What a generic title...

So this blog is off and running! The title of this blog is only temporary, I know it seems a bit dull.

So today was the first day of my introsem "The Linguistics of Food" and I made everyone jealous telling them of how fun this class already seems.
We did a little experiment with a variety of chips: about half were from expensive brands and the other half were of cheaper brands. One thing I noticed as I walked back to my dorm was that on all the cheaper brands, the companies stressed either simplicity or wholesomeness, "The Original", or "Classic". Their appeal is one of nostalgia I think. Sometimes people don't want to try something new, they want food that's familiar and makes them think (perhaps) their childhood. I myself preferred a thick cut Ruffle chip to a Hawaiian chip. Sometimes less is more.

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Mad Men!

“Classified ads, catalog entries, and menu entries are all advertising, whereas headlines and instructions are not.” – Zwicky, Ann and Arnold Zwicky pg 86 Yesterday in class we considered several brands of potato chips with varying prices. The chips that were more expensive sometimes had nicer packages and were less flashy than their cheaper counterparts. The one thing that remained constant was the amount of words on the back of the packages. The cheaper versions contained little information, sticking to simple and clear statements, while the more expensive brands used sentences or even whole paragraphs to describe their products. Do we need more convincing to buy something more expensive? Is that why there were so many words on the back of my Terra Chips? To me, too many words meant a product was not worth buying. If something is worth buying I don’t need to read a paragraph on the nutritional benefits of, oh, I don’t know, Sun Chips, to figure that out. Fo...

Cheesecake Recipes

Today I am going to talk about Cheesecakes! I found this great site where one can find lots of information about the History of Cheesecake, including this old recipe from England in the mid-16th century. http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Cakes/Cheesecake.htmv For those of you who are cheesecake virgins, this creamy delight is made with few, simple ingredients (traditionally). It has eggs, milk, sugar, cream cheese, and if you want a crumbly bottom, a graham cracker crust. I compared two recipes of cheesecakes. One was from the cookbook called " A Proper newe Booke of Cokerye, declarynge what maner of meates be beste in season, for al times in the yere, and how they ought to be dressed, and serued at the table, bothe for fleshe dayes, and fyshe days ", and one from the Food Network. Mid-16th Century Recipe for Cheese Cake: To make a tarte of Chese Take harde Chese and cutte it in slyces,and pare it, than laye it in fayre water, or in swete mylke, the space of three ...

Reward yourself....with a Milano Cookie

Milano cookies are part of a series of cookies made by Pepperidge Farm (which also make a series of grain breads) made for those who have a "discriminating taste". The taste terms I chose for today's post are "distinctive cookies" and the line "Picture if you will, its subtle contours, its perect balance". Makes me think that what I am eating is not just some cookie but a work of art. That is, I think, the feeling Pepperidge Famr is trying to convey. Just take a look at the side panel of the package the cookies came in: "The Art of the Cookie...Begin with a baker;s soul. Seek the finest ingredients...Open... Taste...Delight. By taking a bite of one sweet, crunchy Milano cookie, you are going to "entertain inspirations" and "embrace decadent cravings". A Milano cookie is not some calorie-ridden dessert that follows a meal...it is an experience unto itself. These cookies are definitely not made for the same type of consumer as N...

Le Petit Mangeur

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