For the past two months, I have been using the app SideChef weekly to plan my meals. After unsuccessfully trying to find a suitable application to find quick, nutritious and easy recipes to make, I stumbled across SideChef. Once I downloaded this app, I had low expectations for it since it is free. However, this prejudice against it was completely wrong as I was enthralled by the beautiful interface within the app. SideChef was inspired by Kevin Yu after unsuccessful attempts at making a palatable Valentine’s Day dinner for his girlfriend. He then realized that this special dinner would be possible if he had a GPS cooking companion that showed him the recipe and visual step-by-step preparation to complete the dish. Since there were …show more content…
Although I would consider myself an intermediate cooker, I gained a lot of useful information on SideChef. As soon as I opened the application, I was pleased with the simple yet highly upscale user-friendly interface. The first thing that I noticed on the app was the “Explore” tap that had of list food options to choose from. Once an item of choosing was selected, information regarding it was included. Information was given on seasonality of the food item, how to properly select and store it, cooking tips, clever uses, health benefits, food science, and related ingredients. I enjoyed having this available to me as it helped when I later used recipes involving some ingredients like avocado and squash, which were unfamiliar to me. Besides this, SideChef gives the user to filter out recipes based on personal preferences. Currently, my favorite recipes come from the categories: Italian, Vegetarian, or 30 Minutes or Less. Like Mr. Yu’s idea of providing images within recipes, I am also fond of them since I dislike using recipes that lack them. Previously, when I followed recipes without pictures, the finished product did meet my expectations. Moreover, the food did not taste as well despite using the correct …show more content…
Another practical feature in the app is the option to alter the serving size in a recipe. If I want to make a meal that can last for a few days, I can just press the “+” option found under “Serves” to increase it. Nevertheless, if I want a smaller serving, I can use the “-”to decrease the size. SideChef has assisted me tremendously as I can find and easily store recipes all in one application! I also receive recipe updates and recommendations on new recipes that I may like making. According to research, features found in mobile health apps such as prompting user activity, personalization, and tracking features have been shown to increase the engagement of users (Platt, Outlay, Sarkar, & Karnes, 2015). I believe that this is true as I have noticed this while using SideChef. Prompting user activity encourages the user to interact with the app. SideChef does this through various notifications or emails that keep me updated with new features that are available for use. I can personalize my experience using this app by filtering recipes catered towards my dietary requirements. Lastly, if I accidently exit out of the application, SideChef tracking feature allows me to resume on the recipe that I may be working on without having to scroll
However, the concern for using this app with the transtheoretical model is that a user does not have an interest keeping them healthy and fit. A user faced hunger cues to crave more food and drink rather than exercising. A user also faced adversity in this app for not keeping a record of food intake and fitness level in order to reach the desired goal. The limitation for this app is that a user cannot browse and record their food and fitness level due to creating new updates for this app. The best way is to receive social support for a user to stay on track and maintain a healthy
Murphy has taught us the good and bad side of the ‘Foodie” culture of social media. A good side of her argument explains how it really is a scrapbook of your life, since you reflect what you eat. The other side reveals that to others who are not a part of the culture, such as myself, perceive it as a waste of time and energy, since food is intended to be consumed and enjoyed in that sense, and not just for the visual appeal. This also brings up the issue of determining what makes a food ethnic, since regardless of how hard a person tries, if a certain dish is something a person is not use to eating, it will be foreign to them. Both authors have good arguments toward what they intend to share about American food culture, but there is always an obstacle blocking their
Increased portion sizes have gone unnoticed by consumers unaware of their unhealthy actions and has become the trend because of its gradual incorporation in our eating habits. In just twenty years, significant differences among the sizes of products can be noticed and most often seen to have doubled(1). Not only are increasing portion sizes reaching dine-out style meals where hamburger, french-fry, and soda sizes are two to five times larger than originals, but they are making their way into the homes of our public. Recipes found in newer editions of Joy of Cooking, a popular home cookbook, shows fewer serving sizes coming from identical recipes of older editions. This can be explained to show that larger portion sizes are to be anticipated from the recipes.
