Week 11

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/12/dining/jose-andres-sees-a-future-filled-with-spanish-kitchens.html?smid=tw-share&_rmoc.semityn.www&_r=0

In this article the writer talks about how Jose Andres is bringing more spanish restaurants into the United States. The article talks about how there are many mexican, and Caribbean restaurants in the US, but not enough from Spain, He hopes to open hundreds and even thousands of authentic Spain restaurants that will employ only the most experienced Spanish chefs, so that customers are getting the best experience. What Jose also does is cook a culinary class that teaches aspiring chefs how to bring spanish products more into the Americans’ knowledge, and them more appreciative of the other cultures’ culinary delights. This relates to my topic because I wanted to see how the Americans react to Spanish food, and through this article it taught me that Spanish food is actually in high demand because it says Americans are anxiously awaiting these new restaurants because they want more authentic food and wine. 

This week is our last week for a blog and I chose this week to do a self-reflection. I have researched over the last trimester a lot of spanish speaking countries, including, Peru, Honduras, Guatemala, Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Venezuela. I have learned so much that I would have never learned in any other class, because I could work at my speed, and I could research what I was interested in. My favorite country to learn about over these past weeks was Costa Rica, I liked learning about their foods because this is the place that I would really like to travel to one day. I liked how most of their staple ingredients included fruits and vegetables, and they focused on supplying a healthy diet. I look forward to next week to bring you in some spanish food, and to tell you all the great things I learned over the past weeks. 

Week 10

     My current event this week focuses a little on how food is made, this article comes from Spain, and talks about a factory that makes artisanal cheeses at the Queseria Sierra Crestellina. This article ultimately relates to my topic because I really wanted to focus on how food was made in other countries and look into recipes and the ingredients. This article helps answer my question of where the food is made. Although, this is a factory, it is a family-owned factory that a man named Juan Ocana inherited from his parents. The goats that are used only feed on natural grass, which helps with the healthiness of the food. The milk from the goat is then used to make cheese, soap, and yogurt. I thought this article was also interesting because of the picture of the lady working in the factory because it shows how the factory looks very simple and clean and that says a lot about the country to show how they produce mass amounts of food instead of just coming from small farms or small produce markets. Usually in America you would see factories being dirty, and very busy and chaotic, whereas this makes Spain’s factories look a lot more appealing. 

      My progress this week was a little slow, I mostly just assessed my own timeline and thought about what I still needed to accomplish before the end of the project. Though also this week I looked into the differences between Mexican and Spanish cuisine. I found out how to distinguish between the two types of food. In Spanish foods the main types of meat are lamb, pork, beef, and rabbit, also cheese, rice and vegetables are staple items in recipes. Mexican main ingredients are avocados, chilies, and salsa. Another main difference between the two types of foods is what they consider “tortillas”. In spanish countries and tortilla is said to mostly be like an omelet. Whereas, in Mexican cuisine a tortilla is made of corn and is served flat, they can be fried, and used as taco shells. One last difference is that Spain is very sea-food based, especially in the south of Spain, and Mexico focuses on having beans, or “frijoles”, at almost every meal of the day. 

Week 9- Current Event and Progress

      This week I took the time to go through my own research and decide which country I would most want to visit myself. Throughput all my research I have looked into the country’s recipes, their most common ingredients, and most their cultural background that influences a lot of their foods and cuisine. i have decided that I would want to go and visit is Peru because it has the three special regions that are all geographically different and therefore all have different types of food. It would most fun to travel there and explore each of the three regions and try each of the food from the regions. I also would like to visit Argentina because I am very much a “sweets” person, and their most popular dish is the Dulce De Leche. The sweet caramelized sauce just sounds delicious over the typical other spanish meals that include tortillas, beans, rice and meat. 

      My Current Event this week is about how the amount of vegan and vegetarian restaurants in Spain have risen by ninety-four percent! There are many people saying they are doing it for health reasons, but a lot think it should be done just to help save the animals. Previously in Spain being vegan and being vegetarian was extremely unlikely because meat had always been one of the staple ingredients so it is very interesting to hear about the rise of the all vegan restaurants in the country. 

     Next week I hope to actually start with trying some of the recipes and hopefully bringing them into class if they turn out presentable. I also will be doing another current event. Thus far, I have been pretty good at managing my time but I still hope to get better at doing a little research each day as opposed to waiting until the last minute and getting it all done at one time. 

