Items
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Foodways
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2020-05-09
Successful Homemade Cake Donuts
In May of 2020, it was the middle of the pandemic and I wanted to try and make homemade donuts. Everyone else in lockdown was making homemade bread, but I wanted to do something a little more sweet. With that, I searched on Amazon for molds that someone could use to make the circular donuts. I knew without them, the donuts would not come out well. Once the molds were delivered and using a box of cake mix, I tried to make donuts. Now, you would think the second picture of Devil's Food favored donuts was the first batch, but no it wasn't. My first batch came from Funfetti cake mix (my favorite boxed cake mix), but it was a disaster. The donuts got stuck in the mold and would not come out until I used a butter knife. It left a mess because only part of the donut came out sometimes. I was disheartened because since I had time on my hands, I thought I could make donuts because the recipe I found was easy to follow. I gave up for awhile but decided later on to try again. In January of 2021, the date for the second photo of the Devil's Food donuts, I succeeded. I had sprayed the molds thoroughly and took my Mom's suggestion to spread flour around in the molds. I was proud that my second batch of donuts came out successfully! -
2021-07-20
Troop 621 in the Mess Hall
This is a photo of some Scouts from Troop 621, in San Ramon, eating dinner at the Camp Wolfeboro mess hall. The Scouts have masks around their necks. The photo was found on the troop's public website. The photo is identifiable as being taken on July 20, 2021 between 6:15 and 7:00, because Troop 621 attended camp during the fifth session (July 18 to July 24) and ate B shift dinner from 6:15 to 7:00, and part of Tuesday night's dinner was stuffing and mashed yams, which are visible on the Scouts' plates. -
2021-07-24
In-N-Out Touchless Drink Dispenser
On the way home from Camp Wolfeboro, it is a tradition in Troop 834 (and other troops) to stop at In-N-Out on the way home, which is often appreciated after a week of eating at the mess hall. When my car stopped at the Stockton In-N-Out to pick up lunch, I saw touchless drink dispensers that I hadn't seen before. Above each nozzle that dispenses soda there are two small bumps, and putting a finger between the two bumps, without touching them, causes the soda to flow. While we were there, we also saw some Scouts from Troop 7062, in American Canyon. -
2020-09-27
Food Insecurity in the U.S.
The article is a poignant example of the ways that the COVID-19 pandemic has created, and exacerbated, people's access to food. In communities across the country, the pandemic has caused shortages and delays especially for so-called "food deserts" These areas typically encompass a less-affluent neighborhood or block and service a relatively high population. -
2021-02-07
Supporting Healthcare Workers with Meals & Food Services
Everyone can surely agree that healthcare workers are our everyday heroes. Healthcare workers are the ones who had voluntarily trained and continue to medically assist those who need it without discrimination. All this while risking their own safety and well-being during a deadly pandemic. They are no strangers to long work hours while also having to always stay alert and ready, because quality care can greatly influence someone’s life. Due to most of their time taking care of patients, one can easily see how it can drain their own health as well. Hospitals are not exactly known for their top tier food options either. For these reasons, organizations like Meals for Heroes had worked with food services to help these essential workers with their meals. With the COVID-19 pandemic closing many businesses as well due to safety regulations, we have also been seeing the same businesses (as well as bigger ones) pitch in with meals and more affordable meal plans. Some places are even giving healthcare workers food for free. https://www.uab.edu/fightcovid19/impact/meals-for-heroes https://alabamanewscenter.com/2021/01/20/meals-for-heroes-will-continue-serving-meals-to-frontline-health-care-workers-fighting-covid-19/ https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/free-food-for-healthcare-workers -
2021-02-07
Italy's Coming Out
Two links to news articles talking about how businesses in some Italian cities and provinces are defying the lockdown orders. This document shows that the questioning of COVID-19 restrictions in a worldwide phenomenon. -
2020
Community Connections: addressing food scarcity in Sacramento, California
This website is a rallying point for Community Connections 95820, a community organization that works to provide food to families in need in the South Oak Park neighborhood of Sacramento, California. This organization is picking up where food banks are leaving off as many of the food banks in this neighborhood have closed due to the pandemic, and families have been lacking food for a variety of reasons. This highlights food scarcity issues during the pandemic and efforts of community members to make sure their neighbors are still able to get food. The “About Us” page says Community Connections was inspired by a project called Invisible Hands, in New York City. Community Connections highlights their commitment to safety, dignity, and anonymity for the families, sponsors, and volunteers. -
2021-01-24
Food, COVID-19, and my Mother
