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