January 11 - Taste and Smell - pre-class

1.      A taste map of the tongue (pictured below) appears has appeared in countless books:

	http://www.understandingfoodadditives.org/pages/Ch2p3-1.htm

      In your experience, is this map correct? Taste a few things if you need to.

           

I feel like this is very close to how I experience it. I could taste more of the sweet things on the tip of my tongue. The salty and the sour were more on the sides. I felt that bitter was more over the back and middle of my tongue.

2. During your next meal, after eating a few items, try them again with your nose plugged. Record your observations.

           

There was a subtle difference of taste when I plugged by nose when eating. Some of the tastes were not as strong as they were before I plugged by nose. I could still tell what the taste of each of the food were but I felt like they were a little bit weaker.

3. “More than meets the Mouth”

·      What are the 5 tastes (according to current thought) and 2 tastes for which the jury is still out?

Sweet, sour, bitter, salty, unami are the 5 known tastes and fatty and calcium are other suggested tastes. 

·      Eisenstein suggests that “the wisdom of the body” leads people to prefer foods that contain the most nutrients. Consider things with a pleasant taste vs. those with a bitter taste--how might this wisdom also lead us eat things with calories and avoid those with poisons?

If wisdom of the body tells us to eat things that are more nutritious for us then our body will also tell us what things are bad for us. If something is poisonous for us, then our body should tell us that they thing that we are eating does not taste good. Our body needs calories for energy, so our body will like things that have calories in it. 

·      Broccoli is well known to be rich in bitter compounds. Use what you learned in this paper to explain why people could have such opposing reactions to broccoli, as demonstrated by this quote from President George H. W. Bush: “I do not like broccoli and I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli…My family is divided. For the broccoli vote out there: Barbara loves broccoli. She has tried to make me eat it. She eats it all the time herself.”

There are different receptor variants that arise that lead people to like and not like things that are bitter. The bitter receptor is most prone to genetic variability.  The bitter receptor helps people to not eat toxic compounds. Our receptors evolve to detect harmful substances.  Broccoli has  a bitter taste, and if our receptors evolve to detect harmful toxic substances that are sensed on bitter receptors, then our body can give out a signal that this food is not good for us, so we don’t like that food.

4. Consider vision, gustation, and olfaction (you will find Powerpoint files for all three on Moodle). Which two systems are the most alike? Why?

Gustation and olfaction are 2 similar systems. Vision is different then these two because the channel is constantly open and a signal to the receptor closes the channel.  Both gustation and olfaction works by having a signal bind to a receptor that then opens the channels for ions to move into the cell. 

5. Describe an analogy that you could use to explain olfaction to someone outside of this class. (We encourage you to try your own analogy, but if you’re stuck, consider how it might compare to painting or music.)

Olfaction can be described as music. Just like there are many different notes on the keyboard, there are many different receptors for smell. You can have a signal at one receptor for a smell like you can hit one mote to make music. You can also play a cord, which is are certain notes that go together to make music, just like you can have a signal be sent to different receptors to produce a certain type of smell.

January 10 - Class Experiment

Vegetables and Salts

Why do cooks ass salt when cooking vegetables, for example green beans?

Activity 1: Other Reasons?

The reasons that were giving in class was because:

·      It keeps the beans green

·      It raises the boiling point of the water so the beans cook faster

·      It prevents the beans going soggy

·      It improves flavor

The other reasons that we thought of were:

·      It controls of the flavor.

·      It makes the food last longer.

Activity 2: Is it possible to detect which beans have been cooked in salted water and which have not?

For this activity we boiled two pans of beans, one with no salt and the other with coarse sea salt.  We boiled 5 beans cut up into about 1 cm pieces in each pan. We let the water come to a boil and then put the beans in. We let the beans boil for about 7 minutes.  We had 2 people be the testers, and they did not know which pan contained the salt. We had then each do 2 tests. For the test, we gave each of them three pieces of beans, 2 of which were from the same pot and the one from the other pot. For test 1, they each guessed wrong and on test 2, they both guessed right.  For the first test, they both could taste that there was a difference between the two beans, but they guessed wrong.

In order to keep it a fair test we needed to keep many of the factors the same.  We added the same amount of water to each pan. We had the same number of beans and cut them in 1 cm pieces. We had each of the hotplates to the same temperature.  We then boiled the beans for the same amount of time. We boiled them for 7 minutes. I do think that the length of cooking time does make a difference. You want to cook the beans long enough so that they are tender and the beans cook long enough in the salt water.

Activity 3: Does taste differ in beans cooked with one type of salt or the other?

