I-20 FOOD ISSUE Issue 2

I-20 Food Issue

CENTER FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND AMERICAN CULTURE –ADVANCED WRITING FALL 2015

Strange Foods From Around the Globe

by Anh Do, Vietnam

Have you ever eaten strange food before? Maybe people who love animals think that killing dogs and
you have never seen or tried it before. Therefore, it cats is so cruel and horrible that they even protest
will be good for you to know more about different against dog meat festivals, not only in China but in
food from some countries in the world such as Saudi some neighboring countries as well.
Arabia, China, Japan, and Vietnam.
Japan is a country that is surrounded by the sea, so
In these countries people usually eat pork, beef, and catching fish is an integral part of their food indus-
chicken...but they also eat unusual food. For in- try. Dolphin is one of the main food resources in Ja-
stances, in Saudi Arabia nearly half the country is pan. Besides, Japan also wins the quirky snack food
desert, so camel has become popular for transporta- game because of weird food such as Animal Donuts
tion and as a food resource. Furthermore, Arabic (made in animal shapes such as penguins, dogs, cats,
people use lizards for food, which tastes like fish and and lions…), Every Burger (tiny cookie sandwich
chicken (a Saudi student said). with a chocolate burger and white chocolate cheese)
or even Candy Toilet (candy covered with a mini toi-
In Western countries, people love dogs and cats and
let toy).
regard them as a member of their family, but in
China and Vietnam, they will become food. Dog and There are a lot of weird foods in the world. Even
cat meat is very tasty only when eaten with sauce. though it looks like something is new and strange,
Without sauce, it can’t satisfy your taste and maybe remember it represents a country or variously color-
no one would eat dog and cat meat. However, many ful cultures all over the world.
I-20 FOOD ISSUE | Issue 2

China and Taiwan are two countries with different

Taiwanese Food v. Chinese Food identities but the same culture. The staple foods are
by Mei Li Lin (Judy), Taiwan
rice and noodles but the different local ingredients
will present diverse dishes. China uses traditional
cooking methods on the cuisine. Chinese food uses
heavy seasoning such as oil, soy sauce, and spices to
increase the flavor. The most famous Chinese foods
are sweet and sour pork (糖醋肉), spring rolls (春捲),
Peking duck (北京烤鴨), spicy tofu (麻婆豆腐) etc.

Taiwanese food is influenced by Japan and Fujian

province in China, and has several variations. Taiwan
is a sea island with a tropical location. The cuisine in-
cludes lots of seafood and various fruit. In Taiwan
you can find fresh ingredients in traditional markets.
Taiwanese food is lighter, sweeter, and healthier. You
also can find some snacks in night markets such as
oyster omelet (蚵仔煎), beef noodles (牛肉麵), bubble
tea (珍珠奶茶), pineapple cake (鳳梨酥) etc.

Are you interesting in Taiwanese food now? Here is a

Taiwanese restaurant in Albuquerque that you can
Have you ever tried Chinese food? If the answer is visit: Budai Gourmet Chinese: 6300 San Mateo NE H-
yes, then: Have you ever tried Taiwanese food? You 1, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87109. Tel:505-797-
might ask what is the difference between Chinese 7898. Try it! You won’t get enough of all the great
food and Taiwanese food. It is similar but not exactly food once you are there.
the same. Therefore, I would love to share the differ-
ence about ingredients, seasoning, and variation of
Chinese food and Taiwanese food.

Why Can’t the Young American

Cook?
by Mansour Almohaimeed, Saudi Arabia

Nowadays there are people asking why young Amer-

icans can’t cook. Why can’t they cook like the older
people? There are a lot of young people (age 16 to 25)
in the United States who can’t cook, But there are an-
swers to this question. And some of the most popular
are the spread of restaurants in the United States,
ready-made food, and family lifestyle.

