot.

A pot of hot water is tasteless and bland and you can decide whatever ingredients you like. Hot pot can be complex and appetizing with fish, meats, and vegetables or it can also be simple with the real taste of a cooking material. It just depends on what you like. I used to look for hot pot sauce in every Asian supermarket when I first came to United States. Afterwards, I invited my friends to come to my home, regardless of nationalities. I prepared hot pot, asking all friends to sit around the table with steam coming from it and to share the grand one-pot meals. Some friends said they know Chinese love to eat hot pot, but I am the one who loves to eat hot pot the most. Some friends said I make the hot pot delicious and they asked me to prepare more ingredients next time.

However, they did not know how much time and effort I spend in order to cook the best soup of the hot pot. How to stir up fresh shrimp with smooth egg sauce patiently; the best proportion of tomatoes, jujubes, gingers, and garlics in the soup is 5:4:3:2. The next step after vegetables is fish and tofu instead of meat and crab so as to make sure the soup can be guaranteed delicious; cooking time can take from 20 seconds to 15 minutes, depending on the type of food. You may not imagine that a simple hot pot needs to consider so many things. However, I learnt all of these secrets about cooking from my mom. My mom always asks me to select the ingredients, and no matter what I choose to add in the soup, she tells me I must take them seriously and passionately. Like my life, my family always gives me the maximum freedom and support to do what I want. I love different flavors of hot pot, such as spicy soup, clear soup, and tomato’s soup flavor. Just like I enjoy experiencing different culture shock. I learn French; I visit at least 3 countries during each vacation; I decide to study abroad in America.

Back to 10 years ago, I always yelled to eat out after school and when I was ordering, my mom always said she could do the same dishes at home. She was most reluctant to eat hot pot in the restaurant. My family has two types of people who love food. The first type is my father and my aunt. They are able to evaluate the quality of food, but they are not willing to cook in the kitchen. The second type is my mom and I. We not only eat food but also are passionate about cooking. Every time my dad goes to buy lamb to prepare hot pot, my mom can tell the level of fresh directly. If the lamb were not very fresh, my mom would not cook and eat. Her stringent requirements of food trained my nose and tongue. During this spring break, I went to Flushing, New York City. In Flushing’s Chinatown, my nose smelt the good sesame butter, chive flower paste, and pickled tofu far away from the shelf. I bought three bottles and spent more than 20 USD shipping fee to go back to Denver. To me, delicious hot pot condiments can provide me the great energy to keep studying at night and to relieve homesickness. To enjoy a cuisine is a good reward for my hard work.

 I used to think my mom’s requirements about food must associate with her profession. Even though she deals with work strictly, she knows how to enjoy life during free time. I inherited her strengths. I insist the pot must be made of ceramic just like I must use the finest components to complete my professional project. However, I did not know that the way my mom taught me to cook hot pot embodies her love for me. I even did not realize the moment whenever we sat around and ate hot pot together was the great happiness in my life until I had the first Spring Festival in the United States.

Indeed, a grand hot pot also means friendship and acceptance. An important sign of Chinese people when they want to get familiar with you is to share a chair for you at dinner. For instance, if you see a photo of a group of people around the hot pot on Facebook and find you have not been invited, it means, sorry, you are not in this network. Last year in Spring Festival, I had to prepare for two midterm exams and I did not know a lot of Chinese people in Denver. I felt lonely until an acquaintance invited me to eat hot pot at his dorm. A meal of hot pot always takes two hours or more. This gives you a lot time to chat with others at the same table. Hot pot is different from other dishes; sharing a hot pot is the best way to get familiar with other people. I became acquainted with my best friend in Denver during the time we waited for our hot pot food.

Many people believe that the hot pot is very simple and easy; however, the choice of ingredients and the preparation of seasoning ask me to maintain a positive and optimistic life attitude. The flavor of hot pot helps me to reduce pressure and homesickness. More importantly, sharing hot pot helps me know more friends. The significance of hot pot is a microcosm to display the significance that food has in my life. There are a lot of proverbs about food in China. The most common one translated in English is that food is the paramount necessity of people. I have always believed that one’s passion for cuisine is the best way to display one’s positive attitude towards life.

Short Essay 2

Irregular Breakfast Eating

Do you know how long it is been since your last breakfast? Many college students spend their morning like this: after their alarm clocks wake them up, they always struggle for ten or twenty minutes; they rub their tired and sleepy eyes, getting up out of their bed. Because every second counts, some students rush out of their dormitory without breakfast. The other students, who remind themselves to eat breakfast, always open their empty refrigerator and then close it, rushing off to class.

