First post:

The selected reading that I liked the most this semester was the Guy Fieri restaurant review.  I thought it was just shockingly funny and definitely a bit too dramatic.  Over the course of the semester I read many restaurant reviews but this one stood out to me by far.  The tone that the author uses and the repeated rhetorical questions make this review a ridiculously entertaining read.  The self-chosen reading that I got the most out of was Jennifer Lee’s “The Search For General Tso.”  I thought this article was super interesting because it talked about the origins of the popular Chinese dish and gave me a completely different perspective on it.

Second Post:

The term “rhetoric of food” is very broad and encompassing, but after this semester has finished I am able to come to terms with its definition a lot better.  Writers express their thoughts about food in many ways.  Some choose to review restaurants and pass on recommendations to other people.  Others write recipes, or write about the history of food and culture.  There are many different mediums, but some that we discussed in class are print, blog, online journal article, podcast, and movie.  Writers use a mix of formal and informal language, depending on their intended audience.  At first this semester I didn’t know anything about the rhetoric of food, but I now tremendously more about the strategies and skills used by authors to create food texts.

The genre that I chose is restaurant reviews. There are many different types of restaurant reviews, spanning the whole world, but for the purpose of this class I narrowed the reviews down to ones of Austin restaurants. I figured that if I would eventually be writing a restaurant review, it would be from a restaurant in Austin, so my mentor texts should all be reviews of restaurants in Austin. I chose reviews of Uchiko, Magnolia Café, Clark’s Oyster Bar, and Hyde Park Bar & Grill.

The first interesting thing I noticed is that several of the texts I found opened with words in quotes. There are different reasons for this, such as a quote from the bible or a phrase from a menu. I thought it was very interesting that many reviews began with words other than the author’s own. Each review has an introduction, in which the author primarily explains their purpose or background for coming to review this particular restaurant. Some authors included their expectations of the restaurant before eating there. Many introductions include information on the history of the restaurant itself, whether that be through quotes from the chef, historical facts, or through discussion of the cultural context surrounding the restaurant.

The reviews then move from the introduction to the main body, in which the author describes their eating experience at the restaurant with a tremendous amount of detail.   This genre forces authors to include as much detail as possible, because readers want a sense of what the food is like and whether or not they should spend their money at that restaurant.

The reviews close with a concluding function; some a paragraph, some more of a statement. However, each one ends in a very defining note, clearly indicating the author’s overall opinion of the restaurant. This is important because it is the lasting impression that the reader has of the restaurant. They are unlikely to remember all 13 of the dishes that the author ate, but they will likely remember the last few remarks.

The texts that I chose have a very important place in the world, in that they serve to inform the public about restaurants around them. If someone travels to Austin and wants to know the best places to eat, they can read reviews like these to determine where to spend their hard-earned money.

The mentor text that I chose is a restaurant review of a local sushi restaurant, Uchiko.  I chose this text because I am very passionate about sushi and I love Uchiko (if only I could afford going there on my own).  I also think that I am interested in food reviews because I enjoy trying new restaurants and finding the best food in Austin.  This review, written by Kate Thornberry and published in the Austin Chronicle, does a great job of explaining not only the food that Uchiko has to offer, but the culture behind it as well.  The author begins by explaining that Uchiko is the sister restaurant of Uchi, another Austin sushi restaurant started by the same chef, Tyson Cole.  The author then gives some background behind Cole and his cooking philosophies, before delving into a very detailed description of some of the best items that Uchiko has to offer.  What is really interesting is the way that the author included quotes from the head chef Cole gave really in depth insight into the cultural context of the restaurant.  The reader can tell that chef Cole likes to make generosity a top priority, which I can say is very true after having eaten at his restaurants a handful of times.  The author does a great job of describing these values and their relation to the restaurant itself.  This text represents a good example of the food review genre because it gives a fair look into a new restaurant and analyzes the restaurant with more than just the menu in mind.

