Mother...what is an Apple Slice?

I'm taking NURS-313, Obesity and Society. I do enjoy the class and I really respect my professor (Dr. Compher). Here is one of the assignments: Look at a piece of media and explain the stigma/message. Unfortunately, I didn't get the grade that I wanted because the prose wasn't formal enough. Well, it's definitely formal enough for this blog! Quite pertinent, too.

As a reminder, if anyone would like to use information from my site, citing me would be necessary.

The image I am analysing is from here. I don't wan to repost it because my blog contains original content.

Mother...what is an Apple Slice?

While I was rinsing chard one day, an apartment-mate asked me, "What IS that?" Chard is neither famous nor common, so it's understandable that one is wary of eating a blood-red stalk. Apples, however, are ubiquitous in the U.S., so it's ridiculous to ask "What is an Apple Slice?" [1] This absurd statement is portrayed in the satirical cartoon by Bryant Arnold. A shallow interpretation is that McDonald's is a maverick for educating children and sneaking fruit into their meals. However, it is more likely that it signifies that the business of food today is neither healthy nor natural, and that children’s food education is inadequate.

An obese Caucasian mother and her equally obese son purchase a Happy Meal from a skinny Caucasian McDonald's employee. The son asks "Mother...what is an Apple Slice?", while in the corner, a sign proclaims that McDonald's has now added Apple Slices to Happy Meals (notably, the word "Happy" is cut off, and no characters look happy), which occurred in July 2011 [6]. Although the child barely reaches the countertop, he is drawn to be ugly and old, which contrasts with the common depiction of children as adorable. The skin around his eyes is wrinkly, his various chins are wobbling, and his face is red and blotchy; it looks as though he could be in the process of a stroke! One of his front teeth is missing, and he is wearing a bland sweater, which, with its various curves, extends outwards out of the frame. He possibly represents the population of children already suffering from disorders traditionally only considered to affect adults. Similarly, the mother's facial expression resembles a pig and she looks haughty and defiant, as though she dares anyone to ask her why she’s at McDonald's. She clenches her son's shoulder, as though with a talon. Like her son, she isn’t dressed in a flattering outfit, signifying the American layperson. 

Despite asking "Mother... what is an Apple Slice?” in a possibly cautious tone, the child nevertheless attempts to grab the Happy Meal. This incongruity can imply two things. Perhaps children would eat anything, as long as it has been well-advertised and has familiar McDonald's packaging. Therefore, even though there is a new item in his Happy Meal, the child will eat it due to its "fast food"-style packaging. On the other hand, perhaps children are willing to try new things, including fruit, if only their authorities (i.e. parents, McDonald's) would offer them the chance. According to the cartoon, the mother has never given apple slices to the child. This implies that childhood obesity can be traced to irresponsible parents. 

The phrasing is also awkward. "Apple Slice", with capitalization, implies something sinister; it's as though apples are only sellable as a brand name product! Plain apple slices have morphed from an apple cut into wedges to Apple Slices, skinless, seedless, and wrapped in plastic. This disconnects children from farms and nature; will kids soon think that apples come in plastic (like how tuna comes from cans)? This also depicts the general laziness of the population; it is certainly not difficult to buy an apple at the grocery store and slice it (which isn't even necessary); instead, patrons take the same amount of time driving to a fast food restaurant to buy Apple Slices. In addition, only about 11% of customers actually choose to get Apple Slices rather than fries, although this will change since McDonald's is soon adding Apple Slices to Happy Meals by default and removing a portion of the fries [6].

The McDonald's employee, Billy, contrasts entirely with the other two characters. He is skinny, and represents the 1/3 of Americans who aren't overweight or obese [2]. His expression is wary and apologetic, which represents two things. As a person, he represents the normal-weight population who stigmatizes overweight or obese people, and he is separated from them by a counter [6]. As a McDonald's employee, Billy represents the "business" that exploits the general population by creating a façade of appearing "ideal" in order to make money.

A better message could elicit an even more outrageous response in satirizing the situation further, because the point of the image is to portray problems and misinformation in the food industry. By using a Ronald McDonald look-a-like instead of Billy, parents would feel more contrast and disgust, because the skinny Ronald, who is advertised as the champion of being friendly and caring, instead lures their children towards unhealthy food. Using McDonald's Apple Dippers would have made McDonald's more insidious. Apple Dippers are two servings of Apple Slices plus a “Low Fat Caramel Dip”, which has 100 Calories and 15 g of sugar, which is more than that of the Apple Slices (35 Calories and 6 g of sugar)* [4, 5]! The Apple Slices/Dippers also lack skin, and therefore, fiber. Also, the mother could have retorted with a comment such as “Stay away, that hasn’t been processed for human consumption!” to represent the current media’s lack of mention (whether positive or negative) of fruits. Marketing for high-sugar cereals and processed foods that have added vitamins, instead of fruits that naturally possess vitamins, misinform consumers. In addition, this cartoon may be seen by some to stigmatize obese people because the question could portray obese people as stupid, since the child doesn't know what an apple is [3]. To portray an alternative message that puts more blame on society, companies, advertising and convenience (rather than on misinformation or personal choice), the mother could've said "Fat chance that'll change anything!" which would indicate that she is aware that she is obese, but that the obesogenic environment fueled by McDonalds and other companies has made her powerless. This way, the stigma of obese people being stupid wouldn't be implied.

*Actually, this figure isn’t trustworthy because the McDonald's website has glitches. By refreshing the page, I get values of 35 Calories/6 g sugar/68 g/1 Carbohydrate and 70 Calories/9 g sugar/21 g/0.5 Carbohydrate for the Apple Dippers (without dip) and 15 Calories/3 g sugar/34 g/0.5 Carbohydrate

References

[1] Arnold, Bryant. "McDonald's Fights Childhood Obesity with Apple Slices Cartoon." Cartoon A Day Funny Business Cartoons and Web Comics. Copyright Cartoon A Day / CartoonaDay.com, 26 July 2011. Web. 14 Sept. 2011. 

