Author Archives: Jessie C.

Smorgasburg Reaction Blog – Jessie Chen

Leave a reply

On October 8, I went to the Smorgasburg in Williamsburg. There were many interesting foods sold there. The stand that I went to was a takoyaki booth called “Teriyaki Balls”. Takoyaki is a Japanese street snack that is shaped like a ball. It is made from batter and is cooked with a filling. There were different type of takoyaki sold. They had octopus, shrimp, sausage, and potato fillings. I chose the most expensive one, which was the octopus filling. It cost $8 and comes with 6 balls. The other fillings cost $6. The cook used a special pan to make the takoyaki. They used batter, scallion, and octopus for my food. When the balls finished cooking, the cook spread okonomiyaki sauce on top. They then put nori (seaweed) and Bonito flakes on top of the sauce. Last, they put some mayo as the finishing touch. The food had a doughy and sour taste. I believe it was the Bonito flakes that gave it a sour taste. The reason I chose takoyaki over all the other food was because Japanese cuisine interests me. I ate takoyaki in another Smorgasburg before and liked it. I wanted to eat it again so I ate it in this Smorgasburg.

There were many adults in the Smorgasburg. I did not see many kids there. The customers that I saw were very diverse. The two workers in the “Teriyaki Balls” booth were Asian. They had the special pan on top of a table in front of them. The pans were also next to each other. The ingredients were on another table. The only thing I worry about in this booth was sanitation. The food was cooked very close to each other.

There were other food that caught my interest. I wanted to eat donuts from another booth. The line to buy the donuts was long and the price of it was $3.50 each. The price had me rethink my choice on buying it since $3.50 was too expensive for a donut for me. There were also other food that I wasn’t willing to try. I did not want to try the banana ice cream from the ice cream booth. I dislike the flavor and hate the fruit itself. I just can’t stand it. The most unusual food that I saw was the raindrop cake. It cost $8. The dessert looks like a huge rain drop. It is served with Kinako (roasted soybean flour) and Kuromitsu (sugar syrup).

14997241_1279415668756327_212356347_n14971268_1279415648756329_344438831_n14962912_1279415622089665_635784633_n14962316_1279415692089658_820404335_n14938011_1279415685422992_1951277662_n14958271_1279415698756324_1762302591_n14961560_1279415625422998_1558555963_n

Field Trip Blog – Jessie Chen

1 Reply

Recently, the class went on a trip to a rooftop garden in Cumberland Street. The rooftop of the Brooklyn Navy Yard has a sustainable garden that grows many different crops. The people that works there grew crops like sage, pepper, lettuce, kale, and many more. Flowers were grown as well. The flowers attracted many bees and insects due to their sweetness and nectar. The whole rooftop was a garden, so crops were everywhere. The garden has a lot of sunlight for the crops. There were technologies like weather machines used in garden to help the crops. Water irritations were used to provide water to the plants. A water tank was on the roof to provide water for the whole building. There were also chickens being raised there. Our school had rented spaces to grow crops in the garden. So far sages, basil, rosemary, and more are grown there.

The class was shown a film in class before we went on the trip. The film was called “Food Machine”. The film was hosted by a man named Yul Kwon. Yul explained how crops are grown in farms on different states in America. Farmers use center-pivot irrigation to water their crops. Many farmers face problems in their farm. One of the problems are insects. Some farmers tried using pesticides. Other farmers hired professionals to get rid of the insects. However, getting rid of the insects wasn’t easy. Insects face evolution to resist the chemical. Soon farmers went to use GMO (genetically modified organism).

There were two articles that we read that relates to agriculture. Apparently, Michael Pollan wrote an open letter about a broken food system in 2008. He explained that a massive amount of fossil fuel was used for creating chemical fertilizer and pesticide. A huge amount of greenhouse gas was created as well. Due to these problems, the health care costs had increased. A few days later, Obama responded to the article. He promised to change all of the problems occurring. Michelle Obama planted an organic garden in the lawn of the White house. It was a powerful act that stimulated a food movement. However, the food movement wasn’t a big thing in political force.