My mom raised her children around food. She made sure everything revolved around it just like the Earth revolves around the Sun. We ate whether we wanted to or not, as food was her way of showing love. Mom is now in her late 70's and still works miracles in the kitchen. When we visited my parents' house (pre-pandemic), she fed us until we could not eat anymore, then declared we were still hungry and loaded our plates with more. That is what Mexican moms do, she always says. Even though we protest, my husband, kids, and I love it. All of this changed once COVID-19 hit. Worried about my parents catching the virus, we did not see much of them in 2020. When we did, it was from a distance in their backyard and not for very long. It took an enormous toll on my mom. My parents cannot visit with their children and grandchildren, but almost just as worse, my mom has no one to cook for but my dad. Although she still enjoys cooking for him, it is not the same. Although we all know what food means to her, none of us realized just how much until this pandemic hit. Normally, she is rarely sick, loves to hike, and enjoys going to aerobics with her friends. However, lately, she has felt melancholy, is getting headaches, and is sleeping more. This is extremely unusual for her, which has us all very concerned. This pandemic is wearing on her both physically and emotionally. This feisty woman is slowing down, which is scary to us all. Over the past year, we continue to tell her we want to come over but would never forgive ourselves if we unknowingly pass the virus to her or my dad. Mom did not and still does not understand. She just wants what she wants, which is her family surrounding her. My dad is much more pragmatic about this situation, but mom will not have any of it. She is incredibly frustrated and is not afraid to tell us about it. Luckily, both of my parents just got their first dose of the vaccine last week. My dad said this gives them renewed hope that their family will be together again soon. I hear this hope when I speak on the phone with my mom. She is ready to get busy again in the kitchen. I cannot wait to eat her homemade tortillas straight off the stove, her spicy chili, and all of her other tasty dishes. People are now talking about the 'new normal.' I do not want a new normal. I want to get back all that this pandemic has taken from us, including my family crowding around a table full of my mom’s food. -
2021-01-24
Grabbing for Groceries
Grocery shopping is part of nearly everyone’s life. We’re used to going into a store at most hours of the day and night and finding what we need. Many of us eat out quite often so don’t stockpile food supplies at home and don’t cook at home very often. So grocery shopping pre-pandemic was a relatively easy and boring task. With the pandemic came restaurant closures and restrictions and people started eating at home more often. People started buying greater quantities of food and other grocery items (particularly toilet paper!), which led to shortages and quotas on the purchase of particular items. The grocery store became somewhat of a combat zone, with people battling each other for items and viewing others as the enemies who either were going to steal their food or give them the virus. The entire grocery shopping experience changed precipitously for most individuals and reflected a major shift in how society acquires and shares its food. -
2021-01-24
Home Food Delivery: What a Treat!
One of the most basic survival needs is food, so when the pandemic hit many individuals were struggling to meet this need with the changed food landscape. Restaurants were closing, grocery stores had restricted supplies, going grocery shopping could be dangerous in terms of exposure to the virus and exposure to people fighting over items, and many people weren’t in the habit of cooking at home every day. So this most basic of needs underwent significant shifts due to the pandemic. I dislike shopping, cooking, looking up a recipe, cleaning up the kitchen, and even eating. So I tend to eat out quite a bit. I pivoted during the pandemic to getting home food delivery and that change has been one of the few positive effects of the pandemic. It saves me time, reduces stress, and improves my health because of the healthy food choices. -
2021-01-16
Becoming Boba Experts
One of our family’s favorite treats is boba and in our area, boba shops are as ubiquitous as Starbucks. Even though transmission of COVID through food is seen as a minimal risk, the process of going into a tiny boba shop to order and wait doesn’t seem worth the risk for an item that is not really essential. After years of vowing to never make boba at home (too much stirring), my husband caved in and ordered instant boba online. We were skeptical - would it really taste as good as the boba shops? Would the texture be right? Making it is a little time consuming, but we were surprised that the taste and texture are exactly right, even at home. My husband, who has always liked brewing different loose leaf teas, has gotten much more into perfecting the “perfect tea.” He has had a fun time experimenting with different teas and sweetness levels, and although I miss the different jellies and other flavors that you can get at a boba shop, I have to admit I am impressed at how easily we were able to conquer making something we never would have attempted without COVID. Added bonus - over the past two plus decades, I have grown increasingly uncomfortable with the amount of plastic that is wasted with a boba drink (the plastic cups, lids, and giant plastic straws). Even with straws technically outlawed and the growing popularity of reusable boba straws, loopholes and lack of enforcement allowed most people to still use disposable plastic straws and the plastic cups and lids. When we make boba at home, there is no plastic involved, nothing is thrown away, and we use our reusable straws. An upside of COVID will be that it hopefully helps us to make small changes (like making our own boba and tea) to our lives to lessen our carbon footprints. -
