The process of writing

The Process of Writing: Breakthrough, Frustration, and the Fruit

 

              This class was extremely interesting, because I could feel many differences from the Japanese literature classes that I was taking in my home university. Reading, writing, and discussions, all of them were done in English and of course it was a little challenging to catch up with classes. However, each of them was so stimulus that I could experience not only frustration but also many breakthroughs and the fruits.

              My first breakthrough was that I came to feel 500 words writing as not so challenging. To be honest, at first I thought I couldn’t write such an amount of word for each reading, so I did not try it. Furthermore, my first reading response has a complicated history. Actually, at first I wrote it in Japanese and then I translated it into English. Of course, it took much time and made me exhausted. But as I tried some pieces, I gradually got accustomed to write 500 words. For example, I realized the same method that I used in Japan when I wrote reading response can be applied to also English books. I made a rule to mark the sentence that attracted my attention so that I can start writing about that point smoothly. And of course, I ceased to write it in Japanese. The second breakthrough was that I came to be able to think in English to some extent. At first I was always consult my dictionary when I could not think of the vocabulary. At that time I unconsciously created Japanese sentences in my head and tried to translate them into English. But as you know Japanese and English are far different languages, so most of Japanese sentences cannot be translated into English in the precisely same meaning. That is why I stack to write in almost every sentence and looked for Japanese meaning of the English words. However, one day I realized I was not using a dictionary so much. My writing process was changed from thinking in Japanese to thinking in English. I came to think what I could write within my English vocabulary from the beginning. This notion made my study much more efficient and even my speaking ability got positive influences. These two breakthroughs should not have happened if I had not taken this class, so I really appreciate this class.

              However, of course there were some frustrating moments. First is that while I was writing, I was not sure of my grammar being correct. I have been studying English for many years but still I can make many mistakes unconsciously. In addition, even if it is grammatically correct, some expressions will sound unnatural for native speakers. So, I always had to think if my English would make sense for other people. But, languages never improve without trying, so this was precious experiences. Second is that reading costed too much time. Writing seems to get easier relatively, but still reading takes much time. Especially, I did not know many non-academic words like cooking instruments or ingredients, because I didn’t see them in entrance exams in Japan. Of course, I could skip them but we were reading books about food so if I skip too many words of food, the context often came to make no sense. But, struggling with new vocabulary directly broadened my horizon so it was worth to tackle.

              As I mentioned, this class bigly contributed to my English ability. But this class enlightened me not only in linguistic aspects. First, I could realize there were many types of essays even focusing the same theme, food. For example, Stealing Buddha’s Dinner and The Omnivore’s Dilemma were totally different. The former was a memoir so I could enjoy how the girl changed along with story line, her complicated feeling of her identity and how and to what extent food was related to her identity. On the other hand, in the latter I could enjoy the journalistic aspects. The author told us the secret of our food industry and made us surprised. Also, through introducing the reality of food industry, he allowed me to meet the simple question, “What do I eat as usual?” Thus, the letter piece gave me new notions. Both of them were focusing on food, but the contents were very different. I realized over again that though it was easy to say “writer”, but actually that occupation has many ways of expressing their theme, and this diversity seemed very interesting. Second, through this class I realized the joy of journalism again. Actually, I was a little inclined to thought that journalism should focus on something political. But this class reminded me of natural attractions of reading and writing. I came to think that maybe the most interesting point of journalism is that it allows me to explore the world that I did not know. Through reading various books, I can experience many food and place that is difficult to eat and visit actually. Of course, political journals also give me information on politics that is difficult to know in a usual life, but the interesting work cannot be limited on only that area. Moreover, it is understandable that reading can satisfy my curiosity but it was really astonishing that even writing could broaden my horizon. Writing a memoir let me remember the precious feeling in Childhood, writing a restaurant review gave me new view points on seeing restaurants so that I could think about backgrounds of them, and writing an essay on perfect meal made me face with a real fact that we are too embedded in our food industry. This class offered me wonderful opportunity to look at journalism from many fresh aspect, what is more, in English.

The perfect meal final draft

Creativity, Cooperation, and Sharing

              Heat, smoke, and sweat. Fire has burning brightly for two hours just in front of me. Heat and smokes hit my face. Some students are trying to keep fire burning with almost black face. Their globes are also partly burned. Another students grab the stick in order to bake a roll cake. The roll cake cannot be baked unless we get into smoke and heat so that fire can reach the cake. But we all know that we have finished just the half of the cooking. We no longer said anything. Just bearing leaping sparks and hurting smokes, we were focusing on each own job. It seemed that this would last forever.

