Final Project – Initial Proposal

Central Research Theme:
Gastronomy—adapted from a definition found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastronomy:

An interdisciplinary study of the relationships between culture and food using components of many sciences (natural, social, exact, and “beautiful”) with food acting as the central axis of observation.

My interest in this subject is varied. For one I want to have a more concrete starting point for my understanding of Mexican culture and learn new and creative ways to go about getting that initial understanding. As you know, my original research idea was to study the affects of modern technology on social conditions in rural villages and society in general here in different areas of Mexico; this project was way over my head. A project studying gastronomy will be an excellent opportunity to start understanding the cultures from the bottom up rather than the top down as I had originally been trying to do. So for the time being I will be leaving all of the ideas of cultural change in relation to introduction of technology out of the picture for this project and rather, focus on developing a better cultural understanding of Oaxaca and Mexico in general through gastronomy.

Some of the topics/questions I want to explore: what is the significance of la comida; what is the regional makeup of Oaxaqueño food and the ingredients, culturally and physically, and how it is transformed into something uniquely Oaxaqueño; economic class significance of diversity in food; how do certain foods get from the ground to my plate; the importance of using traditional and modern tools for cooking; a heightened understanding and general appreciation for selection, preparation, creation, presentation and consumption of las comidas; how does the incredibly large amount of biodiversity and cultural diversity in Oaxaca relate to the diverse variety of foods available; a general study of other traditional and artistic practices that are based around food production or consumption; and the importance of traditional means of passing on recipes and technique through oral means rather than schools and recipes.

I will be primarily working with my current host mother Olguita Bohörquez in her house and in her kitchen. You should be able to reach me there anytime throughout the following 2 weeks at 515-16-83 or email me at drpoo@drpooville.org. She is very knowledgeable of gastronomy of Oaxaca and is very excited to be working with me on this project. I will be doing a lot of research through her but also with the internet, books, museums, and I would like to meet with other “informants” such as food vendors in the markets, cooking instructors, miscellaneous people in the industrial food business, and other Oaxacaqueños that understand the relationships between Oaxaqueño food and their culture.

The project will be centered on a planned structure of numerous comidas Oaxaqueñas and other common foods found in Oaxaca that we will be preparing over the 2 week period. For example, I will learn how to make soups, beans, rice, salsas, tortillas, botanitas, drinks, sweets, and also some main dishes such as fish, champulines, and enchiladas, etc. Through simple observation and participant observation, I will learn some techniques and reasoning for planning, economizing, selecting, buying, storing, cleaning, preparing, cooking, presenting and general organizing around the creation of food. All this will be done with the consideration of the local traditional and modern Oaxaqueño context in mind and with a general “modern” kitchen context in mind as well. From there I will do research on specific foods and the ingredients that make them up. And through the research I will then explore the cultural relationships that are formed between people and the food they eat by investigating source materials, conversing with many people in different ways and by exploring places of production and vending. The rest of the details should then develop easily around these three main activities.

Posted by drpooville_Admin as General, College Of The Atlantic, Recipes, Personal Endeveavors at 7:29 PM PST

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So…i am about as far away from the mess i was in in my last post….and i’m really happy about it.

Here’s my initial project proposal…i will be updating it in the next few days with the final version.

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Final Project — Initial Proposal

Central Research Theme:
Gastronomy—adapted from a definition found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastronomy:

An interdisciplinary study of the relationships between culture and food using components of many sciences (natural, social, exact, and “beautiful”) with food acting as the central axis of observation.

My interest in this subject is varied. For one I want to have a more concrete starting point for my understanding of Mexican culture. As you know, my initial research idea was to study the affects of modern technology on social conditions in rural villages and society in general here in different areas of Mexico. A project studying gastronomy will be an excellent opportunity to start understanding the cultures from the bottom up, rather than the top down as I had originally been trying to do. I can use this project to learn more about some of the most fundamental cultural aspects that exist in the current social conditions that I ultimately would like to study at a later point in time with relation to how they are changing with the introduction of modern technology. This means that I will be leaving all of the ideas of cultural change out of the picture in relation to technology for this project and my focus will rather be on developing for myself a better cultural understanding of Oaxaca (and Mexico in general) through gastronomy.

In addition to having this be a starting point for further research in Mexico, I will use the skills and all the very practical knowledge that I gain to develop my levels of creativity and basic understanding of choosing, processing, cooking, presenting, appreciating and understanding food and food culture. It will give me a very structured and solid 2 to 3 weeks to continue to develop my general communication skills and my Spanish speaking and comprehension levels. I will have a valuable opportunity to directly apply all of my elementary Cultural Anthropological research skills and I can continue to develop my understanding of the importance of Agroecology. It goes without saying, it’s also a very great opportunity to do some really fun, exciting and self-fulfilling Human Ecological research in cross cultured context.