Have you ever thought about what your favorite type of food is your favorite?  Whether you love Tex-Mex, barbecue, or Chinese food, chicken is likely a big staple of your cuisine of choice.  Have you ever wondered how this came to be?  How such a weird looking bird became the most consumed meat in the world?  In this bibliography, I explore the history of the chicken and how it came to have the power and influence it has today. I also take a look at how different cultures have used the chicken over time with a journey through recipes from past and present.

Check out my annotated bibliography here:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vu8UDXHv07YB8eEXLTxou36rJChUWVZRKaw3_9gcoRM/edit# 

Over the past couple of weeks I have done lots of research for potential topics and after considering my options I decided to look into chicken as food, and the cultural and historical significance of chicken throughout the world. The more I thought about it the more I realized that chicken was such a staple food of so many cultures; it seemed like the ultimate versatile food item that was served everywhere.  This really piqued my interest. I started my research and began looking for answers to the questions I had: When are the earliest records of chicken being eaten? What do some early chicken recipes look like? Where did chicken come from? I found many answers in an article published by NPR reporter Dan Charles titled “The Ancient City Where People Decided To Eat Chickens.” As I continued my research I determined it would be useful to see some old recipes and see examples of ways that different cultures prepare chicken. I started by finding a recipe for fried chicken in “The Virginia Housewife,” Mary Randolph’s classic American cookbook. This is believed to be one of the first fried chicken recipes to be published in America. This source shows one example of the cultural implications of chicken when it came to America.  It serves as an example of how one culture modified and adapted chicken recipes to put their own spin on it.

While this source is very helpful, it is not enough to learn about different cultures. As I continue my research, I hope to delve into old cookbooks or find old archived recipes online from cultures all over the world. I really want to learn about the different symbolic meanings that chicken has in each culture.

My research process for this assignment began with the need of choosing a topic.   After thinking for a long time, and considering several options such as the history of ice cream and the historical and cultural significance of Jewish food, I finally think I have settled on a topic: chicken. It occurred to me that chicken is a main staple food in almost every culture in the world. How did this come to be? How did humans decide that chicken would be one of the most popular meats in the world? After doing some initial research on Google, I came across this magazine article from renowned scientific and historical organization Smithsonian. This article gives a very detailed history of the chicken and its introduction into the human palate. I feel like chicken is unique because of the many different ways it can be prepared and served: fried, grilled, over pasta, sliced on a sandwich, etc. So far, I am keeping track of the websites that I find in a bookmarks folder on my computer. I wonder, has anyone tried any of the other research management tools that we discussed in class the other day, like Zotero? I also wonder what other kinds of texts could be used to support my project? I am thinking of finding some old recipes involving chicken. I need to explore the UT library database to try to find these. Unfortunately, I have two tests tomorrow and have not had the chance to scour the database for information.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-the-chicken-conquered-the-world-87583657/

When I first made these noodles it could not have come at a better time. It was the first semester of my junior year and after a whole school year of dry chicken breasts and frozen chicken nuggets, I had grown tired of the whole “I’m an adult and I can cook on my own” thing. What I wanted was simple. I wanted to cook cheap, delicious meals, and I didn’t want to spend exorbitant amounts of time cooking them either.  I decided to search online for ideas. Originally, I set out to determine how to emulate Kung Pao chicken from Pei Wei, but after realizing that any viable choice involved way too much time and effort, I settled on simply looking at Asian recipes. That’s when I stumbled across a recipe on the Budget Bytes website for spicy Asian noodles. I made them the first time and I was hooked. I added a meat (chicken) so that the meal would be more filling and nutritious. The combination of the noodles and chicken is really delicious and will definitely add some flavor to your life!

Noodles:

4 oz. (1/3 package) lo mein noodles

2 Tbsp. butter

1 egg

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp sriracha (you can use more or less depending on how spicy you want it)

¼ Tsp. Crushed red pepper flakes

Chicken:

2 medium sized chicken breasts

1 bottle of Oy Vey Spicy and Sweet Chili Heat marinade

Directions:

Chicken:

1. Place two medium sized chicken breasts in a Ziploc bag. Add enough of the marinade to thoroughly coat all sides of the chicken breasts.
2. Let them marinade for 4-5 hours (the longer the better- the more flavorful they will be!)
3. Cook chicken in a non-stick baking dish lined with foil at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until done.