              “How did we ever get to a point where we need investigative journalists to tell us where our food comes from and nutritionists to determine the dinner menu? (1)” This is an introduction of Omnivore’s Dilemma. Now, we humans do not spend much time and energy on eating. Eating should be important work for human, but we now put it aside in a modern life, just going to a cafeteria and just take it. Then, at this time, I try to spend my energy as much as possible to make my perfect meal. I prepared these definitions.

1.      It should be cooked by a group.

2.      I should know ingredients’ background.

3.      It should be nutritionally balanced.

4.      It should be according to cultural cuisine.

5.      No leftovers.

              As for the first point, I strongly believe cannot make food by alone. This is based on my certain experience. Last summer, I brought my student (I was working as a teacher for a part-time job) to a countryside in Japan in order to experience cooking in outside. Of course, we were able to use only primitive instruments; someone in the group had to make fire and maintain it for 4 hours, someone had to gather firewood, and someone had to wash and cut vegetables, and someone had to decide flavors. Each person needed to find the best job for their talent, and contribute to a group from each standpoint. Of course, there was no easy job so every student had to struggle. However, that enthusiasm made our meal very precious one. While we were eating, students talked about how they contributed to this meal and praised each other’s effort. Our clothes were completely sweaty and black because of smoke and heat, and our foods were very primitive compared to ones in supermarket, but that meal was definitely unforgettable. In my opinion, people feel more happiness when they share it. Cooking needs some kinds of processes and it can be accomplished much more efficiently with everyone’s cooperation, and that feeling of collaboration allows people to find fulfillment in the meal.

The second definition is related to the fact that now we are not sure of what we are eating. We cannot live without eating, so it is very important to know what to eat and how to cook. We have to research how and when that food is made so that we can be responsible for everyday consuming. Backgrounds can tell us about what types of people are related to that food, which lets us realize we can live because of society. Now it is too easy to get food, so that is the reason why we have to check again where they are from.

The third point has something to do with our “health”. It wil1 be repetition but we eat to live, not to die. Therefore, we have to think about what we should eat according to our physical situations. Fortunately, there is a lot of information about nutrition given by government, health organization, etc.

              The fourth point is related to all of above. Cultural cuisine is based on an accumulation of many knowledges about people’s deed, available food in that area, and nutrition. For example, Japanese Sushi is eaten with Wasabi, which is a kind of spice. That is because raw fish can be rotten very soon, so we have to invent the way to prevent fish from going bad. Like many other spices, Wasabi has special chemical to protect foods from certain germs. Thus, each cuisine has developed along with not only their preference, but also scientific point of views. People has been making efforts to make a nutritional meal in the limited domestic ingredients. Unfortunately, these days those traditional food cultures are being disappeared but it is worth to check again focusing on their nutritional aspects.

              Then, the last point is “no leftovers”. Making food needs much energy and resources. We cannot waste it. All foods, vegetables, animals, fish are grown to be eaten. They lived to be eaten. If they be wasted, their purpose of life will be meaningless. Originally, they live in nature with their way of life. However, we distorted them so that we can eat more efficiently. We have to be responsible at least through eating them all.

              Based on these points, I made up my mind to cook Japanese cuisine with my friends. I thought it was based on cultural experiences so it had fine nutrition. Then, I went to the Asian Market. According to Japanese government guideline, we have to eat five kinds of dishes: principle foods, side dishes, main dishes, dairy products, and fruits. According to this, I decided to make Yaki-Udon (in English Fried Noodle). This dish has noodles, and vegetables. In addition, I bought some milk and Mikan (Japanese Orange).

              For Yaki-Udon, I bought seven ingredients: udons, shitakes, chingensai, and welsh onions. Udon is Japanese noodles. I bought one which has a Japanese label written “organic”. According to the website of Hakubaku, which products this organic udon, this udon is made from organic wheat grown by Australian farmers. The price was three times more expensive than normal udon in Japan. Shitake is Japanese mushroom. I could not know where my shitake was from by the label but according to the shop owner it was imported from Japan. The price was twice as expensive as in Japan. Chingensai is also called Bok Choy. The shop owner said it came from a farm in Michigan. She gave me the same explanation for welsh onion. I researched on the Internet, but I could not find more information. These vegetables are the same price as in Japan. 

