OxFam Hunger Banquet

Anne, John, Ben, Dale, Jennifer, and Michelle joined the Avila social work club for a poverty simulation - the Oxfam sponsored hunger banquet.  Each participant is assigned a role, based on the proportion of folks in the real world.  Anne, John and Dale were lucky enough to be middle class, while Jennifer, Ben, Michelle and I were assigned to the lower class.  None of us was assigned to the elite class - though we noted that, in reality, EVERYONE of us belongs to that category if you look at those categories from a world-wide perspective.  While the elite class was served a full meal, including fresh salad, meat, and bread, the middle class folks ate rice and beans.  After both of those groups were served, a large pan of plain rice was put in the middle of the floor - where we lower classes were seated.  We all served ourselves.   It was kind of funny when Michelle asked Ben to get her the salt shaker from the table of the upper class - oops! that was a no-no and they were quickly put back in their place.  Of course, the exercise serves to remind us of the real world situation in which a very few eat very well, while many others go hungry.  Ben and I were going to hit the Subway after the exericse, but fortunately, at the end, we got to eat some of the rice and beans and salad that was leftover.  I was happy to do so - as I was hungry - but, also, because I've thought more and more about food waste since our last class. 

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving - and when you are giving thanks, I'm sure that we will remember how great it is to have all this good food that others can not obtain.





Dale and John (Middle Class) ate rice and beans




Michelle helps her self to plain unseasoned rice



Food&Culture Students thank their Korean guest

A message the class posted on Culture Complex Facebook page, thanking          이종수, who was our guest from Seoul, South Korean on Friday night via video chat.

Korean BBQ at Chosun BBQ

Cooking thinly sliced marinated meat on a grill table.

Many small side dishes to eat with rice and BBQ

The class went to Chosen BBQ restaurant to sample Korean BBQ and Bibimbop for the vegetarians in the class.  You cook the meat at your table on a grill, then cut the meat into small pieces with scissors.  You can eat the meat by itself or wrap it in lettuce leaves with sauce or small portions of the various side dishes. We also sampled a soybean soup.

The Future of Food

The theme of our weekend was to look at some issues in food, water and food packaging and noting the changes in agricultural food production to an industrialized, global production model.  While we have an abundance variety of cheap and convenient foods in America, we hope to be mindful of the inherent problems such as food waste, starvation, pollution from plastics and other chemicals in this system, and health consequences.  The students learned about the Pacific garbage patch - one of the ocean vortex's that captures the tons of plastic debris which washes into the water each year.  Since it does not decompose, only breaks into smaller pieces, it remains in the water and is frequently eaten by seabirds and other marine animals.

The plastic debris on the left below was taken from the bird's stomach

Remember there are lots of people and organizations working to solve these issues in ways big and small every day.  

From Seoul, South Korean

이종수

In preparation for Saturday's trip to a Korean restaurant, the students spoke to 이종수 (pronounced EE Jong Soo) by video chat from the Culture Complex coffee shop in Seoul, South Korean.  이종수 was charming, entertaining, and very informative.  He talked about common Korean foods, fast food in Korea, his favorite American foods, hunger and obesity in Korea, and Korean drinking habits from coffee to soju.

Student Food History Presentations

We start off the weekend with another great round of student presentations, ranging from the history of wheat, kale and avocados to M&Ms and Spam.  We had samples of fresh kale (yummy) and kale chips (hum, not sure about those!), Catherine's tasty guacamole, one of my favorites M&Ms.  I'd have to say that Chad outdid himself with an interesting presentation on KC BBQ accompanied by Oklahoma Joe's BBQ for the entire class!  Can that be considered bribing your professors?