10 Min (Getting from Store, Standing in Line, Bringing Home)

Heather Long

Food

Acquisition

Time to Acquire (minutes)

Preparation

Prep time (minutes)

Cost

1. Cheese Omelette2. Turkey Bacon3. Frozen Berries4. Yogurt5. Oat flakes

Bought at Wal-Mart

10 min (getting from store, standing in line, bringing home)

Egg: beaten, made into omelette with cheese inside

Bacon: fried

Parfait: thaw berries in microwave, top with yogurt and oat flakes and mix

9 min

$1.25

1. turkey wrap

2. wheat thins

3. sliced apple

4. peanut butter kisses

Originally bought at Wal-Mart; Friend brought to me

15 min (walk from ten Hoor to The Wesley Foundation

Minimal

0 min

$1.32

Steak Fajita Burrito

Chipotle

5 min (waiting for the burrito to be made)

Unwrap

0 min

$6.65

1.Cheese Omelette

3.turkey bacon

4.yogurt

5.frozen mixed berries

6.oat flakes

Bought at Wal-Mart

10 min (getting from store, standing in line, bringing home)

Egg: beaten, made into omelette with cheese inside

Bacon: fried

Parfait: thaw berries in microwave, top with yogurt and oat flakes and mix

8 min 38 sec

$1.25

1. Grilled Cheese

2. Apple

3. Sugar free pudding

The Wesley Foundation and home

30 min (waiting for sandwich to be made)

Minimal

0 min

1. Salad (mixed greens, grape tomatoes, sesame seeds, shredded cheese, ranch dressing)

2. 2 Mini Cheeseburgers

3. Chocolate Cake

Ruby Tuesday’s

54 min (driving to restaurant, waiting)

None

0 min

18.76

1. Cheese Omelette

2. 2 turkey bacon

Wal-Mart

10 min (approximate time finding items in store and standing in line)

Eggs: beat and make into omelette with cheese

Bacon: fry

9 min 23 sec

$0.38

Fiber One granola bar

Sam’s club

8 min (approximate time finding item and standing in line)

Unwrap

0 min

$0.33

1. South Beach meal bar

2. Apple

Wal-Mart

10 min (approximate time finding item and standing in line)

Unwrap

0 min

$1.52

1. Lasagna2. Green Beans3. Rolls4. 2 Chocolate chip cookies

The Wesley Foundation

20 min (communion, prayer, waiting for plate to be brought)

none

0 min

Eggsadilla

Wal-Mart

15 min (approximate time finding items in store and checking out)

Eggs: beat and scramble

Tortilla: heat and put eggs and shredded cheese on and then fold over

7 min

$0.72

1. Cheesy Chicken Gordita Crunch

2. Cheesy bean and rice burrito

Taco Bell

4 min (ordering at drive-in, getting food)

Unwrap

0 min

$4.63

1. Double cheeseburger

2.Small fries

3. Small frosty

Wendy’s

7 min

Unwrap and remove unwanted condiments

0 min

$4.26

1. 2 mini sausage biscuits

2. Frosted Flakes

3. ½ chocolate muffin

Host home during trip

30 sec

Biscuits: heat

Frosted Flakes: pour in bowl and add milk

2 min

1. Chicken nuggets

2.Waffle fries

Chick-fil-a

12 min

Minimal

0 min

Cookies and cream milkshake

Chick-fil-a

3 min

Minimal

0 min

$3.13

1. 1 mini sausage biscuit

2. ½ chocolate muffin

3.2 mini cinnamon rolls

4. frosted cheerios

Host home during trip

30 sec

Biscuit: heat

Cinnamon rolls: heat

Cheerios: pour in bowl and add milk

2 min 30 sec

Hot dog

Islands of Adventure food kiosk

2 min (standing in line, ordering, getting food)

Adding condiments

1 min

$5. 34

1. Quesadilla

2.Pineapple salso

3. Guacamole

4. Sour Cream

Hard Rock Café

1 hr 45 min

Minimal

0 min

$11.72

Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Host home during trip

30 sec

Pour cereal into bowl and add milk

1 min

Mini snickers and twix bars

Church bus

30 sec (retrieving from bag)

Unwrap

0 min

Frito Chili Wrap

Sonic

20 min (ordering and waiting for food to be delivered)

Unwrap

0 min

Time to earn cost (minutes)

Total time (minutes)

What was the meal and who did I eat with?

What was discussed or thought about during meal?