              Then, I cooked it. Because of my definitions, I asked my friends to help make our food together. In fact, I could not buy my ingredients without my friends, and of course I could not cook it without them neither. Next, I found a friend who lent me cooking instruments. First, I asked my friend to boil udons and I focused on washing vegetables. Another friend kindly helped me with cutting washed vegetables as soon as possible. After finishing a preparation of vegies, I made Japanese sauces. I borrowed soy sauces, mirin(Japanese Sake), and dashi(Japanese soup stock). Actually, Sake has been used in many Japanese cuisine. This alcohol helps to diminish distinct smells of fish and makes tastes soak into ingredients. I mixed these three sauces into one sauce. After that, at the perfect timing my friend finished boiling all udon, so I was really grateful and I went to the next step smoothly. I turned on fire (we don’t need to correct firewood and give air into fire here!) and at first, I put mushrooms on a heat pan. After I confirmed they were baked enough, I added the other vegetables and udon. I just stirred them a little of bit so that enough oils could reach every part of ingredient, then finally I added the sauce. I like this moment very much. The moment I put them in, they quickly make a sound of frying and such happy smells of Japanese seafood soup stock. Until then we had been in the dim basement of the dormitory, but after that these happy smells of Japanese Cuisine began to surround the entire the basement lounge. Of course, this made us deadly hungry but at the same time we got much more motivated to accomplish this cooking. I put the sauce as it would surround the verge of a pan, so that the sauce would burn a little and have a slight bitter taste. I knew this would be a nice accent in the meal. I kept frying until the water was extracted, and turn off fire. Finished, Yaki-Udon.

              When I finished, my friend had already prepared dishes, chopsticks, and drinks. If I had been alone, it would have taken time and Yaki-Udon might have got cold. Again, I appreciated my friend and started to eat. Actually, we Japanese say “Itadakimasu( Thank you God)” before we eat, but this time I totally forgot about it just because we were too hungry. The taste was….very good! Maybe because of Mirin, vegetables and mashroom had the sauce taste enough. The sauce taste was not too thick at all, and slight neither. If I added only soy sauce, it would be just salty taste. But thanks to Mirin and Dashi, Yaki-Udon could get more complicated tastes of seafood and teriyaki sauce, it could prevent us from being bored. In addition, the most important was communication with my friends. We talked about original matters but it seemed like we all know we cooked this meal together and this feeling gave us much happiness.       

              Actually, after making it I realized that I could have chosen a better way to make the “perfect meal”. When I was buying, I noticed the ingredients were very expensive compared to in Japan. That was natural because most of those were imported from Japan. And this fact is against my definition no.2 and 4. Because I could not make it clear their backgrounds and also I felt that making Japanese cuisine in America was not natural from cultural points of view. I might have done better to make dishes using local Kalamazoo food, which is much easier to trace their backgrounds and have cultural accumulation of knowledges here. However, this project reminded me that we cannot cook by ourselves alone. Cooking as an international student required me to ask for help from many people. I really appreciate all of them, and of course, my foods.

Reading response 7

Reading Response-Own Perfect Meal

              After reading everyone’s perfect meal pieces, I came to notice one thing. Everyone wrote about “eating together”. Everyone says making food makes them think about their connection with their friends or families. This is very interesting. Indeed, cooking requires a lot of works. Going out to get ingredients, preparing instruments or a space to cook, and eating. Nothing can be done by alone. This sentence of Meredith’s represents this feeling; “The meal in front of us was a beautiful reminder of our indivisual abilities, our support for one another, and of own homes to which we would be returning shortly.” When we are preparing for meal, we get many people’s help, and when we are eating, we can feel how grateful other’s help was and how enjoyable to be able to share that meal with own friends. Of course the way of gathering food was changed a lot, compared to the Stone ages. However, these joy and fulfillment are not changed. Even in this modern society, we still find something happy in making food together. In this point, I believe making a meal is an extremely cultural and natural deed.

              Similar to the point above, what was interesting to me was that many people associated their food with their family, or mother. Even if they cooked it with friends, they tend to remember their family when they ate it. Most of them wrote about it but I would like to take an example of Cody. He says Sunday has been a special day for him because on Sunday his family enjoy the break without thinking about busy weekdays, and it is completed by eating a special dinner with all of them. Actually I was a little surprised at his description. Because I personally do not have these precious memory with my family on holidays. But his description was filled with happiness and his perfect meal, which was held with his family was also wonderful in terms of sharing happiness with his family. At this time I came to think maybe I wasted too much time with the most important people of mine. I have been taking for granted my happiness with family and friend, and doing nothing special. But if I truly think they are important, I might be ought to show respects and gratitude. And maybe, it had better to done through cooking together.