First, what is the history of fast food restaurants? In

1951 we can say fast food grew in the United States,
and became more popular in the early 70s. People
here like to buy fast food because it is cheap and fast.
They like to save themselves money, and save them-
selves time.
I-20 FOOD ISSUE | Issue 3

For this reason fast food became popular in the States, so there is no time to teach their children how
United States. Busy people can’t cook for their chil- to cook. They feel they have just time to play with
dren and teach them. So some people prefer to buy them, so they cook something quick or they use
something cheap and fast. ready-made food. This is why children grow up with-
out learning how to cook. They just know how to use
Next, ready-made food was introduced as the sand-
ready-made food or to eat out at restaurants.
wich in 1953 (according to the BBC), but it was not
very popular until the microwave oven was invented How can the people in the U.S. fix this problem? First
in 1986. Moreover, a lot of people bought microwaves of all, families could reserve at least one hour twice a
to save them time, so they supported ready-made week to teach their children how to cook. Secondly,
food. Nowadays we have many kinds of ready-made the government should support activities that help
food. There are foods from all over the world, because the student, like in schools, for example. There are
people don’t want to lose time on cooking when they some countries that have cooking classes in the
could eat frozen food. schools. With these two suggestions the United States
could solve this problem.
Last thing that I would like to explain is family life-
style. Men and women work hard in the United

tastes. People obviously know it’s tend to choose the healthier and
Fast Food Permeates harmful for humans, but they still even "all natural” foods. They re-
America cannot live without it. Why did ject foods with any chemicals or
by Xiaoru Huang, China fast food industry can apace de- additives.
velop in the US? How will the
disadvantages of fast food influ- American-style fast food has
ence people? spread to China as well. But the
food of KFC China and KFC U.S.
With the accelerated pace of is completely different. In order to
American life, Americans often meet consumer preference, KFC
just “grab a quick bite." As a re- reinvented the menu and offers
sult, snack food was produced. different flavors of food in differ-
The sandwich is one of the most ent regions. For instance, Szech-
typical American fast food. Any- uan people like pungent and
thing can be sandwiched between spicy food. So there KFC has spicy
two slices of bread. Peanut butter hamburgers. On the other hand,
and jelly is an all-American favor- Shanghai people like sweet food,
ite. Fast food chains pervade the so KFC Shanghai is biased in fa-
U.S., offering a variety of fast vor of the sweet taste of the prod-
food, such as hamburgers, roast uct.
In the very fast-paced life of the
beef, steak, ham, sandwiches,
American, fast food has been the Statistics show that of American
fried chicken, fried rice, fried po-
most popular in the U.S. It can be and Chinese children from 3 to 9
tato chips, baked pies, ice cream
said that ready-made food can be years old, 90% eat at least one
and a variety of carbonated drinks
found anywhere. For instance, McDonald’s food per month. Fast
for busy Americans. Yet, many
McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut and food is a pest for children.
people believe that these goodies
are always readily available for all
are unhealthy "junk food” and
I-20 FOOD ISSUE | Issue 4

Animal fried fries contain high overweight three times more than In conclusion, I hope the govern-
fat and cholesterol which can eas- in the 1970s. It is humorous to say: ment can set up higher food safety
ily lead to obesity and cardiovas- “It is these junk foods that make standards in the cafeteria of the
cular disease. Fast food is an allur- America more massive." There- schools, and enact an unhealthy
ing snack for a lot of children; and fore, some members of Congress, food-advertising ban for children.
so the U.S. and China have more nutrition researchers, and parents
and more obese children. Nowa- encourage their children to stay
days, American teenagers are away from fast food.

Cheap
Chicken
by Cheng-En Ho (Eric), Taiwan

The world changes so fast, people in America because of these rea- body and cannot move anymore.
have more desire for food than in sons: they are using drugs to fos- Because of using drugs, their legs
the past. Some people may assert ter chickens and they are sold cannot support their body weight.
that American chicken is cheaper through supermarkets Chickens grow up very soon and
than other food. Other people say die fast, even though they just
The main reason why I agree with
it is not, that it has the same price want to live a normal life. So they
the above statement is that they
as compared with other food. Is hatch and eat corn with drugs,
are using drugs. According to
American chicken really low and produce eggs with poison
“Science of America” magazine,
priced in the supermarket? Do chemistry. In addition, humans
chicken size is larger and they
Americans truly like chicken? have standard operating proce-
grow up faster than in the past.
And why is chicken price so dures to control the chickens.
cheap in United States? Person- More than 94% of chickens die af- Their food, exercise and sleeping
ally, I agree chicken is too cheap ter 47 days. Chickens get a fat time are all controlled, and they
have no chance to escape. Thus,
Americans have chicken factories
I-20 FOOD ISSUE | Issue 5

