October 14-21 is Silicon Valley Restaurant Week

This week, 85 restaurants in the Valley will feature special $35 three-course fixed price dinner menus. It's a great way to explore Silicon Valley's eclectic culinary landscape.

More info here.

Water Drinkers May Have Better Diets

By Amy Norton, Reuters
Tue Oct 13, 2:38 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – People who get much of their daily liquids from plain water rather than other beverages may have healthier diets overall, a study suggests.

Using data from a national health survey of more than 12,000 Americans, researchers found that people who drank more "plain water" tended to eat more fiber, less sugar and fewer calorie-dense foods.

The reverse was true of people who got much of their fluids from other beverages, according to a report of the study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The findings do not prove that drinking water makes for healthier eaters, said lead researcher Dr. Ashima K. Kant, a professor at Queens College of the City University of New York.

But, she told Reuters Health, they do suggest a connection -- and a reason to encourage people to choose water over beverages.

The findings are based on 12,283 Americans age 20 and older who took part in a government health and nutrition survey between 1999 and 2006. On average, respondents got one-third of their daily fluids from water, 48 percent from other beverages and the rest from food.

In general, the more water people drank, the more fiber and the less sugar they consumed. They also had a lower intake of calorie-dense foods -- a general marker of a healthier diet. Calorie density refers to the amount of calories in a food in relation to its weight; fruits and vegetables, for instance, tend to have a low calorie density.

From a "purely physiological" standpoint, Kant noted, people can get their fluid needs from any source. Drinking plain water, therefore, is not necessary, but it may be preferable, she said.

As for how much water a person should drink, there is no straightforward answer -- despite the popular belief that people need 8 glasses of water per day.

As a general rule of thumb, Kant said, sedentary healthy adults can let their thirst be their guide on when to drink.

Week 8 Agenda

Orange and Almond Biscotti with Figs and Bleu Cheese rom Mark Gardner and Ben O’Donoghue's Surfing the Menu New Zealand (ABC, Australia)

Week 8

M 10.12
Read: CR—“Waiting for Asparagus” by Barbara Kingsolver, “Feast of Burden” by Sara Deseren, “All You Can’t Eat” by Crystal Allen; eR—“Central Valley Disconnect: Rich Land, Poor Nutrition”
In-Class: Book discussion; Presentations; Lecture—“Effective Persuasive Techniques”

For Sec. 5 Only: No class on Monday, Oct 12th.

Note: Sec. 60 meets on Monday as usual.

W 10.14
Read: CR—“Organicize Me” by Michael A. Stusser, “Is Local Food Really Miles Better?” by Roberta Kwok, “Organic Food is No Healthier, Study Finds” by Ben Hirschler, “Don’t Write Off Organic Food” by Molly Conisbee
In-Class: Watch—Food Inc. (2009)

Note: Journal 4 is pushed back to Wednesday the 21st AND is a new prompt.

UPCOMING:

Week 9

M 10.19

NO CLASS—Mandated Furlough Day: University-wide

W 10.21
In-Class: Writer’s workshop
Journal 4 Prompt: It is said that the Buddha once proclaimed, “There is no joy in eating alone.” Today, that seems to be a sentiment shared by many Americans. In “Is Eating Alone an Act of Bravery?,” (eR) Ariel Leve explores the real stigma that is attached to eating on one’s own. She says, “I’ve never understood why eating alone is so disturbing. I think it’s far more depressing to see a couple sharing a meal—in silence.” After reading Leve’s article, you must have one meal, in public, alone. As you do so, consider: Are you enjoying it? Are you uncomfortable? What, if anything, do you do in addition to eating? Finally, explore why are Americans are so averse to eating by themselves.
Due: Persuasive essay (Draft 1; bring three copies); Journal 4

Study: At New York Chain Restaurants, Low-Income Diners Don’t Count Calories

By Carl Bialik, The Wall Street Journal
October 8th, 2009

I wrote last summer about menu labeling of calorie counts, and questioned whether they would influence diners to make healthier choices. This week, a widely reported study of a New York City law mandating menu labeling in chain restaurants revealed that low-income diners didn’t order lower-calorie meals when confronted by the calorie counts, when compared with New York diners before the law was passed and with diners in Newark, which doesn’t have mandatory labeling. The study undercuts a major notion behind menu labeling: that, when confronted with mammoth calorie counts, diners will choose healthier options.

Pierre Chandon, a marketing professor at Insead, the international business school in France and Singapore, said that the study adds to prior results that are discouraging for menu-labeling advocates. “Although its results are disappointing to those (including me) who are in favor of calorie information in restaurants, they are not that surprising,” Chandon said. “We know that informing people about nutrition value and changing their food preferences are two very different things. In fact, some studies have even shown that calorie disclosure can backfire and increase unhealthy choices among people who, for example, think that unhealthy (high-calorie, high-fat) food is tastier.”