              Finally, when I was reading them, I was able to feel their joyful atmosphere and happiness. I believe that is because they truly enjoyed it with their important person, and they did put their energy into this project. I could realize again that when we try to do something, the more we are serious the more it will be fulfill. Especially in this type of group project, that glorious feeling will be bigger than usual. In addition, those characteristic of cooking makes them much bigger, I think. I felt that in order to write an interesting article, at first we have to enjoy the subject.

Perfect Meal

              “How did we ever get to a point where we need investigative journalists to tell us where our food comes from and nutritionists to determine the dinner menu? (1)” This is an introduction of Omnivore’s Dilemma. Now, we humans do not spend much time and energy on eating. Eating should be one of the most important work for human, but we now put it aside in a modern life, just going a cafeteria and just take it. Then, at this time, I try to spend my energy as much as possible to make my perfect meal. I prepared these definitions.

1.      It should be cooked by a group.

2.      I should know ingredients’ background.

3.      It should be nutritionally balanced.

4.      It should be according to cultural cuisine.

5.      No leftover.

 

As for the first point, I strongly believe human cannot make food by only myself. This is based on my certain experience. Last summer, I brought my student (I was working as a teacher for a part-time job) to a countryside in Japan in order to experience cooking in outside. Of course, we were able to use only primitive instruments; someone in a group had to make fire and maintain it for 4 hours, someone had to gather firewood, and someone had to wash and cut vegetables, and someone had to decide flavors. Each person need to find the best job for their talent, and contribute to a group from each standpoint. Of course, there was no easy job so every student had to struggle. However, that enthusiasm made our meal very precious one. While we were eating, students talked about how he/she contributed to this meal and praised each other’s effort. In my opinion, people feel more happiness when they share it. Cooking needs very complicated processes and it is never accomplished without everyone’s cooperation, and that feeling of collaboration allows people to find fulfillment in the meal.

The second definition is related to the fact that now we are not sure of what we are eating. We cannot live without eating, so it is very important to know what to eat and how to cook. We have to research how and when that food is made so that we can be responsible for everyday consuming. Backgrounds can tell us about what types of people are related to that food, which lets us realize we can live because of society. Now it is too easy to get food, so that is the reason why we have to check again where they are from.

The third point has something to do with our “health”. It wil1 be repetition but we eat to live, not to die. Therefore, we have to think about what we should eat according to our physical situations. Fortunately, there is a lot of information about nutrition given by government, health organization, etc.

              The fourth point is related to all of above. Cultural cuisine is based on great accumulation of many knowledges about people’s deed, available food in that area, and nutrition. When we try to make food along with those points, we can consult cultural cuisine because that is a certain result which is made through thinking about those problems.

              Then, the last point is “no leftover”. Making food needs much energy and resources. We cannot waste it.

              Based on these point, I made up my mind to cook “Japanese Cuisine” with my friends. I thought it was based on cultural experiences so it had fine nutrition. Then, I went to the Asian Market. According to Japanese government guideline, we have to eat five kinds of dishes: principle foods, side dishes, main dishes, dairy products, and fruits. According to this, I decided to make Yaki-Udon (in English Fried Noodle). This dish has noodles, and vegetables. In addition, I bought some milk and Mikan (Japanese Orange).

              For Yaki-Udon, I bought seven ingredients: udons, shitakes, chingensai, and welsh onions. Udon is one of Japanese noodles. I bought one which has a Japanese label written “organic”. According to the website of Hakubaku, which products this organic udon, this udon is made from organic wheats grown by Australian farmers. The price was three times more expensive than normal udon in Japan. Shitake is one of Japanese mushrooms. I could not know where my shitake was from a label but according to shop owner it was imported from Japan. The price was twice more expensive than in Japan. Chingensai is also called as Bok Choy. Shop owner said it came from farms in Michigan. She gave me the same explanation for welsh onion. I researched on the Internet, but I could not find more information. These vegetables are the same price as in Japan.  

