American as Apple Pie: Cultural Significance of American Baked Goods

This research examines four American baked goods: apple pie, Yum-Yum Cake (better known as Depression Cake), beignets, and bagels. Individual cultural and culinary elements of each dish were examined, focusing on elements of the immigration and economic situation in America at the time. The baked goods are also placed in the larger picture of American culture. The analysis of each one shows that they are interrelated on deeper cultural, economic, and social levels. The study of these four baked goods is only a glimpse into the many cultural traditions that make up American society, but the paper creates a framework for why it is important to examine the roots of the dishes we eat. The hope is that this project will emphasize the historical, sociological, and cultural aspects of the seemingly mundane in American society, and how our history still impacts us today

Resilient Practices of Small Businesses to Survive from COVID-19 Pandemic ~ Perspectives from S-DL and Social Capital

The devastating outbreaks of COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted social and economic sustainability of the world, particularly in routine services that require physical interactions, such as dining services. With the retrospective analysis via case study, we identified three cases in dining service from USA, Indonesia, Taiwan, respectively, and investigated their service systems with the Service-Dominant Logic to understand the interactions among actors and how they integrated resources to cope with the pandemic. We identified their resilient practices heavily relied on various types of social capital to quickly respond to demand shifts, reconnect value networks, and leverage ICTs for marketing and sales. These resilient practices could be used for guiding small and medium enterprises to cope with devastating unexpected crises, taking COVID-19 as an example. More cases collected and analyzed from corresponding regions in the follow-up study could further conclude a more general causal relationship in resilience toward the theory for resilience

Review of Know. Be. Live.

Born between 1995 – 2012, America’s young and emerging adults are known as “Generation Z.” As with nearly everything they are involved in, a shorter version of that label is available as simply Gen Z, or Gen Z’ers. Generally speaking, Gen Z’ers were raised by Millennials but have had life and social interactions going as far back as the Baby Boomer Generation (those born near the end of World War II and into the mid-sixties). In “Know. Be. Live.,” the combination of what has been handed down to them by previous generations, and the current state of cultural, political, and world affairs are examined. These factors have left the Church very low on the list of priorities for this generation. On top of those factors, Gen Z had a pause, shutdown, lockdown, and reset of their adolescence in a way not seen in a century. Efforts to evangelize to this audience were already fledgling. Doing so in the wake of Covid-19 has added an additional layer of difficulty. The ball is now in the hands of the Church. Boomers, Gen X, and Millennial Christians must answer the call and properly inform and motivate millions of young people desperately wanting to positively impact their own culture and the world

Community Empowerment Program Based on Green Economy in Preserving Herbs as Local Wisdom

Rural communities have ways to maintain the health of their families, and the community environment by processing plants and herbal products during the Corona Virus Disease-2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. The study aims to design a community empowerment program base on the green economy in preserving herbs as local wisdom. The study used Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) is relevant to the design of empowerment by collecting data through interview dialogue, observation, documentation, and focus group discussions. Research informants were determined through purposive sampling, namely stakeholders in the government of Tegal Regency, Central Java Province in Indonesia, such as the head of the health department and regional technical implementing unit for the Herbal Medicine Tourism (HMT) area in Kalibakung, the Headman of the Kalibakung Village, herbal practitioners, and empowerment groups. Participatory research analysis was used to identify, and categorize problems, prepare action plans, evaluate the entire process, and implement actions. The results of the study showed: (1) The community around the HMT area has not been empowered to cultivate plants and herbal products, so mutually beneficial partnerships have not been established. (2) HMT area in Kalibakung and the surrounding community land have the potential for cultivating herbal plants that can realize health independence for families, and communities, so there need to be empowerment programs. (3) The empowerment programs for the cultivation of plants and herbal products could be started by increasing the motivation and inspiration for the benefits of herbs, knowledge, understanding, and skills of products, and the cultivation of herbal plants in a sustainable manner

Modern Meals and Mythology: The Los Angeles Culinary Field

Throughout history, food and our relationship with it has had numerous implications. Indeed, humans have consumed food not only as sustenance, but also as ritual and as a marker of status and social hierarchy. Though food and the dissemination of culinary practices have greatly diversified in the past century, food and the culinary methods required to make it remain relevant to our understanding of contemporary society, as popular culinary practices and trends reveal our preferences, beliefs, ideals, and aspirations. While there are numerous ways to analyze the cultural impact of food in the current era, this work focuses on food of Los Angeles’s leading chef-auteurs who, through their cuisine, restaurants, and interactions with their audience, enforce a specific set of ideologies in the metropolitan area. My thesis centers on the questions: Can we discern a specific Los Angeles ideology and culinary discourse by examining the city’s prominent restaurants and chefs? And if so, how does this Los Angeles culinary field reflect or alter the beliefs and priorities of the local population? Finally, how does the Los Angeles culinary field and its discourse change under stressful, uncertain circumstances such as a global pandemic, and what does this say about its future? My thesis reveals how a specific city such as Los Angeles can create a distinctive culinary discourse that both informs and is informed by the city’s local communities and diverse inhabitants. While it has been shown that people’s perspectives, opinions and beliefs inform their community’s cuisine, I argue that in the contemporary era, the inverse also occurs. Analyzing chefs, their restaurants, and audience response from 2019 to 2021, I have found that a city’s food can change consumers’ perspective on their society, their community, and their role within their city, and that the changing nature of a city’s cuisine can inform how residents should similarly change their behavior to align with the consumable goods and experiences they enjoy. This is particularly relevant during times of crisis (such as the COVID-19 pandemic), when customers look to beloved chefs, restaurants and food as a source of comfort and moral reinforcement. Ultimately, the goal of this thesis is to help readers reconsider how the restaurant experience and the food eaten at such establishments symbolize far more than a pleasurable experience. Indeed, the chefs, consumers, and writers connected to food production, food media, and the culinary restaurant world not only create delicious food, but also reflect and shape the ethos of the environments they are situated in. I hope that from this work, we can consider the social, discursive, and communal impact of the food we consume, becoming more informed eaters in the process