I will make use of at least the following skill sets learned this term: direct observation, dialog, multiple session interview’s, journal and food observation writing, and triangulation. I will both observe and perform cooking practices and techniques, as well as organization, preparation, processing, cooking, presentation and sampling techniques. I will be scribing recipes as I learn how to cook them, first in Spanish and secondly in English. I will research history of different types of Oaxacan food and traditional and modern cultural practices that surround it.

I will be primarily working with my current host mother Olguita Bohörquez in her house and her kitchen. She is very knowledgeable of Gastronomy of Oaxaca and is very excited to be working with me on this project. I will also be doing a lot of research through her, but also with the internet, books, and I would like to meet with other “informants” such as food venders in the markets, restaurant chefs, and other Oaxacans that understand the relationships between food and culture (nearly every Oaxaqueño is a candidate).

The project will be centered around a planned structure of numerous comidas Oaxaqueñas that we will be preparing over the 2 week period. I will also learn how to prepare many miscellaneous things such as drinks and sweets. Everything else, as I see I right now, will then stem off from that.

One final thought, It is possible, depending on the time constraints I find myself under, I might want to travel back Yauhuiche or another village to spend a couple days with a family that is knowledgeable of the Gastronomic’s of Oaxaca. I will contact Fernando as soon as possible to get more information about what is possible and what might be the best idea.

Thanks!

Posted by drpooville_Admin as General, College Of The Atlantic, Recipes, Personal Endeveavors at 7:43 PM PST

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How about this for lunch?

I threw some of the following into a stirfry: Quarter lemon juice, a tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinger, some vegitable oil, a pinch of rosemarry and a tablespoon of curry powder, Green/Red peppers, mushrooms, like 10 snow pea pods, tomatoes slices and 3 peices of ham sliced up.

I boiled some peanuts and sunflower seeds with some Cayenne Pepper until soft.

I cooked up some black beans.

Drained everything, then wrapped it all up into two warm whole wheat tortillas with a little mozzarella cheese to top it off.

-Chris

Posted by drpooville_Admin as Recipes at 12:26 PM PDT

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I made some more wicked good burritos!

I used the rest of my left over homemade chicken and macarroni and cheese. (Which…i did not put the recipe for either up because i wasn’t to proud of the chicken….and i have forgotten what i used to make it anyways.) The mac and cheese was just bent-elbow noodles, with mild con queso cheese, extra salsa plus a little milk. I cubed the rest of the left over chicken breast and added it and the mac to the following stirfy mix. Diced brochli, cucumber, tomatoes, onion, mushrooms, green and red bell peppers, and snow peas. All seasoned with juice from half a lemon, some marjoram, parika, red pepper, black pepper and salt. I also added a can of black eyed peas. Then i wrapped this mix up in a warm wheat tortilla and added some mozarella chesse. Yum Yum.

-Chris

Posted by drpooville_Admin as Recipes at 4:03 PM PDT

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So, i’m still at it. Cooking up a storm!

Last week at some point…Sunday i believe; yes, sunday it was. I made an interesting beef dish. Since it’s been so long i cooked it…and i seem to be having some serious case of memory loss since i’ve QUIT smoking pot…..i hope i can remember everything that i used to make the dish.

Well, i know i had so thinly cut beef patty’s, more like tenders. Which i then put some Montreal Steak Seasoning on as well as some soy sauce and some pickled jalepenos. I think that was it. Not very creative. But, maybe i also put something else that i just can’t remember right now. I cooked up the beef by frying it in a fyring pan. Man, was that smoky as hell! My house looked like it was on fire! Smoke was plumbing out of all open windows, and all i could hope for was that none was leaking out into the front hallway. I didn’t need the apartment complex’s firealarm going off, it was bad enough the one in my own apartment was blairing like hell!

I served the dish with a mushroom sauce on top of the beef. With a bit of milk, I boiled a bunch of finely sliced mushrooms with some fine white and purple onions slices until there was a sauce consitancy.

Finally, i cooked up some corn…or maybe some beans…i don’t remember, and nuked a couple baked potatoes and added all the fixings, such as butter, cheddar cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper.

This wasn’t the best dish ever, and it gave me some fucking wicked gas. Though, overall, i was happy with how it turned out.

That…my friends, was my outdoor cooking, indoors.

