You’ll need…

YOUTUBE LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awhIzu_F6m8

3 good size chicken breast, or for picky eaters chicken fingers that you can throw into the oven

A bottle of Thai Sweet & Spicy Sauce, or you can use Teriyaki mixed with honey, which is something that I prefer more.

Honey

Sesame Seeds, toasted

Carrot, cut like matchsticks

(did you know…you can buy them this way, found in some stores by the baby carrots!!)

1 Red Pepper, cut into fine strips

Sweet Snow Peas, rinsed

Bean Sprouts (optional)

3-4 Green Onions, finely chopped

Jasmine Rice, or if you’re in a rush, Minute Maid rice works just as good.

Cut up chicken breast into small, thinish pieces and place in a pan with olive oil to cook

Start Jasmine Rice in rice cooker or stove stop, or throw the rice into the microwave with water and butter to give it a nice flavour.

Prepare vegetables. In other words, if you bought the matchstick carrots, chop the green onions and red peppers – quick, yep!!

Toast your sesame seeds, have you done this before? It adds so much flavour to them! Put a frying pan on medium low and put your sesame seeds in the pan. Keep them moving in the pan, you will smell the aroma and notice they start to turn a light toasty brown. Shut the heat off when they are all equally toasted.

Meanwhile, add 3 parts sauce and one part honey. I use about 3/4 cups of teriyaki and 1/4 honey, depending on how I’m feeling, sometimes I’ll add some more honey. Pop is in the microwave in a small microwave safe bowl and heat until it’s hot. Stir and heat again. The heating process will thin out of the sauce, and that’s ok!

Once the chicken and rice are all done, turn a large wok or frying pan, add a little olive oil and stir fry the carrots and red peppers. The amount of vegetables you want, depends on if you like them – my parents and I love ALL of these vegetables, so I tend to cook a lot! But my brother ruins everything and picks them out. Once they are soft, throw in a handful or two of bean sprouts, the snow peas and toss. Basically you just want the sprouts and snow peas to be warm, not cooked. Once this is achieved, add 3/4 of the green onions and shut off the heat. Toss again.

Now you’re ready to plate.. lay a bed of Rice, then toss the chopped up the chicken in, then add the stir fried red pepper, carrot, snow peas and bean sprouts on top. Drizzle with the hot Sauce/Honey mixture, and spring toasted sesame seeds and reserved green onion on top!

You’re ready to eat, hope you enjoy!

The ethics behind food are a conflicting one. When it comes to eating, “ethics” can encompass a wide range of values, from environmental concerns to economic issues. Ethics can relate to how farm workers are treated or whether food is sourced locally, meaning it’s fresher and leaves less of a carbon footprint in transportation. Ethics may also include the question of whether “industrial organic” is a boon or a boondoggle, it’s usually some of  both. As an avid food lover, I care deeply about sustainable agriculture practices, humane meat production, fair wages, and local sourcing. Someone else might care more about political spending by large food companies, or the need for greater access to quality food in low-income areas.

Another eater might care for just one overarching ethical principle, like the effects of cattle ranching on climate change, or the importance of hunger relief.

Our ethical positions aren’t always perfectly aligned with one another. But a lot of us want the same basic things: health and sustainability — for our individual bodies, our communities, and our shared food systems.

Even though user-comment wars might erupt on the Web whenever a controversial food story is posted, let’s face it: We just want to feel good about what we’re eating.

“People are aware of food issues to an extent never possible before social media,” says Marion Nestle, PhD, an influential author whose books include Eat Drink Vote: An Illustrated Guide to Food Politics and Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health.

“The range of issues is enormous and can be incredibly challenging to weigh. I advise people to pick their issues. I don’t think it’s possible for most people to make ethical choices in everything they eat, but some are better than none, and more are better than less.” But that might cost us our souls. “Food should never be a joyless experience,” says food activist Sandor Ellix Katz, author of The Art of Fermentation. “You can have a sense of what your values are, and you’ll likely put some thinking into issues like food miles and energy costs. But at the same time, don’t lose that excitement for what you’re eating. For me, above all else, food is a sensuous experience.”

Ethics and principles are better used to heighten our relationship with food, not replace it. In fact, enjoyment can be a value in itself.

Food means much more than nutrition. Food is enjoyment as well as cultural and personal identity. A meal is a social event, an important manifestation of the relationship with others. This means that food is an important aspect of human happiness and well-being, and not only an instrument for health. Will personalized nutrition contribute to a good life? Or will personalized nutrition instead limit the role of some or all food to medicine and transform eating to a lifelong medication?

