The rhetoric of food does not have one simple cut and paste definition. It is a very flexible term that expands across many mediums and genres of texts. Perhaps one of the oldest and longest lasting genres, the rhetoric of food can range from videos, movies, reviews, recipes and even stories- along with much more. Our class has proven that there is no set thing that is the rhetoric of food, but we have demonstrated that the rhetoric of food is meant to be shared and enjoyed by everyone. It is a subject that wants to inform, and in some cases, entertain as well. It is a subject that is important and prevalent in every culture and society, and has informed us about certain cultures and their histories. The rhetoric of food will continue to live on as long as humans are still alive and eating, and will continue to be one of the most universal and basic human connections.

Read about the battles here!

While I am still needing to form my exact genre, I have an idea of doing a hybrid genre that is between an informal review and a best and worst list. My idea is to either pit different restaurants with similar cuisine genres against one another and see who is supreme and who falls short, or pick one type of cuisine genre, try different restaurants that serve this genre, and make a list that ranks them from best to worst. While I decide between these two genres’, I have been researching different food writing topics that I think would help both of my options. I’ve been mainly focusing on finding formal and informal reviews and articles that rank restaurants. I have also been wanting to find both positive and negative reviews.

During my research, I found things that worked and did not work and have helped me get a clearer idea of what my topic should include. It seems that the best rankings and reviews keep the audience in suspense, meaning that they save the big reveal till the very end; whether this be through putting the best restaurant as the last slide like in the “Best Seafood” article, or giving your final opinion, and the whole point of the article, at the very end as seen in “Chipotle vs. Qdoba”.

I also discovered that shorter is sometimes better. As a typical person has a small attention span, the reviews need to be short. While the “Best Seafood” article does a good job of this, they seem to fall short on overall length as the audience has to click through 31 slides. The review on Montana’s Trail House seems to achieve a nice balance of a formal review, written in a way that creates imagery in a reader’s head while also providing a lot of information in a concise amount of space. I also enjoyed this review because it used more than one sense; I was able to conjure images and smells, albeit in an unfavorable way towards Montana’s, thus creating a more interesting and powerful review.

What should it contain?

Sometimes:

• Save the best for last

• History of the restaurant

Always:

• Be aware of your audience and the length of your post

• Write with the senses in mind

• Write about what a reader would want to know: Ease of access, price, availability, location, food and service quality, and overall dining experience

• Visual Component: Actual images of the food served or the restaurant itself

Sources:

• Chipotle vs. Qdoba
• Best Seafood Restaurants in the U.S.
• Montana’s Trail House Brings Morally Hazardous Appalachian Cuisine to Brooklyn
• 2016 Top 25

Questions:

• What would you be more interested in reading? Battle between restaurants or ranking of one type of cuisine?
• Would you rather click through a slideshow or scroll through a text post?
• Do you like in depth reviews or short “this was good because…” reviews?
• Is there any other additional information you are looking for or wanting from a review/ranking?
• How can a reviewer not come off as condescending/sarcastic when writing a negative review?

“The Teen Chef is Proof Kids Should Stay Out of the Kitchen” Steve Cuozzo

This mentor text is a rather critical review aimed particularly at a chef, whom Cuozzo argues, is in turn the restaurant itself. This text has positive and negative aspects too it. While it does a good job in articulating why his experience was poor and what needed to be approved upon, Cuozzo comes off as very condescending towards the young chef. Having this ageism weaving through his review makes him seem highly biased from the very beginning, titling his review “The teen chef is proof kids should stay out of the kitchen”. However, considered the location and pricing of this restaurant, one could argue that Cuozzo’s intended audience, a group of wealthy and exclusivity-driven adult, would agree with his bias. They want a highly knowledgeable chef that can be seen through his talent and through his years.

This text functions as a good example of a review because it shows that a bias can actually work for you if your intended audience has a similar viewpoint. It also demonstrated ways in which the reviewee can improve upon his craft, rather than just complaining about everything.

Cuozzo, Steve. “This Teen Chef Is Proof Kids Should Stay out of the Kitchen.” New York Post. N.p., 30 Sept. 2015. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.

The topic for my annotated bibliography is essentially “The evolution of food media and its relationship with the American household.”  While this is a very broad topic, I do plan to narrow in on specific sects of subjects as my research progresses. I am wanting to explore how food media has evolved throughout history, while also including a comparison with food radio, food television and finally food on social media.