Week 8- Progress and Current Event

Current Event

         This week I spent my time researching the most popular dishes in all the countries I have researched, and I want y’all to help me decide what recipes I should try for the class! The most popular dish is Honduras is called the baleada and a flour tortilla folded and filled with refried beans, quesillo, and sour cream. There can also be avocado or scrambled eggs mixed in! The most popular dish in Guatemala is tamales. Guatemalan tamales differ from regular mexican tamales because they have steamed banana leaves in them. They also typically have tomato sauce, chilies, raisins, and meat such as, chicken or pork. In Argentina one of the best dishes is called dulce de leche. Dulce de leche is a caramelized desert sauce with ingredients like milk, vanilla, and sugar. In Spain, Paella is popular dish and is a rice dish prepared typically with seafood. Paella is not only popular in Spain, but is considered the national dish of the country! In Venezuela, a popular dish is called the Arepa, and is a cornmeal cake that can be grilled, baked, or fried. Lastly, Costa Rica has a popular breakfast meal called Gallo Pinto that is made up of rice mixed with black beans, served with sour cream, and scrambled eggs, and sometimes fried plantain. Here are some other general recipes that y’all can take a look at and decide whether you want to try those too! 

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1177/patatas-bravas

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2248650/spicy-chicken-mango-and-jalapeo-salad

 http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Peruvian-Fish-Ceviche 

My current event this week is an article written by Claudia Roden, who travelled to Spain to write a book called The Food of Spain. She talks of how the chefs said they would try to incorporate their own history and roots of origin in their own dishes while cooking. She also talks about how organizations were formed to preserve the culinary heritage of the country. One thing the book says is that cooking is the landscape in a saucepan. Meaning that every place has geographical differences, along with cuisine differences. This relates specifically to my questions at the beginning on if the dishes throughout spanish-speaking countries differ. This helps with my answer because I know now that every place has food specific to its region because that region has geographical uniqueness. 

Next week I hope to try and bake some of these special dishes and bring them into the class I will take pictures of the ingredients, and procedures and post them to the blog! 

Week 7 Progress and Current Event

My progress this week has been going very well, I continued my research with countries that I had already previously researched to start finding recipes to try to make for our class! If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them! Also, if anyone has any countries that they would want to know more about food that I have not researched let me know!

My current event this week comes from Mexico and deals with the price of fruits and vegetables raising almost 57%! This deals with my topic because I'm interested in the ingredients in spanish food, and from what I have learned so far most countries use local produce and fresh ingredients in their cooking. That means this price increases would really affect their lifestyle and what they cook with.


Current event

Week 6 Progress and Current Event

This week I have continued my research on food inn other spanish speaking countries and I have researched Peru and Honduras. For Peru, I found out that their staple ingredients are corn, potatoes, amaranthaceaes, and legumes, which are beans. The Peruvian cuisine incorporates both ore inca and Inca ingredients, but mainly it's country cuisine is set apart by thee geographically different parts. the three parts are; the jungle, the Andean highlands, and the coast. Though, each Peru region has it's own special dishes based on it's culture background and location and weather. As far as Hinduras, the main ingredients are rice, beans, and tortillas. The main dish for the morning is called the "baliada", and is a tortilla with beans and sour cream, and sometimes vegetables. The afternoon dish is called the "pastelito", which is also a tortilla, but with chicken or beef, and spices, and then it is deep-fried. 

My current event this week is from the country of Peru, and is debating the issue of eating cuy, which is a guinea pig, and they also have a festival for the creature before they eat it. The article is mainly about why certain animals should not be eaten in countries, and how it making many species become extinct, because of illegally killing them and trading the meat. This relates to my topic because it talking about Peru having the odd delicacy of guinea pig, but also about it’s festival for the animal, and how other countries use odd meats too

Current Event   <------ website link

Peru resource:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peruvian_cuisine
http://www.limaeasy.com/peruvian-food-guide

Honduras resource:
http://www.honduras.com/foods/

Week 5- Progress and Current Event

This week, I have been very successful I continued my research with the countries of Guatemala, and Costa Rica. I found out that in Guatemala, the foods are heavily influenced by the Mayan culture. Their main ingredients are corn, rice, beans, and tortillas. The foods in Costa Rica also have the same staple ingredients as Guatemala, such as black beans and rice. Their main, and standard dish is called the comida tipica. A difference in the Costa Rica cuisine though, is that they focus on healthy foods, like fruits and vegetables as part of main ingredients. Also, this week I have heard back from my spanish contacts! I have talked to Ana Marin, Estela Gomes, and Beatriz Cenci. They have all helped a lot with my research and projects by telling me about the food where they live or have lived in the past.  My current event this week is about how Mexico City just made the largest enchilada, and they celebrated it at the second Enchilada Gastronomy Festival. The new enchilada was measured to be 85 meters long! They wanted this to boost the economy and promote family life. This relates to my topic because I like hearing about how the other countries incorporate food into their many traditions and festivals.