2020-07-21
Danny Meyer's Reintroduces Tipping to His Restaurants
Danny Meyer, one of the biggest names in the restaurant industry backs out of the No Tipping Movement. The No Tipping Movement advocates ending tipping culture in the US to create an equitable working environment and curve the harassment servers can suffer from customers. Due to the pandemic, Danny Meyer chose to allow his servers to make more money by eliminating no tipping from his restaurants and serving a hit to the movement as others panic to follow suit. -
2020-08-11
How Food Businesses Are Responding
Food workers share their experiences in this Bon Appetit article on how the industry is dealing with the events of 2020 from the pandemic to the protests. Each story is unique and covers almost every aspect of the industry. -
2020-06-12
Colorado Strong
This is a follow-up to the first article featuring the collaboration of Colorado breweries to support each other as well as healthcare, hospitality, gig, and service workers. This article lists all breweries with current release dates of the collaborative beer, Colorado Strong Pale Ale. -
07/06/2020
William "Billy" Cummings Oral History, 2020/07/06
William “Billy” Cummings, an employee of the food service company, Choicelunch shares his experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. He describes the suddenness of the pandemic. Billy explains the impact COVID-19 had on his job and on the jobs of his co-workers. He discusses how the company he works for pivoted their business model to stay open. Billy expands upon the impact COVID-19 has had on the food service industry and food services workers. He details his initial reaction to COVID-19 and describes the pressures families are experiencing at home. And reflects upon how this experience may impact the types of jobs people have in the future. Billy calls upon the greater community to come together to ease the impact of COVID-19 on businesses and families. -
2020-08-01
University of Denver Researching the affects of COVID on Bodies and Eating
The University of Denver is recruiting study subjects to answer questions about the relationship between COVID-19, food habits, body issues, and emotional responses. -
2020-07-25
Danville School Lunch Delivery Service "ChoiceLunch" Helping Serve The Community
An East Bay school lunch delivery company is switching gears to help serve the community during the coronavirus pandemic. KCBS Radio's Carrie Hodousek has details of the partnership between ChoiceLunch in Danville and the Alameda County Food Book. -
2020-05-10
Cookies Wearing Masks
Local San Ramon baker, KrisPetites, features cookies that reflect the reality of masks in our COVID-19 world. The cookies are round sugar cookies with yellow royal icing emoji faces wearing masks. The cookies expression is sweet - as if the cookie is actually smiling - and the masks are vibrant with unique detailing. -
2020-05-20
Making My First Sourdough Starter
I decided to start making a sourdough starter a couple months into quarantine like just about everyone else. I had a fairly large stockpile of flour in my cupboards because I bake fairly often, so I didn't have to worry about dwindling supply at the supermarket too much. My grandma taught me how to bake from a pretty young age, and my mom made bread with an electric bread maker for years, but I'd never attempted my own loaf without a bread maker, let alone a sourdough starter. A starter always seemed like something out of reach and far too difficult for an inexperienced bread maker, but with armed with encouragement and tips from some friends via Discord, I set out to make my own. These are photos of my process, from my beginning mixture of flour and water to my first sourdough loaf (and my starter's permanent 'home'). I'm fairly proud of it. It took me about 2 weeks to get the starter to really start; I'm guessing in part because I only had all-purpose flour and not the suggested rye flour. There was a lot of troubleshooting involved before it really started to mature. It's been an interesting process, and I'm really glad I tried it. Starters are far more resilient than I had previous believed, and the bread is fantastic. It's been a somewhat calming respite from everything, even though I feel fairly selfish giving myself that with everything that's happening. -
2020-04-22
Coronavirus Cake
We consider our nanny to be part of our family and she was part of our quaran-team. Her April 22 birthday posed a particular challenge for a cake. We would normally visit Ambrosia Bakery, but with more time, we decided to bake it instead. With extra raspberries on hand and some Valentine’s candy about to go out the window, we threw together the SARS-CoV-2 cake to celebrate the unusual times of celebrating in quarantine. -
2020-03-27
Luna Loca Offers Take-Out During California's Shelter-In-Place Orders
Following Contra Costa County's shelter-in-place orders, local restaurants began offering take-out and delivery options to keep their businesses alive. Many believed this would be the solution to a short term problem only to quickly realize this would be the new reality for months. Danville residents were quick to support local businesses by purchasing gift cards and ordering take-out and delivery. This screenshot shows a photograph of the Mexican food restaurant, Luna Loca. Luna Loca has been in business in Danville, California for 40 years. It is difficult to see a local institution that is typically bustling with customers so quiet. Hopefully their efforts, combined with community support, will allow them to weather the storm of the COVID-19 pandemic. -
