In this course, one thing that was new to me was the revision process. I now know in high school the little things we were fixing were local mistakes and we never focused on global concerns that dealt with the real meat of our papers. Now in college, this Couse has really emphasized how the process of a paper is cyclic and in-depth revision is important to produce a good academic paper. That new outlook of paper writing is one of the main skills I picked up from this course and fulfills the classes 1st learning outcome.
My local revision process has improved a lot compared to my previous experiences. I never really took into account how my grammar and sentence structure affected my writings overall impact on my readers. In my 2nd project, one of my peer reviewers Connor commented on my first draft thesis saying to “consider rewording the ending though. It begins to become almost a run on and can be confusing to the reader”. Previously I would have taken these recommendations with a grain of salt but now that I’ve really stopped to revise my writing these comments are super helpful. In my final draft of that paper, I changed up my thesis statement for clarity and did further revisions on my papers flow.
Global revisions have been an eye-opening experience for me. I was so stuck in my ways when writing papers. I made an outline, I filled it in, and then I was done. I never tried to change the points I was making or editing actual content rather than correcting surface errors. Topic sentences have always been something I struggle with in my writing. I’m never sure if they fully service the rest of my paragraph. During revisions, this has been the one global concern brought to my attention by both my peer group and my professor. In paper 2 my essay made a major transformation from start to finish. I broke it up into smaller paragraphs and made good topic sentences for each of them.
Original Draft:
15 October 2018
Project #2
Cooking is an age-old concept. People young and old have been cooking and preparing food for thousands of years but with the passage of time comes change. In Michael Pollan’s article Out of the Kitchen, On to the Couch He discusses The transformation of cooking over time and how people have shifted from cooking for enjoyment to watching others cook for enjoyment. His views can be contested and expanded upon within in our English class’s Favorite meal essays where various writers discuss The value of meals and they ways in which cooking satisfies their souls. What both parties can agree on is that food is an integral element of people’s everyday lives but the practice of cooking has shifted over the decades and so has the how and why people cook.
Everyone on earth needs to eat but weather we need to cook is debatable. In Pollen’s essay he analyzes how the definition of cooking has changed over the years. He claims industry has taken over a person’s approach to cooking. People aren’t starting from scratch they are doing the bare minimum to claim a dish is theirs. Pollen supports his claim by referencing box cake mix, he says “In the 1950s, just-add-water cake mixes languished in the supermarket until the marketers figured out that if you left a least something for the “baker” to do- specifically, crack open an egg- she could take ownership of the cake” (Pollen). Box mix and other cooking shortcuts have taken away from the traditional experience of cooking. The finding, measuring and work put into a dish is forgone which makes people question if box mix even qualifies as cooking. Grace Frohock would disagree with Pollens analysis of box mixes seeing as her essay The Saturday Morning Treat is about her favorite pancakes that happen to come from a premade mix. Frohock says the chef behind her beloved food “likes making chocolate chip pancakes for the family because they are easy to make and the ingredients are cheap”, “They require little effort, for such a meaningful outcome” (Frohock). Frohock agrees that everyone needs to cook but her methods differ. Instead of the scratch cooking many grew up with she is more inclined to use and follow box mix recipes because of their efficiency. While both parties agree cooking is important for tradition and their families their definitions differ. Pollen grew up knowing cooking as a from scratch process filled with trial and error. Frohock sees cooking in simple steps that are quick and easy. Both arguments are proof we all need to cook weather it’s for tradition and family values or for quick nourishment and the way we approach cooking has shifted from a more hands on approach to minimal effort.
