Preliminary Research

The following preliminary research was completed by the group during a howling Nor'Easter,on the New Hampton School campus, Sunday afternoon. Given that the participants had little background knowledge of their driving questions, each did research to gain more sophistication of their chosen topic. Below please find some of the information discovered!

Preliminary Research for each Driving Question:
1) What are the distinguishing ingredients used in each ethnic food experienced?
Armin and Ian learned the following:
Irish food Ingredients Include:
Garlic, Cabbage, Kale, Potatoes, Onions, Egg, Tomato, Fish, Pork, Milk, Butter, Cheese, Barley, Blood, Oats
Mexican Food Ingredients:
Chocolate, Maize, Tomato, Vanilla, Avocado, Papaya, Pineapple, Chile, Pepper, Beans, Squash, Sweet Potato, Peanut, Fish, Turkey, Corn
Chinese Food Ingredients:
Rice, Noodles, Meat, Fish, Wheat, Onion, Ginger

2) Where do the raw ingredients originate?
What ingredients must be imported?
Are the businesses able to use local vendors?

Patrick and Josh learned the following:
Are ingredients available locally?
During this time of year in New England due to climate conditions mainly meat and
foods that have a long life span are the only locally available for restaurants to acquire.

Irish:
Irish cuisine consists mainly of foods that use potato as a base or
primary food and secondary dishes that mainly are based around sausage,
bacon, cabbage, shellfish, etc. Most of these ingredients are available
locally in exception to seafood, which is normally imported, and
vegetables that would be shipped from other areas of the United States
or from overseas depending on the preference of restaurant owners.

Mexican:
Mexican cuisine consists mainly of foods that use blends of flour or
corn tortillas with cheese, along with beef, pork, chicken, etc. in
combination with various vegetables and spices,including chili peppers,
green peppers, broccoli, cauliflower and radishes. With the exception
of the meat products,most things can’t be purchased locally in New
England. Everything would have to imported or trucked in from other
areas of the United States depending on the preference of the
restaurant owners.

Chinese:
Chinese cuisine consists mainly of two or more general components, typically rice, noodles, or mantou(steamed buns), and accompanying dishes of vegetables, meat, fish, or other items. Everything except the meat could not be bought locally
during the current climate (winter). The fish could be from local fisheries or
could be imported, depending on the preference of the restaurant owners. The vegetables could be imported or shipped from other areas of
the United States.

Indian:
Indian cuisine consists mainly of vegetarian dishes. Many traditional
Indian dishes also include chicken, goat, lamb, fish, and other meats.
Everything except the meat and the fish could not be bought locally
during the current climate (winter). The vegetables, as main
ingredients in Indian dishes, would have to be imported or shipped from
other regions
of the United States.

Italian:
Italian cuisine, which varies mainly by region and season, is
characterized by its use of fresh, local, seasonal ingredients to
create dishes. Primary ingredients in Italian cuisine are olive oil,
garlic, pasta, herbs such as basil and oregano, fennel, seafood, wild
mushrooms, beans, eggplant, squash, and various forms of pork. Even
though Italian cuisine is known for using local ingredients the present
climate would call for all the ingredients, with the exception of the
pork, to be imported or shipped from other regions of the United
States. The herbs would more than likely be imported.

Brazilian:
Brazilian cuisine varies greatly by region and uses a very broad range
of ingredients, the main staple in Brazilian cuisine is white rice and
black beans, but other ingredients include vatapá, moqueca (both having seafood and palm oil), and acarajé (a salted muffin made with white beans, onion and fried in palm oil (dendê) which is filled with dried shrimp, red pepper and caruru
(mashed okra with ground cashew nut, smoked shrimp, onion, pepper and
garlic), seafood, shellfish, commonly eaten tropical fruits...including
mango, papaya, guava, orange,passionfruit, pineapple, sweetsop, hog-plum, soursop, and cashew, dried meat, rice, beans, goat, manioc and corn meal. Almost all of these
ingredients would have to be imported with the exception of a few ingredients that
could be found in the United States, including,
shrimp, and orange. The would be almost no local buying in the present climate.

3) Is there a cultural significance behind the ingredients used, preparation techniques or presentation of the food?
Jae and Seth discovered the following:
Why do they use chopsticks in Asian Restaurant? Asia?
China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam food is usually eaten with chopsticks;
but it was the Chinese who were the earliest culture some five thousand
years ago. Their food cooked in pots required twigs to remove it.
Overtime, as population grew - people began chopping food into smaller
pieces so it would cook more quickly thus minimizing the use of wood
for cooking - twigs gradually turned into chopsticks
Some people think that the great scholar Confucius, who lived from roughly 551 to
47 B.C., influenced the development of chopsticks. A vegetarian,
Confucius believed knives would remind people of slaughterhouses and
were too violent for use at the tale. The use of chopsticks reflected Chinese pragmatism and frugality in overcoming the
difficulties of life. Famine, drought were common in ancient China;
food need to be shared between family members; picking only small
morsels with chopsticks to accompany bowls of rice. (Fork-&-spoon
would have enabled a user to take large portions - inconsiderate and
selfish when food is scarce.)

Why and how do we eat Indian food with our hands?
1. Indian food is complex, but for our purposes, we can divide it into rice and breads (chappatis/ Naans/ Rotis) and curries.
2. Use only your right hand.
3. Only your fingers should be used - no usage of the palm.
4. The thumb of the hand is used to "push" the food into your mouth.
5. You have to tear the bread (chappatis/naans
etc) with one hand only - children and novices use both hands. Using
your thumb and fingers tear a piece of the bread off, and then scoop
the curry or the vegetables, with the bread and then eat. It is
incorrect, and inelegant to eat the curry and the bread separately.
6. For the rice, you can use your fingers and thumb to similarly move the food into your mouth; Mix with curry.

4) What are the health benefits and or risks of the food we consume?
Jon and Jess researched Average Life Expectancies:
US..........78
Mexican.....75.63
Indian......68.59
Brazilian...72.24
Chinese.....72.88
Italian.....79.94
Irish.......77.9