Final, final assignment, and please have fun with it!

In addition to finishing up and posting your final revision of the Perfect Meal essay, please take the time to produce what I call process writing.

What is process writing?

Process writing describes the process you went through when drafting and revising your pieces, and the thinking about yourself as a writer that you engaged in when preparing the portfolio. The jargon for this kind of writing is “metacognition”—thinking about thinking. That makes it sound heavy, but it’s actually relaxing and enjoyable, writing that celebrates the completion of your work for the course.

“What works best is simply to record what actually happened [as you reported, wrote and revised your work], with as much honesty and detail as possible—and with a spirit of calm, benign acceptance of yourself. That is, you aren’t trying to judge yourself or prove anything or reach big conclusions—just to find our what actually goes on when you write” (Elbow and Belanoff, A Community of Writers 12-13).

You don’t have to answer all these questions, but here are some points to think about as you do your process writing:

How did you discover a process for writing each piece?
What connections did you make between the texts we read and the pieces you wrote for class?
When were you frustrated?
What were your breakthroughs?
What are the important changes you made throughout the quarter with each draft and workshop?
How did you decide what to write about and what was your writing and research process like?
When were readers’ comments useful?
When did you find your own way to solve a problem rather than following the suggestion of your readers? Why did this seem to work better?
When did you disagree with readers? Why?
What did writing for this course teach you about yourself?

Be as personal and colloquial as you wish—it’s essentially writing you’re doing for yourself, though the class and I will be reading it, too. Like part three of your final assignment, word count is up to you.

Important: I will not give you a final grade for the class unless you’ve included process writing—it’s not optional!

Note: if you feel uncomfortable publishing your process writing on the blog or you prefer that I be the sole reader of your piece, you may simply email it to me as a WORD file and with the text of the document embedded in the email by 5 pm Monday, November 28.

The Perfect Meal workshop

Note: the word "perfect", much like the word "authenticity", is subjective to the point of meaninglessness--which means it is absolutely crucial that you define what you mean by the word in your writing.

Here's the lineup for 10th week:

Tuesday (drafts posted on blogs--and emailed to me, please--Sunday):

Abby
Andrea
Yoji
Sarena

Thursday (drafts posted on blogs--and emailed to me, please--by Tuesday):

Meredith
Cody
Ashley
Ale
Libby

Please also remember that we'll be meeting 10th week in Humphrey House lounge. Hard to believe this quarter is nearly over--thanks for your commitment to learning and exploring together, and I look forward to reading about your creation of your perfect meals in our last workshop assignment of the quarter!

Next Assignment: The Restaurant Review!

Your restaurant review assignment has three parts.

1. The assumptions, expectations and anticipation: 500 words

Choose a restaurant to review. Choose a restaurant that serves food that represents a “vivid entryway into another culture” for you (Long 1), and that may be a kind of travel or border crossing for you personally. Write a blog post of 500 words or more evaluating your expectations of and assumptions about the experience. What personal experiences or baggage from the past influence what you think will happen in terms of the dining experience? What are your worries or concerns, hopes and desires for the meal? Reference any pertinent readings (including CYOA, classmates’ blog posts, more formal readings for the course, etc.) and conversations (in class or online via blogs) in this informal, conversational essay. Post to your blog BEFORE you go to the restaurant. The audience for this piece is, indeed, this class. (Also, rather than post a list of restaurants in the area, I'm going to let you do a little reporting on that, and we can brainstorm in class as well.)

2. The review: 1000 words

Using the restaurant reviews we've read as a model, write a well-reasoned and –argued, structurally sound, utterly readable if not downright entertaining review of the restaurant you chose.

In terms of PROCESS, do background research on the restaurant and the cuisine, take notes (and maybe photos) during the meal, think long and hard about what you have to say about the experience (both the food and the place/ambiance), find a place (aka “The But”) on the pan-to-rave continuum where you stand, start to develop the thesis, the main points you’ll argue to support “The But.”

With regard to ORGANIZING/WRITING, make sure your piece has clear elements: thesis, point of view, an effective lead, evidence to support your claims, a conclusion that leaves a lasting impression, etc.). Also, provide perspective/context/background/research and analysis. Build your case and do it as artfully and appropriately for your intended audience as you can. (We'll talk more about the elements of a good review in class next week.)

Choose an intended publication and state it before the lead of your piece.

3. The evaluation

I will give you this part of the assignment after workshop. Don’t worry about it. It will be pleasant and informal and written for the class on your blog, much as the first part of the assignment.

and now we shift to restaurant reviewing!

Reading Assignment for Sixth Week Tuesday

Please take a look at a few of Pete Wells' recent restaurant reviews in the New York Times. His scathing review of Guy Fieri's then new Times Square restaurant made all kinds of headlines in 2012. Let's talk about that, too.

Even though his stint was short as the food critic for the New York Times, we're going to take a look at some of Sam Sifton's work:

Because the Fat Lady has to Eat
Osteria Morini
Il Matto
Kenmare, which gets zero stars
Sifton on how to eat for a living and stay healthy doing it
Sifton's My Life in Food
Round One Q&A
Round Two
Round Three
Round Four
and just for fun, To Catch a Critic

How about from a European food critic?