              Then, I cooked it. Because of my definitions, I asked my friends to make our food together. In fact, I could not buy my ingredients without my friends, and of course cook it neither. While I was washing vegetables my friends were boiling udon, and preparing plates. Actually, my friends lent me a lot of instruments to cook. When I was frying our udon with many vegetables, they distributed milk and fruits, and they invited their friends to share our food with much more people. I would not finish anything about this cooking, but they made it possible. Thanks to many friends, we could succeed in eating all of our food, with no leftover.

              Actually, after making it I realized that I could choose the better way to make “perfect meal”. When I was buying, I noticed the ingredients were very expensive compered to in Japan. That was natural because most of those were imported from Japan. And this fact is against my definition no.2 and 4. Because I could not make it clear their backgrounds and also I felt that making Japanese cuisine in America was not natural from cultural points of view. I might have better to make dishes using local kalamazoo food, which is much easier to trace their backgrounds and have cultural accumulation of knowledges here. However, this project reminded me that we cannot cook by alone. Cooking as an international student required me to ask help many people. I really appreciate all of them, and of course, my foods.

Reading Response 6

Omnivore’s Dilemma: 3

              The part 3 of this book starts by this sentence; “There was one more meal I wanted to make, and that was the meal at the end of the shortest food chain of all. What I had in mind was a dinner prepared entirely from ingredients I had hunted, gathered, and grown myself. (277)” I totally agree with this ultimate form of a food chain. Previously, I wrote a memoir about getting a food by myself. Maybe what I wanted to say in my memoir was like this thought. I think one of the definitions of the perfect meal is that we should “get” it by ourselves. In order to live we have to eat so it is natural to make much effort on getting food, and be responsible on what we eat. At the same time, it seems to me that “the shortest food chain” allows us to gain truly fulfillment. Of course it is very challenging but that difficulty lets us to feel that we rely on nature, we are based on certain sacrifices, and we are one of the members of nature. What made me so excited were all of these feelings and actual experience that I get energy for living by myself, I think.

              The interesting was that the author succeeded in referring to the difficulties of living in nature. He is not just an idealist but has an intelligence to consider for a situation. As he says, of course living wildly can be ideal but it can be fatal, because there are many poisonous food in nature. I was very surprised at the fact that one of the reasons why we invent our food cultures is to remember which food we can eat with well-nutrition. (296) In this section I was deeply impressed by the great accumulation of knowledge. It is very surprising that every culture has reasonable reasons for existing. Then, I felt disappointed at the fact that many traditional cultures have been ruined by globalization. At first glance, globalization seems very reasonable and it is the most suitable way for a progressive point of view. However, different from traditional food cultures, it does not have any reasonable facts on healthiness and sustainability, which are the most important points for food. It destroys great human knowledge. That is a shame.

              The author wrote about his idea of perfect meal. Especially, he prioritized that he has to gather ingredients by himself, and he did it actually. And, it seems impossible for us to do so in this the 21th century’s modern life. Therefore, my opinion about perfect meal is that we have to use our head thoroughly, like hunters doing so. We have to pay attention about where and how they come from, how about its nutrition, and how to cook it appropriately. I think this is not for environment, but for us. Originally, we humans have put almost all of our energy. As I mentioned above, thinking about what we eat can enrich our food lives. It will make meals more enjoyable and moreover, make us healthier.  

The restaurant review revision

Lou Mitchell’s: The Starting Point of Route 66

              The United States of America, is a nation of dreams. As a Japanese international student, I have some stereotypes about this country: greatness, hugeness, consumerism, but the most impressive is “adventure”. Like Dennis Hopper in the movie “Easy Rider (1969)”, I tend to associate America with a reckless but grand travel, which tries to go across the continent one one’s own motorcycle. The 60’s, going beyond the horizon, Born to Be Wild, motels, and Route 66…what an American! Actually, Lou mitchell’s is a magnificent restaurant which plays an important role in this Route 66 trip. The restaurant exists in Chicago, and the beginning point of Route 66. It is known for serving great breakfasts for ambitious tourists who are beginning their travels.

              The restaurant “Lou Mitchell’s” was founded in 1923, by the man “Uncle” Lou Mitchell. According to the menu, “His graciousness, friendliness, hospitality and constant efforts attention to quality, and excellence soon had droves of hungry, eager customers standing in line.” Located at the beginning of Route 66, the restaurant has been host to many Americans for 93 years. Everyone from Presidents, mayors, governors, and tourists on Route 66 have stopped here to charge their energy. Now this restaurant has been attracting many customers not only from the entire United States, but also from all over the world.