A study of Krisha Thiagaraja and Mohammad R.Torabi indicates that about 37.2% of young people between 19 and 29 years of age seldom eat breakfast. Most of these young people said the main reasons for not eating breakfast was they do not have enough time (64%) and the others said they did not feel hungry in the morning (30.3%) (9). Indeed, irregular breakfast eating or always skipping breakfast is always associated with being overweight, the low frequency of health promoting behavior, and even high possibility of cardiometabolic risk.

In their study, irregular breakfast eating and health status among adolescents in Taiwan, Rea-Jeng, Edward K Wang, et.al. investigate 1,609 adolescents and come to the conclusion that irregular breakfast eating is connected to being overweight. Among the total participant students, “28.8% were overweight and nearly one quarter (23.6%) reported eating breakfast irregularly during schooldays” (7). Skipping breakfast is common for students during schooldays and they often eat high calorie and unhealthy snacks during break. Comparing the overweight rate between students who have regular breakfast eating and those who have irregular breakfast eating, their findings show that students with regular breakfast eating had a lower risk of being overweight due to less snacks eaten between meals.

Many studies show that skipping breakfast is widespread among college students, which is also an indicator of health promoting behavior. Krisha Thiagarajah and Mohammad R. Torabi did a study called “Irregular Breakfast Eating and Associated Health Behaviors” in 2009. They investigated 1,257 college students in a Midwestern university in the U.S.A, and found nearly one-fifth of them stated that they never ate breakfast (4). Compared to regular breakfast eaters, their logical analysis indicates that students who always skip breakfast are more likely to sleep 5.5 hours or less. “Sleep deprivation would have caused them to be tired the next morning and, thus, lead to skipping breakfast” (5). Not only that, breakfast skippers are less likely to work out in contrast to those non-skippers, since eating breakfast can improve the energy intake to do extra physical activities. Moreover, students who always skip breakfast have a high consumption of soda and other sugared beverages. Similar to some breakfast skippers who nibble snakes between meals, some others have to compensate their calories from the non-nutritive beverages (9). Eating breakfast, thus, is associated with healthy behavior.

       If the potential possibility of obesity and the short-term unhealthy lifestyle does not catch your attention due to your academic pressure, a longitudinal study about the relationship between cardiometabolic risk and skipping breakfast has to get your attention. Kylie J Smith, et.al. conclude that to promote breakfast eating is an important public health message on account of cardiometabolic health (1). They found that people who skipped breakfast in adulthood but not in childhood are similar to those who skipped breakfast at both time. For instance, most of them have higher insulin and LDL cholesterol concentrations, which are contributors to detrimental effects on cardiometabolic health, than regular breakfast eaters. Their study shows that eating breakfast is a persistent factor in your daily life. The cardiometabolic rick will directly influence your diet quality in the future.

       Among the three studies, the key solution to promote college students to eat breakfast is to propose a healthy lifestyle among youth. Yang and Wang believe that college has the main duty to influence students and families’ attitudes regarding healthy breakfast and exercise. To encourage students and staff have time to eat breakfast regularly should be considered a significant health promotion strategy on a university campus. They could decrease breakfast skippers through providing quick and nutritious food (9). However, the body is one’s own. Don’t forget you are in charge of yourself. A good suggestion or always the first food you should eat for breakfast is a cup of cereal with skim milk. For starters of breakfast eating, a cup of cereal is quick, always less than five minutes to prepare, and healthy, because it has fiber to lower cholesterol. For girls who always worry about their weight, skim milk also help you to lose weight.

       It is widely accepted that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, especially during growth. Regular breakfast eating is a crucial indicator of a healthy lifestyle and healthy physical and mental status, because it provides people the daily supply of nutrients. Whether you are a student or an office worker, to get up early every day for 15 minutes and to enjoy a good breakfast should be one of the “required courses” in daily life. To develop a habit usually takes 21 days. Thus, why not try to set your alarm clock and to get up early for 15 minutes tomorrow and to enjoy a nutrient breakfast? Eating breakfast is a good beginning to develop a healthy lifestyle because paying attention to your health is always the best investment.

Work Cited

Yang, Rea-Jeng, Edward K Wang, Yue-Sheng Hsieh, and Mei-Yen Chen. “Irregular

breakfast eating and health status among adolescens in Taiwan.” BMC Public

Health (Dec.2006): 6:295. Print.

