About my book 5

Hi : 9

I want to talk about my book "The Cultural Feast".
Today's topic is "Hunger in Global Perspective".


Currently, there is enough food produced to feed all of the world's population if it could be equitably distributed.
Despite adequate food production on a global scale, many people experience undernourishment and malnutrition.
Risk of malnutrition can be measured by estimating the numbers of people who do get an adequate amount of energy and by weighing and measuring people, especially children.
Malnutrition and undernourishment appear to be the result of the inability to gain access to food that is available.

Also, there are indications that the growth in food production is slowing and that environmental degradation as a result of agriculture and animal husbandry may further allow growth in food production.

The balance between population growth and food production is very important.


So, what should we do to solve these problems?
There are some issues to be addressed are well outlined.

1 Continuing efforts to slow, and even reverse, population growth, and that means continuing to address the problems of infant and child mortality and meeting the exciting needs and demand for family planning services and educating women.

2 Continuing development of improved food production technologies that increase yields and are environmentally sustainable.

3 Developing technologies and practices that conserve natural resources such as energy, water, land, and forests.

4 Reducing, or eliminating, poverty.


It is difficult to solve these problem alone.
But, there is a lot of our being able to do it.
We should participate in the projects solving poverty willingly such as working as a volunteer and raising funds.



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Recently, I went to "bills" in Shichirigahama.

"bills" was first opened in Sydney.
It soon became famous for the best scrambled eggs and hotcakes in town, served at the now much-copied communal table, where locals and travelers, families and celebrities thrived on the unique atmosphere.

I ate scrambled eggs and hotcakes, and drank home-made lemonade.
These were very delicious and I had good time in the morning.

About my book 4

Hi !

I'm going to talk about my book.

Today's topic is "The Ideological Basis of Food Practices"



The symbolic meanings of food, worldview, religion, ethnic identity, and health beliefs are among the ideological considerations that affect a person's health care practices and diet.

The term "worldview" refers to the way a group defines how the world works.
People from two different cultures, looking at the same phenomenon, may describe it very differently.
Knowing the history of a person's society and his or her past experiences is helpful in understanding that person's feelings and actions.
Ethnocentrism is the belief that one's own worldview and cultural assumptions are the best and the most natural.

Religious beliefs can be very powerful aspects of ideology and can exert a great deal of influence on dietary practices in several ways.
Religious belief can be very powerful aspects of ideology and can exert a great deal of influence on dietary practices in several ways.
Also, religious beliefs sometimes prescribe or restrict certain foods.
Although there are some restrictions, many religious practices have adaptive value to the group.

Ethnicity and ethnic identity are important aspects of personal identity that help us understand food use.
Beliefs and understandings about foods that make up some of the cultural content of ethnicity may influence diet.
More importantly, foods are used to demonstrate solidarity and to reinforce the connections among a group of people and distinguish them from other groups.

I thought that each religion has adaptive value, so it is not correct to have a prejudice between nations.



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→ Chicken rice ( Recently, I went to a Thailand restaurant near my university.

    　The price is low but the taste is very good !!♥︎)

Comparing two websites...

Hi : 9


I tried to compare two websites, Food for All with Second Harvest Japan.


What do they have in common?
Both websites was established for charity called Food Bank

How do their approaches differ?
   Food for All : Food for All started as a small operation aimed at providing home grocery delivery for those not enough to make it to other local organization for assistance. 

   Second Harvest Japan : Second Harvest Japan is the only nationwide food bank in Japan. They receive donates from manufactures, retailers, farmers and individuals and them distribute them to those in need.

What are their main activities?
   Food for All : Each week they accept referrals from social workers who have been contacted by individuals, and in some cases, they receive calls directly from individuals in need. 

   Second Harvest Japan : They are four programs. 1 Harvest Kitchen, 2 Harvest Pantry, 3 Food Banking, and 4 Advocacy and Development.

How do they deal with the problem of food waste?
    Food for All : The majority of the food is obtained from the Capitol Area Food Bank, although they also receive donations from area supermarkets and farms,so it is very good to reduce the waste of food.

   Second Harvest Japan : By donating stocks of food manufactures cannot sell to Second Harvest Japan, they save money on disposal costs, increase employee morale, and make a positive impact in the community.

How would you be able to help for these organization?
   I can donate money, food, and time. And also, we can participate in lectures and events hosted by these organization,

Which group seems to be the most active?
   I think Second Harvest Japan is better because it is easy for us, Japanese, to support the organization and 2HJ cooperates with food manufacturers and other companies and use food to create new partnerships between corporations and the community in order to deliver enough food to those who lack food security.

Food for all
http://www.foodforalldc.org/wp/

Second Harvest Japan
http://2hj.org
   

About the article

Hi : )

I'm going to talk about the article "U.N Says 2015 Likely to Be Warmest Year on Record" written by John Revill from THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

The WMO said that the period 2011 to 2015 has been the warmest five years on record with many extreme weather events influenced by climate changes.
The announcement came days before world leaders meet in Paris on Monday to open two weeks of talks on how to protect the planet from the potentially catastrophic consequences of global warming.
If it is successful, the Paris climate conference, known as COP21, blind developed and developing countries into cutting greenhouse-gas emissions for the first time.