2020-06-13
The Future of Food Influencers
The way the restaurants advertise is typically by word of mouth or since the emergence of social media, food influencers. Food influencers specialize in creating social media posts that garner the attention of followers and persuade them to patron the restaurant. As the article by Jenny Dorsey points out since the coronavirus pandemic hit restaurants have had to re-evaluate their relationships with influencers and influencers have had to re-evaluate themselves. Restaurants can no longer comp meals to influencers and they want influencers to be more skilled to create story-driven reviews that give a heart to the restaurant. One of the most important parts of this article is the desire to know the line cook who continued working during the pandemic. The people who kept the restaurants alive and continued to serve the community and the push for influencers to include their stories with their posts. -
2020-06-12
Fear of the 'quarantine 15'
This article discusses the emergence of the phrase “quarantine 15” and the impact of anti-fatness on our society even as it is being ravaged by a global pandemic. Author Virgie Tovar ties the phrase to people's need to connect and the ease of doing so through self-deprecation. Dr. Lindo Bacon attributes the trend to the anxieties of dealing with isolation and other factors directly connected to the coronavirus pandemic and our social stigma against mental health issues. Which reason is more accurate is tough to say and may differ from individual to individual. What is certain is that while people are dealing with changes to their food habits and environmental stressors they are also being pressured to lose weight. -
2020-05-30
A Garden Grows in Danville
At the start of the Bay Area's shelter-in-place orders, there was a lot of uncertainty about the food supply chain. Given that we live with a couple of high-risk individuals, we wanted to ensure that we had access to fresh food without risking exposure to COVID-19. We quickly got to work and planted squash, tomato, pumpkin, peppers and pea plants. We involved our children from the beginning and have had a lot of fun gardening as a family as it has brought us comfort and has been incredibly therapeutic during these trying and uncertain times. Preparing Garden Soil: March 28, 2020. Plants Begin to Sprout: April 15, 2020. A Garden Grows in Danville: May 30, 2020. -
2020-05-31
Chicago Restaurant Workers Take Extra Covid-19 Precautions
Food workers and restaurants are a part of our communities. They rely on customers from the community and often live in the communities they serve. Making sure that customers are safe is a huge part of the job and as these Chicago food workers showed, they will not wait for mandates to put safety measures in place to protect workers and customers alike. Submitted by Stephanie Berry, curatorial intern for Arizona State University, HST 580. -
2020-05-31
FDA Loosens Labeling Rules
Consumers have seen a shortage of ingredients and food like yeast, beef, or eggs. The same goes for food companies. The article by Food & Wine addresses how the FDA has loosened its regulations on ingredient substitutions due to the coronavirus pandemic. While some of these substitutions may seem inconsequential and even good, like not bleaching bread flour because the bleaching agent is out of stock. Why are we still bleaching bread flour anyways? The issue is how this will affect ingredient substitutions in the future as there is no set end date for these new rules. Wiggle room with ingredients can get dangerous for consumers, and while it may be necessary for the moment, it will have an effect on our food in the future. -
2020-05-31
Yeast Shortage due to Covid-19
With lots of time on our hands, people are turning to hobbies they have been putting off like baking. One of the hallmarks of being a good baker is making bread. This has created a shortage of yeast, which as the article points out, is a living ingredient that can only be rushed so much. Baking has it's seasons, and as a professional baker, you learn when to expect shortages of ingredients, and when orders for products will increase. Typically this is around the fall and into the Christmas season. With the coronavirus pandemic and many bakeries closed, people are baking like it is the Christmas season when most ingredient manufacturers have cut down their output to reflect the coming summer. The shortage of yeast is most likely why many people are turning to sourdough starters. However, the quickest way to get a starter started is by using dry yeast. Contributed by Stephanie Berry, curatorial intern for Arizona State University, HST 580. -
2020-05-31
Colorado Strong Pale Ale
With restaurants and breweries having to shut down or go to limited capacity because of the pandemic, their financial health has been hit hard. Colorado remains a hot spot for microbreweries and many of those microbreweries are community-driven. In the past, they created beers to raise relief funds for California and Australian wildfires as well as to support the community they work in. Coloradans support each other and the pandemic is no different. With 125 breweries participating the funds will go to jump-start the breweries financial well being and support the medical, gig workers, service industry, and hospitality employees. It's one of the ways food and beverage can be used to drive support to keep our communities strong. Now I just wish I still resided in my home state so I could help out by purchasing each variation of Colorado Strong Pale Ale.