“You don’t want to be in a constant state of worry about your food choices,” she says, “but there’s satisfaction in being an informed consumer. Ask questions, do some research, think about issues. There’s no need to drive yourself crazy. But you might find greater peace of mind if you apply some kind of ethical view toward what you eat.”

Even with a well-articulated ethical approach to what you buy, cook, and eat, there can certainly be some potholes along the high road. And you might take some U-turns, too.

For example, I was deeply involved in animal rights throughout my entire high school career. I was a devoted vegetarian, never able to fully accept the limitations of veganism, however I did try and eat vegan for ever possible meal I could, struggling to do so whenever we would go out to dinner as my parents were not going to limit their dinner options to my choices. After more research that I did online about trying to stay healthy, and find different options and recipes for vegan meals, I would somehow end up reading about people who were so devoted to the lifestyle, that they even attempted to turn their animals vegan as well – however, it never turned out well as those animals would end up going on a hunger strike, as their bodies need different nutrients than what they were being given.  Eventually, my own body rebelled, too. Despite every attempt to combine foods properly, I ended up even more anemic than I originally was, constantly having migraines and feeling sick, and plagued by fatigue, and struggling at practices or in the gym. Other vegan friends who were eating exactly the same diet were thriving while I was tanking.

The entire point of that story is that everybody is different when it comes to food diets, and depending on where you live, it is harder to access certain foods in order for you to successfully fulfill your diet wishes.

Hi everyone,

Let’s talk about food today.

I have always been interested in human universals and I also have had sufficient enough interaction with people from different cultures. I noticed a lot of similarities between all these people but one thing that always caught my attention more than anything else is how food works for all.

We all know that we need food to literally survive but I am not here to talk about that aspect today. I want to focus on the role of food in human interaction.

We probably notice every now and then how food is a big part of any event, small or big, cultural or generic. We don’t just invite friends, for example. We invite them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, tea/coffee+snacks etc. No party would be a good party without something to eat and drink. Any invitation that includes humans also includes food.

If you go to any cultural event, it is very likely to involve food from that culture. If you want to introduce your culture to other people, you are most likely to start with food. That is what I did when I first went to the US, for example. I invited people for breakfast, which is not so common there, because Turkish breakfast is big and famous. Almost all cultural ceremonies also include food. There is special wedding food in many cultures, for example. No wedding would go without some kind of food (B. Erbasi 2017).

Why is food so important? It is obviously needed for survival, but all the things I just mentioned have nothing to do with pure survival. It serves a higher purpose. It is a way we humans connect. It satisfies several of our needs, and important ones:

to provide for others and relatedly to feel the happiness of others (just observe people when they serve others food)

to keep ourselves engaged in the conversation and interaction (I tend to sit more and focus better when I am eating or drinking something) and relatedly making the interaction longer

All this makes us feel belonging and we feel the people by us. This gives us safety. That is a very important human need.

The conclusion then is food actually is just a medium for a greater purpose in these kinds of interactions, which is why people tend to forget about the food as they get more deeply involved in the interaction. Just observe next time, if you have not already.

I have personally always liked eating, but I also was aware that I did not like the food itself but there was something more about it. Observing how food is treated in many places led me to the conclusions I just talked about. Apparently, I was already treating food as an excuse to connect with people around me. When I made breakfast for people, my main concern was to form a connection rather than actual cultural ‘advertisement’. I just did not know that. Now, realizing what food does for us, I have even more respect for it. It definitely deserves a lot of it.

Across the world, food is something that is able to tie families to the table. The one thing in order for people to be engaged in conversation, and not be on their phones while family is around. However, food does not only come in solid forms, there are so many other ways for our bodies to be able to consume food. Eating can be defined as the consumption of food and liquid to sustain life and to meet our body’s basic needs for growth, development, and function. Every cell in the body depends on a continuous supply of calories and nutrients, whether obtained through food, IV nutrients, or tube feedings. Eating and food, however, also have symbolic meanings associated with love, sensuality, comfort, stress reduction, security, reward, and power. All of us have turned to food at one time or another for comfort, to help us cope with stressful experiences, to control our emotions, and to satisfy desires. Food choices, while influenced by taste and nutritional value, are also typically influenced by past experiences, many of which are social in nature.

Food and eating behaviors often begin during childhood and are closely tied to family and culture. There is a strong relationship between memory and food; for example, the taste, smell, and texture of food can trigger memories of earlier food-related events and activities in our lives. For me, hot chicken soup on a cold and rainy day triggers memories of my own mother taking care of me as a child.

Throughout our lives we may associate certain foods or meals with a holiday, past events, or specific memory. These associations may even provide comfort during times of sadness or sorrow. There is no question that food plays a major role in life (Winkler, 2015).

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2005/aug/14/foodanddrink.features1

https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/143762023/posts/2834

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton