Convenience: the primary food value for college students

    “Convenience overrides not only considerations of health but also the social and cultural meanings of meals and mealtimes.”(Marion Nestle, 19) This sentence argues that convenience becomes one of the main food values for people and overrides other old food values and cultures. Yes, I do find the significance of food convenience for most colleges. To be specific, I find that the primary food value for most college students is convenience in that their focus is generally centered on study; and they do not have kitchens in all of their dorms. Also, the daily schedule of most college students is irregular; they eat whenever and wherever they like.

College students are always in a rush heading for classes, which means they do not have enough time to make food even to eat food. Coffee shops, cafeteria, dorm and fast food restaurants, therefore, become the main places for college students to get food. I always see many college students order some drinks and small eats at Jazzman’s café & bakery, a cafeteria style coffee shop, and then take out them to class, dorm and library. Fortunately, most food in Jazzman’s is take-out food, such as chocolate croissant, brownie, cupcakes, milkshake, sandwiches and coffee. It is convenient for many college students and effectively saves a lot of time for them. Also, many college students prefer Jazzman’s because of its convenient location. It is located on the second floor in Driscoll, which is like the center of the campus, so most students will pass Jazzman’s on their way to classes. However, some students may stay at Jazzman’s during the break time after ordering some food. Those students coming alone will sit at the bar or the single tables near the windows, drinking coffee, eating dessert and studying, while some students coming as a group may sit around the big tables or sit on the sofa in the lounge area after ordering some food. Most of time, they will discuss group project and do the homework together. Jazzman’s is a really good place for students to study and quick recharge themselves during the short break between classes, because the atmosphere there is quiet and comfortable and the food in Jazzman’s is made fast. Thereby, students do not have to waste too much time to wait for the food, saving the time to study and relax. Moreover, Jazzman’s is close to Penrose library, so students who study in the library for a long time will go to Jazzman’s and buy some ready-made sandwiches and sliced fruit to have some nutrition and energy. Because of the increasingly rapid pace of school life today, those students studying in the library sometimes skip several meals and study for the whole day, thus, a convenient place like Jazzman’s is really important and necessary for those college students to quick recharge themselves. Burger king is a good place for many college students to get convenient food as well. It allows us to drive to burger king, order food in the car and eat with little effort. A few minutes later, the food is already packaged and we can take them away to any place. And, the cup of Burger King is designed to fit in a car cup holder, which is very portable. Therefore, all the factors mentioned above reveal that many college students emphasize the convenience of food for the reason that they want to save their time to study.

Not only study, but also the reason that college students have no kitchens in our dorms encourages them to pay more attention to the convenience of food. In my dorm, there is only a microwave oven and a refrigerator. So I can just buy some frozen fast food and heat them up in the microwave oven. This looks unhealthy so I often buy some fruit and vegetables, putting them in the refrigerator, washing and cutting them into slices before eating. Apparently, it is impossible for college students who have no kitchen in their dorms to cook a normal meal, instead, most of them prefer to buy some frozen food from the supermarket, such as frozen delicatessen, frozen vegetable blends, frozen chicken rings, and frozen pizza. Sometimes, I will eat frozen dumplings with my friends in the dorm. However, I find that boiled dumplings are far more delicious than frozen dumplings although frozen dumplings are easy to cook. It is quite convenient to make frozen food because all the things you have to do before you can eat them is to put them into microwave oven and wait for about 3 minutes. Moreover, the containers, spoons and forks of frozen meals are always disposable, so we do not need to wash them after finishing eating frozen meals. How convenient the frozen meal is! Instant noodle is also a good choice for many college students eating at the dorms. I always buy a box of instant noodles when going to the supermarket in case of having no time to eat lunch at university’s cafeteria. However, I think instant noodles are so unhealthy that eating them too often will have negative effect on our health. Sometimes, many college students eat some snacks as a meal to satisfy their stomach since it is even easier than heating up frozen food. But eating snacks too much will cause obesity and a lack of nutrition. As Jamie Horwitz mentions in “Eating at the Edge”, “David Cutler and colleagues explain that the increase in Body Mass Index over the past twenty years is a result of calories consumed from what people call snacks, while the calories consumed at meals, particularly at dinner, actually decreased during the same period of observation.” Many snacks contain a lot of trans fat and calories, which will easily increase our weight. Therefore, eating convenience is important for college students because they lack facilities to cook their own food in their dorms. But I strongly suggest college student to pay more attention to eating health rather than eating convenience.

