The final report of "Fast Food Nation"

Hi! As I explained in the first post I've been reading a food related book called "Fast Food Nation" in class. I've finally finished reading it so I would like to write a final report on it.

As I have already explained in the earlier post, “Fast Food Nation” is a bestseller book written by Eric Scholisser, which points out the dangers hidden in fast food. It was quite a long book so I would like to pick up one chapter that I founded the most interesting.  

The chapter I found it most interesting was "Why The Fries Tastes Good".  In this chapter it explains about the flavor of foods taking fries as an example. The author also visits International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF)  which is the largest flavor company in the world. It was very surprising that up to 90% of of tastes depends on food aroma. 

Before reading this book I thought this book was just facts about the history of fast foods. However, it was very different from my expectation and actually revealed about its hidden dangers based on what   the author has saw through his research. Although it was a bit long for me, I thought it was a really good book that I would like to reccomend  people to read.

Puku Puku Tei

Last week I went to a restaurant called “Puku Puku Tei” so I would like to introduce about it!

Puku Puku Tei is a restaurant in Yokohama, near hiyoshi station. It’s very hard to say the genre of this restaurant in English but in Japanese we call it “洋食屋”. It means “western food restaurant” in Japanese. I think “洋食屋” was common when western food was still not familiar in Japan. So many of the “洋食屋” restaurant have long history and has kind of an special atmosphere that reminds of Shouwa period. 

Entrance of the restaurant. 

This restaurant is open for either lunch which is from 11:30 until 15:00, or for  Dinner from 17:00 to 21:00. This is for weekdays  so it might be a bit different on weekends. I went with my mother just after it opened for lunch so there wasn't much people when we arrived. But it was filled with people by the time we finished eating, which was about 12:10. 

Inside the restaurant. Its retro and I really love it.

We ordered Puku Puku tei original hamburg (170g) and crab cream crocket. Puku puku tei original hamburg is the No.1 menu and it was 995 yen. Crab cream crocket was also delicious and it cost the same as the hamburg. There are many other menu other than these including Omurice. For dishes like hamburg and crocket it comes with a rice.

Original Hamburg

Crab cream crocket

It was my second tome visiting this restaurant but I liked it very much. The food was good and I liked the way this restaurant is used by wide generation, from small kids to elderly people. It has a 30 years of history so I think it is why there are many fans. I've looked through the internet but there wasn't other  Puku Puku Tei like in Yokohama so I think it is not a chain restaurant. If I was to give a score it would be 95/100. The location of this restaurant is difficult to find but other than that I think it is perfect. I'd like to go there again!

  

Video Restaurant Review

Hello! I saw a video that introduced a restaurant called "Turtle Tower Restaurant". Today, I would like to explain about it by answering several questions that was given in class.

1. What is focused in the review?

This video focuses mainly on the dishes the restaurant serves, especially pho. Because "Turtle Tower Restaurant" is a special restaurant where they only serve northern Vietnamese cuisine, they talk about how its taste is different from other Vietnamese cuisine.

2.How does it differ from the written review in orientation and content?

They showed an interview of Kathy Pham, who is a general manager of the restaurant. She introduced about the restaurant’s brief history and how they are serving dishes. I thought it was good because it is hard to imagine what it is like with just a description and picture, but with the video you could also see the atmosphere of the restaurant.

3.Is the review neutral or partisan?

I thought it was neutral. It wasn’t just one person speaking so you can hear different person speaking their opinion in the video.

4.Are chefs, owners, managers, or restaurant staff featured in the video? Do you think this was helpful in providing useful information about the restaurant or did it make the review too biased?

As I’ve said, Kathy Pham, who is a general manager of the restaurant was focused in the beginning of the video. I thought it was helpful in a way that it showed how they are making the food and it made it easier to understand about the restaurant.

5.What is revealed about the reviewer and the culture?

I think reviewer in this video were not familiar with northern Vietnamese cuisine. I thought it was good because probably most people watching the video would not be familiar like the reviewer. So their opinion would more likely match with the viewer.

Campbell's Soup

Hi! I've recently done a presentation based on Campbell's Soup. Through the research I found many interesting facts I didn't know about it so I would like to share them with you in this post!

Campbell’s soup company is a global food company headquartered in Camden, New Jersey. The Company has started in 1869 by Joseph A. Campbell. Campbell’s soups are well known for its red and white coloured cans. In 1962, Andy Warhol, who was a famous pop artist at that time, created an artwork “Campbell’s Soup cans” and made its design became famous. Although soup wasn’t a popular dish in America when it came out, it gradually became popular for its cheapness and usefulness. Its products are now sold in 120 countries around the world.

Campbell’s Soup came to Japan around 1950. They sell not only the original US version but also a Japanese version. It was developed for Japanese customers and they tend to be less thick and not as salty. Best selling flavor is Corn potage which is one of the flavor you couldn’t see in the US. The picture below is a photo I took at the supermarket near my house. Cans with English labels are the standard US product and cans in Japanese labels are product made in Japan. The price was all about 200 yen and it was cheap like in the US.

Before the research I didn't know that some types of Campbell's soup was created just for Japanese customer so it was really surprising. Also I didn't know Campbell's had long history to it. Campbell's was familiar for me since its been sold in supermarkets all over Japan. But there were a lot of new foundation and I enjoyed searching about it. 

Introducing video related to "Fast food nation"

As I've explained in the post before, I'm reading a book called "Fast food Nation". On this post I would like to introduce a video related to the topic of the book. This video explain us about fast food in the United States and  how it could affect the people in a negative way. It is focusing just on American people, but since fast food is getting more and more popular in many countries the message this video has could be said to many people.

Fast food nation

Hi! For the first post I would like to introduce a book that I am reading in class which is "Fast food nation: the dark side of all-American meal"

It is a famous book by Eric Scholisser, which points out the dangers hidden in fast food. We tend to eat fast foods with out any thoughts or doubt. However, most people don't fully understand what we're eating. Who is making it? How is it made? What ingredients does it use? Are they really safe? I like fast food but I often hear dark rumors about them and was a little suspicious of its health affects. So I thought this book was very good for me in order to understand more about it.

The book is roughly split in to two parts. First part introduces the history of fast foods and about fast food industry itself. Second half explains about ingredients used in fast foods such as beefs and chips. The author writes about farms based on what he saw and the reality he heard from people. Right now I'm in the middle of reading first half of the book. So I've only read the brief history of fast food and introduction of Mc Donald's. I haven't got to the main section of the book yet so I am looking forward of reading the rest.