which can provide infinitely So, it becomes a positive cycle, Compared with other food,
cheaper chickens. people want to eat chicken more chicken still has a low price. If we
and humans foster more chicken. cannot buy chicken, we could not
The next factor which supports
Chicken price becomes close to buy other food either. As a good
my position is that they sell the
free. saying goes “nothing is lower
food by supermarket. For in-
priced than chicken, except for in-
stance, in the Walmart market, we Certainly, things always have two
ferior chicken.” Besides, no matter
usually see chicken meat on sale, sides. Some people may assert
if the chicken price is low or high,
especially chicken legs. Some- that chicken is not cheap. In
they taste the same.
times we can see chicken legs Whole Foods Market, as you can
price lower than one dollar per see, organic chicken meat is still In summary, Americans love to
pound, which mean we can eat high in price. Rich people could eat chicken and use many ways to
chicken all day, including supper. get high quality food and then make cheap chicken. Like an old
Therefore, poor children like it, avoid getting sick. Even though saying goes, “My name is chicken,
homeless love it, customer buy it everyone can eat chicken, the for we are many” (Mark 5:9). Alt-
and merchants get money. I chicken meat still has different hough chickens die again and
would like to say this is a win-win levels of quality. The poor can again, they still are not afraid to
situation and the only victim who only eat chicken legs or chicken die. We should respect those
experiences a little pain is the feet. However, I still think these chickens and make more genet-
chicken. Furthermore, merchants cases are extreme between the ically modified chickens to feed
use advertising to imply chicken rich and poor. guilty human people.
meat is healthy for human body.

dishes. Kabsah is very traditional two cups rice inside the pot and
How to Cook and common in the Arabic coun- cover it. Fourth, cook on low heat
tries. Kabsah has a lot of spices stirring occasionally for 35 to 45
Kabsah which makes it full of flavor. It minutes or until the mixture dries.
by Saleh Bn Talah , Saudi Arabia
was the first dish that I tried to
In Saudi Arabia, usually you can
cook. In the beginning, I thought
find kabsah served with chicken
it was very difficult to cook be-
but many Saudi people love
cause I saw many steps to do, but
kabsah with lamb. Moreover,
now, I would like to talk about
Kabsah is normally presented on
how to cook perfect kabsah.
a big plate. Some Saudi prefer to
First, you need to cut half an on- eat kabsah with their hands, espe-
ion and one tomato then put them cially with their right hand. To
in a pot with a little butter. Sec- sum up, kabsah is one of the most
ond, add less than half a cup oil. popular and delicious dishes in
Third, fill the pot halfway with Saudi Arabia. In addition, kabsah
water and add some spices such is one Saudi dishes that uses a lot
as saffron, cardamom, black pep- of rice which means it’s cheap.
per, cumin, garlic and salt. Once
When it comes to Saudi food, these ingredients are combined,
kabsah is one of the most popular put a whole chicken with one to
I-20 FOOD ISSUE Issue 2
1

Restaurant Reviews
It's sour and sweet. I ate fried sweet and sour tender-
Panda Express loin in China. It is almost the same as the orange
by Wenbo Chen, China chicken.

Panda Express is a Why is Panda Express different from Chinese food?

fast-food Chinese Because American condiments are different from Chi-
restaurant nese condiments. The different condiments cook dif-
founded by a Chi- ferent flavor.
nese man named
Cooking real Chinese food requires many steps. It
Andrew Cherng.
takes more time to cook real Chinese food. But Panda
Some Americans
Express is a fast-food Chinese restaurant. The chefs
like Chinese food
don't spend a lot of time cooking the food. Real Chi-
and more and
nese food is more flavorful than fast Chinese food. If
more Chinese are
you want to taste real Chinese food, you won't go to
coming to the U.S. to work and study.
Panda Express because the flavor is different from
When you come to Panda Express, you can order Chinese flavor. However, the prices at Panda Express
many kinds of Chinese food. The Chinese food from are lower than other Chinese restaurants. You order
Panda Express is the same as real Chinese food, but at the Panda Express fast and you don’t need a lot of
the flavor suits American flavor. Most American like time to wait.
sour flavor. For example, I tasted the orange chicken.