The expression ‘Tweet before you eat’ has entered common diction in 2013. It is an unsolicited truth that many people now celebrate a top notch restaurant meal or a culinary achievement not by immediately diving in - but by a photo session. People seem to think that a plate of beautifully prepared food is no good unless it has been shared with their friends. 52% of the people take photos with their mobile devices at least once a month; another 19% upload those pictures to the web (Grinter et al., 2002; Wasserman, 2011). Enough of these pictures contain "foodtography" to upkeep the website Foodspotting (Wasserman, 2011). This trend is further fueled by Photoblogging apps like Instagram and the photo-enabled version of Foursquare. Recently several new apps have even been invented which only focus on pictures of food, e.g. Feedie and Instafood.
Our food culture has entered a social environment, making it a part of our identities. This easy spread of information also causes people to see new foods, and it makes them want to try new foods. The expansion of a population’s taste pallet, also leaves us wanting to try more and more new things. This demand for an ever increasing variety has also caused our society to create more types of new foods, or more combinations of existing foods.
There is no surprise that food is important in all aspects of our lives—it is shared amongst families, celebrated as a major part of our culture, and crucial to our daily routine that keeps us fit, healthy, and active. Today’s western culture glorifies a skewed perspective on how food is supposed to fit into our lives. Somehow this perception has led us to believe we no longer have the time or money it takes to prepare a wholesome, healthy meal that is shared at the dinner table with family. Instead, we are trained to want a meal that is fast, cheap, and easy. This meal is usually highly processed and filled with sugars and fats. This has led us to a problem of epidemic proportions characterized by the rapid increase in obesity and diabetes.
Online communication has skyrocketed ever since beginning of chat rooms and social media powerhouses such as Facebook. More and more public health advocates and agencies are utilizing social media as a way to communicate healthy living tips and prevention advice. In addition to these types of online communication, the market for downloadable applications has become a phenomenon. Consumers can now download free and priced health and wellness applications onto the smartphones or tablets that will record their calorie consumption, display the calo...
Mcvety, P. J., Ware, B. J. and Ware, C. L. 2001. Fundamentals of menu planning. New York: Wiley.
Imagine Italian cuisine without tomato as an ingredient or your favorite pasta without any tomato sauce. It sounds extraordinary to think that at one point in history Italian cuisine didn’t have tomato as a staple food. After the European exploration of the Americas, numerous amounts food we introduced into Europe, Eurasia and Africa. This helped evolve the Mediterranean diet as well as traditional Italian cuisine (MacLennan and Zhang, 131.) What makes Italian cuisine popular around the world today is that most dishes are made with a small number of ingredients; cooking methods are simple and the recipes are healthy. This is a perfect mix for the food lover, and the upcoming cook with hopes to become a chef. This is why traditional Italian cuisine has influence my pursuit into the culinary field. (”Italian Food Made Easy; Traditional Fare Just Like Mama Used to Make,” par. 1-11.)
The food tracker benefited me in so many ways. I total three days out and all calculated 4800 calories. The food tracker allowed me only 2000 calories a day and wanted me to target at least 150 min/week in physical activity. The recommendations for my calories were very direct and limited to only a certain amount that I could manage. It help me manage my daily food intake, inform me of the calories and fats I was placing into my body, and educated me on the need foods needed from the food pyramid. My son even loved placing the items we ate into the system to look at “our numbers” (he it calls that).
Allow people to understand what a serving actually looks like and how to prepare without over doing caloric content.
Good cooking doesn’t always come naturally, but when skill’s and/or talents are perfected strengths such as cooking can become fun or even a hobby. Good cooking is something that takes time and skill and good cooking can’t be rushed otherwise the food does not come out the way it is supposed to. Another key factor of good cooking is to always know what is going on and what the next step in the process is.
Withiam, G. (1999). Cookin' with the technomic top-100. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 40(4), 9. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.proxy1.ncu.edu/docview/209700580?accountid=28180
Food labs are great technique for experiencing and learning the right method for preparing healthy and clean food. For some people like me, who have no cooking experience it is very challenging, stressful, and enjoyable. I used to think that cooking is just adding variety of ingredients together, but it is more than that. Through the first two food labs I discovered that there are many things that people have to remember and watch for when cooking such as managing their time, planning a head, following proper knife handling techniques, following proper measuring techniques, following kitchen safety, and following the recipe. Also, through this food lab, I have faced some challenges, success, learned a lot of things, and discovered the roles of some important ingredients including salt, pastry flour, sugars, fats, baking soda, and eggs.
There are so many ways to keep track of the things that I eat and this is just a simple way to improve my overall health. I will be more mindful of the foods that I eat and focus on the benefits that they provide. This is my goal, and I intend to improve my life with