Recipe Reinvention
Traditional Recipe
Ingredients
4 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 lbs. green cabbage, coarsely sliced
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 cup water
Directions
In a 5-quart Dutch oven or 12-inch skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until browned.
Add cabbage, onion, salt; stir to coat cabbage evenly with bacon fat.
Add water and reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cabbage is tender and lightly browned.
Nutritional Qualities of the Soul Food
This soul food has several nutritional advantages but one major disadvantage. The presence of several vegetable products provides a good source of several vitamins and minerals which are good for human health. Cabbages also provide roughage which is good for digestion. Finally, the bacon provides essential proteins. Unfortunately, bacon has a very high amount of dangerous cholesterol with every ounce containing about thirty milligrams of cholesterol. This is risky enough to negate all the positive qualities of the meal, due to the risk of cardiovascular disorders. An alternative for bacon and bacon oil is therefore necessary
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Reinvented Recipe
Ingredients
4 slices Turkey bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 lbs. green cabbage, coarsely sliced
1 small onion, thinly sliced
¼ cup refined olive oil
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 cup water
Directions
In a 5-quart Dutch oven or 12-inch skillet over medium heat, cook the Turkey bacon until browned.
Add cabbage, onion, salt; stir to coat cabbage evenly with Olive Oil.
Add water and reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cabbage is tender and lightly browned.
Nutritional Qualities of Invented Recipe
Most of the traditional aspects of the initial recipe have been left intact, save for two major adjustments. These involve the elimination of the high cholesterol bacon entirely from the meal. First, Turkey Bacon which replaces bacon is also called false bacon and is made from turkey flesh. It has the look and taste of actual bacon but lacks cholesterol, making it a safe alternative. Further, using olive oil instead of bacon fat provides a healthy alternative that brings in curative instead of harmful effects. The new food is healthy, yet still, retains the traditional look and taste that makes it so special.
Short Essay
The article by Wright (1990) seeks to reflect the adage about not throwing the baby away with the bathwater to the concept of soul food. It is important to state from the very advent that based on this article, soul food should be reinvented. This is as opposed to the two other available alternatives to wit either taking it as it is or doing away with soul food. The argument for not giving up on soul food is based on the fact that it is one of the most prominent traditional foods in America. These foods have a solid heritage, having been invented by African American slaves who tried to improve on the meager resources provided by their masters. Today, however, soul food is an interracially favorite food craved for by many who are unwilling to give it up. Yet, the said food cannot be retained in its current state due to its capacity to be injurious to health. The high-fat content and high cholesterol ingredients used contribute exponentially to obesity and non-communicable diseases.
Most importantly, however, not everything about soul food is bad. Most soul foods have a high vegetable content which is good for health. This ought to be retained but with the adverse ingredients and cooking procedures being eliminated from the matrix. A good example would be the replacement of all high cholesterol ingredients with healthier but similar ones. This makes for another important reason why soul food recipes should be amended. The fact that this can be done, whilst still retaining the traditional taste and look of the foods, but eliminating the health risk factors. Therefore, the lovers of soul food will not be disappointed, the tradition will not be lost but the health risks will be eliminated. Soul food recipes should, therefore, be accordingly reinvented.
Short essay II: Favorite Childhood Home Made Dish
It is a family tradition that special days are also marked by what is on the menu for the said day. The aroma wafting from the kitchen could always tell the difference between normal days and special days. In our home, nothing screamed special day more than home fries, also called fried potatoes. Albeit the meal can be made comfortably by only one individual, making home fries at our home was always a collective effort. Mother would do all the heavy lifting which included peeling and slicing the potatoes as well as preparing the spicy concoction that they would be soaked in. Our job as children would be running errands in shifts, an honor that we would sometimes fight over. When the skillet was placed over the cooker, our father’s part would come in. This entailed the actual deep frying of the now soaked then dried potato chips.
The ingredients would be simple, it included a variable number of potatoes, depending on how many people would be feasting on them. There was also a proportionate amount of deep frying grease, salt and a collection of spices. The method was equally simple and entailed peeling then slicing the potatoes into desirable shapes. Next, a concoction of salt and spices would be prepared and the potato chips soaked in. After some time, they would be removed from the concoction and allowed to dry. Finally, they would be deep fried in a hot skillet, then placed in a meshed vessel for the grease to drain out. It is difficult to put a finger on why this particular meal was and is still special to me. Perhaps it is because of the collective efforts of cooking it that would really bring the family together. Perhaps it was because it was only made on special occasions. Yet, special it was and still remains to date. Every now and then when the family comes together, the meal is still made, albeit with myself taking a larger role.
Summary Essay
So developed is modern medicine in America that it would be easy for medical practitioners to be forgiven for believing that they are always right. Further, the modern westernized American culture is so well established over such a long time that it would be easy for modern Americans to believe in its superiority over other cultures across the globe. Yet, in each and every corner of the world, everyone believes in the superiority of their own culture. The final four chapters of Fadiman (2012) reflect how two cultures collided and cost a little girl her life. Contributions of these different cultures collided and so impacted the life of the little girl Lia Lee that for many years she would neither die nor recover: Lia did not die, nor did she recover (Fadiman, 2012, Pg. 265) . Instead, she remained a constant and massive burden to her parents who, albeit loved her deeply could not help feeling the massive weight of the burden of catering for her. Chapter 15 begins with the obligation of catering for Lia being bestowed back to her parents after she had been taken from the statement (Fadiman, 2012, Pg. 230) . These parents, Foua Yang and Nao Kao Lee take care of the child ardently, buoyed by two major motivations; love and fear. Their love was beyond normal love since, in their culture, a child with a disability received more love from the parent, even at the expense of other children. The fear was based on the fact that Foua and Nao believed the government could take the child away anytime . The tumultuous relationship between the parents, the sick girls, and the medical systems is constantly reflected in chapters 16 to 18 and culminates in chapter 19 where the parents take the matter into their own hands. In seeking to cure Lia themselves, then perform an elaborate traditional ceremony, complete with a sacrifice of two pigs; A small pig was to be sacrificed for the whole family and a large pig was to be sacrificed for Lia (Fadiman, 2012, Pg. 296-297) . This is in an attempt to do what modern medicine had failed to achieve.
References
Fadiman, A. (2012). The spirit catches you and you fall down: a Hmong child, her American doctors, and the collision of two cultures . New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
Wright, T. (1990, October 06). Soul Food Reconsidered. Retrieved August 07, 2017, from http://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/07/magazine/soul-food-reconsidered.html?pagewanted=2