[2]  CDC/National Center for Health Statistics. "FASTSTATS - Overweight Prevalence."Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 18 June 2010. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.

[3] Lillis, Jason, Jason B. Luoma, Michael E. Levin, and Steven C. Hayes. "Measuring Weight Self-stigma: The Weight Self-stigma Questionnaire." Obesity 18.5 (2009): 971-76. Web.

doi:10.1038/oby.2009.353

[4] McDonald's. "Apple Dippers :: McDonald's.com." McDonald's.com. McDonald's, 2011. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.

[5] McDonald's. "Apple Slices :: McDonald's.com." McDonald's.com. McDonald's, 2011. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.

[6] Redroxe, Christina. "McDonald's to Include Apple Slices in Every Happy Meal | NOLA.com." New Orleans Net LCC. The Associated Press, 27 July 2011. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.

Err Chard.

Y'know how raw tomatoes taste delicious? And how they taste similar to cooked tomatoes?

Now let's talk about chard.

Raw chard is terrible. Urg! So bitter and weird-tasting and fibrous! I put it in my sandwich (just the leafy part) and it was...pretty bad.

So I decided to cook it for a long time in my spaghetti and it was, can you believe it, sweet! I am not kidding. Sweet stems. They were so bitter, throat-burning, and fibrous raw! Now, cooked, they are tender, sweet/mild, and sorta like really baby celery!

It also stains my spaghetti pink, which is cool.

Polenta.

I'm starting to be a hermit in my room. I really don't enjoy being around my apartment-mates (I guess I'm just antisocial) even though they're nice and all. I guess I'm just really self-conscious when I cook food in front of strangers, especially when it involves vegetables, because apparently my apartment-mates don't consume vegetables (at least, they don't store vegetables in the fridge.)

It's pretty awkward when your apartment-mate's boyfriend asks "What's that?" when I take out some (smallish, not globular) eggplants from the fridge and set them on the cutting board, while waiting for my apartment-mate to finish using the sink. It gets worse when he asks, "So what's that?", and points to one stalk (Yes. One.) of chard that's sitting in an empty glass, and I answer "It's chard...uhh... it's like spinach but it's got pink parts."

And then when they leave and I finally start smashing up the tube of polenta (I know, I should make polenta from scratch. I'll do that one day) in a saucepan, another apartment-mate comes down and sticks one plate and one fork into the dishwasher and starts the cycle. She glances at my food and perhaps thinks, "woah, what is that?! It's like pink mashed potatoes!"

It turns out that pink (actually, "rainbow") chard and eggplant turns polenta a grungy shade of pink. It also appears that eggplant ought to be diced, rather than chunks, when on a stove with lumps of polenta. Over time, though, the polenta got thick and smooth, while the eggplant just... didn't fully cook :(.

Unfortunately, adding an ounce of cheese did nothing to make the polenta taste cheesy. I should've just eaten the cheese by itself!

My mum asked me to incorporate juniper berries in my cooking so I added a few. I couldn't really taste a difference, but I didn't really enjoy the taste of it when I chewed one by itself.

On the bright side, TVP pairs very well with polenta! My second batch of polenta included bak choi and curry powder, although I don't think I added enough curry powder. However, it looks more appetizing, and I decided to cook earlier (while everyone was asleep).

Good times to be in the kitchen:

Weekdays:

Before 8:30am, from 5pm to 6:30pm (any later, and they are cooking/drinking with friends)

Weekends:

Before 11am, not 12pm to 2pm (Any other time is unknown territory/up for grabs)

Reading Terminal Market - The Spice Market

It was forecast to rain around 1pm today, but it never did. It rained for around two minutes at 2pm. It never rained again. Because of this, I had planned my run for the morning, when I totally could've run in the afternoon (which is what I prefer). I ran to Reading Terminal Market with $5 in my key pocket, my key strung to my shoelaces, and my ID card in a secret location (haha).

$5 couldn't possibly buy everything that I wanted at Reading Terminal Market. It's a wonderful place; nothing like markets in Hong Kong (which are way better), but it's still pretty amazing; it's like Quincy Market in Boston, except that Reading Terminal Market sells more than prepared food; there are links of sausage, expensive kitchenware, honey, candles, and spices!

After browsing around the candy store and the spice store (The Spice Market), I decided to spend my $5 on curry powder and sour salt. Apparently, the sour sugar on Sour Patch Kids (and other delicious, addictive sour foods) is called "sour salt", which is just citric acid. Around February, all I wanted was to eat citric acid! ...Now I've found it, for $2.50 for 2 oz! (At least, I think it was 2 oz...the broken customer balance said "0.14". The woman told me that the stuff in the packages are either 1 or 2 oz). There were also juniper berries, but they weighed "0.07", so I'm assuming they were selling 1 oz for $2.25.

I've yet to try the curry and the citric acid... so stay tuned.

On the run back, I went through Rittenhouse and browsed the farmers market there. It's pretty awesome; next time, I'll have to bring more money and walk back, instead of run back. I'm lucky I have running shoes, and plenty of time. I don't know what I'm going to do during the semester, when I need my citric acid fix...

Later, I went to Clark Park's Farmers Market, and bought 8 oz of unsweetened coconut for $2.50! I also bought a bunch of organic rainbow chard ($2.50) for the first time, since I recall that chard tastes pretty okay from Penn Dining (although the way they cook it isn't that appetizing).

So, now I'm nearly out of cash.