What’s Cheese That’s Not Yours? Nacho Cheese

As random as it sounds, for my final blog post of the semester, I thought it would be fitting to talk about something I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts–my love for cheese. I love almost all types of cheese and when asked what my favorite food is, I’ll respond by saying “anything with cheese”. In spite of the not so pleasant smell as I walk past the cheese section in the supermarket, cheese tastes delicious and I believe a meal is not complete if there is not cheese. For example, I would not eat French Onion Soup if there were not cheese melted as a layer on top of the soup. I eat eggplant parmesans particularly because of the parmesan cheese that is on the top. With that being said, there is a wide variety of cheeses and each type seems to go well with a certain type of food or compliment certain foods that are prepared in particular ways. For instance, I believe cheddar cheese goes well in a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup, as small cube-like chunks served with crackers served as h’orderves, and in macaroni and cheese. I suppose it depends on one’s acquired tastes and personal preferences, but these descriptions include the different ways I normally eat cheese. Personally, I became aware of different types of cheeses at different points in my lifetime–for example, I did not try provolone cheese until around the sixth grade and now I love to eat provolone. This brings me to provolone, which I love to eat on sandwiches and have always been fascinated with its circular shape.

One of my favorite types of cheese is mozzarella, which I love to eat in Mozzarella Sticks, with tomatoes served as an appetizer, or in a tomato, basil panini. I will eat fresh mozzarella in salads, with olives on New Year's Eve, or simply by itself. I am the type of person who would eat cheese by itself. I remember when I was young and naive I cut up sharp cheddar and heated it up in the microwave trying to make a “nacho” type of cheese and ended up burning my hand by the end. However, to this day, I do not regret my decision because it tasted terrific with some chips I had in the cabinet. Another one of my favorite cheeses is champagne cheese, which I first bought from Wegmans for a New Year's celebration and I ate it that evening with grapes and was pleasantly surprised at its wonderful taste. Then there is bleu cheese, which took me awhile to get used to. However, now I like to use it as salad dressing occasionally and use it in its traditional form–with hot wings. I have had cheese in many forms and prepared in various manners. I have had sharp jack cheese to add a “spicy kick” sensation, I have had melted cheese on pizza, in macaroni, on mozzarella sticks, in nachos, and many other forms. I have even had four cheese macaroni as well as pizza, which evidently incorporates a lot of cheeses. I have had brie cheese as well, which has taken me some time to get used to. Although I love most cheeses, there are cheeses that are not necessarily appealing to me. These include cottage cheese, feta cheese, ricotta cheese (which I usually would eat if it were in lasagna), the cream cheese often used on red velvet cupcakes (although I like cream cheese on bagels), and cheesecake. I could go on and on about different types of cheese, but there are cheese that I hope to try in the future such as gouda, asiago, and gorgonzola cheese.

Reflections from Amma's Kitchen

I let myself into the house, discarding my shoes and picking them up to avoid trailing a day’s worth of mud onto the floor. It had been raining all day, just like the day before. And the day before that. My waterlogged clothes weigh heavy on my body, my mind, and my appetite. And as I walk in, the routine begins. I open my umbrella to dry overnight, because, no doubt I will be using it tomorrow, drop my bags off in my room and take my homework into the kitchen. I am not surprised to see my Amma already bustling around the room. The door to outside is open wide, bringing in warm air and newly hatched mosquitoes while trees filter the last light of a Kandyan sunset. Sitting down in the wicker chair I prepare to watch the performance about to take place.

When my Amma cooks, she moves slow yet with incredible ease and efficiency. Floating around a room smaller than the size of my bedroom she knows exactly where all the pots and pans are, where she last placed the knife, and the home-ground spices in every jar. Watching her cook is like watching an artist at an easel, a conductor in front of a symphony, a priest at an alter. Her rituals begin with the washing of every cooking item and utensil that will be used throughout the evening. She rinses the lentils and lets them soak in a bowl of water. She rinses the red onion and finely cuts it into a bowl. She rinses the knife used to cut the red onion and proceeds to chop the garlic rinsing the knife when she has finished. She returns to the bowl of lentils, draining the water and rinsing them yet again. They are placed on the stove that takes more than a few tries to light and she returns to her many curries.