While I first thought I would really focus a lot on food television, my research has brought me to find a lot of interesting articles about food on social media; continuing on, I want to develop more inquiries surrounding food on social media, including how review apps (such as Yelp), “foodies” on Instagram, and YouTube had changed America’s perception about food and the food eating/making experience. Already I have found several articles that show the impact some of these sites have had on the food industry, including “10 Years On: How Yelp Has Completely Transformed the Restaurant Industry” and “The Yelp Factor: Are Consumer Reviews Good for Business?”

While social media has opened a lot of new avenues for me to venture into, I also want to explore food television and its relationship with the American household, moreover how America had influenced and changed food television. While this subtopic will explore content on television, I also want to compare and contrast modern “food celebrities” with those from the beginning of food television and radio. From first glance it is clear that the content and personalities are vastly different between the era’s, but I want to see if there is a reason or speculation as to what has caused those changes. So far I have found several helpful sites that discuss this topic such as, “How food television is changing America” and  “The Evolution Of Food On TV.”

Overall my biggest complication is finding sources. While there are many articles I do have to sift through a lot of nonsense articles that don’t give much reasoning or behind their claims. Is there a better way to do this other than just using Google? Also, because of the nature of my topic and subsequent subtopics, I am just struggling to narrow everything down into a cohesive argument. Are there any topics that seem more interesting from a readers perspective? My bibliography is going to cover a lot and is hopefully going to show how why food media is not only popular, but has constantly stayed relevant while so many other genres have died out. This bibliography is not just about food making but also the role food has on society, and vice versa.

When this assignment was first announced, my mind started turning with all the possible avenues that I could explore. I first began my research by simply googling different areas of interest and seeing what sources came back. I wanted a topic that would allow me to explore not just one particular sect of food, but I also knew I needed to have a clear idea of what I was researching and exploring.

Within the last few days I have decided upon my topic and am just starting to gather resources. The inspiration from my topic has come from my love of The Food Network. I used to watch cooking shows when I was little, and although many of the same stars are featured on the network, the premise of the network has changed from educational to more of a reality game show network. This paradigm shift made me question how television cooking as a whole has changed through the years, including before television was even a household item. I also want to bring this question to the present day and see how the internet has changed the dynamic as well.

In the light research that I have done, I can already tell there has been a drastic change. From the type of shows the food television produces, to the status of the chefs of these shows; Chefs are now full-fledged celebrities with copious amounts of projects under their belts. So for the article, How food television is changing America, has been a great starting point in my research.

Some questions I have are: What questions do people have about this topic? What are some good resources to find scholarly information?

This dish brings me back home to the cool winter nights in Seattle. It can be easily heated up in the microwave, and I love to serve it over a rich vanilla bean ice cream. Seattle in the winter is really cold, grey and gloomy, but this dish was able to warm me up from the inside out.

This dish has developed and changed as I have grown up. At one time I scoffed at bread pudding because it didn’t seem, or sound, like a true dessert. However, over time I grew to accept, love and eventually alter it to better enhance the flavors to fit my pallet. This recipe is one of my favorites as it combines sweet fruit with savory rum to create a medley in your mouth. While there are recipes without rum, I have recently turned 21 and have begun cooking with more alcohol to develop richer and more complex flavors. I have also provided a sauce recipe, while it is not a necessary part, I always enjoy sauces with my food; make if desired.

Yields: About 8-10 Servings

Ingredients:

Apple and Raisin Mixture:

• ½ Cup Raisins
• 2 Tbsp Spiced Rum
• 1 Large Apple, peeled, cored, sliced thin into ½ inch pieces
• 2 Tbsp Butter
• Dash of Ground Cinnamon
• About 9-10, ½ inch slices of French Brioche, cubed into ½ inch pieces

Bread Pudding:

• 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon, plus extra
• 3 Cups Milk
• 3 Tbsp Butter
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• ¾ Cup Brown Sugar, packed
• 4 eggs, beaten

(Optional) Sauce:

• 1 Cup Brown Sugar, Packed
• ½ Cup Butter
• ½ Cup Whipping Cream
• 2 Tbsp Spice Rum
• ¾ tsp Ground Cinnamon

Instructions:

Bread Pudding:

First Prepare the apple and Raisin Mixture

1. Place 1 Tbsp of spiced rum in microwave safe bowl and stir in raisins
2. Microwave bowl for 30 seconds, and stir afterwards
3. Let raisins sit and absorb rum while preparing apple mixture.
4. In a medium size saucepan, melt butter over medium heat
5. Stir in apple pieces, 1 Tbsp spiced rum, dash of cinnamon, and raisin mixture. Raise heat to medium high.
6. Cook until apples are soft and slightly browned, stirring occasionally. (About 10 minutes)
7. Remove from heat and combine with bread cubes in a large bowl. Light fold together.