Thiagarajah, Krisha, and Mohammad R. Torabi. “Irregular Breakfast Eating and

Associated Health Behaviors: A Pilot Study Among College Students.” The

Health Educator (Spring.2009): vol.41, No.1. Print.

Smith, Kylie J, Seana L Gall, Sarah A McNaughton, Leigh Blizzard, Terence Dwyer,

and Alison J Venn. “Skipping breakfast: longitudinal associations with

cardiometabolic risk factors in the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health

Study.” AJCN (Oct.2010). Print.

Extend Essay1

The Cultural Metaphors of Food

       Food is an engine of metaphorical meanings that spread throughout people’s life regardless of region and ethnics. We associate tomatoes with sin; olives can draw an equals sign with peace; noodles implicitly refer to longevity. Indeed, food can be seen as metaphors of religion, gender, family, local and national identity, and even social hierarchy (Lévi-Strauss, 489). We should not underestimate the significance of cultural metaphors of food due to the reason that they not only guide people’s food choices but also change people’s diet experience. According to George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, “the essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another” (125). It means that metaphors are not only a form of language, but also a style of human’s perception. The linguistic expressions of food and eating, whether foods are used for creating metaphors or becoming the target of metaphors, are reflecting cultures (126). In this essay, I will analyze how food metaphors have influenced the way we eat today.

        We first consider how belief influences people’s food choices. Foods are inextricably linked to religion even in the context of a crisis of faith. The metaphors of food in different religions often refer to purity, self-discipline, and sacrifice. For instance, Kashruth, the diet rules of the Jewish, strictly distinguishes between dairy products and meats. It prohibits followers to eat pork, shellfish, reptiles, and amphibians. Based on the study of Mary Douglass, changes in diet are a prerequisite to observe and adapt the orders of the natural world to the Jews (7). The food metaphors in Jewish culture are obedience and order. The other example of food as a metaphor for religion is that some Muslims do not eat pork because the Holy Quran points out that pork is an unclean food, which is contrary to mental purity. Moreover, food implicitly refers to the balance of the physical, mental, and spiritual in the Hindu belief system. From bean soup, vegetarian dishes, meat, fish, to golden flowers, there are more than 20 types of sauce constitute to the curry powder. The religious metaphors of food influences people’s food choices through indicating what kinds of ingredients can be used and what kinds of foods should be neglected in daily life.

       Similarly, when we consider food as a metaphor for gender, we see a great contrast between men and women upon their food choices. For instance, Korthals mentions the words of the song “Sugar, Sugar,” in his journal article, “Food as a Source and Target of Metaphors: Inclusion and Exclusion of Foodstuffs and Persons through Metaphors,” to explain the gender metaphor of food.

              Sugar, ah honey honey

              You are my candy girl

              And you’ve got me wanting you.

Korthals states that “sugar” is linked to women whereas “beefy” is associated with men in the United States (81). There are also other sayings like “real men don’t eat quiche,” “the man bring home the bacon,” “the man is a small potato,” “the man is meat and potato.” In contrast to women trends to eat more sweets, men become more likely to eat meats and reject to eat quiche. The gender metaphors of food influence people through building different taste preferences. In the choice of some food, people will become careful due to the gender description of the sayings or lyrics.

When our eyes transfer away from the trans-national religious belief and gender difference to a specific country or region, it is interesting to notice food can be seen as a metaphor of a group identity. According to O’donnell’s article, The Cultural Politics of Eating in Shenzhen, food can be used to differentiate people within regions and generations in China. For instance, the southern and the northern parts of China show very different eating habits. People in south areas like to eat rice, whereas people in north areas prefer to eat noodles. When the lens focuses on Shenzhen, the story of Zhang Tao and his mother is a good example to indicate food as a metaphor of group identity. The old Shenzhener, Zhang Tao’s mother, always like to eat food she used to eat in the tough time, whereas Zhang Tao, the new Shenzhener choose to try different cuisines from all over the world. To most old Shenzheners, food embodies the meaning of nostalgia. Even though the elderly and the youth living in the same community, food becomes a sign to differentiate their generations, or the time of growing up. Food is an obvious label to define different regions and generations in China. Food, thus, becomes a metaphor to show the cultural resistance. Just like the British call themselves as “beef-eaters” whereas the Japanese call themselves as “rice-eaters.” Americans use “the cream of the crop” to describe talented person and “wake up and smell the coffee” to appeal people to cheer up. People use food to define themselves and differentiate with others, proving that food is a metaphor of group identity. In this case, food metaphor decides what we eat the most.