This routine will commence again around five in the morning. She will give me my breakfast at seven, have my lunch packed, and by eight she is shuffling my Appachchi and host sister out the door to work, dressed professionally in six yards of elegantly wrapped and draping cloth and heels. Did I mention it is probably pouring outside?   

My Amma, like the majority of mothers in Sri Lanka, are socially required to cook. It involves a complex weaving of contextually controversial topics like the status of women, bread-winners, and the family unit. This is not to say every woman who cooks for her family does not enjoy preparing food or is denied the free time that she would otherwise be engaged in. However, I must acknowledge that being enthusiastic about cuisine comes from a certain place of privilege.

So many of those afternoons in her company in the kitchen she would tell me of her exhaustion. She was tired from her day at work, Biso Amma - my Appachchi’s great aunt - had a bad day, did I enjoy my lunch, there were too many mosquitoes this time of year, etc. She tells me these things as she massages red chili powder into minced red onions to make lunumiris sambol, her eyes welling with tears as they attempt to overcome their response to the spice and sulfenic acid. I often asked her if she enjoyed cooking. Yes, she enjoyed it but she had to prepare three hot meals a day, each meal with at least two different curries in order to be adequate because that was the way Sri Lankans liked it.

As Thanksgiving approached during my time in Sri Lanka, I helped plan a rather elaborate meal with the other students I was abroad with. Potage Bonne Femme, pâté, steak-and-kidney pie, vegetable shepherd's pie, stuffing, and mashed potatoes to name a few. Myself and three other friends were up at seven in the morning and cooked until five in the afternoon when our meal was served. When I got home that night completely drained from being on my feet all day but with my belly uncomfortably full, I flopped down in my usual wicker chair and began telling my Amma about my exciting day - she knew I had a passion for cooking and was excited to hear about “traditional” American food and holidays. Tired but a little delirious I say, “Amma, we were on our feet all day.” I still think I walked maybe five miles total that day in the kitchen. She laughed and remarked “and you just made one meal!”

I also asked my Amma whether Appachchi helped at all. Did he know how to cook? She would laugh and respond, “Appachchi doesn't even known how to make tea”. At some point during the four months living with this family, Appachchi learned how to scrape a coconut. But according to my Amma, he would do it very quickly because he wanted to get it over with. Again she would laugh and smile broadly as she said this. I tried my best to volunteer to scrape the coconuts. I say try my best because Amma made it difficult to help. I’ll give Appachchi some credit, it is a lot more challenging than it looks. She would interrupt me half-way through to take over because I was doing it wrong or too slowly. This was the case with all Sri Lankan cooking I attempted to assist with. I was only ever allowed to make one hopper or dosa. She was proud, creative and commanding in her kitchen.

My last week in Sri Lanka I decided to teach my Amma how to make Welsh Drop Scones, a family recipe from my father and a dish where I am able to proudly channel my heritage and British citizenship. Amma had taken off work that day to spend time with me. As I brought my ingredient back from the roadside shops we realized we were out of sugar. She tells me not to worry and scurries out of the house to return ten minutes later with the goods wrapped in a brown paper package tied up with string. As I explain the order of ingredients she timidly peers over my shoulder as I roughly measure them out into an unmarked cup. When I get to the step of kneading cream into the batter, she comes alive. “Well if I’m going to make this when you’re gone I should really practice. And I have the arms of a housewife.” With that being said, I moved aside to let me Amma do what she does best, create a masterpiece.

Speeding up Photosynthesis.

A recent study published in Scientific America has shown that plant biologists may soon be able to boost crop productivity by nearly 20% by increasing the amount of light plants use in photosynthesis.  The scientists in U.C Berkeley and University of California labs found that the three genes involved in protecting plants when they get too much light.  If a plant is overexposed to sunlight, the photosynthetic machinery can be damaged severely.  The scientists were able to increase the gene expression in order to increase productivity of these GM tobacco plants in field studies.

