Blog 3: Prepare a meal

http://www.michaelpollan.com/article.php?id=55

I will prepare a meal of stir fry rice.

The materials you would need is a frying pan, wooden spoon, white or jasmin rice (steam), corn or vegetable oil, chopped carrots, cellery, green oinions, cillantro, cooked eggs, cooked chicken or beef, stove, soy sauce, oyster sauce.

First you'll have to turn the stove on semi hi and medium. When the pan is hot, put in about two spoonful [a silverware spoon] of oil in the pan and spread it. Wait until the oil gets hot. Then pour a large bowl of rice in the pan and turn the heat to medium. Mix the rice for 30 seconds, then put in the cooked eggs and cooked chicken or beef. Then add soy sauce and oyster sauce onto the rice until you get a light brown color. Stir and mix it well with the wooden spoon. When it gets light brown, add the chopped ingredients listed above in the pan [order does not matter, except that the carrots go in first]. After that, mix for around five to seven minutes. When it is done, the stove must be turned off and the fried rice can be transferred to a bowl for cooling. Meanwhile, cleaning should be done: wiping off table, sweeping, washing dishes, etc. The food should be ready by then and good to eat!

On page 54 to 55, Micheal Pollan describes the circumstances that led to the American public's acceptance of "a flood of damaging innovations...such as low fat processed food." I believe his argument for this case is well supported but I do not agree with all his terms in believing that the America's public is accepting what the doctors are telling us to eat base on science facts. It is true that we do accept what the label says but simultaneously, doesn't that show that America is only trying to become healthier in a sense. If "Americans" claim to not care about their health, why would they bother to look at the labels. Yes, Americans does rely a lot on what the labels say but it is only to help us know what we are consuming into our bodies. According to Pollan, looking at "processed food" and "low fat" terms are only destorying our bodies in obtaining the variety of nutrients, but to other people who may have a different kind of diet, it may play a "good" difference in their diet. But as Pollan also mention, the labels would only limit the ill people to lack nutrition that are needed in the body, which I believe is true. But without labels, sick people would not know what to is best for them to eat/drink.

Perhaps Pollan may be correct in his views of America's obsession in their diet. But as we speak now, America's diet, in my opinion, is changing slowly, with the many different ethnicity arriving, new style of tradition and different culture affects the food choice for Americans.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/arts/03iht-03masl.9006634.html?_r=1