O Ramen & Curry House

by Yuji Yabuzaki, Japan: Winner of Intermediate Level Writing Contest
Winner of Intermediate Level Writing Contest

As a Japanese food, sushi is very fa-

mous around the world. However, the
noodle called ramen is a popular food
too. Curry is originally from India, but it
is popular in Japan as well. I think, Ja-
pan has an original curry which is dif-
ferent from Indian one. There is a res-
taurant near UNM that serves Japanese
ramen and curry. The name of the res-
taurant is O Ramen and Curry House. It
is along Central Avenue. It takes about
I-20 FOOD ISSUE | Issue 7

two minutes from the McDonald’s on Yale Boulevard menma (bamboo shoots), wood ear, spring onion,
which is across from UNM. O Ramen and Curry corn, ginger, shiitake mushrooms, three sheets of sea-
House is my favorite restaurant where we can easily weed, and a whole marinated hard-boiled egg. Due to
enjoy Japanese food in Albuquerque. the variety of ingredients, the inside of the bowl was
so colorful. The smell was also good too. The smell of
As soon as I entered the restaurant, I felt that O Ra-
the soup which is called tonkotsu soup was rich. The
men has some special features which are different
smell of seaweed is aromatic. The scent of ginger
from Japanese ramen restaurants. First O Ramen has
works like an accent of the smell. Those smells are
stylish design. The dishes and lights are black, the
mixed, then the smell turns into peculiar aroma of
chairs are black or red, and the tables and the counter
tonkotsu ramen. The taste of the soup is rich and
are wood-grain tone. There are some decorations
thick.
which allow me to remember Japan. The server of
sake which is a pouring machine of sake and the bam- In Japan, we think it is important not only the taste,
boo make the atmosphere of the restaurant better. but also umami. Umami is a word from Japanese.
Umami is one of the basic tastes. To extract umami
Second, we can enjoy the unique greeting too. When
from the bone of a pig, special techniques are needed.
customers come into the restaurant, they will hear the
Just boiling the bone will cause a bad smelling soup.
Japanese greeting phrase “Irassyaimase”. The mean-
Actually, there are some restaurants like that in Japan.
ing is “welcome to our restaurant.” All clerks said the
But the soup of O Ramen smells good and has umami.
greetings in Japanese. I felt the enthusiasm of the res-
It is like a real soup in Japan. If I am allowed to wish
taurant. We can feel these special characteristics of the
so much, I wish a little stronger taste for the soup. The
restaurant.
texture of the noodle was also good. It was not hard
Deluxe O Ramen is one of my recommended foods on and not soft. I enjoyed the texture of the noodle. In Ja-
the menu. That was highlighted by a red line on the pan, we can choose the hardness of the noodle from
menu to let us know that it is the signature dish. The five
ingredients were three pieces of pork called chashu,
I-20 FOOD ISSUE | Issue 8

it was too hot for me. The fried pork was fried appro-
priately. The meat was still juicy, but not pink. In ad-
dition, the way it was cut is another point. The fried
pork was cut a little thin, so it was easy to eat. Because
of these reasons, I recommend this curry with fried
pork.

The cost is also a good point of this restaurant. The

cost of this restaurant is not very cheap in comparison
with other American fast-food. Deluxe O Ramen was
$10 and curry with fried pork was $8. But we cannot
make the ramen by ourselves at this cost, so it is
worth it to pay.

In summary, O Ramen and Curry House” is my fa-

vorite restaurant in Albuquerque. The ambience is
stylish, the ramen and curry are worth trying, and the
cost is reasonable. If you are a UNM student and want
to try Japanese ramen for a reasonable cost, O Ramen
and Curry House can be the first choice to try.

I-20
IS A PUBLICATION OF THE
A.M.
ADVANCED WRITING CLASS
AT CELAC.

Writers: Salim Al Tubi, Xiaoru Huang, Jiayi Liang (Gloria),

levels in most of tonkotsu ramen restaurants. In this Wenbo Chen, Chris Sieczkowski, Danny Choi, Zaid Maaytah,
point, Japanese ramen restaurants are better than Anh Do, Monica Tovar Coll, Mansour Almohaimeed, Mei Yi Lin
here. In sum, you can enjoy the deluxe O Ramen, be- (Judy), Saleh Saad Bn Talha, Josselin Chun, Cheng-En Ho (Eric)
cause of these special characteristics. Guest Writer and Winner of Intermediate- Level Writing Con-
test: Yuji Yabuzaki
Curry with fried pork is also my recommended food.
First, we can enjoy the appearance. It’s gorgeous. Faculty Editor: Gail Guengerich
There is big fried pork on the curry. And the curry is
colorful. The steamed rice is white, the curry sauce is
brown, the ginger is red, and the spring onion is
green. The texture of curry sauce is mellow. I like this
texture. We can choose the hotness level from five lev-
els. I think, this system is good for people who live in
New Mexico, because they tend to like the hottest
taste. For your information, I ordered level three, but