Second Harvest Japan

Our class was lucky enough to hear a lecture from Mr. Charles McJilton from Second Harvest Japan. Until then, I had never heard of an organization called Second Harvest, and also had no clue of what this organization does. However, throughout his lecture, I was able to discover new things I would not have been able to know. I never knew that still many people in Japan live below the poverty line. I simply thought that even though there might be differences in financial riches, almost everyone in Japan was able to have an healthy lifestyle. I was also surprised about the amount of food we throw away, and the reason why we throw it away. I always thought that the things we trash at super markets and convenience stores was because the "best by" date was going to expire. But that was not only it. Companies throw away things that are still consumable but they trash it because it was not shipped or bought by consumers for a certain amount of time.
I feel lucky that I was able to  learn new things and every word Mr. McJilton said was very stimulating. I wish food banks will spread more around Japan and that more people will get the chance to know about Second Harevest.

Video Podcast: Good Food - Composting

This video podcast was about how to compost leftovers without wasting it by throwing it away. The video introduces how to compost by using earthworms. There are some cautions that you cannot put in any meat or dairy products because bad bacteria will effect the soil. Also, when you want to put a citrus peel, you would have to put an egg shell inside in order to neutralize the acids. The video also introduced how to use a compost bin that is more familiar to everyday life and more easier to handle.

When I first heard the word "composting", I first thought it was gross to handle because it was somthing that has to do with worms. But as I watched the video, I found out that composting is easy to do and very earth friendly. It was surprising that it only takes weeks to fully decompose the trash. Composting is not something that is familiar to a lot of people but if this video can be an opportunity for more people to know about it, I think watchig this video was meaningful.

The Skinny on Obesity (Ep. 6): A Fast -Paced Fast Food Life

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0WdRhau_No>

This YouTube video was about how stress effects eating behaviours of many people. When people feel stress for example like the anxiety of losing a job or having medical care bills to pay for, people tend to run for food to get rid of their stress. Stress has similar functions as pheromone, and it stimulates eating habits. Having stress, we crave for dense calorites and we eat food as a reward. The more stress, the more rewarding the food gets. A community called Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction helps people who have trouble with food change their mental filter and help recognize how to control their appetite. This community's purpose is not to help people loose weight but to promote a better relationship with food.

I think that stress is something that everyone has but eating too much is unhealthy. When I feel irritated, I tend to eat something sweet, but I always try to get a balance of snacks and meals. I think that people in the U.S. are more obese than people in Japan are. I think this is because of the differences in food culture. The food in the States are in large proportions and because that is natural for Americans, they consume it with no doubt. I think that making smaller sizes of food is one way from getting people overweight.

Food aphorisms

There are two food aphorisms that I would like to share.

"Some people who are obsessed with food become gourmet chefs. Others become eating disorders."
- Marya Hornbacher, Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia

I thought this quote has a very straight forward meaning saying that too much is never good if it tilts to the bad way. Eating is suppose to be an enjoyable thing, but if that eating is doing harm to one's body, than there is no fun to it.

"Anything is good if it's made of chocolate"
- Jo Brand

I simple thought this was very charming! Everyone loves chocolate and I think that nobody would get upset by recieving some.

A field trip to Yoyogi Park

This will be my first blog post!

On the second week of the food seminar, our class held a picnic at the Yoyogi Park. The park is about a 15 minute walk away from our university. I was nervous at first to have a picnic with new classmates and since it was my first time to have a class together with sophomores. But I was glad that all of my classmates were friendly and it was a little funny to find out that everyone was just as nervous as I was! Each of us brought a dish to the picnic to share. I tried everything and everything was so delicious! We also got to learn different kinds of prayers people say around the world before they start their meals. There were various kinds, from short ones to long ones, ones that rhyme and ones that were a little difficult to understand. But I think the best one is the simple "itadakimasu".  Our teacher performed some juggling toward the class and he even taught us how to juggle. I was only watching my friends trying, but it seemed quiet difficult. Although we got a few showers, the picnic was lots of fun and I think it was a great start off for our seminar.