Back to School Night: 27 September, 2012

Food and Culture: English 7-8

Jamie Zartler

Thank you for being here this evening. We should partner because we have the same goals.

To partner we need to be in communication.
Email: JZartler@pps.net works best for me. 503.916..5160 75 700 might work better for you.

I'm generally not at Grant Monday afternoons, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

I do use Edbox, and you should, too.

All this contact information  is on the school web page:
Zartler on GrantHS.com .

This is also the place to find my syllabus for this course. The main ideas captured there are: This is an English Course; students need to read and to write. Students should learn thinking skills as well as skills that will help them learn and be productive their entire lives.

Food and Culture is NOT a Home Economics class, though I hope my students will learn something about cooking and eating well. (And thank you for those of you who have been able to help with the suggested materials fee donation.) There will be opportunities for students to eat in class, and for them to cook in class. (Parental Warning: knives are sharp. Appropriate instruction in the use of sharp tools will be provided, but students must exercise due caution.) The idea behind the Food and Culture class is that  there are many, many interesting questions that arise when we think carefully and critically about food and how reflects culture.

The Grant English Department has, over the last several years, increasingly recognized the value of non-fiction in our curricula. As an English Class Food and Culture will have a bias towards non-fiction works. However we will also be study both short fiction and a novel -- Like Water for Chocolate -- that feature food as important symbols or motifs. Additionally, all students will have required independent reading projects throughout the year based in this evolving reading list.

(Second Parental Warning: Part of the theory behind this class is that food is a vital part of our culture. Since our culture is embedded in the communities that we live in, I will ask your students to make observations and conduct research in their community and surrounding neighborhoods. Alternative assignments can be arranged.)

At the Zartler on GrantHS.com web page, you can also find my Food and Culture Blog. The blog is vital to your student's success. The blog is primarily designed to help students track what they missed (or forgot that they didn't miss) in class. I generally ask students to "check the blog" as a first step when they have missed class. However, they may need to follow up with me for handouts or other activities. (Interestingly, some parents have found the blog a useful cure for the short lived question, "What did you do in school today?" You can also use the "What's Cooking" entries as a place to have conversations.)

If you have concerns that I don't have time or that are not appropriate to address now, please contact me as soon as possible.

Again, thank you for being part of your student's education and the Grant Community.

Finally, many Grant families have been generous in their support of materials and books for this class. The sense of being a community in part represented by this generous spirit is what helps make Grant a great place.

Wish list: flatware, paper products, mixing and serving bowls, and "Vintage" cookbooks are currently the highest priority.

What's Cooking: Thursday, 27 September, 2012

What's cooking: an occassional supplement to Mr. Zartler's Food and Culture class blog.

NOT a Celebration of Whole Grains

My friend Mary Rodeback taught me this amazing recipe. We like it with steak -- as Mark Bittman says, when you're going to have a good time eating, enjoy!

Saute two heads of spinach with

some ham stock, as the spinach wilts

add 4 oz of (or more) or cream cheese and

a handful of Gorgonzola.

Enjoy!

Parent note participation time:

What are some cultural questions or insights that may come from studying this recipe?

Tuesday, 25 September

In class today we reviewed that there is a quiz on vocabulary words on Thursday; part of the quiz is for students to have a planner or planning device.

Mr. Zartler also went over the requirement that all students have a book to read for an independent reading project. That list is available online. Students may need to use resources such as Multnomah County Library to access books from the list.

The class reviewed the areas of knowledge that we used to analyze the "How Carrots Won the Trojan War" piece.

The areas of knowledge that we will use for the next article are:
Agriculture
Arts, Culture, & Religion
Eating and Cooking
Economics and Business
Health
History and Social Science
"Jeopardy Knowledge"
Science

HOMEWORK:
Every student got a handout of the chapter "Corn Causes Vampires." The class read and discussed the introduction together. For homework students are expected to pre-read the piece by first reading all the topic sentences. Then all students should do a quick read of the entire piece for Thursday.

Tuesday, 25 September

Class began with writing a scene between the writer and the character for whom they wrote a diary entry for homework.

After writing, writers shared.

Next the class read the story "That Girl." We had a long discussion about issues raised by the story:  the nature of conflict in fiction; the role of stereotypes in fiction, and others. Writers who missed class should get a copy from Mr. Zartler as we will be doing a detailed analysis of the story in class on Thursday.

