Thanksgiving Traditions (Option One)

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I began my collegiate journey 2.5 years ago, and that is also when I began to have my own job as well. So this means I have not been to a family Thanksgiving in 2.5 years, and so many things will have changed since I’ve attended this holiday with my family (people have had kids, gotten married, etc.). So instead I’ll talk about the Thanksgiving traditions I have at work and at home alone.

            Every year on Thanksgiving Day I either have to wait tables or write a paper.  So on the occasions that I work, we do not have a traditional Thanksgiving feast at the restaurant. The cooks fix breakfast for us. We normally have biscuits, cheese grits, eggs, and donuts. These are “American” foods, but not foods for Thanksgiving (traditionally). Then once we’ve all filled our plates to the brim we all sit in the bar and watch the Macy’s day parade. You may wonder how we have time for this on a work day. Well our restaurant is open, but we do not serve traditional Thanksgiving fare. So obviously we are not a hot spot on that holiday. If people go out to eat on Thanksgiving they typically go out to find a traditional meal without the dishes. That traditional meal is one of the things that makes this holiday so special. You get to eat foods that you or someone else doesn’t prepare every day. It is also a time to reflect on the blessings you have. On the Thanksgiving days that I have a paper due instead, I just sit at home and write the paper while watching the Macy’s Parade, the dog show, Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving, and Garfield’s Thanksgiving (I’m a huge cartoon fan). Last year I worked on my drag queen study paper (which I presented at PKP last week). There isn’t really any food until my parents come home and I get some of the left overs. To top it all off I’m usually the one to make the turkey or ham the day before Thanksgiving since my Mom always works that Wednesday. So my Thanksgivings are never traditional any more in the sense of Siskind’s The Invention of Thanksgiving: A Ritual of American Tradition.

            In Siskind’s article she explains the traditional Thanksgiving layout (pg. 20-22). Women cook the food, which is not the case for me. At the restaurant most of our cooks are men. She also says men watch violent games on TV, and this does happen at the restaurant. When men want to get away from the family or don’t have one, they come in on Thanksgiving and watch football. But they don’t order anything (too stuffed), but instead they just drink beer. She also suggests that it is a time for giving thanks and being with others. On Thanksgiving I may not be with my family and enjoy a turkey, but I do take time to say a long prayer and thank God for everything that I have. I know without Him I would have nothing. So a traditional Thanksgiving is not necessary, and the main point of the day is to give thanks. As long as that’s done, the rest doesn’t really matter. Siskind’s view on a traditional Thanksgiving may be relevant to some, but not so for many.

Manuel’s Response

On Thursday my class and I went to Manuel’s Bread Café in North Augusta. The first thing I noticed on my way into the restaurant was how adorable and simple the scenery was. It was so nice and quiet with beautiful shops and houses lining the street. My entire family and I work in North Augusta and none of us has ever seen or heard of this rare gem in the city. Compared to other restaurants, Manuel’s really puts an emphasis on knowing where your food comes from and obtaining pure food. Manuel’s grows a lot of its own produce on their Blue Clay Farm and uses them in several of their dishes. They plot and plan a garden every year and prepare it so that it will have the biggest yield of crops possible. They grow everything they can all natural. So they keep away from pesticides or harsh chemicals for their crops. Manuel’s also has a mini animal farm where they have goats, ducks, and chickens. None of these animals are slaughtered however. The chickens are there for their egg production. But they make sure to treat the chickens well to get optimal egg production.

From these mentioned ambiances of Manuel’s it is obvious that they are aiming for two things when it comes to their guests. The first is that they are an education haven for those not aware of where their food comes from and what may have happened to it before it reached their plate. They are aiming to be an area where those that are looking for organic and natural sources of food can dine. This is the South so there aren’t many places where one can find all natural, healthy, and tasty foods. But this opens an even bigger issue in not just the South, but in the entire nation and this issue is GMO foods.

GMO foods are foods that have been genetically altered. This means fruits and vegetables can have their genes modified to make them bigger, hold more water, grow faster, produce more flavor (supposedly), and many other things. Sounds great right? I’m sure if you’ve heard of GMO foods, it has a negative connotation attached to it. This is because there is so much uncertainty about GMO foods? Do they cause cancer/other diseases? Are they as nutritious and healthy as normal produce? Should these foods be labeled so consumers know what their buying? Does this damage soil? There are so many unknowns surrounding these foods, and these unknowns have very big consequences if they are proven true.

