Over the past couple of months, the In-the-Mood-for-Fooders have had, no pun intended, a lot on their plate. As second-year students, we have started to experience in full force the academic demands placed on us, as well as the pressure to start becoming more involved in extracurricular and career-oriented activities. As a result, VIP has begun to shift to the back-burner, and now that it is February and almost time for the poster showcase, it is time for our group to travel back to last year when we were forming our original goals and focus hard this month to remain true to them. The past two month's focuses have been on eating on a budget and celebrating family traditions. We chose to narrow our focus to a discussion on how poverty specifically affects food and lifestyle habits. It is easy for a wealthy individual to always consume organic, local, and fresh produce, but this is not always a feasible option for many people. In fact, food prices for fast-food, often deemed "unhealthy," have greatly declined over the decades, and poverty-stricken individuals thus choose to consume this.This phenomenon is continuing to exacerbate the obesity epidemic in the U.S. and is something we should be aware of and take steps to educate the public on. Family traditions was definitely a much lighter topic than eating on a budget--it was fun and interesting to learn how people chose to celebrate cultural and religious events through food. For example, Tara's family always cooks a very traditional South Indian meal to celebrate Diwali, the Indian festival of lights in November. They also participate in creating rangoli, which are colorful patterns composed of dyed flour that decorate the ground.
Jordan's family, although small, has many traditions that occur each year during the holidays. During thanksgiving. My family joins together with two other families from my hometown. We each bring a few of our own favorite dishes, for us it's corn casserole and pumpkin pie, and we all spend thanksgiving together because none of us have big families. It's a chance to see what the holidays are really about through our sharing and our time with each other. In the mood for food's work with Dismas House the past few months is another way we have shared. For me, the experience was humbling. There are so many times I take for granted the food on my plate each night. Cooking for the men that had been recently released from prison and their gratitude for it showed me how great the work we were doing was. And we got to work on our cooking skills, so that was an added bonus!!
Finally, as the second semester has started, people have been looking for new housing. VIP had an open house last week, and Allie and I got to show off our room to potential VIP members. Hopefully, many people will join for next year. That's all for now!
Tara, Jordan, and the rest of In the Mood for Food