Next create the custard part of the bread pudding.

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine milk, butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Simmer until sugar dissolves and mixture is smooth, whisking occasionally.
2. Once mixture is smooth remove from heat and let cool for about 5 minutes. Then combine with bread, apples and raisins in your large bowl. Lightly fold together and let sit for about 30 minutes to allow the bread to absorb the liquid. Bread should be soggy.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

3. Add beaten eggs to bowl and stir in till well combined.
4. Pour mixture into buttered 1 ½ quart baking dish.
5. Bake uncovered for 50 minutes.

Instructions for Sauce:

1. Stir Brown Sugar and butter in large saucepan over medium heat until melted and smooth
2. Add cream, rum, and cinnamon and let simmer
3. Simmer until sauce thickens and slightly reduces. (Be careful not to reduce too much or sauce will thicken too much, if this happens just add about a tablespoon of cream until sauce thins out to desired texture.)
4. Serve Warm

Adapted and Inspired from:

All Recipes, Rum Raisin Bread Pudding with Warm Vanilla Sauce

Epicurious, Spiced Rum Sauce

Jen Segal, Apple Rum Raisin Bread Pudding

Patrick and Gina Neely, Rum Raisin Bread Pudding

     Food is a part of every life. Other than being a necessity for living, food evokes certain emotions and memories that are otherwise impossible to capture. Through the art of recipes, authors of all different cultures and backgrounds are able to offer a piece of themselves through food.

     Authors write recipes to share with others. Whether it has been passed down in your family from your great-grandmother or from a world renowned chef, recipes are created to share. Food has always brought people together whether it be through celebration, solemnness, or just because people are hungry. Food can also be used to unite people together as different cultures have unique flavors and techniques that bring people together; although you may not understand each other, food is a universal language.

     When analyzing the genre of recipes, there are usually three elements that are found in nearly all published works; an introduction, a list of ingredients, and directions. Though other elements can be added, this is the genre standard.

     The introduction is the most personal section of any recipe. In this section, the author has the most freedom to personalize the recipe and truly make is their own. The introduction should not just be anecdotal though, it should also describe the dish in some way. The next section is usually the ingredients. This is typically the most impersonal part of a recipe, as it usually is just a list; however, some authors also use this space to give their readers alternative ingredients, allowing for different types of readers to still use their recipe. Marcella Hazan does this beautifully in her book Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking in her Pesto recipe. Hazan is aware that different levels of cooks are going to read her recipes, and that not have wants or has a mortar. By giving an alternative, more modern recipe, she broadens her selected audience. Finally, the author gives directions on how to create the dish. Using the introduction as a way to describe the dish through words or photos, as seen in the recipe for kung pao chicken in the book Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees by Kian Lam Kho, the reader should have an idea of what they are making. While the introduction should set-up the dish though, the directions should be the clearest part to read in a recipe. A great example of very clear directions is from this bruschetta recipe. This recipe breaks the dish down into three parts, allowing for the audience to easily follow along and create the three separate parts in their own time. While this recipe clearly explains how to make each step, some recipes will not explain things that may be simple knowledge to more experienced cooks, ultimately alienating more novice cooks.

     Although these elements are almost always prevalent in any recipe, having these features does not always make a good recipe. Having now examined and read several types of recipes, I have learned about my preferences in a recipe and have seen recipes that are just bad. I prefer introductions that give a short anecdote that ties in with the dish. However, having a long introduction doesn’t make it a bad recipe. In my opinion, a good recipe is one that can be followed and properly executed by a novice cook. One of my favorite dishes that I have been making since I was about 11 is a take on this scalloped potatoes au gratin recipe. While any recipe with French roots sounds more complicated than it usually is, this recipe is very easy to follow and requires minimal ingredients and tools.

     Recipes are becoming more and more accessible due to the internet. This allows for different cultures and authors to reach a wider audience. However, this has not changed the format of recipes. Introductions, ingredients and directions are almost always going to be the foundation to any good recipe. Food will always be a part of life, and with that, so will recipes.