My current event also provided a video: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11063786/Mexico-City-makes-biggest-enchilada.html

And here are some of the websites that I learned about Guatemala and Costa Rica foods!

http://gocentralamerica.about.com/od/guatemalaguide/p/Guatemala_Food.htm

http://www.frommers.com/destinations/guatemala/274604

http://www.vivacostarica.com/costa-rica-information/costa-rica-food.html

Week 4 and Current Event

This week for my project I was very successful I found spanish contacts I can contact, and researched other countries. I researched this week, more on Mexico, Colombia, and Venezuela. In Colombia I found out that they deep fry most of their food, and their popular foods are meat. rice, and beans. One of their popular dishes is Ajiaco, which is a potato based soup that also has shredded chicken, corn, and cream. In Venezuela I found out that their food is very tropical, and has European influences. I think this week I have managed my time better, and found a lot more research than I have in past weeks. My current event this week comes from Venezuela. It is about the president, Nicolas Maduro, wanting to have a specific office to oversee food distribution out of the country. The goal of this project is to cut down on price speculators, and smugglers. Another goal of this is to have a more efficient system of distributing food. The country hopes that this will raise their distribution from 130,000 tons to 200,000 tons a year. The other purpose of this is to influence government decisions from a more rural agriculture perspective. Next week, I hope to finish researching my countries and hear back from my contacts so that I can start putting together a final presentation and cooking some of the meals I have lean red about through my research. 

Current event: http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-Revamps-Government-Responses-to-Agricultural-Development--20140907-0026.html

TED talk- public speaking

For my TED talk I watched a speech by Jarrett J. Krosoczka, about why lunch ladies are heroes. In wikipedia's definition of public speaking it says "….Intended to inform, influence, or entertain a listening audience…." Jarrett did a good job of all three of these key points. He informed the audience about his book series, entertained the audience with personal stories, and influenced the audience and changed the way they look at lunch ladies. Another thing wikipedia says about public speaking is that you should incorporate hand gestures, humor, eye contact, and visual aids. Jarrett exceeded in all of these areas, and another plus of his presentation was that he was never mono-toned he kept a steady and constant voice but always kept the audience interested.

http://www.ted.com/talks/jarrett_krosoczka_why_lunch_ladies_are_heroes

Week 3- Progress

This week in spanish culture, I have got a lot accomplished. I have researched Mexico and did more additional research on Argentina. I also made a poster for my pitch that I will be presenting tomorrow. I selected the countries I know I want to research so my use of time is much more efficient. Now that I have chosen the group of spanish speaking countries to research I will be able to focus more time on the research rather than thinking about what to do next, and the next step. The countries I have chosen are Mexico, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Peru. This week I have not learned anything new about myself besides the fact that I need to have better time management, which I have known for a while. Next week, I want to further my research and hope to research at least three or four more countries. These are some the websites I have visited so far:

www.everyculture.com

www.foodbycountry.com

www.facts-about-mexico.com

Week Two Progress

This week I continued with my progress on my project and continued with my note taking. So far I have researched Argentina and Spain to find out their cuisine types and what their typical ingredients are when making traditional dishes. As far as learning about my myself I learned that I need to start managing my time a little better, and making myself due the work periodically instead of waiting until the last minute. For next week, I want to continue my research and try and get more contacts for my project so I can have input from people who actually cook these types of food, so I will have other information other than what I can fin on the internet. 

About my 20% project- Week 1

I have decided to focus my 20% project on the cuisine of other spanish speaking cultures. I’m not just going to focus on food itself, but more on how the other countries prepare their food differently than Americans, and what other different ingredients they use that might be specific to their country or region. This topic isn’t necessarily important to me, but it is something that I would generally like to know more about. I like knowing the food culture of other countries and how they differ from our own, I feel as though our country eats a lot of other types of foods but we never know anything about the foods so we can never really appreciate them. My goals for this project are to expand my knowledge about other country’s food customs so that I can appreciate the culture more. My other overall goal is to teach everyone else in the class about what I have learned so that they may learn the differences too, and be more understanding about the culture. I will be measuring my progress by writing down my information in my composition notebook, writing these blogs about what I have learned or achieved in the past days or weeks, and making deadlines for myself so I have a definite schedule of when I need to complete my work. So far in this project, I have only completed learning about one country, Spain, but I really want to learn about as many of the spanish speaking countries that I can so that I can not only see the differences between them and America but also see the differences between the many spanish speaking countries.