The story of Zhang Tao and his mother asks me to recall my own experience. To me, food, or more specifically, hot pot, is the metaphor of family love and friendship solidarity. A pot of hot water is tasteless and bland thus you can decide whatever ingredients you like. My mom used to ask me to select the ingredients, no matter what I choose, she tells me I must take them seriously and passionately. It would be a pleasure to try different flavors of hot pot, spicy, a clear soup, a mushroom soup, and tomato’s flavor, and I firmly believe that to put different flavors in the hot pot is an epitome as I choose to study abroad, experiencing the cultural shock. I also insist the grand pot must be made of ceramic, like I must to use the finest components to complete my art project.

However, I did not know that the way my mom taught me to cook hot pot embodies her love for me. I even did not realize the moment whenever we sit around and eat hot pot together is the great happiness in my life until I had the first Spring Festival in the United States. I had to prepare for two midterm exams and I did not know a lot of Chinese people in Denver. I felt lonely until a not very familiar friend invited me to eat hot pot at his dorm. Indeed, a grand hot pot also means friendship and acceptance. I was acquainted with my best friend in Denver during the time we waited for our food. The metaphor of hot pot has enriched my life experience and the pleasure of eating hot pot becomes a metaphor for family and friendship relationship in my mind. I wanted to eat mom’s cuisine and buy all materials I need. She taught me how to cook step by step in Skype, but it was still missing some flavors. I guess what I lost is the taste of home. We always link homely dish to homesickness and link chocolate to lover. The food metaphor can create an emotional bond towards to family and friendship, making us fall in love with a specific food taste.

However, it is hard to expose that what you eat with your friend and what you eat at home symbolize your class and status. For instance, the advertising of Ferrero Rocher will tell you that they are the best status symbol to entertain friends at party. Their commercial, “The History of Gold,” introduces the professional making process of Ferrero Rocher and define themselves as to “celebrate golden moment.” The word, “Gold,” is a metaphor of valuable moment. Moreover, eating foie gras and drinking Champagne are luxury lifestyles associated with the upper classes in America and Europe. However, the caste system in India determines that pariahs could not eat the same meal as the higher Hindu caste (Guru 9). It is true that life is an entity of all sides of food, sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy constitutes the real taste of life and even the society. “In Dalit middle class families, sweet items have become stabilized in their every day meals.” Sweets have occupied the imagination of Dalit middle class, because they use sweets as a metaphor of Ambedkar’s philosophy (8). Moreover, the various recipes of Kashmiri Pandits cook goat meat and Bengali Bhadraloke eat fish are metaphors of cultural identity. The people follow these eating habits from the lower caste (9). To conclude, the moral of food and food choices symbolize people’s social hierarchy and determine people’s eating quality.

A Chinese Philosopher Lao Tzu once said in Tao Te Ching, "Governing a great nation is much like cooking a small fish"(para.60). It means that governing a country required the right "seasonings" and adjustments for successful results. This metaphor clearly illustrates the significance of food in Chinese culture. I have been thinking about what role food has played in people’s life and in different culture, whether important or casually. The essay focuses on the cultural metaphors of food, in terms of religion, gender, family, local and national identity, and social hierarchy. These terms help us to define what we eat and what we should not eat, which tastes we prefer and that foods create special emotional appeal, and they even determine people’s food habit and quality. More importantly, a common point we should not ignore is that culture guides people’s choice of food, and what we choose to eat defines who we are.

Work Cited

Douglas, Mary. Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo.

London: Routedge and Kegan Paul, 1966. Print.

Guru, Gopal. Food As a Metaphor for Cultural Hierarchies. Philadelphia: University

of Pennsylvania, summer 2009. Print.

Korthals, Michiel. Food as a Source and Target of Metaphors: Inclusion and

Exclusion of Foodstuffs and Persons through Metaphors. The Johns Hopkins

University Press and Society for Literature and Science, 2008:16:77-92. Print.

Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of

Chicago Press, 1980. Print.

LaoTzu, and Stephen Mitchell. Tao Te Ching: A New English Version. New York:

Harper & Row, 1988. Print.

Lévi-Strauss, Claude. The Raw and the Cooked. New York: Harper&Row, 1969.

Print.

O’donnell, Mary Ann. “The Cultural Politics of Eating in Shenzhen.” The Journal of

Food and Culture, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Spring 2010), pp. 31-39.Print.