Additionally, most college students eat for convenience because they do not have a reasonable class schedule. Many college students have classes during the lunch time, which means they do not have time to have lunch at school cafeteria. Most of time, they will bring small snacks, take-out food and some drinks to the classes. My friends and I have class at 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and we have to run the whole way during the 10-minute break between two classes. So we often buy some desserts and coffees at Jazzman’s and then bring them to the class, otherwise, we will have lunch after 2 p.m. Therefore, the convenience of food is extremely important for college students under such situations. At this point, the convenience food means quickly made, portable and easy to eat.

I also find that convenience of food is more important for college students than that of working-class people, especially office staffs. Most working-class people have normal business schedules. On their schedules, there are always some breaks for lunch and dinner. Also, they have enough time to have breakfast before going to work because many working-class people start working at 9 a.m. Having more time to eat, working-class people can go out and eat at different places. So they have a lot of choice of food, while college students have limited food options. From the comparison between working-class people and college students, I can find that the people who are not college students may also look for the convenience of food, but convenience is not the primary food value for them.

Furthermore, many college students do not have regular eating schedule and eat at timeless time for the reason that the life in college is so free that we do not have to follow many arrangements and schedules; we can eat whenever we are hungry and wherever we like. Eating irregularly is also like a symbol of freedom for college students, revealing that their time in university is dominated by themselves freely.  So the convenience of food is important for these students. Moreover, eating at university is not same as eating at home, we can choose whatever we like and do not have to care too much about others’ tastes because many students eat alone instead of eating with others around a big table. Eating in front of the computer, eating at class and even eating hurriedly in the street are very common at present, while eating as a group becomes rarer and rarer. Jamie Horwitz says, “Consider soup. What was once an archetype of the commensal is now widely available in a variety of single-serving packages” (42-43). In the past, people liked to have soup with a big pot since many people ate together and shared the same soup. Nonetheless, many manufacturers now serve out the soup into single-serving packages because of the trend of eating alone and eating at different places. I always see some students walking on the campus with a box of food in their hand. So the single-serving package reflects the eating habits of many college students; and the portability of these packages indicates their food value of convenience too.

    With my thick observation of today’s college students, I find convenience is the main food value and culture for them. They eat for convenience because of study, the lack of facilities and irregular daily schedule. But think about the health. Eating for convenience like most college students will undeniably cause health problems. “These multifaceted disorders affect the emotions, thinking, behavior, and physical health of afflicted individuals.” (Phillips, EL, 1) How can we college students concentrate on study if we lack nutrition and feel sick because of eating disorder? So we have to find the balance between study and eating. And, this is the most wise and effective way to do everything well at the same time.

Frozen food

EE1 Draft

Convenience becomes one of the main food values for most college students in that their focus is generally centered on study and they do not have kitchens in all of their dorms. Also, the daily schedule of most college students is irregular; they eat whenever and wherever they like.