12.82 min

Breakfast; Susannah

Daily Plans; dreams from the night

13.54 min

Lunch; Susannah

Organic lifestyle; stories about farm animals and eating livestock

68.21 min

Dinner; Susannah

How we liked our food; sale at Old Navy

12.82 min

18 min 38 sec

Breakfast; Susannah

Daily Plans; the enjoyment of parfait

20.51 min

Lunch; friends from Wesley/alone

How long it was taking to have sandwich made/ homework

192.41 min

Dinner; Jennifer and Susannah

Stories from grade school; upcoming events

3.9 min

19 min 23 sec

Breakfast; Susannah

Daily plans; enjoyment of meal

3.38 min

8 min

Snack; alone

Upcoming class

15.59 min

10 min

Lunch; alone

Book I’m reading; research for paper

30.77 min

23 min

Dinner; Wesley friends

school, life, everthing

7.38 min

22 min

Breakfast; Susannah

Orlando trip

47.49 min

4 min

Lunch; Susannah

Orlando trip

43.69 min

7 min

Dinner; Susannah, Jennifer, Heather

Riding in the bus that far into the trip

0 min

2.5 min

Breakfast; lots of people on trip

Service project; last night’s sleep

0 min

12 min

Lunch; Jennifer, Susannah, Raven, and others

Service project; Learning English as a second language

32.10

3 min

Snack; Jennifer, Susannah, Raven, and others

Same as lunch

0 min

3 min

Breakfast; Susannah

Going to theme parks; leaving late

54.77 min

3 min

Lunch; Susannah, Jennifer, and others in our group

How frustratingly slow most others in the group were eating

120.21 min

1 hr 45 min

Dinner; Susannah, Jennifer, Rainny

Differences in America and China; day at theme park

0 min

1.5 min

Breakfast; Susannah, host mom, and others

Dogs, our trip, school, going home

0 min

1 min

Snack; everyone on the bus

Homework, how much further ‘til home

0 min

20 min

Lunch; everyone on the bus

How the food is; how people are occupying themselves during the ride

Food Foraging Essay

In life, considering, calculating, and cataloging my food intake rarely claims a spot of importance in my daily activities. Through this exercise, I was forced to become aware of how much time, effort, and even money was dedicated to my quest for food.

One of the first factors of my food-foraging habits that I noticed was the amount of time that I spent acquiring or prepping my food. Many of my meals (such as breakfast and various lunches and dinners) came from groceries bought the previous week. I usually shop for groceries (typically at Wal-Mart) approximately every once every one to two weeks and each trip’s total duration is between an hour to an hour and a half. Although my grocery trips do not seem extravagant when viewing the trip as a whole, when breaking down the time estimates for each individual item, the amount of time seems somewhat disproportional to the food procured. The imbalance between the amount of food acquired and the time taken with the acquisition is resolved because a weekly, one hour trip to the store supplies me with enough food items to eat most meals and snacks for a week or more.

In our culture where we rarely produce the foods we consume, we rely on farmers, manufacturers, packagers, and sellers from across the nation and the world to supply us with food. Because of this, it is unclear how much of the money we spend on groceries is directly related to the cost of food, and how much covers the convenient packaging, shipping, or other extraneous expenses in the food industry. Also, it is difficult to determine the true price of a food item when different distributors sell them for different prices. For instance, at the Sam’s Club concession stand a jumbo hot dog with a bun costs about $1. However, at the amusement park in Orlando, I paid over $5 for a less satisfying hot dog. Since these venues offered similar convenience and products, I assume that the concessions are a considerable source of profit for the theme park, and merely an amenity for members at Sam’s Club which relies on much larger sales from the actual store to elicit a profit.

Equating the cost of the food I consumed with the amount of work required to earn the cost of food revealed how valuable food is for me. Over the course of a week I spent approximately $66.26 and this figure would probably be more except that over the weekend I went on a trip with church to Orlando where my breakfasts and a lunch were provided at no personal cost. Considering that at a wage of $5.85 a person only earns $234 before taxes, spending at least a fourth of one’s income on food is no small expense. Another factor worth considering in my cost of food for a week is that I tend to eat at home or eat foods from home a lot. I ate at restaurants only twice when in Tuscaloosa and during the trip to Orlando and of the $66.26 spent on all of my food from that week, $54.49 came from those seven meals. This habit greatly reduces my spending on food and gave me a sense of gratification that I really am practicing frugality when I buy groceries even when my tickets totals to an amount that sometimes causes me to question the wisdom of my purchases.

Another observation gained from my table is that I am a highly social eater. I know that I do not like to spend meals in solitude, but the social aspects of this table clearly highlight the extent to which I prefer companionship: out of 22 meals, only two of them were eaten without company. This detail shows that for me, and probably for many people (since humans are social animals) that the act of eating concerns more that the act of putting food into your mouth, chewing it up to make it digestible and the process the body performs to extract the nutrient; eating is about people coming together over a common interest (food) and taking time from their hectic schedules to talk about the day or upcoming events. Looking at the column entitled “What was discussed or thought about during the meal,” only in a few instances was the food being eaten the object of discussion or thought. Surprisingly, nothing philosophical, spiritual, or anything that could be labeled as intellectual was ever discussed at a meal. I like to think of myself as a deep thinker who dwells more on the important issues of life than mundane, daily activities – but the chart clearly shows that I never left the realm of shallow, daily activities over food. This lack of depth in dialogue and though while eating further supports my assertion that when I eat, that time is an opportunity to pause the chaos of my schedule of classes, homework, and work and just relax and have light conversation with friends.

A final observation learned from the table deals with the pattern of my food choices. I love carbohydrates, especially in the form of bread. Over the course of the week there were only rare instances of meals that did not have some form of bread in them. The amount of bread consumed was surprising to me because I have been attempting to somewhat follow the guidelines of the South Beach Diet (a diet that places more emphasis on protein and fiber and encourages limited amounts of carbohydrates). Additionally, I perceive my partiality to have meat of some description at every meal. Even when staying with the family in Orlando, I still found ways to include meat in my breakfasts through the mini sausage biscuits. I think this inclination partly originates from the American idea that meat should be included in every meal to make the meal satisfying, and partly from the South Beach Diet’s emphasis on meat as a good, carbohydrate-free source of protein.

Although this assignment failed in producing an epiphany that would cause me to forever change my eating habits, keeping track of my food, its cost, and the setting of the meal, forced me to be honest with what I eat, how I eat it, and affirmed my shopping skills. So, although I am not an ideal eater, this exercise has made me more aware of what I put into my body and the effect my food has on my life – not just my stomach.