My Kitchen

A love of cooking and food is one of the strongest things I share with my parents. The majority of the food eaten in my family is bought as raw ingredients and is prepared by everyone. Only when we're all feeling lazy, we'll get take out from only China Gourmet, Thai Kitchen, Dominic's, Alfonso's, or my short registry of sushi places. My parents are very picky with their take out, especially italian food.

My mother is the only person in the family that regularly eats any breakfast (Irish oatmeal) and we all do different things for lunch, at different times. The only meal that is consistently eaten together is dinner, at our kitchen table. We eat dinner with each other every night. There's no TV in our kitchen, because we like to force conversation with one another.

Though I'm a vegetarian, no one else in my family is, and we prepare a lot of meat. We get everything from our local butcher, Rambo's. If I'm cooking, I usually make multiple small dishes, with at least one of them containing some form of meat. We try buying as much local produce as possible, usually from Melick's Farm Stand. Everything else comes from Costco.

My family doesn't really cook from any specific cuisine. My dad really likes to grill outdoors and my mother likes to bakes. I like cooking gourmet, and make all sorts of different types of food, from French, Mexican, Italian, to Indian, Ethiopian, and Middle Eastern. The kitchen always smells of spices.

There is really no average week of what we buy, because rarely is something ever made twice in our kitchen.
What we usually buy ($200-250 per week)

Fresh Vegetables: Pepers, Onions, cucumbers, cabbage, carrots, leeks, scallions, potatoes, olives, tomatoes, bok choy.
Fresh Fruit: Apples, cranberries, leeches, bananas
Dairy: Gouda, Gruyere, Blue Cheese, Jack Chese, milk, heavy cream, cream cheese, unsalted butter
Meat and eggs: Lamb, ground beef, chicken, eggs, swordfish
Starch: bagels, flour, rice, lasagna noodles, lentils, egg noodles, siracha peas
Misc: Reisling, soy sauce, sriracha sauce

When I think of the food in France, an image of the open air markets of Marseilles enters my head. Fruits, vegetables, fresh caught fish, and bread strait out of the oven as far as the eye can see. But not all of france is like Marseilles; Paris is a very cosmopolitan city with very diverse food opportunities, much like New York City. 

The Le Moine family appears to be a very modern city dwelling family. Food costs much more in Paris than it would in the french country side.The Le Moine family spends over $400 dollars in food, which is much more than the majority of most families. Had the family lived closer to a farm or another food source, their weekly food cost would be much less. Most of the stereotypical "French" things you'd see are present: croissants, chocolate, wine, and cheese. As a european city dwelling family, they purchase a lot of bottled water. 

Some things do not seem as "French." I see sashimi meat in that picture. Because I'm such a huge fan of French cuisine, I couln't understand why anyone wouldn't want to eat fresh French food all the time. There is a huge amount of money spent on prepared food and fast food (over $100). Seems very... American. 

Even though some of the food is prepared or processed, the majority of the food is fresh bread, meats, and vegetables. A wide variety of meat serves as the primary source of protein. A lot of dairy is also consumed as milk and yogurt, but especially cheese. Using very rough estimation, it would appear that each family member consumed around 2000 calories per day. This diet is relatively healthy given where the family lives. Had their economic status been different and they were not able to spend as much money on food, their diet would most likely be less healthy. 

Appearances vs. Reality: RPS Food Culture

In a school that is militantly tolerant, it's pretty ironic how Rutgers Preparatory shits on culture's food traditions.  Like all things at Rutgers Prep, the food is defined by its appearance; the workers in their nice clean uniforms, all the "local grown" and organic labels, the sterile appearance of the cafeteria, environmental reform effort, and a wise name like "Sage"  would all leave one to believe that the RPS is quite impressive. If you try eating the food, the illusion created by Rutgers Preparatory School will be shattered forever. It's like taking the red pill in "The Matrix."

With unpalatable food items (if it can be called food) being served daily, how does RPS keep up the illusion? The school uses the dining commons for the annual phonation, the Middle States Accreditation Team banquet, and recently the "Dedication of the Learning Commons" celebration. These three events have two things in common: only parents and teachers are allowed, and the food is actually quite good. In order to continue serving sub-mediocre food on a daily basis to students, the school needs to keep the parents impressed. This causes disbelief when a student expresses dissatisfaction to the parent: "Oh the food can't be that bad... I had Ahi-tuna and pulled pork sliders at the phonation. You're just being picky. Back in my day..." and the school's genius plot succeeds! This practice is similar  to what many colleges do for "parents' weekend."

We are a very culturally diverse school; we have students from five continents and all different religious and ethnic backgrounds. It appears that the school caters food to a global community, and this notion is actually part of the schools marketing strategy. Further inspection will lead to disgust. As a proud NJ native, I consider myself an honorary Italian, and I am appalled by the pasta and the pizza. There is enough oil dripping off of it to power a lamp and so much garlic you will fend of friends and vampires alike. As a Jew, I cried when I tried their humus. For Chinese New Year last year, Sage made a big spiel about making "moon cakes" and how much effort went into making them. Upon seeing them, one Chinese student remarked "what is this?", so I don't think these were moon cakes.

This obsession with appearances is seen throughout the day-to-day of Rutgers Preparatory School. There is always a such pressure on students to make open houses run perfectly. God forbid we sit in our own lounges after school. Also, when Mrs. Klipstein walks by a classroom with visitors, she checks to make sure that the students are behaving like angels before bringing the strangers in. Unlike the food, there is some substance to Rutgers Prep. All we can do is hope that the food will eventually follow suit.