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According to Clapp’s: The Political Economy of Food Aid in an Era of Agricultural Biotechnology, several countries that are in severe famine will not accept food aid from the US because we are one of the main countries that consumes and gives away GMO foods (pg.1-2). We also do not label these foods. Even though the countries that are offered our aid are in such dire straits, they will not accept food from us because it can ruin their agriculture and they are terrified of the consequences that may ensue from consuming the food (pg.4-6). Most countries give food aid in the form of money, but the US has ties to its farmers that produce GMO wheat (p.11-16). Subsidies in the US make this an easy solution to give away the wheat. The farmers need to make money to survive and the US government needs political allies and strategies brought by assisting others. So the government buys the wheat and sends it to places such as Africa that need it. But these countries would rather not make a bad problem (famine) worse with GMO products. They just use the aid from countries that offer money or non-GMO foods.

In America we also have conflicts with GMO foods. When you go to the grocery store you don’t know if you’re buying a GMO product or not. Organic doesn’t mean that it isn’t GMO. We face a lot of conflicts here at home as well since so little is known about these foods and their effect on health. It is also no secret that GMO foods don’t taste nearly as good as the real untouched product would. This could be due to the fact that some GMO foods are designed to hold more water and/or grow much bigger than normal, and thus dilute the flavor.

This brings me back to Manuel’s. Manuel’s constructs an ambiance of simple food. To serve food that has come from the ground and is hormone, GMO (maybe), and pesticide free. They strive to serve the educated consumer and the uneducated consumer (and teach them along the way). The idea they present is to keep everything as close to home as possible, to know where your food began and ended. They do not try to tie into the global community, so that they may reduce their carbon footprint. Overall, they aim to serve you simple, healthy, and good food.

Complicating the Obesity Epidemic

Complicating the Obesity Epidemic

            There is a constant epidemic in America that is getting bigger and bigger (no pun intended). This epidemic is obesity. However, this is not a simple problem of overeating. Economics, biology, and society all play a role. There are severe consequences to obesity. Health is significantly declined, in some cases negative psychological implications can occur, the cost placed on society to take care of these individuals later in life, and the pressures society will place on the obese as well. I will touch on a few of these issues concerning the obesity epidemic and give evidence that the obesity epidemic is much more complex than meets the eye.

            Society sees obesity as a simple matter of eating too much coupled with a severe lack of exercise. While in some instances this is exactly the case, but in the vast majority it is not. In Mead’s: Why Do We Overeat, society views obesity as an immoral lifestyle. Society says clothes are not made for them, they cannot fit in furniture, and the obese are outcasts. Mead goes on to say society says obesity “is a lack of character, a disregard for health and a blatant lack of self-discipline”. We place such a heavy emphasis on what people should look like based on the images that are flung at us every day. These images clearly have an impact. In Bordo’s: Not Just a White Girl’s Thing, countries (where not many eating disorders were present) that recently began promoting images or television shows that display stick thin women. After this media surfaced in these countries, diets, body consciousness, and eating disorders sky rocketed. We place such an emphasis on these stimuli, and think it is what we should be. This only causes more problems such as eating disorders and low self-esteem. This is not going to solve the problem but simply make it worse for everyone (obese or not).

Our society condemns the obese, but in some cases obesity may be the cause of factors beyond their control. Genetics are a central part of the obesity epidemic. Genetics dictate what kind of body type you will have. We are all different. Some are naturally skinny, tall, short, or chubby. I understand. No matter how much weight I lose I am always going to have these boobs, this butt, and these thighs. Body type plays a significant role in metabolism and where you store fat (which the individual cannot control, no matter diet choices). Epigenetics is a new sub-field of genetics that may hold the answers to some cases of obesity. Epigenetics is a very interesting field because it does not deal with gene mutations, but instead with gene modifications that can be turned on or off. This is done by methylating a gene which can inhibit or express the gene in question (though most of the time it inhibits the gene). These genes can be methylated or un-methylated on a regular basis in the body. If you don’t think genes are a big deal, well they are. They dictate every molecule your body makes and how you react to it. Genes can make you store more fat, sugar, or salt molecules. So if your genes are requiring your body to store more fat, sugar, or salt molecules, it doesn’t really matter what you eat or how much of it. Your body is still going to hold onto the molecules that you only want in moderation.

You may ask why epigenetics have never had a link to obesity until now. This is possibly because of added pressures in recent decades. These stressors can be the new diet that has developed over the decade (full of cheap foods that are high in salt, fat, and sugar). These foods are some of the only options for over worked individuals with low incomes. Produce prices continue to rise and unemployment keeps rising (so healthy foods aren’t an option). Families can buy one bushel of bananas or two Happy Meals for the same price (obviously the Happy Meals would provide more bang for the buck). The heavy emphasis on body image mentioned above offers no relief either.

In conclusion, the obesity epidemic is much more complicated than just food and exercise habits. Genetics, society, and diet all play their roles for each case. There is never going to be just one singular cause of obesity. Every case is different, just like every body type is different. Several factors influence body size. So solving the obesity epidemic is either going to be a long way off or we are going to have to have a major overhaul on our views of diet and the “ideal” body.

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