After that past semester I think I finally understand what the rhetoric of food is. When signing up for this class, I was unsure of what I would learn. I think that the rhetoric of food is all forms of writing, social media, videos, recipes, and so much more that include communicating food. From recipes to listicles to tasty videos, it is very evident that the rhetoric of food is everywhere and can be portrayed through many different media forms.

Ever think you were a true Austin foodie? Take this quiz to see if you really know where these popular Austin dishes are from!

https://www.buzzfeed.com/mollyfranklin/do-you-actually-know-where-this-iconic-austin-dish-2xfea?utm_term=.xvZxEa3Xq#.bg91vdzXb

Want to know what to do with your next free day? Take this “personality” food quiz about West Campus food options to find out!

https://www.buzzfeed.com/mollyfranklin/build-a-food-day-in-west-campus-and-well-reveal-w-2xfea?utm_term=.mlJ9W2qOw#.kyqdgJ17z

Want to know what your food opinions are compared to others? Take this Austin food quiz poll!

https://www.buzzfeed.com/mollyfranklin/whats-your-go-to-for-in-atx-2xfea

And finally, how many of these Austin dessert places have you actually tried? Find out here!

https://www.buzzfeed.com/mollyfranklin/how-many-of-these-austin-dessert-places-have-you-t-2xfea?utm_term=.be2KJ2xDy#.yuv2Zd0AE

 

The goals of BuzzFeed quizzes depend on which of the four categories the specific quiz falls into. According to the BuzzFeed Article, Everything You Need to Know About Creating a BuzzFeed Quiz, there are only four types of quiz. The quiz that I wrote about in my other blog post, fell under the category “Poll”. The other three types of quiz’s found on BuzzFeed are Trivia, Personality, and Checklists.

Formal elements of Polls include the following: only picking one answer choice, your choice immediately being recorded (unlike other quizzes where you can change answer choices until you submit it all at the end), pictures with each answer choice (incase someone doesn’t know what something is), showing the % of everyone who has taken it, and a specific theme throughout the poll itself.

Trivia quizes have only one correct answer, because it is asking about specific facts or events. An example of this quiz would be the BuzzFeed Quiz, “The Hardest Food Quiz You’ll Ever Take”.

In personality quizzes, the most popular types of quizzes found on BuzzFeed, people choose answers and are assigned the “personality” at the end of the quiz that fell under the category they chose the most choices in. An example of this relating to rhetoric of food would be the quiz, “Your Food Preferences Can Tell us Exactly Which Decade You Belong In”. In personality quizzes, the audience can retake this quiz as many times as they want to get different answers.

In Checklist Quizzes, the audience is asked to check off how many of these things they have eaten (in food related quizzes). Other common examples would be how many of these TV shows they have seen, How many songs they know, etc. At the end, the quiz tells you how much % you have eaten or whatever it is they are asking and often gives a witty comment afterwards. An example of this quiz, is “How Many Kinds of French Fries Have You Actually Eaten?”

In my final paper, I plan to go more into detail on the sub-genre of Poll Quizzes, and also expand on the elements that make up the quiz categories of Trivia Quizzes, Personality Quizzes, and Checklist Quizzes.

The Texts that I will be using in my paper are the following:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/ariellecalderon/buzzfeed-quiz-guide?utm_term=.ud6lPEny0#.mwrRYPp8j

Trivia: https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexfinnis/what-is-your-food-iq?utm_term=.qqnBm4156#.vdqlXB8xQ

Personality: https://www.buzzfeed.com/javieraceves/we-can-guess-what-decade-you-really-belong-to-with?utm_term=.du41adxP4#.ukvDRaBv3

Poll: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hattiesoykan/which-potato-must-go?utm_term=.hu33gYzoR#.fr093RE8G

Checklist: https://www.buzzfeed.com/jeanlucbouchard/how-much-do-you-love-french-fries?utm_term=.llKbPMGkl#.vq2np2eoY

 

Do you think that for my final project, I should create a quiz in each of the four categories? I originally was just going to create a poll but I think that it would be more beneficial to create each of the different types of quizzes.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/jasminnahar/the-hardest-game-of-which-food-must-go-for-meat-lovers?utm_term=.gf3QXKpgl#.xgLKzwNkQ

This food quiz, published on BuzzFeed.com, is just one example of the many types of quizzes available on the website having to do with food. I chose to use this type as my mentor because I like seeing how my opinions compare to those who have also taken the quiz. After you choose which option must go, your least favorite, it immediately comes up the % of others who have chosen that as well. I chose this specific quiz because of it’s clear pictures, variety of ethnic meat choices, and because the theme of meat is broad enough to be consistent and not too short.

 

The author, Jasmin Nahar, is a junior staff write for BuzzFeed located in the UK.

Although this genre isn’t something we have covered in class, Tasty BuzzFeed videos have come up a lot, so I thought this genre is another relevant popular genre in our modern culture similar to those.

 

Nahar, Jasmin. “Which Food Must Go: The Meat Edition.” BuzzFeed. N.p., 24 Nov. 2016. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

 

 

For my research topic, I have decided to research the popularity of coffee in America, especially focusing in on Starbucks. I am still narrowing down my topic, and deciding if I want to focus more in on the globalization of the business of Starbucks, or just talk about the rise of coffee in general in the USA and talk about Starbucks only in America. What do you think I should narrow it down with?

I chose this topic because coffee is a part of my every day routine–specifically Starbucks. I have a very specific iced coffee order and I always prefer coffee from Starbucks rather than a brunch place or any other coffee shop because I know when I order it will most likely taste the exact same as it does at my usual Starbucks.