Before I went there, my personal image of this restaurant was like this; it is energetic and filled with busy people. All of them are beginning their day. Some are businessmen who are reading newspaper quietly and the other are tourists who are checking their guidebook. In every moment there is lively chatting by ambitious people and they are talking about current business situations or their sightseeing plans rigorously. Unceasing crossfire of waiters’ yells are flying through the air, in order to offer as great as services they can. When I sit down, a person sitting next to me speaks to me and we enjoy our cross-cultural conversation about difference between the United States and Japan. I had imagined such an experience on this place. And, the result was far beyond my expectations. It was totally excellent.

The restaurant is near from West Door of Union Station, so accessibility is perfect. Walking couple of minutes from the station, it will be so easy to find “Lou Mitchell’s”, for there is already a long line of people eager to experience the best breakfast in the US. In my case, because it was on Sunday most of them looked like families and tourists. Many people wait to be in, but thanks to quick services they can enter the restaurant much faster than they expect. Actually, it took 5 minutes to get in. Upon entering, I felt overwhelmed. How many, energetic people! The inside is well lighted and the walls are made of warm-colored timbers. Many tables and chairs are set neatly, then many, many people are having their breakfast in a limited space. However, it was a little disappointing because this showed there might be merely one of the sightseeing-spots in Chicago. The restaurant has an image of a “commune” for travelers, and that never goes well with a consumer-centered pop image. Still, I did not feel cramped at all, for customers and furniture are set neatly. Without being kept waiting, soon waiter led me to my table. The restaurant looked very busy, but my table was already cleaned and a glass of water, folks and a napkin were well-prepared.

 Maybe because it was Sunday, most of customers seemed to be families or tourists. From children to elders, everyone was enjoying the restaurant. Just listening to them, were talking about their sightseeing plans or their impressions of Chicago. I was already excited because this situation totally matched my expectations. I went by myself so I sat in front of a stranger who was a very kind, old American lady. She spoke to me, “Where are you from?” I answered,” Japan, Tokyo.” According to her, my choice to come here was nice. She told me that she has lived in Chicago for ten years and often comes to this restaurant to enjoy a nice breakfast. We talked about similarities and differences between Tokyo and Chicago. Then realizing that I am Japanese, the other people sitting next to me got into our conversation. Perfect. This is the “cross-cultural conversation.” I really wanted it. Despite the fact that the restaurant was very busy, ordering was not difficult at all. That is because waiters fly to every table. All of them check all customers carefully so that they can respond immediately. In fact just after ordering, the other waiter came to me and filled a cup of coffee quickly for free. Surprisingly, they served many free appetizers. Coffee, toast, oranges, and even ice creams, all of them for free. They said that if a customer ordered some food, he/she can get free appetizers. Waiters gave them me on the best timings. The hospitality allowed me to relay despite how busy it was.   

I ordered “Greek Sausage Special Omelettes”. The omelette was served on a tiny cute pan. The Omellete was served with well-baked sliced potato and crispy fried bacon. The plate had enough volume so that any people could get satisfied. The Omelette itself was very fluffy. At the moment I touched it with my fork, it softly tore. From inside the happy smell of consommé and onions emerged. The taste was very subtle. Because it is not too salty, we can enjoy how eggs, onions, sausages taste. In addition, the contrast of fluffy eggs and crispy bacons are very enjoyable. However, in a sense they were too subtle. The omelette is not small, so there should be tastes’ contrasts with bacons. But both of them do not have much flavor and consequently a customer can be bored. Generally speaking, compared to Japanese cuisine many American food lacks flavors. Yes, it is salty and always over-sweet, but that’s it. Food should have five flavor categories: saltiness, sweetness, bitterness, sourness, and the most importantly, umami. In my opinion, the restaurant should serve such cuisine that customers can enjoy each flavor. In this case, the omelette was durable but bacons were not; they were baked too much and as a result their own flavors have gone. I could feel only crispiness. That is shame. Anyway, ketchup, salt, pepper, mustard are prepared on the table, so you can customize food as you want.   

On the menu, of course you can find many kinds of food rather than the omelette: sandwiches, special toasts, fountains, beverages. Fortunately, all of them are affordable price. My omelette was 10 dollars and in addition I could enjoy many appetizer for free as I mentioned above. You can drink coffee as much as you want, for example. I am sure that you can start the day in Chicago with the best feeling, for only 15 dollars.

