Revised Blog Post 3 for Final Assignment Anthology

Ethnography of the Cox Hall Food Court

I. Background

Strategically located at the center of the Emory campus, Cox Hall Food Court is a popular dining place for Emory students. It opens at 6:30 am and closes at 7:00 pm every day, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. According to its official website, the Cox Hall Food Court is positioned as a place “which offers quick-service dining options”. It consisted of ten food vendors, which are ITP Deli, Freshens, Maru, C3, Green Bean, Twisted Taco, Pasta John’s, Beltline Pizza, Dooley’s Farm, and Char’d House. They together offer diverse dining options for students, staff, and visitors at Emory.

II. Observation

I made a visit to the Cox Hall Food Court on September 21^st, at around one o’clock. It was a busy period at Cox as it was flooded with waves of students. I was overwhelmed by its crowdedness as I entered this food court. Basically all tables were occupied, and long lines formed in front of both food vendors and check-out counters. In order to avoid the waiting, I chose a box of pre-made sushi roll and a bowl of cold pasta from the refrigerator and checked out.

As I looked around to find an available seat, I noticed that most tables at the Cox Hall Food Court had four or six seats. About one-third of the tables were located by the glass. The remaining two-third of the tables were situated near the check-out counters and food vendors. I sit down at a table by the glass which was lighted by natural sunlight and ate my food.

III. Interview

In order to evaluate the overall quality of the Cox Hall Food Court, I interviewed two of my friends, Steven and Elaine, regarding their experience of eating at Cox. Elaine eats at Cox Hall approximately once a week. Steven is a less frequent eater at Cox, eating there about twice a month. Their first impressions of the Cox Hall Food Court were both crowded during lunch. However, Elaine added that “during dinner time, the line was much shorter”. Steven did not like the food at Cox Hall except the sushi, and he concluded that “the food was not great but a good change of taste from DUC”. Steven gave an overall score of six out of ten for the Cox Hall Food Court. Elaine, on the other side, liked the food at Cox Hall, especially the tacos. “It is better than the DUC.”, said Elaine. She was happy with Cox’s wide range of choices. After all, she gave a score of seven out of ten for Cox Hall.

IV. Conclusion

The Cox Hall Food Court can get really crowded during the lunch time and the waiting line can be very long. As Elaine mentioned, “it is not a good choice if you are in a rush”. The taste of the food it offers is arguable as our two interviewees gave diverged reviews, but it is certainly a “good choice if you are tired of the DUC”, concluded Elaine.

Reference:
Housing & Dining, http://www.emory.edu/home/life/housing-dining.html
Cox, http://emoryatlanta.cafebonappetit.com/cafe/cox/

Original Version: http://eng101benhe.blogspot.com/2016/09/ethnography-of-coxhall-food-court-i.html

Revised Blog Post 2 for Final Assignment Anthology

Food and Religion

From my perspective, food has a close connection to religion as well as tradition. Different religions have different restrictions on food and people of different ethnicity also have different dietary customs.

Every year, as a tradition, on the first day of Chinese lunar calendar my parents and I will go to the temple as many other Chinese families do. Following our visit to the temple, we will always have vegetarian meals on that day. This is a common religious custom in China and the logic behind it is that, according to Chinese Buddhism, gods are born on the first day of the lunar calendar. Therefore, as a form of respect, people avoid killing animals and eat vegetarian meals on that day. To this day, though many Chinese people no longer have a strong affiliation to Buddhism, this custom remains as a tradition.

Not only does Buddhism have dietary restrictions and customs, but many other religions also do. When I was in high school, I learned from some Jewish students that there is a fasting day every year. In addition, in Jewish culture, there are many limitations on food and the ways that it is prepared.

In conclusion, food is not simply what we eat every day. It contains cultural heritage and has important meaning to different groups of people.

Original Version: http://eng101benhe.blogspot.com/2016/09/blog-post-september-13th-from.html

Revised Blog Post 1 for Final Assignment Anthology

Har Gow

For a typical Cantonese family, going to teahouse on the weekend for dim sum has as high priority as going to church for a western family. Dim sum, the quintessence of culinary intelligence, is an indispensable component in Cantonese’ daily life. If you have been to a dim sum place in America, you may notice that there are dozens of different types of dim sum, ranging from salty to sweet, from meaty to vegetarian, and from warm to cold. These are all crystallizations of generations of chefs’ creativity, efforts, and intelligence.

Among all these diverse and exquisite culinary delicacies, “Har Gow” (also called xiajiao or shrimp dumpling) is my favorite. It is usually considered the most representative among all Cantonese dim sum. Har Gow is usually listed as the first item on a dim sum menu. Based on my experience, the quality of the Har Gow is highly correlated with the overall culinary level of a restaurant. Restaurants that can produce good Har Gow usually offer other types of tasteful dim sum and dishes as well.

So what is Har Gow exactly? According to the online ChinaDictionary, Har Gow is a popular Han traditional snack in Guangdong Province made from wheat starch. Typically, Har Gow is half-moon in shape, translucent, stuffed with shrimps, meat, bamboo shoots and tastes delicious. [1] Now, after knowing the definition of Har Gow, you may ask what a good Har Gow is like. In my opinion, a good Har Gow should fulfill the following criteria:

1.      has thin, soft, and translucent skin

2.      the skin should be as thin as possible, but not to the extent which it can be easily ruptured by chopsticks (the translucence of the skin allows Har Gow to have a reddish appearance as we can kind of see the shrimp inside)

3.      the shrimp must be fresh

4.      all the ingredients must be seasonal

5.      tastes fresh, juicy, and full-bodied

Comparing to its complex composition, eating Har Gow is very simple. Some people like to dip it in soy sauce while others prefer sweet chili sauce. For me, I like it plain, so that I can have a real taste of it, slowly chew it in my mouth, and peacefully enjoy the sense of pleasure this delicacy offers me.