So far I have found many sources- Starbucks.com, A blog post from New York Serious Eats, and looked at the differences between Starbucks Menus here in Austin. Because they have so many locations, I think that the topic of Starbucks just in American will be big enough, and I will probably not include the globalization aspect in my research project. I am looking into different youtube videos, but haven’t found which one I want to include in my final project yet.

I think that my research is going well, and I am excited to continue to narrow down my sources and pick the best ones to share with everyone.

 

 

 

Due to being sick last week, I had a late start to my research. I felt a little behind, because I have so many topics that I still want to explore before deciding on one. My initial interests are something having to do with Memphis famous restaurants, the history/rise of Starbucks, and different Tel Aviv restaurants.

I am spending my summer in Tel Aviv, so I think that would be very beneficial to me but since I don’t speak Hebrew so finding sources would be harder and have only been there once before. I don’t think this topic will make the cut. I would probably be more qualified to write about it after this summer.

When pursuing my idea about making my project about Starbucks, I went to the most trustful source I could think of, starbucks.com. Starbucks is a very popular company, and I think that it would be interesting to write about their globalization, and progress since they first opened in 1971. When using the UT Library search engine, stout, I was able to find many EBooks about the company. I think this would be a good topic to pursue. If I do this, I can include sources about the history of coffee, and Starbuck’s effects of popularizing this drink.

When doing research on certain Memphis foods, I thought of narrowing it down to either famous restaurants of just BBQ in general. I think that this topic would be very easy to find articles on reviews and about the different options of BBQ, and the history.

I think that I am in a good place in regards to my research process. I have two good possible options that I think I would enjoy learning more about.

Whether you are baking for a birthday, bringing a treat to a friend, or just making dessert, this pound cake recipe is sure to be a hit for any crowd. Pound cakes originated in the 18th century in Britain and they got the name “Pound Cake” because the original recipe called for a pound of each ingredient: sugar, butter, flour, etc. Over time, the recipe has called for less of each ingredient, but still maintains the same rich flavor the original contained. This recipe has been one of my all time favorite family recipes since I was a little kid, requesting it at every birthday celebration and every family dinner. It serves as a great dessert and even breakfast, when you are craving something sweet. I suggest cutting up strawberries and pairing them with this recipe, but you won’t go wrong if you eat it plain or wash it down with a glass of milk. Enjoy this Goldstein family favorite!!

Granny Goldstein’s Pound Cake Recipe (Serves 12 people)

Ingredients:             

3 cups cake flour (Swans Down)

3 cups sugar

6 eggs

3 sticks of salted butter; room temperature (1.5 cups)

1 bar of cream cheese (8oz)

2-teaspoon vanilla

Everything Else You Need:

Bowl

Mixer

Spatula

Measuring Cup

Flour Sifter

Baker’s Joy

Tube Pan 

Oven

Getting Started:

Preheat over to 325* F and spray Tube Pan with Baker’s Joy

Instructions:

Step 1: Beat room temperature butter and cream cheese (make sure whipped good)

Step 2: Add sugar and keep mixing

Step 3: Sift flour three times 

Step 4: Alternate adding eggs and flour into the mix

Step 5: Add vanilla

Step 6: Make sure mixed well and pour mix in pan

Step 7: Bake for 1 hour and 45 minutes 

Step 8: Remove from oven, wait for cake to cool, then flip over, and enjoy! 

Whenever an author is writing anything, they do so with an audience in mind. Recipes are no different. Whether that audience is students, anyone on a budget, experienced bakers/cooks, someone cooking for a big dinner party, etc. it’s important when analyzing a recipe to know who the recipe was written for.

In order for a work to be considered a recipe, it must be “a set of instructions for preparing a particular dish, including a list of ingredients required.” This definition is universally accepted because most recipes list all of the ingredients before explaining the steps or have them in a column next to the steps. In better recipes, the author will be much more exact in measurements of ingredients than in others. In Lean Brown’s “Eat Well on $4/day Good and Cheap,” she does an excellent job of saying how many servings the amount of ingredients will get you and even tells how much it will cost, something that is especially helpful and unique. She does this because of the specific audience she is writing for: anyone on a budget.

After the ingredient lists, recipes will either have step-by-step instructions or a paragraph explaining the steps. Majority of recipes also have a quick introduction explaining why the author wrote it/their connection to it. Recipes that are published in a book usually have the same format as the other recipes in the same book. The style is generally the same because it is more aesthetically pleasing.  When comparing Kian Lan Kho’s “Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees” recipe book to an online blog Smittenkitchen.com, it is very interesting to notice the different style techniques. Kho’s Kung Pao Chicken recipe has a full page of pictures showing every step prior to the recipe. On the page of the actual recipe, it has a short paragraph explaining how even though it’s a Chinese recipe, it is really Americanized and then tells a different dish in the same cookbook to pair it with. It then has the list of recipes for the chicken and the sauce. On the other column of the page, it has small paragraphs which each step carefully written out. This style technique is easy to follow and the pictures would be helpful to reference while trying to reproduce the recipe.

On the online blog the Smitten Kitchen, for the recipe of breakfast-pizza, the author starts out with a personal story about why she chose to re-create this recipe. There are photos attached, but they are all placed in-between the explanation and before the recipe itself actually starts. They give credit to where the recipe is adapted from, and then she begins with an ingredient list. The steps are listed in paragraphs. At the end, the author then says what she did differently than the original recipe based on trial and era.

Online recipe blogs like this one are very personal and have many helpful tweaks because the author can go back and change a recipe whenever, because she doesn’t have to republish and print new copies of her cookbook. They are also open to everyone, because it’s a free blog and she posts everything for free.

Recipes are something that can be published in many different formats, have many different styles, but all of them-good or bad- contain an ingredient list and the steps necessary to be successful in cooking the dish.