On Thursday, i made a big ass stirfry and served it ontop of a mound of white rice. The stirfry had juice from half a freshly sqeezed lemon, some paprika, a little salt and pepper, and then a bunch of veggitables. Cucumber, brochli, tomatoes, green/red bell peppers, white/purple onions, scallions (long green onions with white towards the root…i think they are called scallions?) and mushrooms.

Then, yesterday, Friday, I made some wicked tasty burittos. I baked (20 mins @ 400) some chicken and also made another mushroom sauce and had mozzarella and cheddar cheese, as well as some corn to go inside. The chicken, i made with a marinade. It consisted of juice from a quarter of a lemon, about 5 thinly sliced garlic cloves, a bit of apple cider vinegar, some of molasses, some curry powder, crushed red pepper, a pinch of red pepper, some ground marjorame, some Montreal Chicken seasoning, and a little bit of water. Damn was it good.

The mushroom sauce was made with mushrooms, white onions, fresh hot long jalopenos, some milk, and a bit of water. Which, again, i boiled until the consitency of a sauce was had.

-Chris

Posted by drpooville_Admin as Recipes at 6:08 PM PST

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Right on! So, the past week i’ve been attempting to make use of my newfound time and money……that was normally being spent on pot. Yup, i’ve been spending it on my health in ways of good old home’ style cookin’.

I’ve already made 4 dishes i’ve never made before. 3 were complety experiemental (no recipies….) and 1 was from a mix of two different recipes.

My first dish was one of cubed chicken marinated in roasted garlic spegetti sauce (pre-packaged) and extra plain tomatoe sauce with extra minced garlic, jalapenoes, sliced tomatoes, onions, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper.

I tossed all this into a frying pan and cooked it good! Then, (well, before…) i cut up some green, red, and orange/yellow bell peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes and onions and fried those bad boys up in some vegetable oil. I call this, a stir fry. :-)

And i made some plain old white rice.

I served the complete dish with the chicken and sauce on top of a hefty amount of rice, and the stir fry on the side. It was quite excellent.

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The next day…..i made some homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. Elisheva got a stomach bug and was very sick all day. So, i decided i would make her some soup to help her feel better, and so she could atleast eat something. She was having an impossible time keeping anything down at all…..it was not good.

So, i found two different recepies online for chicken noodle soup. One called for making even the broth from scratch, while the other called for using some chicken broth from a can. I did both.

I cooked up all the chicken for 30-45 minutes and had myself some weak chicken broth, then added it into the big pot which i had used 2 cans of chicken broth in. (before that….i skimmed the coagulated fat from the homemade broth….) I followed the recipie of the completely homemade recipie….(except for the additional two cans of broth) and used celery, carrots, onions, salt and pepper, some olive oil, and of course, the finely chopped chicken pieces.

It turned out excellent! I was the talk of the day at COA because i had made so much (over 4 quarts) that I let all the students still around campus eat as much as they wanted. And, most importantly, Elisheva really liked it too. :-)

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Then, yesterday, i made another interesting chicken dish.

I mixed some salt and pepper, crushed red pepper (the kind likely found at a pizza restaruant), apple cider vinegar, a little water, and crushed totilla chips and battered it onto the chicken breast halves which i had beaten to a tender. Then, with the oven preheated to 450, i baked the chicken for 15-20 minutes or so. It browned up and turned out great!

Then, i made another stir fry. This time i used some extra veggies. I started with vegetable oil and juice sqeezed from half a lemon, and then cooked up some brocholli, cucumber, tomatoes, onioins, mushrooms, green, red, orange/yellow bell peppers.

And, i cooked up some Kidney beans striaght out of the can baby! Yum Yum.

Then…for desert i made myself a bowl of cookies and cream icecream with cut up fresh strawberries. Yum. One of my favorites.

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Then tonight….i changed up from chicken, and cooked up some pork.

I made a marinade from some spicy Red Chili Ginger and Garlic sauce, and with some soy sauce, a little ground nutmeg, some crushed red pepper, an egg, and a little butter. I beat the pork to a tender and let it sit in the mix for nearly 2 hours.

While the pork was soaking up the goodness, i had an adventure with some macaronni and cheese. I cut up a tomate, a half an onion, and two hotdogs, and added it into the boiling mac noodles. After the noodles were done, i drained them, added a little milk and added some mildly hot, premade nacho cheese and a handfull of sharp chedder cheese. And called it done. Yum.

Then, i cooked up some canned corn and threw the pork on the skillet and fried each piece up for 15-20 minutes.

It was all MOST EXCELLENT!

And….now that all that has settled into my tummy, it’s time for my icecream and strawberry desert.

Laters!

-Chris

Posted by drpooville_Admin as Recipes at 9:29 PM PST

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