For this test we cooked two pans of beans, each with a different type of salt. One pan had coarse sea salt and the other had lite salt.  We used the same amount of water and the same temperature. We used the same amount of salt in each pan and cooked the beans for the same amount of time. We again had 2 testers that performed tests each.  For each test, we gave them 3 beans each, two of the same beans on each plate. Each of the testers guessed right on each of their tests. They both could tell the difference between the two types of beans. 

Activity 4: Should beans be cooked with the lid on or off?   

                    

For this test, we had one pan with the lid on and the other with the lid on.  We used the same amount of water, the same temperature, the same amount of beans, and used no salt in both pans.  For the pan with the lit off, the water continued to boil slowly while the beans were in the pan.  For the pan with the lid, the water boiled faster and harder. The water was also greener after the beans cooked, and the beans were a lighter color. 

We had 2 testers look at the beans to see if they could tell which beans were cooked with the lid off. We put a couple of each, and they just needed to point to the pile they believed were cooked with the lid on. They both guessed right. They said that the lighter color beans were cooked with the lid on. 

Activity 5: The effect of salt and of baking soda and vinegar on the color of vegetables

For this test we tested to see if baking soda or vinegar affected the color of the beans when cooked.  We used 3 grams of salt in each of the pans, the same amount of water, the same temperature, and the same amount of beans. In one pan we used 3 grams of baking soda in one of the pans and 3 grams of vinegar in the other pan.

The baking soda caused the water to become a milky color and the beans were a brighter green color when they were done. The vinegar caused the beans to turn a brown color around the edges.

 Activity 6: By how much does salt increase the boiling point of water?

We did not perform this activity, but got our data from another group

Salt water (g)	Temperature (°C)
0	102
1.5	102.5
3.0	103
4.5	103.5
6.0	104

This is showing that the more salt that you add to the water will increase the boiling point of the water.  

January 7 - Optical Illusions

Checker Shadow Illusion

- Even after reading the explanation, it is hard to believe that this is true. I just can’t believe that it is. I have no idea how it is true but the picture explanation that they gave proves that it is true, even though it doesn’t appear to be.  They talked about the shadow from the cylinder that is affecting the light that is shinning on the square. Also, the surrounding squares affect how we see the square. Because darker squares are surrounding B, it appears to be lighter. The squares surrounding A are all lighter so A appears to be darker. 

- More illusions

            - Many of these illusions were easier to believe then the checkerboard illusion. The white’s illusion was one that was tricky. It is so crazy to see how much our eyes change the color of the gray because of the surrounding colors. My favorite is the vasarely illusion. It is interesting to see how the squares stacked on top of each other cause the white to appear on the pyramid. 

  

Curve ball Illusion

- This illusion appears as if the ball is dropping straight down, but if you look over at the blue dot on the side the ball appears to be dropping at a angle. It is kind cool to see how because the colors in the ball is spinning; it appears as if the ball is dropping at angle when not directly looking at it.  The same thing goes for the reversal illusion.  The circle is spinning counter clockwise so when you look right at the circle you see that movement, but because the colors is the ball are moving in the opposite direction when you look away, the circle appears to be moving clockwise. 

- Other illusions

            - The first place illusion with the slopes is crazy.  From the angle of the camera it does truly look like the balls are moving up the ramp, but if you look closely you can see that they are not really going up.  Then when they switched the camera angle, you were able to see that the slopes were actually going down. 

Grey Circles

            - For this illusion, I had an idea of how it was trying to trick our eyes. The inner circle is going to look smaller then what it really is because it is surrounded by larger circles and all the numbered circles are going to look larger then what they are because they are surrounded by smaller circles. With this in mind, I still guessed wrong on what circle was the same size as the middle one. I guessed that 6 or 8 were the same size as the middle one when the correct answer was number 3. At first look it appears that number 3 is larger then the middle one, but if you look really closely you can see that they are the same size. 

Yellow dots

            - I thought that the yellow dots one was really cook. It was crazy to see the yellow dots disappear. I kept trying to get the all to go away, but the most I could get at one time was 2.

Color blindness

            - Looking at the different examples of color blindness and seeing what each of them see really makes you appreciate your ability to see all the different colors. It seems like they are able to maybe see one or two colors and then just different shades of that makes up the rest of the colors. It would be very frustrating for me to not be able to see all the many different colors that are in creation.  

January 7 - Chemistry Overview

     1. How many carbon atoms are there in the molecule shown below? What is the shape of the molecule at the carbons nearest to the oxygen? 

There are 20 carbon atoms and the shape of the carbon atom closest to the oxygen molecule is planer.

2. In the example shown, what would happen to the signal if the channel was stuck in the “open” position? What if the channel were unable to open?

If the channel were stuck open then that signal would constantly be sent to the brain.  That sense then would continually be “on”. If the channel were unable to open then the cell could not communicate to the brain, and the sense would not be turned “on.”

