My eating on Day 1 was pretty consistent with what I eat on a daily basis. I usually eat breakfast at my apartment but am gone for the remainder of the day. Even when I am eating out, I still like to make conscious decisions with my food. I try to stay away from the sugary Starbucks beverages, but being a college student staying up late for homework, I often give in to the delicious energy booster. I often lean towards gluten free alternatives when it comes to pasta, pizza, and salty snacks. While this is healthier for my digestive system, I also know these alternatives are more processed in order to create a similar taste to their original substitutes.
When approaching Day 2, I tried to stay away from these gluten free substitutes and leaned towards unprocessed foods. I ran into a few road blocks when it came to cooking. When making my scrambled eggs I didn’t know if salt would be considered too processed. There are no additives in salt, but I can guarantee there are quite a few steps getting it from a mine onto my plate. Ultimately, I decided to skip the salt. For lunch I decided to make Tuna Salad, which is a very out-of-the-ordinary thing for me. I usually don’t eat meat, but I have fish occasionally to make sure I’m getting a health amount of protein. I ran into another issue when preparing my Tuna Salad: Mayonnaise. Mayonnaise is highly processed and full of additives, so I looked at ways to reduce these two things. I opted to have avocado oil mayo, which contained half of the ingredients compared to the original. Still processed and containing soybean oil, which Warner refers to as one of the most highly processed forms of soy, I viewed this as a good compromise. Overall, I enjoyed the challenge of avoiding processed foods and food additives. Although I do not think my attempt was flawless, I still found it relatively easy to find substitutes. I also was able to investigate the different additives in the foods I normally eat on a daily basis and was surprised to see I wasn’t eating as healthy as I had thought. This assignment not only raised my awareness, but my interest as well in the various food additives I consume every day. Day 1
Day 2
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Walking into the luxurious condo of my roommate's uncle I was already forming a profile of the kind of person he was. Even with our visit being on a Saturday, Mr. Crawford was dressed business casual. We walked through a grand entrance into a living room with walls of glass, overlooking busy downtown streets. His kitchen was spotless. There wasn't a single crumb in sight. The entire condo had an unlived in feel. When I asked for a photo of Mr. Crawford's fridge and explained our class project, he was reluctant saying, "I don't think I'll be much help, there isn't much in there".
Looking at the fridge Mr. Crawford was right, there wasn't a whole lot in there, but I thought this just solidified my prejudgments from before. I could tell Mr. Crawford was a business man by the way he dressed, but also by the lack of food in his fridge. I'm assuming his job requires him to travel a lot and so Mr. Crawford is a classic example of what Warner describes as the average working American, "too busy" to cook. The only perishable item in the fridge was a container of cantaloupe, which is more of a snack than a meal. Looking closer, the only meal in Mr. Crawford's fridge was a frozen rice dish which he later told me, "had been in there for months". All of the items in the fridge were convenience foods or portable, like the cheese sticks and numerous beverages. This, along with the perfectly clean kitchen tells me that Mr. Crawford doesn't spend a lot of time in his kitchen cooking. I assume he eats out for most, if not all meals. This can also tell us that he makes a lot of money. Aside for the luxurious condo, eating out gets very expensive. In the article, How to Be Your Own Italian Grandmother, it explains the economic benefit from cooking meals at home. This is also something that can be a health concern. Food Inc and Pandora's Lunchbox both shed light on the health concerns associated with eating out and eating convenience foods. I also made the assumption that Mr. Crawford was single, which my roommate later confirmed. There was no sign of snacks you associate with kids, like Danimals, Lunchables, or Popsicles and there was barely enough food for one personal let alone two. The alcohol in his fridge also solidifies my business man theory. Working long hours and traveling can be extremely stressful. Most likely Mr. Crawford comes home after a long day of work and unwinds with a drink. Overall I found the project quite fun. Putting my detective hat on and investigating Mr. Crawford's fridge opened my eyes to how much the food we eat can say about us. I guess the saying "you are what you eat" has more meaning than I previously thought. |
The four characteristics used to describe McDonaldization by George Ritzer are efficiency, predictability, calculability, and control. One of the first things to come to mind was MSU’s bus system. Efficiency: They maximize the amount of people that can ride at one time, many times to the point where no one else can physically fit inside the bus. Predictability: Each bus has a set route that arrives at an exact time every day. Calculability: Buses on campus are always free and anything outside campus has a set fare. Control: The bus driver’s seat is on an elevated platform with mirrors allowing him/her to see everything going on inside the bus, giving them the ability to observe and control any situation that arises. Ritzer also mentions that control often leads to a disconnect in communication between employee and customer. As for the bus, most people don’t speak to the driver other than a quick “thank you” as they exit. This seems to have a ripple effect to the riders as well. Most people sit with headphones in or stare at their phones for the duration of the ride. This is where I decided to break social norms. My goal was to spark up a conversation with a stranger on the bus. Overall, I found it fairly easy to get a person to break their social routine. When I got onto the bus, I looked around for someone who appeared as though they didn’t want to be bothered. I sat next to a girl who had headphones in and was scrolling through her phone. I tried to start a conversation by complementing her shoes, which she didn’t hear due to having headphones in. Once she realized I was trying to talk to her she quickly pulled her headphones out and asked me to repeat myself. She seemed very willing to break her usual routine to have a conversation with a stranger. Although she wasn’t actively asking me questions, she was still answering all of mine. I asked her about what classes she was in, what her major was, what student organizations she was in. Everyone around us didn’t even look up from their phones or blank stares out the window, so I don’t know if everyone else would have responded as positively. Initially, I felt uncomfortable talking to a stranger on the bus, but it made the time go by much faster than if I were to be sitting looking at my phone. Tim Wu points out the appeal of convenience that comes with routine, but McDonaldization and convenience tend to ignore the gain from social interaction. Although the efficiency of McDonaldization reduces the time taken to go through a process, social interaction makes time go by seemingly faster.
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