College students are always in a rush heading for classes, which means they do not have enough time to make food even to eat food. Coffee shops, cafeteria, dorm and fast food restaurants, therefore, become the main places for college students to get food. I always see many college students order some drinks and small eats at Jazzman’s café & bakery, a cafeteria style coffee shop, and then take them away to class, dorm and library. Fortunately, most food in Jazzman’s is take-away food, such as chocolate croissant, brownie, cupcakes, milkshake, sandwiches and coffee. It is convenient for many college students and effectively saves a lot of time for them. Also, many college students prefer Jazzman’s because of its convenient location. It is located on the second floor in Driscoll, which is like the center of the campus, so most students will pass Jazzman’s on their way to classes. However, some students may stay at Jazzman’s during the break time after ordering some food. Those students coming alone will sit at the bar or the single tables near the windows, drinking coffee, eating dessert and studying, while some students coming as a group may sit around the big tables or sit on the sofa in the lounge area after ordering some food. Most of time, they will discuss group project and do the homework together. Jazzman’s is a really good place for students to study and quick recharge themselves during the short break between classes, because the atmosphere of Jazzman’s is quiet and comfortable and the food in Jazzman’s is made fast. Thereby, students do not have to waste too much time to wait for the food, saving the time to study and relax. Moreover, Jazzman’s is close to Penrose library, so students who study in the library for a long time will go to Jazzman’s and buy some ready-made sandwiches and sliced fruit to have some nutrition and energy. Because of the increasingly rapid pace of school life today, those students studying in the library sometimes skip several meals and study for the whole day, thus, a convenient place like Jazzman’s is really important and necessary for those college students to quick recharge themselves. Burger king is a good place for many college students to get food as well. We just need to drive to burger king and order food in the car. A few minutes later, the food is already packaged and we can take them away to any place.

Not only study, but also the reason that we have no kitchens in our dorms encourages us to pay more attention to the convenience of food. In my dorm, there is just a microwave oven and a refrigerator. So I can just buy some frozen fast food and heat them up in the microwave oven. This looks unhealthy so I often buy some fruit and vegetables, putting them in the refrigerator, washing and cutting into slices before eating. Therefore, it is impossible for college students who have no kitchen in their dorms to cook a meal, instead, most of them prefer to buy some frozen food from the supermarket, such as frozen delicatessen, frozen vegetable blends, frozen chicken rings, frozen pizza. It is quite convenient to make frozen food because all the things you have to do before you can eat them is to put them into microwave oven and wait for about 3 minutes. Instant noodle is also one of the easiest food to make. I always buy a box of instant noodles when going to the supermarket. However, I think instant noodle are so unhealthy that eating them too often will have negative effect on our health. Sometimes, many college students even eat some snacks as a meal to satisfy their stomach since it is even easier than heating up frozen food.

Also, most college students eat for convenience because they do not have a reasonable class schedule. Many college students have classes during the lunch time, which means they do not have time to have lunch at school cafeteria. Most of time, they will bring small snacks, take-away food and some drinks to the classes. My friends and I have class at 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and we have to run the whole way during the 10-minute break between two classes. So we often buy some desserts and coffees at Jazzman’s and then bring them to the class, otherwise, we will have lunch after 2 p.m. Therefore, the convenience of food is extremely important for college student under such situations. At this point, the convenience food means quickly made, easy to take away and easy to eat.

Eating habits

Hortwiz found that a large number of people are used to eat alone instead of eating with family and colleagues around a big table. Eating in front of the computer, eating at class and even eating hurriedly in the street are very common at present, while eating as a group becomes rarer and rarer. So he considers the eating habit of people now as “eating on the edge”. Hortwiz starts his analysis with the representative instance of soup. In the past, people liked to have soup with a big pot since many people ate together and shared the same soup. Nonetheless, many manufacturers now serve out the soup into single-serving packages because of the trend of eating alone and eating at different places. Ordering food for one person, people do not have to care about others’ taste any more since all the things they need to do are ordering whatever they like and take away the food. Also, the size of the packages is exactly fit many car’s cup holder. The portability of the new packaged soup makes it popular among numerous people, encouraging them to eat at different places they like. Moreover, he mentioned the eating habit of crews in space flight. It is common to see some of them eating food when working at computers. Therefore, many astronauts prefer eating on the run and eating alternatively. Another eating habit mentioned in the article is eating in timeless time. Numerous people do not follow the normal eating schedule; they eat whenever they like. It is common for many university students as well. University student are always in a rush heading for classes. So they usually order some food during the break between the classes and take away them to class and dorm; some may even eat when they are walking. My friends and I always have class during the lunch time, so we have to eat lunch after 2 p.m. However, we still like to eat together. We chat a lot when eating together, sharing our happiness and strengthening our friendship. Chatting with friends at dinner will effectively relax me after studying for a whole day.