The last part of class was spent studying ten elements of story telling. Writers should get a handout from Mr. Zartler. As this will be a vital reference.

Monday, 24 September

Today in class we discussed the Mark Bittman lecture that many of us attended.

We spent considerable time on his assertion that we need to make it harder to buy "bad" food and easier to buy "good" food. Part of the conversation was focused around the tension between viewing government as having a strong role in helping people and solving societal problems on the one hand and on the preeminence of personal liberty and choice on the other hand (stereotypically policies of the Democrats and Republicans respectively).

Next the class watched a Bittman video clip demonstrating a savory breakfast of wheat berries and scallions. Then we discussed if and how this recipe reflected Bittman's concept of "Food that Matters."

Remember that there is a vocabulary quiz on Thursday; part of the grade for the quiz will be for each student to demonstrate that he or she has a planning device.

Thursday, 20 September

Field Trip Update: I apologize, but the bus back from Mark Bittman tonight will be arriving at Grant later than originally expected. Expect to return to Grant at 9:40 pm. Students should meet on Grant's front steps by 6:00 pm tonight!

In class today groups presented their analysis of Bittman's writing. Students took notes individually. Then each person came up with at least one summative comment or big question related to Bittman's writing.

VOCABULARY: There will be a vocabulary quiz next Thursday. The words agriculture - unctuous from our list will be on the quiz.

Mr. Zartler shared the Wednesday, 20 September blog entry. He stated that students should make a habit of reviewing the blog regularly, and to encourage this regular checking of the blog he would sometimes post a "What's Cooking" entry, sometimes provide simple extra credit tasks, etc.

Mr. Zartler also explained that beginning next week students would have an independent reading project based on a reading list they will get next week.

Wednesday, 20 September, 2012

What's cooking: an occassional supplement to Mr. Zartler's Food and Culture class blog.

What's cooking

My mother-in-law is visiting; she loves a good steak from time to time. So I made Bistecca for her.

Now if your Italian is good, you know that I just wrote, "I made steak for her." So let me be a bit more precise. I made Bistecca all Fiorrentina for her (and, well, for me!). That is, I made a steak preparation that is popular in the Tuscany region of Italy. (Fierenze is the Italian for the capital of Tuscany, the city we call Florence).

The breed of cattle most common in Tuscany are called Chianina. They are white.

I don't think my meat came from a white Italian cow, and in cooking one often has to make substitutions. There are two main concepts to the dish that make it Tuscan style.

The first is that a thick cut of steak, a Porterhouse is traditional, is used.

The steak is grilled at first over a very hot fire, then moved off the hot flames to finish cooking over lower heat.  The idea is to strongly brown the outsides of the steaks (what chemical reaction is being used here?) while leaving much of the interior rare or medium rare.

This photo shows how a Fiorentina steak looks. The browning is a result of the Maillard Reaction.

The second aspect of the preparation is that an olive oil is used as the steak sauce. Before grilling the meat is typically seasoned with salt and pepper. Different recipes suggest different ways to season this olive oil (see, it's kinda hard to go totally wrong in cooking because everyone has different tastes). Some say just pour excellent olive oil on the steak, but most season the olive oil. Some use rosemary, others some lemon. I put some cloves of garlic, and green pepper corns in my olive oil over night, and added some lemon peal to the oil a bit before serving it.

One thing to realize is that a Porterhouse is a pretty expensive cut of meat. If you wanted to try something similar you could use any steak suitable for grilling (a sirloin for example). Some people (including me) prefer a steak with a bone in it because they think that they have a richer taste. I normally get my mother-in-law a New York Strip steak because it is her (and my wife's favorite cut). A New York has less fat than a Porterhouse or Rib-eye. But one does give up a bit of lovely unctuousness  (look a new vocabulary word) with the leaner (and healthier?) cut? The strip steak pictured below has more marbling (fat between the strands of meat) than many, so it doesn't show the difference the way I'm used to thinking of it.

Bone in New York Strip

Bone in Rib-eye

In class as we discuss this entry, we will discuss possible side dishes and beverages to serve with Bistecca alla Fiorentina.

We might also talk about the parts of a cow.....

If Tuscany intrigues you, you can read Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes. Her memoir (made into a film) includes recipes.

Bon Appetit!
Mr. Z