Dim sum certainly has some kind of spiritual value in my mind. While living in Guangzhou, a weekend without going to the teahouse for dim sum is incomplete. Dim sum, especially Har Gow, gives me a sense of belonging and peace which has some kind of magic power that can sweep away all my anxiety and unpleasantness.

[1] "Shrimp Dumplings (Har Gow)." ChinaDictionary. N.p., 04 Mar. 2015. Web. 13 Sept. 2016. <http://chinadictionary.net/shrimp-dumplings-har-gow/>.

Original Version: http://eng101benhe.blogspot.com/2016/09/blogpost-september9-2016-fora-typical.html

Nov. 28th    Reflection on Previous Blog Post

          The blog post assignment regarding the Proust Excerpt was not easy for me. Besides the article’s complexity, I find it hard to just free write something without a given topic. Since I perceive the excerpt as a writing in conversational style, I try to mimic its style while writing my blog post. For example, I wrote:

No wonder why British people are so passionate and devoted to their afternoon tea tradition. I think, perhaps in a busy workday, a cup of British tea with delicate pastries brings them a transient but soothing joy and helps them to maintain positive mentality as well as high efficiency at work.

          Considering our course topic, “food, film, and feeling”, I chose to write about my feeling related to some elements in Proust’s article. Then I found that to convey my feeling well is kind of challenging. I was much more adapted to write in academic or formal style, hence, using colloquial style in conveying my feeling was not easy. I think, in the future, I need to work on improving my writing in different styles and be accustomed to free write assignments.

          Evaluating my writing from the standpoints of course outcomes, I realize that I forget to consider and decide my audience. When I started this blog post, I was not targeting to a specific group of audience, and I just wrote whatever I thought worth writing. In retrospection, I think if I had chosen a target audience, my writing would be more consistent and effective. An aspect which I think I did a relatively good job in is that I evaluated author’s opinion and compared that to mine. Though I kind of mistaken some key points in his article, I addressed my views on some of the points he made.

          In conclusion, I think I need more practice on writing in conversational style and I need to write in a more systematic way which involves considering audience, genres, and rhetoric. 

Nov. 18th Blog Post

           For me, tea has an indispensable meaning in my life. A day without a cup of homemade hot tea is incomplete in my opinion. In my days at Emory, a few types of tea that I frequently drink are French Earl Grey, Danchong Oolong, and Jasmine Green Tea. A cup of hot tea offers me a sense of peace and relaxation. A sip of the tea has its magic power to freeze the time and filter undesirable noises. A tea break for me is just as how Marcel Proust wrote in Remembrance of Things Past.

An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin. And at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory - this new sensation having had on me the effect which love has of filling me with a precious essence; or rather this essence was not in me it was me. I had ceased now to feel mediocre, contingent, mortal. Whence could it have come to me, this all-powerful joy? I sensed that it was connected with the taste of the tea and the cake, but that it infinitely transcended those savours, could, no, indeed, be of the same nature. Whence did it come? What did it mean? How could I seize and apprehend it?

         While drinking tea, sometimes accompany with cookies or small pastries, I become indifferent to all stresses, anxieties, and worries. It is a time for withdrawal from the complex and sometimes vicious world, an escape from an overwhelming amount of workloads, and a getaway to pick up what I treasure but lost in the course of daily routines. No wonder why British people are so passionate and devoted to their afternoon tea tradition. I think, perhaps in a busy workday, a cup of British tea with delicate pastries brings them a transient but soothing joy and helps them to maintain positive mentality as well as high efficiency at work.
         I don't know and had never try to discover why tea can bring me this kind of sense and feeling. Proust went into the abyss of humanity and mentality to explore the deepest connection between tea, madeleine, and consciousness. However, for me, I would say I don't care. I think, a cup of hot tea offering a sense of relaxation is great enough, so why trouble ourselves and expend time to investigate the complicated questions which require mental effort and counteract the effect of a wonderful cup of tea brings.

Blog Post Nov.16th

Night Sky Pie

         Lying on the lawn and facing the clear night sky, I see countless stars twinkling. I am at the Dolomites. It is hard to imagine that in the middle of nowhere, there is this boutique hotel offering a soothing place for relaxation and meditation. Now I am here. I start to create a pie recipe in my head. I am calling it “Night Sky Pie of Dolomites”. There is dark chocolate, coffee powder, and nata de coco. A layer of dark chocolate will be the base of the pie and an extra thin layer of coffee powder will be spread on top of it, representing the dark sky. Small pieces of nata de coco will be placed sporadically on the pie, symbolizing the twinkling stars. The bitterness of dark chocolate and the sweet taste of nata de coca will neutralize each other, creating a balanced flavor. This pie is a symbol of tranquility in the dark night.

Reflection on Blog Post Drafts
Nov. 9th 2016

From the peer review in class today, I received following suggestions regarding my blog posts:

1. add a concluding sentence at the end of the article to connect all the contents together.
2. give examples or explain more thoroughly for a few arguments.
3. pay attention to the word choice

In general, I think these are all great suggestions. I am going to add supporting evidence and concise conclusions for my blog posts. I will also refine my word choice to clarify some sentences.