FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Exploring Student Connections to Food Media

We asked students to explore how food connects people across different media channels. They chose their favorite TV shows, art, video, or movie and reflected on how food plays a significant role in their everyday life to tell stories, create memories, and celebrate milestones.

K-Drama Business Proposal

by Daniela Meyo

The K-drama Business Proposal (2022) shows a heart-warming scene where the main protagonist (Shin-Ha-ri) and her love interest (Kang Taemoo) discuss Shin Ha-ri’s reason for working at the GOfood company. In this scene, Shin Ha-ri mentions a snippet of their childhood, and how she felt comfortable and happy eating frozen foods. Shin Ha-ri works for a food company to better understand the food industry, so that she can create affordable food. She understands that not everyone can go to super high luxury restaurants or have enough fresh produce. This scene was engraved into my brain when I saw it. I could understand and relate to her desire to work in the food industry. In addition, Business Proposal has a fantastic selection of actors and actresses and did an excellent job in their product placements. Since most of the scenes are already set at a food company, it made sense whenever actors mentioned the food brand Bibigo. An example of this was when Kang Tae-Moo is overseas explaining the reasoning behind the packaging decision on Bibigo’s kimchi product and the importance of the traditional kimchi pot packaging. Although the advertisement for Bibigo was not very subtle, it made perfect sense why it was even a scene since it was still in the story’s plot.

The Princess and The Frog

by Abigail Anton

The Princess and The Frog was one of my favorite Disney movies as a kid; years later, it’s still one of my favorites. Ever since she was little, Tiana and her father dreamed of opening their own restaurant in their neighborhood in New Orleans. But before she can make this dream come true, he passes away. With him in her memory and her growing up to be a young woman, she decides to follow their dream and make it a reality. She works two timeconsuming jobs to save enough money to buy an old sugar mill, with plans to renovate, and turn it into her restaurant. In the scene where Tiana sings “Almost There,” she imagines what her restaurant might look like, and all the food she would make! All the food in this movie looks delicious, from Tiana’s beignets to her dad’s gumbo. This scene shows what you can accomplish when you set goals and how determination is crucial in getting somewhere in life. The scene is important to food media because it shows diversity in the Disney princess universe. It shows how being wealthy isn’t a determining factor in how successful you can be. This movie shows how a woman doesn’t need a man to rescue her to make something of herself. Tiana is a symbol of independence and ambition.

Sonic the Hedgehog

by Nylah White

Sonic the Hedgehog first appeared in the 1990 video game Rad Mobile. This now well-known character has been in video games, comic books, TV shows, and even movies ever since, and each iteration has a different storyline, plot, and background. Even though the Sonic universes are very spread out, and sometimes confusing from a chronology or lore standpoint, they have some constants. Sonic is always fast, and his favorite food is chili dogs. The first reference to Sonic’s love of chili dogs that I came across in a game was in 2004, in Sonic Advance 3 on Gamebody Advance. In 2008’s Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood chili dogs are mentioned directly in the game’s diaogue, and in Sonic Unleashed we see him indulging in his signature favorite food. In the first issue of the Archie comics, Sonic even gives the reader his chili dog recipe. Especially since his first show Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1992), western media has embraced this character, and generations have grown up alongside him. Across the Sonic franchise, over 1.5 billion units have been either sold or downloaded throughout his 33 years of existence. The idea of Sonic still being that chili dog—loving, super speedy hedgehog is being kept alive by Sega and the franchise’s fans, like me.

Bubble Tea

by Jane Marie Hernandez

Boba (or bubble tea) first came to the United States in the 1990’s by way of Taiwanese immigrants, and has been growing in the cultural consciousness ever since. I first noticed its widespread popularity in 2018, when it was common to find influencers trying this trendy drink on social media sites like Instagram and YouTube. When I would scroll on Instagram, I’d always want to try whatever boba I saw someone post. I had no idea what boba tasted like and couldn’t picture it texturally. I didn’t even know what boba was made of, and tapioca was known as Brazilian pudding. Because of social media, I was always curious about new foods from countries I never got to experience. Any new food that blew up was because it was either colorful or looked tasty. Back then, Asian food wasn’t sold in my neighborhood, and there weren’t many places I could buy boba. I remember when the school opened up again after COVID-19, and I went to get boba with friends. I got the classic brown sugar bubble tea, which was watered down and bland. I decided this couldn’t be the boba I had heard so much about, but I gave up and let that be my only boba experience for the time being. I was disappointed because the boba pearl was bland, and the tea needed to be better because it wasn’t steeped for long enough. I gave it another shot during my senior year, this time from Modern Tea Shop. Again, I ordered the classic brown sugar bubble tea and, from there, developed a mini-addiction to boba. I would get it at least twice a week for about two months! Eventually, I got this term I coined “boba aggression,” where you have so much boba that you feel a permanent sense of chewing!

Haneefah Adam’s Food Art

by Aylin Sanchez

Nigerian artist Haneefah Adam specializes in using food as her medium. I chose Adams because she incorporates culture, femininity, and different cuisines into her art. Most importantly, all of her art is represented through food... she shows so much detail in her work by just using food, revealing how art has evolved. In one of her pieces, the flowers on top of the woman’s head are made out of fried plantains. In another piece, the hair and part of the glasses are made from shriveled eggplant. Adam created another art piece from spices, onion, and pepper to celebrate African women on International Women’s Day. This stuck out to me because she used specific items that most people have in the fridge, like onions and peppers, to make something completely different and send a message. It blows my mind how my concept of art has changed. We’ve always had the resources Adam uses, but so many humans have been so closed-minded, that we were stuck on pen and paper and ink and paint. I never saw any thinking outside the box, but now, I see that people like Adam are using food media to expand what’s possible, using spices and foods from our cultures to send a message. I hope this doesn’t stop with Adam and that she is only one of the many artists using food as a medium to expand the boundaries of art today and inspire other artists. Art is more complex than just pen and paper.

Encanto

by Jessica Ramirez

In the movie Encanto, Mirabel feels left out because she’s the only Madrigal with no supernatural gift. Mirabel goes outside, needing a break after her cousin Antonio gets his gift, and sees that the house is falling apart. She runs to tell everyone about it, but no one believes her. There’s a scene where Mirabel’s mother, Julieta, makes Mirabel an arepa con queso after she cuts herself with a broken tile. Julieta has a magical ability to heal people with her food. I find this coincidental because cooking for someone and giving them food is nurturing people. You are healing them back to health and giving them energy and nutrients. It doesn’t always have to be complex to make someone happy. Julieta uses her gift to help the people in her community to make them happy and healthy again. Julieta talks to Mirabel about how Mirabel is just as special as the rest of the family (although Maribel shuts her down, pointing out that her mother was just able to heal her with an ordinary arepa con queso, which is way more special than anything Mirabel can do). Even so, this is a wholesome moment because it shows how much a mother cares for her daughter. Food media is important to me because I take inspiration from what I see online. When I see food in movies or on TV that looks delicious, it is comforting and exciting to me. When I scroll through social media, I see a lot of food reels and posts, and I’m amazed at what people can make. Food media makes food look easy to make; I see it and think, “If they can do it, then so can I.”