The researchers then found a method, which speeds up the recovery of the photo-protection and they were able to prove this in the laboratory.  The aforementioned method consists of boosting the expression of three different genes that are expressed in tobacco leaves.  The results showed that when they boosted the expression of the three different genes the photosynthetic machinery turned off more quickly.  The researchers utilized this method in order to rapidly test gene expression in tobacco leaves, and concluded that they were able to make the photosynthetic process way more efficient.

The implications of this study are very significant as it may have ramifications for agricultural technology.  By the simple experiment of boosting the NPQ gene in Tobacco plants, scientists have found that they are capable of making photosynthesis more efficient.  This could increase crop yields dramatically, or even make it possible to grow different kinds of plants in different climates as photosynthesis can now be made much more efficient.

Tyson Launches Fund to Develop New Food Tech

Tyson Foods is the world's largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork.  Tyson Food's brands include Tyson, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm and Sara Lee.  Tyson Foods has just spent $150M to launch Tyson New Ventures, who's goal is to invest in new technologies to feed the world more efficiently, with something beyond the firm's core meat products.  The Venture Capital fund will invest in agricultural technology startups particularly those which create alternative forms of protein, eliminate food waste, and decrease inefficiency in the food production world.

Agricultural tech startups have begun to focus on seed genetics as well as bio-fuels.  The technology for these new startups is centered around everything from drones and robotics to sustainable protein sources.  Tyson's first investment from the fund was in a plant-based protein producer Beyond Meat.  Beyond Meat has already created a psuedo-veggie burger that tastes, looks and even "bleeds" like the real thing.  The product has begun distribution throughout the country and is even backed by Bill Gates.

Similarly, a new local food initiative also in Chicago, has recently concluded their "Team Leverage: Bringing it Home" Competition.  The competition concluded with Evanston-based tech company FarmLogix beating out four other finalists to win half a million dollars to fund their company.  The idea of the competition was to sell boxes of food creatively that can be sourced from Indiana farms at an affordable price to families who have little access to healthy food.            



  

  

How America Views "Organic" and "GMO Free"

            When I was home on Thanksgiving break I was listening to NPR and they were doing a segment on issues pertaining to food.  One of the stories was an interview with an entomologist who believes the future diet for people around the world will involve bugs as the main source of protein.  His argument is that we are not sustainably producing meat, and therefore eventually people will need to turn to other sources of protein, such as bugs.  This interview was thought provoking and fascinating  (and slightly unappetizing).  I suggest listening to the whole segment here.  However another story that caught my attention was about sugar consumption in the US.  As shown in previous blog posts, I find this issue really interesting.  I only caught the tail end of that story so I went to NPR.org a few days ago to hunt down the rest of that podcast.  Instead I saw an article titled, “AmericansDon’t Trust Scientists’ Take On Food Issue.”  Given class discussions on the debate surrounding GMO and organics I thought this could be relevant for the whole class.

            The article was reporting on a recent Pew Research study, which measured attitudes towards current food issues like genetic modification, organic food, and eating healthy in general.  The article outlined the three major findings from the survey.  The first finding was that people do not care what scientists say about GMOs.  Three quarters of those studied believe GMOs are bad for you, while, “Only 14 percent's beliefs match the reality — that "almost all" scientists agree that GM foods are safe to eat.”  This connects to the idea that GMOs might actually be a good thing for agriculture, however public perception demonizes GMOs.  Therefore I think there is a need to educate people on the realities of GMOs, especially if it is a potentially positive direction for the agriculture industry. 

            The next finding was that the respondents’ food sympathies do not necessarily align with their political sympathies.  The author explained this to mean that equal share Republicans and Democrats believe that GMOs are bad for you.  However they also found that Democrats are more likely to believe that organic food is healthier.  The survey also found that regardless of class people believe organic foods are healthier at equal rates, yet the wealthy are more likely to buy organic.  This finding reaffirms discussions we have had about the accessibility of the organic food movement, and it confirms the belief that the movement is really only available for upper-middle class consumers.