People consume food in a variety of different ways that doesn’t always involve the production of a meal, each method of consumption providing unique benefits. Pollan’s offers a interesting perspective having grown up watching Julia child’s cooking programs and experiencing societies transition from traditional cooking shows to competition based food showdowns. Pollan asserts “What we mainly learn about on the Food Network in prime time is culinary fashion […] we learn how to taste and how to talk about food. For viewers, these shows have become less about production of high-end food that about its consumption” (Pollan). Pollan is saying these new cooking shows are more focused on how good the food looks and how efficiently it can be produced than the emotional investment previously put into creating a dish. This new approach to consuming food shows the shift in what people gain from cooking. In traditional cooking consuming the dish is just then end result. What sets apart a plethora of home cooked meals is their unique process and specific production details. Hundreds of people can say spaghetti and meatballs is their favorite food but if their asked to make each they will each have a special way of preparing it. In Labina Faizizada’s essay titled Mantu She goes into detail about the intense labor put into preparing Afghan dumpling dish called Mantu. Faizizada explains “You start by making the filling [..]Then the wheat flour skin is laid out in square pieces and an intermediate amount of filling is placed in the center […] You can get creative with the folding process to keep the filling inside. My favorite part would be folding the mantu to my liking and making my own style out of it” (Faizizada). This recipe for mantu seems simple to execute but the time put into each individual fold and mixing of filling must be done with purpose. IF this was done on a food network program the judges would most likely compare it to a specific mantu dish they have had and expect the chefs to adhere to a standard of excellence. In a normal kitchen mantu making is supposed to be enjoyable. As Faizizada states the best part of her is getting creative with folding the dumpling and experimenting with new styles.
Comments:
Final Draft:
31 October 2018
From Box to Table
Cooking is an age-old practice. People young and old have been cooking and preparing food for thousands of years but with the passage of time comes change. In Michael Pollan’s article Out of the Kitchen, On to the Couch He discusses the transformation of cooking over time and how people have shifted from cooking for enjoyment to watching others cook for enjoyment. His views can be contested and expanded upon within in our English class’s Favorite meal essays where various writers discuss the value of meals and the ways in which cooking satisfies their souls. What I believe, is that food is an integral element of people’s everyday lives. The practice of cooking has shifted over time from scratch cooking to quick and easy meals because of this shift people have gone from active cooking to the passive watching of cooking shows. Society’s obsession with efficiency has changed the meaning behind cooking. Cooking was a tradition-based way to unify people and now it is a more about easily obtained showmanship.
Everyone on earth needs to eat but whether we need to cook is debatable. In Pollan’s essay, he analyzes how the definition of cooking has changed over the years. He claims industry has taken over a person’s approach to cooking. People aren’t starting from scratch they are doing the bare minimum to claim a dish is theirs. Pollan supports his claim by referencing box cake mix, he says “In the 1950s, just-add-water cake mixes languished in the supermarket until the marketers figured out that if you left a least something for the “baker” to do- specifically, crack open an egg- she could take ownership of the cake” (Pollan). Box mix and other cooking shortcuts have taken away from the traditional experience of cooking. The finding, measuring and work put into a dish is forgone which makes people question if box mix even qualifies as cooking.
Grace Frohock would disagree with Pollan’s analysis of box mixes seeing as her essay The Saturday Morning Treat is about her favorite pancakes that happen to come from a premade mix. Frohock says the chef behind her beloved food “likes making chocolate chip pancakes for the family because they are easy to make, and the ingredients are cheap”, “They require little effort, for such a meaningful outcome” (Frohock). Frohock agrees that everyone needs to cook but her methods differ. Instead of the scratch cooking, many grew up with she is more inclined to use and follow box mix recipes because of their efficiency.
While both parties agree cooking is important for tradition and their families their definitions differ. Pollan grew up knowing cooking as a from scratch process filled with trial and error. Frohock sees cooking in simple steps that are quick and easy. Both arguments are proof we all need to cook whether it’s for tradition and family values or for quick nourishment and the way we approach cooking has shifted from a more hands-on approach to minimal effort. In my eyes the less work you put into cooking the less satisfaction you receive from the results. A person will be more satisfied if they spend hours producing a meal from scratch. Knowing that you have created something that looks and taste good from hard work is a very rewarding thing. Like Pollan explained companies had to modify box mixes so people could contribute just enough effort to feel accomplished in a dish. That type of second-hand accomplishment isn’t as rewarding as a full-formed dish you’ve carefully crafted for yourself and your loved ones. Quick and easy cooking just scratched the surface of cooking. What drags in Frohock and other quick mix advocates is how easily these shortcut cooking methods bring together families. Not only does scratch cooking do that but it also allows you and your families to be proud of your creation rather than being proud of a company’s good marketing strategies.