Food culture and values of university students

Jazzman’s Café & Bakery is a cafeteria style coffee shop with some small eats. It is located on the second floor in Driscoll. During weekdays, most of the customers are the students of University of Denver. Some students just order a cup of coffee with some dessert and take them away in that they are always in a rush heading for classes. According to these students, the food values of them are convenience and fast. Fortunately, most food in Jazzman’s is take-away food, which is so convenient for university students and effectively saves their time. Also, many students coming alone will sit at the bar and the single tables near the windows, drinking coffee, eating dessert and studying, while numerous students coming as a group may sit around the big tables or sit on the sofa in the lounge area after ordering some food. Most of time, they will discuss group project and do the homework together. Sometimes, they just eat bread and chat with each other, recharging and relaxing themselves during the break time between classes. At the weekend, most of the customers are visitors. Always, a large group of high school students and their parents come to Jazzman’s together, ordering some food and drinks after walking around the campus, relaxing and feeling the comfortable atmosphere in Driscoll. Thereby, it is not hard to find that the main target customers of Jazzman’s are university students.

As I mentioned above, different tables in Jazzman’s such as single table, big table, sofa and the bar, satisfy various demands of students, which makes Jazzman’s a good place for them to study, eating and chatting in their spare time. Customers can either stay for a long time or a short time. Also, they may also meet some people that they never talked to before and then get to know each other. Jazzman’s, therefore, offers students opportunities to make more friends in their school life.

Not just the tables, but also the food make Jazzman’s a comfortable place. The main stuff in Jazzman’s is coffee. It offers many kinds of coffee; and most importantly, Jazzman’s brews only 100% sustainably sourced coffees from individual farming cooperatives, which is healthy and high-quality. Meanwhile, I find that most students like to drink coffee when they want to relax and recharge themselves. Thus, coffee is a kind of comfort food for many university students. Also, numerous students like to eat pastries, cookies and muffins in Jazzman’s because of their freshness; they are all baked fresh every morning, right in the store. And the fruit in Jazzman’s has everyday value too. So the food in Jazzman’s has both good taste and high quality. Chocolate croissant, brownie and cupcakes in Jazzman’s are my favorite. They are my comfort food because eating them makes me happy. Last weekend I observed that many students ordered hot chocolate and white mocha. I ordered both of them because they both smelled good. Furthermore, they were neither too sweet nor too diluted, which is the desired taste for most people. However, hot chocolate and coffee made by different staff taste different. That’s inevitable but won’t have too much influence.

There are often two staffs working together. The staffs in Jazzman’s are always smiling and happy. I often see them following the music, singing and dancing with joy. Their optimistic and jubilant mind will always have a positive effect on me, especially when I talk to them after having a bad day. So I really enjoy the relaxing atmosphere in Jazzman’s.  Also, the atmosphere in Jazzman’s is always quiet because many students will study when they are eating and it is close to the Penrose library.  Jazzman’s often plays dynamic music in the morning and plays soul music in the afternoon. The arrangement of the music is really reasonable since dynamic music cheers people up at the beginning of the day, while soul music makes people feel relax after studying for the whole day. Therefore, people coming to Jazzman not only because of the food it supplies but as well, the comfortable atmosphere there.  At this point, the food value of many Americans is eating for pleasure.

Moreover, the staffs of Jazzman’s all wear green t-shirt, the style of which is not very fashion but the green color looks comfortable and symbolizes freshness of the food supplied. Therefore, the fresh fruit, bread and the green t-shirt indicate the food culture of Jazzman’s and a large amount of Americans - eating health and fresh. As the article “Authenticity in America” said, food preferences and food value people are looking for are closely related to their educational level; well-educated people mainly focus on the health of food. University students have comparatively high education level, which means, they may pay more attention on the nutrition and healthiness of the food, which is one of the reasons why these students like Jazzman’s.