Noodles:

1. First, take a large pot and fill it half full of water. Put it on the stove and begin to boil it.
2. While the water is heating up, go ahead and prepare the sauce for the noodles. Take a small bowl and combine the brown sugar, soy sauce, and sriracha. Stir them together until they are well-blended (hint: there should be no graininess from the brown sugar)
3. By this point, the water should be boiling. Add the noodles into the pot and cook for about 6 minutes (or according to package).
4. In a large pan, melt the butter over medium heat on the stove. As the butter is melting, sprinkle the red pepper flakes into the pan. Crack the egg into the pan and stir around until it has been scrambled. Turn off the heat once the egg has cooked.
5. Once the noodles are done cooking (they should be very tender,) drain all the water and add the noodles to the same pan with the egg. Put the heat on very low so that the food will stay warm.
6. After adding the noodles, add the sauce as well. Stir pan until the noodles have been sufficiently coated with sauce. Once the noodles have been coated, they are done!

Now, serve the chicken on top of the noodles and most importantly, enjoy!

Adapted from: https://www.budgetbytes.com/2012/08/spicy-noodles/

Notes:

If you have a hard time finding lo mein noodles, try looking in the cultural cuisine aisle at the grocery store. It took me a really long time to find them the first time but eventually I did. The chicken marinade pairs really nicely with the flavors from the noodles, but you don’t have to use that specific one. There are lots of Asian sweet-and-spicy marinades that could be used, and sometimes I coat the chicken in the same sauce as the noodles.

Authors write recipes for the purpose of teaching their audience how to make a particular food. It might be a food the author finds particularly tasty, or a meal that is very fast and easy to make. Whatever the case may be, the reason for writing recipes depends on the audience.   A cookbook about fast, easy meals for college students is not going to contain recipes for fancy steak or lobster, because these recipes don’t match the target audience. Authors of recipes use rhetoric that their audience will understand so that they can successfully cook the intended meal.

Although recipes can be written in many different ways and styles, there are some main similarities that many recipes share across the genre.   The first similarity is in the layout of the recipe, specifically the order of the content. The main format that most recipes seem to follow is that which Fuschia Dunlop uses in her book “Land of Plenty.” Dunlop introduces her audience to Kung Pao chicken, gives them some historical background, then lists out the ingredients and finally gives detailed, numbered instructions that lead her audience step-by-step through cooking the meal.  This format seems very common for recipes, as it makes the most logical sense.

The introductions of recipes vary greatly, but they are very important to a recipe because they are the first exposure the reader has to the recipe. The content of the introduction depends greatly on the audience. Many recipe authors use introductions as a way of explaining the cultural or historical importance of a dish. For example, in her book “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking,” Marcella Hazan uses the introduction to her pesto recipe as a way to explain the origins of pesto in Genoa. Introductions like these give the reader a broader perspective on a food they might not know much about. Introductions like this also lend the author more credibility as a trusted cook. If an author gives a full-page detail about the origins of pesto and its original intended uses hundreds of years ago, it becomes obvious to the reader that this author is very knowledgeable about the subject matter at hand. The reader is then more likely to trust that the author has provided them with an appetizing, time worthy recipe.

Other recipes, like many found online, are written with introductions that focus less on the cultural or historical significance of the dish, and more on the author’s personal experiences with making that dish. For example, on this recipe for Dutch chocolate pancakes found on Smitten Kitchen, the author fills the introductory paragraphs with personal anecdotes and stories from her life. In this case, the author has established some sort of relationship with her audience and shared her story of making this recipe with them. This format wouldn’t work as well in a traditional cookbook, but since it is part of an online food community, it is very effective. Any advice that an author gives just serves as extra pieces of helpful information; there is no such thing as ‘too much’ cooking advice.