I have chosen the topic of Hawaiian Food for my research project. Specifically I am looking at indigenous Hawaiian foods and the ‘newer’ Hawaiian foods. To me these two types are unique in how they came about.

The native Hawaiian foods use a select group of ingredients that are native to the island. These ingredients are becoming more and more scarce as the population has increased and land grabs have happened. As the environment of the island changes so do the natural resources that once were plentiful are now scarce leading to a harder to find native Hawaiian cuisine.

The other cusine I am looking at is the ‘newer’ or local Hawaiian foods. These foods are a fusion of other cultures that have come to the islands in the later half of the 1800’s. This cuisine including Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Chinese and other Pacific Islanders food. This food is unique in that immigrants from these nations brought their own cooking styles to Hawaiian and over plantation lunches they all become one new uniquely local cuisine.

This research project looks at plate lunches as a sample of this amalgamation of cultures into a single unique cuisine. Specifically plate lunches from local diners in Hawaiian and family recipes in The Food of Paradise: Exploring Hawaii’s Culinary Heritage and larger chains like L and L.

It took a while but I believe I can settle on a topic that I truly am interested in. I wasn’t certain until I talked with Thea, but I really feel like it would be interesting to compare the recipes for what people consider to be the “top” foods of Osaka and how they vary across regions, even if some of the opinions are from blogs or videos. Some of the foods that people really like can be found in these lists:

http://www.withhusbandintow.com/foods-to-eat-in-osaka/

https://triplelights.com/blog/10-foodsmust-tryosaka-91

Most notably, I would love to take a look at okonomiyaki (Japanese savory pancake), takoyaki (battered octopus balls), and karaage (fried chicken). I remember the occasion where I walked down a single street in Osaka and every minute, there would be another place selling their own variation of takoyaki or karaage. Similarly, there are many variations on recipes found on the internet as well as well known cookbooks such as Shizuo Tsuji’s Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art which has adapted recipes for cooking in America and Tadashi Ono’s Japanese Soul Cooking, which has recipes from “Tokyo and beyond”. I am also interested in Japanese cookbooks which have been translated rather than written in English first. There is one additional book I’ve found that is interestingly published in both English and Japanese within a single book called Recipes of Japanese Cooking by Yuko Fujita. There is even a documentary called “Wa-shoku ~Beyond Sushi~” which details the westernization of some of these Japanese dishes.

I really would love to see how recipes have changed across regions because I know that I had to adapt my own recipe based on what I could find at HEB.

The only thing I’m not really sure about is if I should stick to those three foods or do less/more. Maybe upon further look at the material.

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.

I originally was going to do research on Chinese food, but I couldn’t find too many sources that were useful so I decided to switch to something else. I decided to look into the history and making of ice cream, and how we have so many different flavors now. I was sitting in my room the other night thinking of some food I like, and I thought about how I was going to get ice cream after my exam this week, which led me to choose ice cream as my topic. I found several websites online about the history of ice cream, including an article from the IDFA (IDFA Ice Cream History), the Farmer’s Almanac (Almanac), and a page from history.org (History.org Ice Cream). After learning about the history of ice cream, I thought it would be appropriate to also learn about how ice cream is made. I found more information on the IDFA website (IDFA Making of Ice Cream). I also went on google to look up the popular flavors of ice cream and found a list of the top 15 flavors here (Top Flavors). I know there are a lot of unique flavors around the world and I hope I can find more information about that. I thought going from the history, to the making of, and finally to ice cream today would flow along nicely. When I went on the internet to look up a list of ice cream flavors, I ended up finding a lot of results for different ice cream companies, so I wasn’t sure if I should take a look at a lot of them and then pick out the more unique flavors to include when talking about how ice cream flavors have changed.