            Lastly, the survey found that support for organic food and organic practices is far more mainstream than support for non-GMO foods.  This could be explained by the fact that there is not as much public understanding about what GMO means. In addition the non-GMO movement is in its early stages as compared to the organics food movement.  I thought that this article gave some unique background on the larger American public’s opinions on the issues that we have spending time discussing in class.  We have been discussing the issues in depth with a substantial understanding of all sides of the arguments.  However the survey shows that with this deep understanding we are in the minority.  It suggests that understanding about these food movements is still limited.  However given that, they are movements that are becoming more prominent in public discourse and are expected to gain even more traction.     

             

Amazon Go

Amazon has recently launched a beta of its newest product Amazon Go, which has been on their pipeline for the past four years.  Amazon Go is a grocery store that allows users to grab items and exit the store without dealing with cashiers, as the items are automatically charged to the shopper's amazon account upon exiting the store.  Amazon Go seems to be centered around ready to eat meals as well as snack options, which Amazon currently offers.      

The "Just Walk Out" technology is quite complex and relies on sensor fusion, computer vision and deep learning algorithms (which are similar to the technology in self driving cars), inside the store.  The concept requires that shoppers buzz in using the Amazon Go app on their iPhone or other smart phone when they walk into the store in order for the store to recognize the device and by proxy the user.  The technology is able to sense the price of the item as well as the item taken within the store.  From the preview, the technology looks amazing as it allows users to grab and go when they're in a rush.  Furthermore, anything you pick up inside the store is added to your virtual cart, and can be removed from cart if you put it back on the shelf. 

The Amazon Go store is expected to be released in early 2017 in Seattle Washington.  Although, Amazon is clearly the biggest participant in the self-checkout market, it may not be the first to market.  Y-combinator startups Selfycart and Instacart have both announced intentions to create an Amazon Go type store.  From the Beta release, it is clear that Amazon is pivoting their brand into the retail sphere, with the release of Amazon Books earlier this year.         

I think this definitely relates to our class discussion as we talked about how the layout of supermarkets is carefully organized in the beginning of the semester.  It will be interesting if these futuristic stores may require a new layout in order to maximize profits.  Furthermore, as discussed in class, while Amazon Go sounds incredibly innovative, there may be some drawbacks to the new technology.  First and foremost, it will leave a substantial amount of cashiers unemployed as there will be no need for them in the future store.  Additionally, it may be difficult or expensive to implement and may be defective in the early stages.  However, at the very least it's a creative idea that could help both retailers and consumers alike.  With Amazon Go "you're not shoplifting, you're just shopping in the future"

sources:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/amazon-go-grocery-store/
https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/05/amazon-go/

Reformulating Sugar

As many of us know, sugar is found in almost every food we purchase in the grocery store. It has been linked to heart disease, obesity, and many other health related illnesses. In a society where sugar is so prevalent, how can consumers avoid the ingredient or at least reduce the in take significantly?

Researchers at Nestle, an international food giant, found a way to restructure sugar at the molecular level. Molecular engineering at its finest, the new sugar molecule will be a spherical structure. Now, sugar only forms crystals in a box like structure. The article compares the current model to a shoe box that is made of sugar. The inside is also filled with sugar. This new type of sugar however, will have a sugar exterior but a hollow inside so less sugar actually enters your body. This is remarkable considering the effect it can have on consumer diets.

The company claims that the addition of this new sugar will reduce the sugar content in its products by 40% by using this new type of sugar. Although the technology exists for it, the new sugar products are not set to hit the market until 2018. Companies have been attempting to find a way to reduce the amount of sugar in their products in accordance with changing American diets, without compromising taste. The new development is seen as a holy grail discovery in terms of sugar reduction.

Nestle has previously found ways to reduce fat and salt in its products, developing new processes that require less of the ingredients. The company is attempting to constantly reduce various unhealthy ingredients in its food while providing the same taste. If consumers will buy it, Nestle will make it!

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/30/business/nestle-reformulates-sugar-so-it-can-use-less.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FFood&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=7&pgtype=collection&_r=0