Month: June 2017

In my capstone product I am up to the stage were I am working on final product, That means writing my script and reheasing over and over till I pretty much memorize the entire thing. Here is the script

Ted Talk Script

By Jack F.

Up until a month ago the only thing I knew about food was how it got from my plate to my stomach. For my passion project I choose cooking because I wanted to learn how to cut, use an oven, hard boil eggs and much more. But I still needed needed to know, How does the cultural and geographical aspects of a country impact its cuisine.

Let’s talk about japanese cuisine and sushi. Japan is an island on the pacific ocean and fish is a main food. Sushi is the food most people think of when they think of japanese food and cuisine. It is usually rice with raw fish or vegetables. Let’s talk about the fish part of it. Fish is eaten in japan and in many different ways such as raw or cooked, wrapped and rolled in things or even put in soups. It is part of japanese culture and most people’s daily life in japan. Many people work on the docks of Japan as fishermen or working in the fish markets on the coasts of Japan.

The other part of sushi is the rice which is another primary food in japan. Rice is part of every japanese person’s daily life. Japan is the ninth largest rice producer in the world.  85% of the 2.3 million farms in Japan grow rice. The reason they are ninth in the world is because there are eight countries in the world that are better at them at it. Just joking Japan is a small country and they can only have a certain about of farms that can only grow a certain amount of rice. The rice season in japan is May through June in the north. In the south, the rice seasons are April through May, also spring but in earlier spring.

Now, let’s travel over to Italy and experience their geography, culture and cuisine.

Italy’s culture and geography impact’s it’s cuisine. Everything in Italy impacts it’s cuisine, including the land with the sea to the south, the mountains to the north and the volcanoes – they all impact Italy’s cuisine.

The climate in the north of Italy and the south of Italy are different so the foods are different. For example, in the north, pasta is harder to dry so fresh pasta like pappardelle and tagliatelle are popular there. Another example is in the south where it’s warm, dry pasta like spaghetti and rigatoni are popular. In the north the weather is colder and the landscape is mountainous, and the south is the opposite which is hot with long summers and many flatlands.

Italians life is lived around the kitchen and because of that there are many recipes that are passed down through the years. For example, does anybody know the company called Rao’s tomato sauce? They have commercials that explain the dedication to the recipe and tradition to making this tomato sauce.

In Italy there are different places that are good for growing different things. Central Italy is known for growing vegetables and poultry. The south is known for fish and dry pasta. The north is known for hearty meats.

Tuscany is in central Italy and is known for wine, meat, vegetables and fruit. Italy’s drinks are just as important as it’s food.

Cheeses from different parts of Italy are also different.  In northern Italy cheeses are mostly made from cow’s milk. In central Italy, cow’s milk is also commonly used. The south is known for using sheep’s milk and making a cheese called pecorino. The tradition for aging parmesan was a tradition from the Ancient Romans. The Romans were also a big influence on Italian cuisine.

To learn more, I visited a chef named Robb Garceau. Robb also runs a catering company. I spoke with him , and he showed me around the kitchen that he works in all day long in Queens,New York.

The kitchen was the most exciting part as it was really big and there was an area just for desserts and pastry and also a bigger area just for poultry.

Robb told me about his journey to becoming a successful chef, he told me a crazy story about how he was asked to cook in a kitchen and did not know how to saute but he said when he started cooking it was love at first site and he decided to leave college and go to culinary school.

I have to practice that just about 20 times a day. You wold think I would be joking no way Jose I literally have to practice that about 20 times a day