When I think of food, I immediately conclude to Asian food. In my lifetime, it has always been this way and I have always been curious to know the background history of my favorite dishes like Teriyaki Chicken, Lo Mein, Sesame Chicken & Mongolian Beef. In my research, I have been using http://www.asian-nation.org/asian-food.shtml to really help me understand many different aspects including how to make the food, the health facts about it and the popularity of the food. With the topic of Asian food, I can really talk about a broad variety of things. Asian food has many different kinds of foods whether it be appetizers, entrees, desserts or even drinks. I really enjoy researching information about the facts about Asian food including things like knowing that Asian food has the biggest variety of flavors out of all the others! http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-food/chinese-food-facts.htm  is a website that I can go on and learn a lot of interesting facts that are fun to know. My research has been going smoothly so far but I need to expand further than the internet. It would be cool to have knowledge from magazines, newspapers and especially from people who have lived in an Asian food environment!

In my last post about my research process, I mentioned how I wanted to write about sushi but didn’t know exactly which specific route I wanted to take. Since then, I have looked at my options and decided that I am going to write about the difference between sushi in Japan versus sushi in the United States. I am still going to incorporate my idea of writing about the history of sushi by mentioning in briefly at the beginning, however, the main focus of my paper will be how sushi is Americanized when brought to the U.S. and how that differs from how sushi is served and prepared in Japan.

I have had a little bit of trouble finding articles on this topic that contain thorough and efficient information that will help me with writing my annotated bibliography. However, I have found some helpful ones such as “Global Sushi: Eating and Identity” by Paige A. Edwards from Western Michigan University and “A yen for sushi: an analysis of demographic and behavioural patterns of sushi consumption in Japan”. These two articles are some that I find myself returning to a lot and have been two of my favorites. They highlight on the importance of studying culture through food and how sushi in Japan is more than just something to satisfy hunger, but rather a means of association.

One goal of mine in my research process is to find resources and articles written by American authors along with authors of Japanese descent. This will allow me to receive information from both perspectives. My future plans for my research also include finding videos or movies that will help me with my writing. I plan to do this through the use of YouTube and finding movies on Netflix such as “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”. I plan on watching this movie in order to give me an idea of the art of sushi in Japan. Are there any other ways for me to retrieve information on this topic or anything in particular I should be researching? Do I need to broaden my research a little bit more?

    In my last post, I discussed the starting formations of my topic.  After reading the excerpt from Tacopedia, I knew I wanted my topic to have some relation to Mexican food and the culture associated with it.  In my early research, I primarily used the UT Libraries ScoUT feature.  Through this, I found Gustavo Arellano’s Taco USA, a book focusing on how Mexican food fits into the vast and varied food culture of the United States of America.  

    After this, I hit a block in my thoughts.  I didn’t really know where I wanted to go with my topic, I just knew I wanted it to have something to do with Mexican food in the broader context of the United States.  So, I took to Google, and through many blog posts and journal articles, I found my specific topic.

    Within the US, many of the foods we eat are americanized versions of foods enjoyed in other cultures.  Often, it is looked down upon to enjoy these “inauthentic” variations rather than the originals.  What I’ve chosen to explore through my research is how we perceive authenticity of food in America, specifically focusing on Mexican food.  The article which inspired me to choose this specific topic was Minerva Orduno Rincon’s “The Authenticity Trap of Mexican Food in America” from the Phoenix New Times.  Her article lightheartedly criticized food critics who judge the authenticity of a restaurant by whether their tortillas were house made, a common facet of perceived “authenticity” in Mexican cuisine.  

    My bibliography will include a variety of sources, but a majority of them will be articles and blog posts.  I hope to include a diverse selection of authors.  Currently, my authors are all of Mexican descent, but I have sources from both male and female viewpoints.  I’m hoping to find sources which focus on this topic from the minds of non-Mexican Americans to compare their viewpoints to that of Mexican Americans.

    I’m still debating whether my topic is right as-is or if I should change the scale.  Would it be beneficial to broaden the topic to cover perceived authenticity of all cultural foods in American cuisine, or should my focus remain on Mexican food only? On the other hand, should my topic be narrowed down to a specific food in Mexican cuisine: perhaps just tamales or enchiladas? Right now, I think the scale of my topic is where it should be, but I’m curious about your opinions.  