Cook like a Boss Online: an adapted intervention during the COVID-19 pandemic that effectively improved children’s perceived cooking competence, movement competence and wellbeing

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated physical inactivity, poor dietary intake and reduced mental wellbeing, contributing factors to non-communicable diseases in children. Cooking interventions are proposed as having a positive influence on children’s diet quality. Motor skills have been highlighted as essential for performance of cooking skills, and this movement may contribute to wellbeing. Additionally, perceived competence is a motivator for behaviour performance and thus important for understanding intervention effectiveness. Therefore, this research aimed to assess the effectiveness of an adapted virtual theory-based cooking intervention on perceived cooking competence, perceived movement competence and wellbeing. METHODS: The effective theory-driven and co-created ‘Cook Like A Boss’ was adapted to a virtual five day camp-styled intervention, with 248 children across the island of Ireland participating during the pandemic. Pre- and post-intervention assessments of perceived cooking competence, perceived movement competence and wellbeing using validated measurements were completed through online surveys. Bivariate Correlations, paired samples t-tests and Hierarchical multiple regression modelling was conducted using SPSS to understand the relationships between the variables and the effect of the intervention. RESULTS: 210 participants had matched survey data and were included in analysis. Significant positive correlations were shown between perceived cooking competence, perceived movement competence and wellbeing (P < 0.05). Children’s perceived cooking competence (P < 0.001, medium to large effect size), perceived movement competence (P < 0.001, small to medium effect size) and wellbeing (P = 0.013, small effect size) all significantly increased from pre to post intervention. For the Hierarchical regression, the final model explained 57% of the total variance in participants’ post-intervention perceived cooking competence. Each model explained a significant amount of variance (P < 0.05). Pre-intervention perceived cooking competence, wellbeing, age and perceived movement competence were significant predictors for post-intervention perceived cooking competence in the final model. CONCLUSION: The ‘Cook Like A Boss’ Online intervention was an adapted virtual outreach intervention. It provides initial evidence for the associations between perceived cooking competence, perceived movement and wellbeing as well as being effective in their improvement. This research shows the potential for cooking to be used as a mechanism for targeting improvements in not only diet quality but also movement and wellbeing. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT05395234. Retrospectively registered on 26th May 2022. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12966-022-01378-x

Jewish Holidays in the Time of the Corona Virus Pandemic in Slovakia

The first wave of the new coronavirus pandemic swept through Slovakia between March 1 and May 31, 2020. During this relatively short period, four important Jewish holidays took place: Purim, Pesach, Lag BaOmer, and Shavuot. When the news of the pandemic initially broke, a large part of Slovak society viewed COVID-19 as a remote, and therefore, not entirely dangerous, threat. This attitude shifted on March 6, , when the first case of the disease was confirmed in the country. On March 9, the authorities reacted by introducing the first set of public health measures, which the Jewish Religious Community immediately relayed to its members. The policy adopted by the JRC leadership was faced with a serious religious challenge. In these conditions, the observance of holidays required a degree of improvisation. Bar a few extraordinary examples, it was impossible to fulfill all of the traditionally required customs. Factors of selectiveness, streamlining, and individualization therefore had an even greater impact than usual. Involuntary isolation brought out the importance of family ties, as well as the need for solidarity

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Descripció feta a partir de: 2015, el 25 març 2021

[Review] Liz P.Y. Chee. Mao’s Bestiary: Medicinal Animals and Modern China. Duke University Press, 2021. 288 pp.

[Review] Liz P.Y. Chee. Mao’s Bestiary: Medicinal Animals and Modern China. Duke University Press, 2021. 288 pp. The COVID-19 pandemic has secured its place as a 21st century global public health disaster. It has killed more than 6.2 million and infected close to 500 million people worldwide (Worldometer). Acknowledging Wuhan’s wildlife market as the ground zero of the pandemic and the devastation caused by SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) 17 years earlier, China’s Communist authorities made the long overdue decision on February 24, 2020 and outlawed wildlife breeding and trade for the country’s exotic food market (National People’s Congress of China). This decision was commendable. Yet, breeding of wildlife for the exotic food market was only one of the five-piece captive farming operation that generated a revenue of $78 billion a year (Ma Jianzhang et al.). What the Chinese authorities have retained is captive breeding for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the third largest component of the country’s controversial industry. Called a ‘national treasure’, TCM, in the minds of many, brooks no questioning (see for example, ‘Xi Jinping Calls’). Liz P.Y. Chee’s Mao’s Bestiary: Medicinal Animals and Modern China (Duke University Press, 2021) steps in this minefield with questions not about the efficacy of TCM but about the drivers of its faunal medicalization in the last seven decades