Lou Mitchell’s is nice place to begin the day in Chicago. You can enjoy not only food, but also everything it has. Talking with other tourists, seeing quick and well-trained waiters, and of course fluffy omelettes. This restaurant allows you to feel you are one of uncountable tourists who had been there and traveled on Route 66 for 93 years. I recommend you to “experience” this nice spot, sincerely.   

              This assignment has changed my understanding of “authenticity” and of dining in restaurants as a kind of tourism. First, I came to think that “authenticity” exists as many as each restaurant, because it is made not by my image from media, but by actual experience. Whatever it is, what I met at restaurant is authentic. Accordingly, it is meaningless to think what is the authenticity. Second, this assignment made me think about a relationship between restaurants and tourism. Personally, I have thought that the interesting point of traveling is that we can feel our cultural differences. Of course in a foreign country we can find many differences even just walking around a city. However, one of the direct way to feel them is eating at a restaurant, I come to think. That is because food is made by people, and people is the most different thing in terms of culture. At a restaurant, I could feel the differences from how they serve, how another customer behaves, and how food tastes. Food can represents cultural differences clearly, so it can be a necessary point of tourism.

              Being aware of eating becomes my motto of my future tourist experience. Extremely speaking, even if I am supposed to have a lunch in McDonald’s, there might be opportunities to find any differences from Japan. Furthermore, taking a picture and write down own feeling is also very beneficial experience. Of course writing an article can broaden other people’s horizon, but through this assignment, I felt like could communicate with my hidden emotions or feelings. At a restaurant, I was surprised at differences, but when I was writing, I was able to perceive differences. These differences were connected to my previous experiences and I could get surprised again. Moreover, if someone gladly share this experience through my article, the pleasure will increase much more. This assignment allowed me to realize that.   

Reading Response 5: Omnivore’s Dilemma Part 2

Reading Response 5: Omnivore’s Dilemma Part 2

              In part 1, the author stated what corn are doing for our food industry so that readers can know our foods are violently industrialized. I could understand we humans have altered nature so much that nature now counter-attacking to us through for example climate changing, animal abusing, and eating disorder. Then, in part 2 of this book, the author writes about glass, from more organic point of view than part 1. According to him, influenced by the 60’s counter culture, organic foods have been attracting attention from people. People have been gradually suspicious of government’s or huge companies’ food policies, because it is too artificial and making bad effects on earth and human itself. However, in this chapter we can see that even such an organic system actually has quite a few problems.     

              The first word which attracted my attention was this: “that industrial organic (133).” I knew fast foods are highly industrialized and that was a problem, but for I was thinking organic foods would be crucial solution for today’s eating disorder, I got confused by this word.

              In the next chapter, the author explains this word in detail. He writes “The organic movement, much like environmentalism and feminism, has deep roots in the sixties’ radicalism that briefly flourished (141).” Suddenly I got suspicious of “organic”, because personally I do not have good image on hippie-like counter culture. I like to watch movie or listen to music of the 60’s, but I do not like to believe real power of these counter cultures. Hippies can orate their dream of “Love and Peace” because they are not actual person who are suffering. Real world is much more complicated than their dream so that is why hippies needs to rely on drugs and sex to escape from harsh situations. So, when I finished reading this chapter I got disappointed just as I had expected. The organic style is not so much an epoch-making solution. As an organic food were getting popular, it got industrialized just the same as conventional artificial foods.(183) Many people come to be able to consume organic foods but it also costs huge amount of fossil fuel for transportation, which spends large energy. What a sarcastic. Of course, the organic style is somehow better than so called artificial style, but after all it can be said the organic “dream” is not be able to achieve.

              So, is there no solution? In my opinion, as long as we seek cheap foods, this natural exploitation will never end. Because as the author says, “You can’t do just one thing. (225)”. In addition, there are surely many people who seriously need convenient food, so we cannot urge everyone to live in an organic style. Therefore, it will be a personal problem. When people come to be able to live stably, they can get a chance to think about what they eat. Then, some of them can be eager to learn actual process of getting food, and know the fact, like the author actually experienced how to kill chickens. And, hopefully, those information can help them to change their life style into more sustainable ways. We are fortunately be able to choose how to live and if the number of people who agree to live sustainably increased, this situation can be solved. But as long as we continue to live sacrificing something and somebody, this dream will not come true, I think.