I have decided on the topic of the American food industry for my annotated bibliography. After working on the Nutrition Team at the Whole Foods Global Offices, I was able to get a behind-the-scenes look at one of the America’s healthiest grocery stores. With my background in nutrition and experience working this job, I’ve gained a great deal of knowledge about the healthy side of the food industry. However, I realize that this exposure isn’t necessarily shared with the rest of the American population considering the current state of our nation’s growing waistbands. Moreover, I realize that the majority of the American population doesn’t abide by a healthy diet, yet obsesses over food and diet tactics. My question is why? Fortunately, there are experts and journalists who share a similar interest in this topic and have some of the answers. Michael Pollan, the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Food Rules, has done in depth research on the history of cooking and eating, and discusses the dilemma humans now have with all of the food choices. In the book Salt, Sugar, Fat, Michael Moss shares his discoveries on some of the major food companies (i.e.- Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Pillsbury, General Mills) that produce the vast majority of the processed food in America. On top of these books, documentaries on this topic include: Food, Inc., Fed Up, and Cooked. Aside from those books and documentaries, I’ve started to research articles published on the EBSCOhost database using key words, such as, “America”, “food industry”, “obesity”, and “processed food”. Through this research, I’m hoping to expand my knowledge on the factors contributing to obesity and the food obsession in this country. Moreover, my aim for this annotated bibliography is to make connections between the different publications and hopefully make some discoveries for myself in the process. Although I still have more research to do, I’m currently stuck on figuring out how to properly summarize large books and documentaries in the form of text.

Over the past few weeks, I have significantly improved my perpetual state of writer’s block. Usually, when I have a writing assignment, I delay and delay, trying to find the “perfect” topic, the “perfect” way to phrase my thoughts, the “perfect” supporting articles, etc. However, through my Learning Record Journal and expanding my research tools beyond Google, I took a more proactive, effective approach in my research, and I have finally decided to research food marketing and business.

At first, I was stumped on what to possibly research in the wide world of food. However, by using Google, cookbooks, food magazines (like Bon Appétit), cooking novel excerpts, etc., I gained inspiration for several topics, such as American-French pastry-making, the New York food scene, the history of Vietnamese food, etc. I settled on food marketing by recalling my past semester during recruiting season. I interviewed and networked (and almost accepted a job) with a huge food company, and I genuinely loved my conversations with the employees/recruiters about how they market their products. Recalling these enjoyable interactions, I decided to combine my love for food and my business background to research food business and marketing – from ubiquitous brands, such as Coca-Cola, to new, trendy fads, such as Sprinkles Cupcakes. I also plan to use primary research by conducting informational interviews with my prior contacts at the food company.

A couple of articles that I found interesting and relevant to my research were about Sprinkles’ marketing with their cupcake ATMs (http://www.contentboost.com/topics/content-creation/articles/375548-whats-sweet-you-sweeter-sprinkles-marketing-strategy-behind.htm) and General Mills’ decision to cut US advertising expenditures (http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/general-mills-plans-u-s-ad-spending-cuts/304764/). These are high quality articles that explain the behind-the-scenes marketing/business strategy for two completely different food brands.

Does anyone have suggestions for other research tools and/or search queries? Are there any suggestions on questions that I should ask the food company employee?

I’ll be honest: I’m not making much progress. I’m at somewhat a complete inertia in trying to decide a topic. I don’t want to commit to a topic I am not passionate about, or at least would have trouble writing a lot about. One topic that particuarly interested me was comparing celebrity chef’s cookbooks. I forgot who mentioned it in class, but someone mentioned that 2 Chainz has a cookbook, and if that isn’t worth researching, I don’t know what is.

The main tool I have been using to try and find exemplary sources is Google. I am best at evaluating and utilizing digital sources, and I think I will keep it that way. It’s 2017, so I shouldn’t have a problem finding a plethora of relevant information online. One topic I was also thinking about was recipes in the digital space, such as websites like allrecipes.com, where individual users can submit and rate recipes. I think it could be promising to investigate how professional chefs and culinary celebrities are beginning to be overshadowed by strangers on the internet, who just have a really good recipe to share. Another topic I have looked in to is investigating GIF/Video recipe makers like “Delish,” which have amassed tens of millions of followers and inspired much of our class to cook.

As I write this, I realize that I definitely want to focus my research about food media in the digital space. Hopefully, I will have narrowed down my research to a specific topic by the end of the day.