From all the thick observations mentioned above, I am able to come to the conclusion that the food culture and values of most university students are eating for convenience, pleasure and health. A large number of university students like to take away the food right after ordering them because of the increasingly rapid pace of school life today. Take-away food brings a lot of convenience to university students and gradually becomes an indispensable food for them.  Moreover, coffee is one of the comfort food for many university students because drinking coffee will relax and quick recharge them in their spare time, therefore, drinking coffee reveals their food value of eating for pleasure. Also, numerous students enjoy the relaxing atmosphere in Jazzman’s and prefer studying and chatting there, which brings them pleasure and shows their food value too. Last but not least, eating health is becoming one of the most popular concerns in present-day society. As the article “The Importance of Healthy Eating” said, “healthy eating is important in order to prevent illness.” Masses of people from middle and upper classed are focusing more on the healthiness of food, so do the university students. Thus, Jazzman’s is the right place, providing university students with convenience, pleasure and health.

http://www.jazzmanscafe.com/beverages.html

reference

American food culture
http://www.kerrcenter.com/nwsltr/2005/spring2005/food_culture.htm

Different communities, different food significances

O’Donnell’s article “The Culture Politics of Eating in Shenzhen” offers us an idea that the socialist meals of Old Shenzheners carried the Shenzhen spirit during the old period while the food of newcomers reveals another different culture of the present-day Shenzhen. Old Shenzheners liked to eat together at an alfresco restaurant, which enhanced the relationship between each other by various conversations. A large amount of them were heroes contributing to the revolutionary development of Shenzhen; they shared the same target: benefit both society and individuals. So the sense of unity and the harmonious atmosphere among the old Shenzheners made up the Shenzhen spirit during the old times. Also, for different old Shenzheners, food could recall different experience and meanings. The story of Big Sister Liang was a representative instance. For the reason that there were no bathrooms in the fields when she was working, she chose to eat cornbread, which is dry, instead of urinating outside near the fields. Thereby, cornbread will always remind her of the memory of sacrificing her physical well-being for the country. The value of self-sacrifice was extremely respectable and played an important role in the revolution of Shenzhen. So the food of old Shenzheners, especially some food like cornbread, represent their patriotic emotion to the country. Different from that of old Shenzheners, food of new comers is just used to satisfy their bellies and tastes. Old Shenzheners were always thinking about benefiting all the Chinese while new comers mainly want to seek the economic opportunities Shenzhen offered. The changes of people’s targets, therefore, bring the transform of the role that food play in the communities.

“Breaking bread with a spread” written by Cate introduces a unique and creative food in a San Francisco county jail- “spread”. As the article said, making a spread is “crush everything together, throws it in one bag, a few cups of hot water and blam.” The procedure looks really strange but people in the jail like to make spread very much. After reading through the whole article, I find four main reasons why spread is popular in the jail. First, dinner time in the jail rigidly begins at 4 p.m., which is so early that inmates will feel hungry at the end of evening. Second, official meals in the jail are monotonous and monochromatic while spread could be more colorful and abundant. Third, inmate can make any kind of spread they want with their materials, that is, they do not have to listen to others’ arrangement and follow the eating schedule of the jail when making and eating spread. At this point, spread is not just food, but a represent of freedom for the inmates, which is worth cherishing. So the third reason for me is the most interesting and meaningful part of the article. Forth, making spread helps inmates fight to addiction, pay more attention to the meaningful things, which is truly effective to reform them. Moreover, spread reveals the status of inmates in that those inmates who have money to buy ingredients of spread in the commissary are being taken care of; their relatives or friends may send money to their accounts. And, surprisingly, some inmates will also make spread when they are outside the jail. But it is grounded and reasonable since spread is not only food but also a sense of hope for those inmates. They find great fun in making and eating spread, bringing a little color to their boring life and enjoying a little freedom in the jail.

Reading yusi's essay

Yusi's essay
The biggest difference between her essay and mine is that all the ads she talked about have a specific group of target consumers, while the audience of Whole Foods advertisement mentioned in my essay can be anybody. Whole foods ads are more likely to be educational lectures instead of commercials in that they just keep encourage people to eating healthily and organically.

Eating for health and eating for pleasure

Food advertising is increasingly more important in our daily life, since it plays an indispensable role in our preferences of food, which means it directly affect our health and mood. Different individuals have various preferences. So food advertising becomes a kind of culture, which is worth studying and analyzing. For me, the most important step of food advertising is to target the potential consumers and find out their preferences. Nevertheless, the exigence of food advertisements is to induce people to choose their products, no matter who the target consumers are and what their products are. So I would like to show several food advertisements and how do they appeal to their audience.