2015 seem to be the hottest year on record.
This is very bad news for humans, animals, and plants living in this planet.

Global warming affects our life.
If the climate continues rising, abnormal weather will be caused. And then, grain will not grow up and also, the animals that eats grain might not live.
Finally, I think, a food chain will collapse. Our eating habits will change greatly.

To prevent the rise in climate, we have to live not to exhaust carbon dioxide if possible.
As for me, I'll use trains in substitution for cars.

The accumulation of small efforts is very important.

About my book 3

Hi


I want to tell you about my book.

Now, I'm reading about "How People Get Their Food"

Humans use a range of technologies to get and process their foods.
Some are more complex and others simpler in terms of the tools and technologies used to get food are part of larger "adaptive strategies"
That is social and cultural conditions that are associated with different sets of tools and techniques for food getting.

Each strategy is associated with a set of challenges to be solved.
The dietary challenge to contemporary foraging groups is to find enough food to feed themselves in environments in which they live off the locally available plants and animals without exploiting the resources available excessively.
People must manage their food production in a way that allows them to continue to find sufficient productive land for their crops close to home, and they must find ways to supplement starchy staples with high protein foods.
Also, they must find ways to produce enough subsistence crops to feed themselves or generate sufficient income from small scale agriculture to buy food.
The social and demographic consequences of foraging are that population densities are small.
As a result, peoples following these strategies suffer from fewer infectious diseases.


I can learn from this section that there is long history that people get their food.
It is important to find good environment.

Tests :'(

Hi

I've taken the test " Food Culture Tests"



Score is ...

44%... : ( omg


But, I can gain the additional knowledge  about food through doing the quiz.

Especially, I surprised to know  the difference between jelly and jam.
I thought that Jelly is a type of gelatin; jam is fruit preserves.
But, this answer is

Jelly is made from fruit juice; jam is made from crushed fruit. I've never known the knowledge. I want to know these knowledge about food more ! Food Culture Tests http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Food/2012/0727/Are-you-a-real-foodie-Take-our-quiz/What-is-a-prix-fixe-menu#

About food related video and my book 2

Hi : )

Let me introduce this video.

This video tells about "What does the world eat for breakfast?".
The breakfast around the world is introduced.

We can understand the deferences of food culture even if we look only at the breakfast.

Why are these deferences born?

This answer is written on the book which I introduced before on this blog.

The book says "Culture has a pervasive influence on human diet; it affects what we eat, when we eat, how we prepare our food, and with whom we share it."
And then, the book  refers to the term "culture".

"culture" used to describe the meanings, knowledge, values, and norms shared by a specific group of people.
But now, it refers to the set of norms, beliefs, values, and other conventional understandings shared by members of a specific identifiable social group, such as an ethnic group, class, professional organization, corporation, or discipline.

When we travel to other countries, we can notice that foods considered a delicacy in one society may provoke pleasure or disgust in another.
Accepting the food of the country leads to understanding of the culture.

I think food and culture have deep bonds.
We should respect each culture.


After watching this video, the breakfast that I was interested in was Mexican breakfast.
I saw it for the first time!!
I will try to eat it next time.

I think it is important to challenge food that you haven't eaten before without hesitation.
If you challenge it, you can obtain new field of vision.

Chanoma cafe

Last day, I went to an interesting cafe.

The cafe is called " Chanoma-cafe".
"Chanoma" means "Japanese living room".

This cafe is based on Japanese traditional culture.

The interesting point of this cafe is the seats are mattresses.

So, the customers take off their shoes and get on the mattresses, and then they eat while lying down.

The table is a round board on the mattresses.

We can relax and eat as if we are totally in our home.

In my case, I forgot time and I was in this cafe for 4 hours...

I ate some french toasts with strawberry and soy milk whip cream and a green tea and coconut parfait.

They were very delicious.

I was not kept waiting very much before these sweets were served.
The menu of food was substantial and the type of food was not decided.
So, they were Japanese food such as "Donburi", Italian food, and junk food such as french fries in the menu.

Because the atmosphere of this cafe is very good and the sweets is delicious, I want to go there once again.

The point that we should be careful about is this cafe is crowded on Saturday and Sunday and a holiday  and then we have to wait for a while  because this cafe is very famous.

I recommend to go to this cafe week days because  it is relatively not crowded on weekdays.

By all means, everyone please try and go : )



"Chanoma-cafe"
Japan, Yokohama Akarenga Souko, Building No.2, The third floor.

About my book 1

Hi.

My name is Shiori Sano.

 I'm studying about food culture at a Japanese university.
I established this blog to make use of the knowledge that I learned by my class.

Recently, I borrowed a book to study in a library.

So, I'll introduce my book I chose.

This is "THE CULTURAL FEAST: An Introduction to Food and Society" written by Carol A. Bryant, Kathleen M. DeWalt, Anita Courtney, and Jeffery H. Schwartz.
This is published in 2003.

The reason I chose this book is I'm interested in learning  about the origins of the eating habits of people around the world.

This book tells the complex matrix of technological, social, and ideological factors that influence human food system and the impact that food has on our social, political, and economic structures.

I'll go on reading this and then I want to think about difference between Japan and world food culture.
Also, I want to introduce interesting food culture in Japan on this blog.