People consume food in a variety of different ways that don’t always involve the production of a meal, each method of consumption providing unique benefits. Pollan’s offers an interesting perspective having grown up watching Julia child’s cooking programs and experiencing societies transition from traditional cooking shows to competition-based food showdowns. Pollan asserts “What we mainly learn about on the Food Network in prime time is culinary fashion […] we learn how to taste and how to talk about food. For viewers, these shows have become less about production of high-end food that about its consumption” (Pollan). Pollan is saying these new cooking shows are more focused on how good the food looks and how efficiently it can be produced than the emotional investment previously put into creating a dish. This new approach to consuming food shows the shift in what people gain from cooking. In traditional cooking consuming the dish is just the result. What sets apart a plethora of home-cooked meals is their unique process and specific production details.
Hundreds of people can say spaghetti and meatballs is their favorite food but if they are asked to make each they will each have a special way of preparing it. In Labina Faizizada’s essay titled Mantu, She goes into detail about the intense labor put into preparing Afghan dumpling dish called Mantu. Faizizada explains “You start by making the filling [..]Then the wheat flour skin is laid out in square pieces and an intermediate amount of filling is placed in the center […] You can get creative with the folding process to keep the filling inside. My favorite part would be folding the Mantu to my liking and making my own style out of it” (Faizizada). This recipe for Mantu seems simple to execute but the time put into each individual fold and mixing of filling must be done with purpose. If this was done on a food network program the judges would most likely compare it to a specific Mantu dish they have had and expect the chefs to adhere to a standard of excellence. In a normal kitchen Mantu making is supposed to be enjoyable. As Faizizada states the best part of her meal is getting creative with folding the dumpling and experimenting with new styles.
What both parties exemplify is how dynamic cooking is and how there is not a right way to cook there’s only the enjoyment that comes from it. The problem that arises in that statement is the joy you gain from the food network programs Pollan discussed. Is the rush of competition and technique of higher value than normal cooking routines? I would argue no. While it thrills us humans to watch the action-packed Tv shows we only find joy from it because it centered around food. Its human nature to appreciate food. What I believe is of more value to use is the joy we get from cooking. We have only adapted to cooking shows because in our everyday lives we don’t always have the time to cook however that doesn’t make it better or more joyful than actually cooking it’s only a supplement for the real thing.
Cooking and consuming food contributes to some of our most treasured memories. Pollan would tend to agree when looking back on his childhood. He can recall watching “The French Chef with my mother in the den […] The show felt less like TV than hanging around the kitchen.” (Pollan). That memory revolved around food and held a special place in pollens heart. You don’t remember a lot of things from when you are younger, but he still remembers watching cooking shows with his mother. Prakash Patel also has fond memories surrounding food. In her favorite meal essay, she talks about the Indian dish Manchurian. When she “munched on a Manchurian, closed my eyes and reminisced on the experiences and memories of India” (Patel). For her that dish brought back memories of her time in another country without even being there. When we sit down and enjoy food we form great memories. These memories are important to us and remind of what we like about food and how it brings us together. These times let us focus on the joy of food and less on the technical aspects of dishes. Real cooking and real meals are judged by how they make us feel not how they look.
Cooking has transformed over the years into something about beautify and efficiency rather than joy and memories. Michael Pollan recalls his experiences with cooking in his article Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch and so do UNE students in their favorite meal essays. Overall, they can conclude cooking is beneficial to people and out current competition cooking shows and quick box mixes aren’t truly satisfying when compared to real home cooking.
Works Cited
Faizizada, Labina. “Mantu.” UNEPortfolio, https://lfaizizada.uneportfolio.org/meal-analysis/. Accessed 12 October 2018.
Frohock, Grace. “The Saturday Morning Treat.” UNEPortfolio, https://gfrohock1.uneportfolio.org/favorite-food-essay/. Accessed 12 October 2018.
Patel, Prakash. “Expand your Palate.” UNEPortfolio, https://ppatel18.uneportfolio.org/food-for-thought/. Accessed 20 October 2018.
Pollan, Michael. “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch.” The New York Times Magazine, July 29th, 2009, pp. 1-21.
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