                                    

  http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/burger_king_real_big_burgers

The first picture is a creative advertisement of Burger King. Even though it is simple, this picture lefts us a lot to think about. The chapped lip in the picture exaggeratedly shows that the burger is so big that it can even make our lips chapped, which also reflects the slogan in the bottom of the picture: Real big burgers. Therefore, it might not be a surprise for us to find that people from lower and middle classes are the main target customers of Burger King. Here are the two apparent reasons. First, this advertisement focuses on the large size of burgers instead of their heath and taste. Second, large size suggests that people can buy more food with little money. Most middle and lower class people pay more attention to the quantity and prices of food, hence, these two strong appeals will undoubtedly attract them. This refers to the cultural preference mentioned in the “Authenticity in America” written by Joshua Freedman and Dan Jurafsky. Moreover, education level is always the main method to distinguish different social classes. The language used in the slogan of this advertisement is easy to comprehend; it has no complex grammar and uncommon vocabularies. So the simple language of the slogan supports my speculation that people from lower and middle class are the main audience of this advertisement and the target customers of Burger King as well. Besides the social status, people who are on diet are not the target consumers of Burger King since these burgers are full of meat and calories.

As for me, it is an extremely creative and successful advertisement, concisely showing the main demand of Burger King’s target consumers and inducing people with direct visual impact. From this picture, I find that “large quantities of food” is the food value of these people preferring Burger King.

                           

http://mollierolf.tumblr.com/

Unlike most advertisements of Burger King and other fast food emphasizing generous quantities and low prices, the focus of Larkburger’s advertising is generally centered on the health of its products and environmental protection. Hanging the ingredients signboard of its products on the wall, Larkburger highlights its natural ingredients and eco-friendly equipment; Making food out of 100% natural materials, Larkburger cooks in pure canola oil and its products have no preservatives or additives; saving energy and protecting the environment, Larkburger uses energy efficient commercial equipment, reclaimed timber, biodegradable and eco-friendly packaging. Moreover, the signboard also mentions that it is 100% wind powered. All the factors mentioned on the ingredient signboard contribute to the distinctive products of Larkburger, appealing to the people who are on diet and the upper-class individuals. Upper-class individuals are more likely to care about the nutrition, raw materials and manufacturing process of food. Also, people who want to eat with low calories may prefer Larkburger because using canola oil makes Larkburger’s products are free of trans fats.

Not only health and the natural ingredients, but also the sense of protecting the environment of Larkburger attracts a large amount of people. Looking at the second advertisement of Larkburger, I find the beans are packed into a box made out of paper while many restaurants use plastic containers. It apparently shows the healthy food and environmentally friendly packaging of Larkburger.

Protecting environment is becoming increasingly more important in the present-day society, that is, eating eco-friendly food will become the mainstream of the times in the near future. The green consciousness, therefore, is the most meaningful and superior advantage of Larkburger’s advertising, which really benefits the whole society. So the three strong appeals of Larkburger are: health, low calorie and protecting the environment.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsYBm9lRzIo

When it comes to the green consciousness, the organic food of Whole Foods is also a representative instance. This is an advertisement of Whole Foods: “Food in Reverse” . At the beginning of the video, it says “People are thinking backwards to take the food movement forward,” which means that the focus of numerous individuals tends to move from having enough food and eating whatever they like to the quality of food. People now pay more attention to the manufacturing process and the raw materials of food, which pushes our eating preference to a higher level- eating healthily and organically. Then the video starts asking some questions about food. For instance, “Where did it come from?” “Was it generally modified?” “Did it live in a cage?” and “How many artificial ingredients are in there?” It starts with a series of questions, generally inducing the audience to consider the source and the manufacturing process of the food they are eating and advocating people to think before they eat. This good start validly encourages its potential consumers to think about the idea of organic food.

The video of Whole Foods actually consists of two small videos. One is on the right, showing some questions and ideas; another is on the left, showing the source and the manufacturing process of its food. It is called “Food in Reverse” in that it plays the process from cultivating food to eating food in reverse. Undeniably, it is a direct and vivid approach to show its natural ingredients to consumers, making a promise that all the food in Whole Foods are organic. Further, the whole process of its food serves as a logos, supporting and verifying the idea of organic food.