Advice to a 10-year-old aspiring food critic

And just for kicks, let's let Twitter (and HuffPo) show us who's important in the world of restaurant criticism

Meander through the pieces, play around, and discover what piques your interest. Make sure to read for craft--pick apart what each critic is up to in his/her reviews and how they go about achieving their effects for better or for worse. Learn from them. We'll discuss what makes a review a review and what separates a bad review from a mediocre review from a fantastic review.

Above all, enjoy!

5th Week Assignments

Next week we're moving class entirely online. Our "discussion" will take place in the comments section on each of your reading response posts. Those posts will be in response to pieces from Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink.

For Tuesday, please read the Dining Out section of Secret Ingredients, pages 3-98, and post a response to the reading on your blog by 2 p.m. Before Thursday at 2 p.m., make sure to read and respond to each of your classmates' responses by writing a thoughtful comment.

For Thursday, read 103-157 and the Local Delicacies section, pages 277-335, in Secret Ingredients, and post a reading response by 2 p.m. Then make sure to read and respond to each of your classmates' responses by Friday at 5 p.m. Consider using our designated class times to read and respond to each other's posts about the reading.

In the reading assignment, there are many various shorter pieces that aren't necessarily connected, and we very likely won't get a chance to talk about everything you read in class. But make sure to read carefully as writers, noting what speaks deeply to you and why. Keep in mind that the next workshop assignment will be a restaurant review, so read as potential critics, culling style and technique regarding food description. Write responses accordingly, and no, you don't have to say something about every single piece in your response for that day.

Also bear in mind that the revision of your memoir assignment is also due next week. Please post your revision and drop off a hard copy outside my office door (double spaced, stapled) no later than Tuesday at 5 p.m.

I will post 6th week Tuesday's reading assignment by Thursday.

Let me know if you have questions, and I look forward to reading the work you generate!

Bourdain says no to dining with Donald Trump: ‘Absolutely f—ing not’

'There is a sense of utter disbelief, everywhere I go, at Mr. Trump' the CNN host tells TheWrap

Check out the candid interview here.

Bourdain and our president and more

In the latest season premier of Bourdain's Parts Unknown, President Obama sits down with him in his beloved Vietnam. Check out this piece in The New Yorker written by a friend of mine. She wends through policy and food and Obama as a hipster. Very timely for us!

Memoir assignment with prompts, as promised

Here's the original assignment from the syllabus, to remind you where you're headed:

Memoir, 1000 words. Due Week 4
Memory will provide the details and narrative of this piece, and the implications of Memory’s fallibility may or may not be a focus. The narrator’s memories are, indeed, the subject of the piece, and creating the “I” character on the page through recollection of one’s past is, largely, the point of memoir. Include elements of food and/or travel/place in this memoir piece.

To get the juices flowing (so to speak) on your memoir assignment, here are some possible entry points:

1. Use one of the writing exercises from class and expand it to explore food, memory and one of your places of origin.

2. After "Stealing Buddha's Dinner," write about a food obsession of yours.

3. Write about a memory of your first time with a new food, a time when you experienced a completely new flavor. What effect did it have on you?

4. Write about a longing for food that speaks to a bigger, deeper longing.

5. Write about an experience of giving up food--a particular kind of food, a particular amount, food in general--of denying yourself food.

6. Write about "site-specific" food or things you've cooked in conjunction with other activities, perhaps inspired by Jane Kramer. Or write about food you have--or would--travel for, like Bourdain and French Laundry. "I like the idea of having to travel to experience a French Laundry meal. The journey is part of the experience--or was for me--an expression of the seriousness of one's intent . . . " (251).

7. Riffing off Abby's presentation, write about food as spiritual practice or family tradition with deeper roots, meaning, implications.

These are just starting points to get you going. Feel free to write from any other place in the universe as long as it speaks to food, travel, and memory.

Whatever you write, keep an eye toward crafting scene, developing character and voice, using dialogue, allowing yourself to meander and wander into the recesses of your mind as well as inform the reader about things s/he may not be familiar with. Look to Nguyen and Bourdain for inspiration. And have fun!

CYOA begins 2nd week!

Here are sites to get you started in your CYOA assignment:

*Gourmet's favorite food sites
*Bon Appetit magazine online
*Food and Travel magazine online
*The New Yorker online has a terrific search function in which you can find even more recent food pieces than the ones collected in Secret Ingredients
*Every Wednesday, the New York Times has a Dining Section; and every Sunday they put out a Travel Section. There are various food and travel articles throughout the paper everyday and you can access many of the articles and blogs anytime online. It's worth spending some time on the site.
*This is a delightful radio show devoted to food
*there are, of course, cable networks devoted entirely to food and travel. Take a look here, here and here.

That should at least get you started. Don't at all feel limited to these particular sites in your hunt for your CYOA; my hope is that by bringing what you love to class, you'll expand our knowledge and resources. Also, make sure to present something to us that sustains good discussion. Showing a cooking show clip or a recipe, for example, likely won't get us anywhere. Also, make sure to find something that speaks to the marriage of food and place.

The lineup for CYOA presentations is:

2nd Week
Tuesday--Libby
Thursday--Meredith

3rd Week
Tuesday--Abby
Thursday--Andrea

6th Week
Tuesday--Ashley
Thursday--Sarena

8th Week
Tuesday--Yoji
Thursday--Cody

9th Week
Tuesday--Alejandra

Really looking forward to what you bring to the table!

Welcome!

If you're reading this, you're more than likely registered for the shared passages sophomore seminar Food and Travel Writing at Kalamazoo College. Congratulations. You've made an excellent choice!