The study’s authors suggest that labeling might work if combined with other efforts to prod diners toward healthier choices. “My sense is that to really influence obesity, we will probably need a combination of interventions,” Brian Elbel, assistant professor of medicine and health policy at New York University and lead author of the study, told me. “These will have to deal with the availability of foods in a community (both health and unhealthy), the price of foods (health and unhealthy), the marketing of foods and what we provide in schools for kids.”

One measure that New York has taken since the study is an educational campaign, which might combine with calorie counts to influence choices. “I do think it would have been helpful to look at consumers who both saw the labels and were also aware of the education program, but the data were collected prior to the NYC education component,” said Scot Burton, professor of marketing at the University of Arkansas’s business school.

Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University and an advocate of menu labeling, said he expected the educational program, and a proposed sugar-sweetened-beverage tax that he also supports, could boost the results. He also took it as a positive sign that 28% of New York low-income diners said the menu labels influenced their purchases. “That’s a big number,” Brownell said. (Menu-labeling advocate Marion Nestle wrote that the study doesn’t mean menu labeling won’t have positive effects.)

“At least the public has information and that’s the government’s job — to make sure that the public has information,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters, according to Reuters.

To J. Justin Wilson, a senior analyst at the Center for Consumer Freedom, the study validates his group’s opposition to menu labels. “There wasn’t any proof it would be effective,” he said — and he says the same applies to the so-called soda tax. (Brownell disagrees, citing evidence from tobacco taxes.)

Two mitigating factors make the study not quite as damning for menu labels as it seems on first glance. First, it’s possible that the effect is smaller among people with lower incomes, because healthier options — such as salads or chicken breasts — often are more expensive. And second, though New York diners’ chain-restaurant meals averaged more calories after the law took effect, Elbel points out that the difference wasn’t statistically significant.

McDonald's Invades Mona Lisa's Lair, Will Open Eatery Inside Louvre

By Helen Kennedy, The New York Daily News
Oct. 5th, 2009

Sacre bleu!

In a move guaranteed to wipe the famous smile off Mona Lisa's mug, McDonald's is planning to open an eatery inside France's great temple of culture: the Louvre museum.

The London Telegraph reported the restaurant will open next month in the underground shopping plaza beneath I.M. Pei's glass pyramid in the museum courtyard. The fast-food joint will be installed next to the site of a planned new ticketing area, meaning that soon the first sight the Louvre's 8 million annual visitors will encounter won't be the "Winged Victory of Samothrace" but the Golden Arches of Oak Brook, Ill.

The newspaper said workers at the museum were aghast, quoting an art historian fretting about "the very unpleasant odors" that might waft through the distinguished old palace.

A Louvre spokesman told the Telegraph that the McDonald's franchise owner "has taken the utmost care in ensuring the quality of the project, both in culinary and esthetic terms."

It will be the 1,135th Mickey D's selling fries to the French. A country that famously venerates haute cuisine and the joys of regional recipes has fallen hard for standardized American grease bombs.

In 2007, France became McDonald's biggest market outside of the United States.

Extra Credit: Serving a Six-Course Dinner

As you know there is little opportunity for extra credit in this course. In fact, the only extra credit available to you comes from participating of a unique six course dinner, one that will take place over the final weeks of the class.

To earn up to an extra 15-points (75% of an essay), you will join a "catering group" and will help prepare one course of a traditional six-course dinner (appetizer, salad, soup, main, cheese, and dessert).

On Wednesday, October 14th, participants will be divided into six catering groups, and be assigned a course.

Starting Wednesday, November 11th, one catering group a week will provide a dish from their assigned course for the entire class. The courses needn’t be extravagant, but it is an opportunity to explore new dishes and tastes, so don’t be afraid to be creative.

To participate, leave your name and section number in the "comments" area below by midnight on Tuesday, October 13th. I will randomly select groups on Wednesday, October 14th.

Bon appetite!

Week 7 Agenda

Homemade Egg Tagliatelle by Jamie Oliver's Jamie at Home (Channel Four, UK)

Week 7

M 10.5
NO CLASS—Mandated Furlough Day: This class only

W 10.7
In-Class: Literary analysis/Short answer responses

UPCOMING:

Week 8

M 10.12
Read: CR—“Waiting for Asparagus” by Barbara Kingsolver, “Feast of Burden” by Sara Deseren, “All You Can’t Eat” by Crystal Allen; eR—“Central Valley Disconnect: Rich Land, Poor Nutrition”
In-Class: Book discussion; Presentations; Lecture—“Effective Persuasive Techniques”

W 10.14
Read: CR—“Organicize Me” by Michael A. Stusser, “Is Local Food Really Miles Better?” by Roberta Kwok, “Organic Food is No Healthier, Study Finds” by Ben Hirschler, “Don’t Write Off Organic Food” by Molly Conisbee
In-Class: Watch—Food Inc. (2009)
Journal 4 Prompt: For this journal, you must retry a food you have previously decided you did not like. This may be either an individual food (e.g. pickles, mushrooms) or a prepared dish (e.g. liver and onions, sushi). Using “A Conversation with Dad” from Food on the Food (eR), think about the experience of eating this food once again. Does eating it again confirm your earlier opinion? Is it better now than before? Why or why not?
Due: Journal 4