The target audience of Whole Foods’s advertisement could be anybody, in that this video is similar to an educational short lecture instead of a commercial. All the sentences in the video are calling for eating healthily and organically. But people who are on diet and upper-class people may prefer Whole Foods. In the end, the video says “every bite has a story” and encourages people to learn more about the stories behind food. This video is attractive in that it shows the whole manufacturing process of food in reverse, effectively proofing that the food of Whole Foods are all organic.

According to the advertisement of Larkburger and Whole Foods, the food value of numerous Americans trends to be eating for health. It does not reveal that eating fast food like Burger King is wrong; comfort foods do not have to be healthy and organic, eating for pleasure is always the first priority. Nonetheless, we cannot deny the strong tendency towards eating healthily, and also, it becomes one of the most popular slogans in many food advertisements.

Different preferences, different social classes

According to Joshua Freedman and Dan Jurafsky, food, language and culture are all powerful approaches to determine the social classes, considered as the markers of group identity. Apparently, people from different classes are different in these three aspects. To be specific, food can be divided into two categories: expensive food and inexpensive food. Most people from upper classmay prefer expensive food while lower-class people are willing to have inexpensive food. Due to the various choices of different classes, food advertising should be various.

Language differences are closely related to the socioeconomic status. In order to appeal to people from different social classes, food advertising should be respectively designed for the target customers. As the article mentioned, “education and health are two factors that have been strongly associated with differences in socioeconomic status for a longtime.”(48) People from upper class seem to have relatively high education level, which becomes the reason why the language used on expensive food is more complex and more difficult to comprehend than that on inexpensive food. In the example of potato chips, expensive chips use longer words, sentence and  complex grammar while inexpensive chips mainly use common and easy language. Also,comparing to inexpensive chips, expensive chips emphasize more about their healthiness, using the phrases like “never fried” and “no fat”. Moreover, somefood may use negative negation to show that they do not have the bad qualities of other brands, such as “no fake colors” and “no fake flavors”. Similarly,expensive chips are supposed to have more negative negations.

Not just language differences, but also cultural differences correlate with the social status. The dissimilarities of different classes’ tastes and habits reflect various cultural preferences. According to the article, people from lower-status class are fond of traditional hearty meals, which are rich inquantity. Nevertheless, upper-status class pays more attention on the quality of food and is more likely to choose healthy and high-quality food. This reveals the relationship between food and culture.

The most interesting point in the article is the authenticity. The authenticity in food is being natural for upper class while that is rooted in historicity for lower class. So expensive food advertising emphasizes the natural ingredients while inexpensive food advertising emphasizes the family recipe and the American location of their products.

Different social classes require different food, that is, different preferences of food reveal different social class. Food advertising, therefore, is a kind of culture, which is worth studying and analyzing. Further, the analyzing method applied to the potato chips is also useful for advertising of mobile phones. Upper-class people may choose expensive mobile phones while lower-class people prefer inexpensive mobile phones. Inexpensive mobile phones keep emphasizing the practical utility while expensive mobile phones pay more attention on the quality and durability of them. I believe if we make a careful examine on various mobile phones, we will find many similarities to potato chips.

New Year’s Eve dinner: the farewell of the old year, the start of the new.

New Year's Eve dinner is one of the most meaningful meals for me. It is on the last day of Chinese lunar calendar-the Spring Festival. As for me, New Year’s Eve dinner is a wonderful opportunity to connect me with my ancestors, my family and the coming year. Nowadays, Chinese people usually have New Year’s Eve dinner at restaurants instead of cooking food in our own houses. I guess that numerous Chinese people prefer eating outside because of convenience, and also, restaurants will always provide a big meal and a graceful environment. However, I still like to have the New Year’s Eve dinner at home, which is more festive and jubilant. Cooking meals at home has more conventional meanings than eating in a restaurant, while eating outside is no more than a family gathering.

I was born in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. In my hometown, we will eat many local characteristic cuisines and snacks during Chinese traditional New Year’s Eve dinner, such as “stewed pork with brown sauce”, “steamed fish”, “New Year cakes” and other delicious dishes. New Year cakes are made of glutinous rice flour. In Chinese, it is "annual high" homophonic, meaning the annual advancement of work and study. Also, we eat “Stewed pork with brown sauce” mainly because of its color-red. In Chinese culture, red symbolizes thriving, bringing people with fortune and positive things. “Steamed fish” has cultural significance as well. Because “fish” is “surplus” homophonic, eating steamed fish” indicates that we are going to have surplus in the coming year. After enjoying these main courses, we will eat some snacks like peanut and sugarcane. As my mother said, peanut symbolizes living longer while sugarcane represents constant advancement. So it is not difficult to find that most cuisines in the New Year’s Eve dinner have positive meanings, bringing us with good and beautiful wishes. Moreover, New Year’s Eve dinner is like a big farewell to the old year and a happy start of the new.

The most importantly of all, several empty plates and chopsticks should be placed on the dining table for our ancestors when we are eating, showing our respect and miss to them. It is always the most indispensable part of New Year’s Eve dinner. When I see these empty plates, the person that I miss a lot is my grandmother’s mother, who stood by me and took care of me when I was very young. My grandmother’s mother believed in Buddhism, which discourages people to kill and eat the livestock, so she seldom ate meat during New Year’s Eve dinner. Rarely will I eat the meat of chicken in that my Chinese zodiac is chicken; eating chicken seems like eating my fellows. Speaking of Chinese zodiac, there are twelve zodiacs: mouse, cattle, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig. The year of your birth decides your zodiac, which is similar to the star sign.

Before I came to America, the spring festival and the New Year’s Eve dinner were all about my family, gathering with my family members, eating together and chatting together. Friends, however, become an increasingly more indispensable part of the spring festival now, especially when I am studying abroad. Accompanying with friends and cooking Chinese food by ourselves are the most exciting things on the spring festival. I feel like the New Year’s Eve dinner not only creates the relation between my family and me, but also creates the connection between my friends and me.

Last New Year’s Eve dinner, I was in America and could not celebrate the spring festival with my family at home. It did not make me feel regret and upset at all in that my friends and I gathered together, making a big New Year’s Eve dinner by ourselves. It was great to eat food cook by ourselves. On the spring festival, we got up early in the morning and bought a lot of food in the Asian food supermarket. After finishing the intricate procedure of preparation (wash and cut vegetables, unfreeze chicken wings, cut pork ribs, mix and stuff for the dumplings), we started to cooking Chinese food in the dorm. We will always eat dumplings in the spring festival. The reasons why dumplings are important are various; in general, they will bring us with fortune. We cut the meat and the cabbage into minces, filling the dumplings with them and then boiled a few minutes. I find boiled dumplings are far more delicious than instant dumplings. Also, “Winter melon and rib soup” is one of my favorite. We first boiled off the blood of the ribs; then, put the ribs and the slices of the winter melon into the boiling water and stewed for around half an hour. In addition to these main courses, we prepared many small dishes and snacks. The round-shape dumpling is our traditional snack in New Year’s Eve dinner, stuffed with bean paste and sesame paste. The round shape of it is a symbol of wholeness and family reunion. During the whole dinner, our dorm was filled with happiness and the strong atmosphere of the spring festival.

We Chinese not only have the New Year’s Eve dinner on the spring festival, but also watch the CCTV Spring Festival Evening Show. In China, the whole family will sit together in front of the TV, watching the interesting show, chatting and waiting for 12 o’clock. Although we have time difference to China, my friends and I got up early to watch the show together. It was quite a different new year.

Instead of the delicious food themselves, it is the warm atmosphere of the New Year’s Eve dinner makes me happy. I cherish the chance to reunite with all the family members and close friends, sharing our love and happiness. The dinner is full of nice wishes due to the numerous meanings of the food. Further, the most crucial significance of this dinner is to say goodbye to the old year, welcoming the hopeful and promising year.

                                            round-shape dumpling
      

                                           stewed pork with brown sauce