3. A common analogy for the vision system is of a leaky boat which is being bailed out by a bucket. In this analogy, what is the boat? What is the leak? What is the bucket?

Boat = membrance

Leak = channel

      Bucket = pump

January 6

Fredrick Meijer Gardens

While at Fredrick Meijer Gardens, I walked through each of the rooms looking for different plants that had a scent to them. I should let you now that I do not have a very good sense of smell, so I though a lot of the smells were weak, but that could just be me.  I always like going to the gardens to see all the different plants. I wish it wasn’t so cold out otherwise I would have walked around outside more. While I was there they were working in the Tropical Conservatory so parts of it were closed off. I was not able to see the orchid wall. After walking through each room, I did walk around outside for a little while. I then returned to the different plants, but I did not feel like any of the smells changed. I listed below some of the plants that I smelled along with other plants that I thought were interesting. 

Allspice Tree

            Pimenta dioica, Myrataeae

-       The tree smelled like cinnamon to me.  It is suppose to smell like a mixture of cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg, but I could really only smell a cinnamon scent.  It was a very pleasant smell and it reminds me of Christmas time.  I did not know that I had to break a leave off, but I rubbed one of the broken leaves on my hand to smell it. It was a weak scent, but that might have been because I did not take one from the tree.

-       It was located in the Tropical Conservatory.  It grows in Central and South America. (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/allspice-tree.html)

Firebush

            Hamelia patens, Rubiaceae

-       The aroma was very weak, but it was pleasant.

-       It was located in the Tropical Conservatory.  It is native to the subtropics in South America. 

Shooting Star

            Clerodendrum guadriloculore, Verbenaceae, Tropic and Sub-tropic regions

-       It was a sweet smell, and it was pleasant. I thought it was kind of a weak smell. It was more of a cool mint smell.  It seemed refreshing. 

-       It was located in the Tropical Conservatory. It is native to the tropic and sub tropic regions. 

Orange Jessamine

            Murraya Paniculata, Rugaceae, Asia to Australia

-       It had a sweet, flowery smell. It was a weaker smell, but very pleasant.  It reminded me of flowers.  I had come back to this smell after I stepped outside and it smelled the same. 

-       It was located in the Tropical Conservatory and it is native to Asia and Australia.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murraya_paniculata)

Aechmea

            Aechmea (Little Harv), Bromeliaceae, Cultivated Ornamental

-       I picked this plant because I thought it looked interesting. I could not really smell any scent from it.  One thing I found out about this plant is that there are 255 species of Aechmea. 

-       It was located in the Tropical Conservatory.  Most of the species are native throughout Mexico and South America.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aechmea)

Tropical Pitcher plant

            Nepenthes Maxima

-       I picked this plant because I thought it looker really cool.  I thought the buds or flowers that came off in the shape of a pitcher were so interesting. I have never seen anything like it before.

-       This plant was located in the Carnivorous room.  It is native to New Guinea. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepenthes_maxima)v

Peacock Echeveria

            Echeveria percockii, crassuiaceae, Mexico

-     This plant was located in the Arid room and is native to Mexico. I thought it was an interesting looking plant.

January 6 - Spices

1.     One of the “Christmas spices” is cloves. Where is it grown? In what foods is it used? What else is it used for?

      Cloves are aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae. They are native to Indonesia. They are harvested primarily in Indonesia, Madagascar, Zanzibar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and India. (Wikipedia – Clove).  Cloves are used in Indian cuisine, usually missed in sauces or side dish, mostly ground up along with other spices. It is normally added whole to enhance the presentation and flavor of the rice. The spice is also used in Europe and Asia and is smoked in a type of cigarettes. Cloves are also used in incense in Chinese and Japanese culture. It can also be used to treat toothache in dental emergencies. (Spices in Kerala – clove).

2.     Another Christmas spice is cinnamon. Where is it grown? What foods is it used for?

      

      Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of trees from the genus Cinnamomum. It can be used in both sweet and savory foods. They are native to South East Asia. It is grown in Kerala, India, Bangladesh, Java, Sumatra, the West Indies, Brazil, Vietnam, and Egypt. It is used in the preparation of Chocolate, especially in Mexico. It is used in many pastries and baked goods, apple pie, donuts, and cinnamon buns. In the Middle East, it is used to spice chicken and lamb. In the U.S. it is used in mixture with sugar to flavor cereals, and fruits, especially apples.  It is reported to have a pharmacological effect in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. (Wikipedia – Cinnamon).

3.     In the Tropical Conservatory there is an allspice tree. Where is it grown? How did it get its name (be specific)? 

      Allspice is an evergreen tree that is indigenous to the rainforests of South and Central America. It also grows in Mexico and Jamaica.  Allspice gets its name because it smells like a combination of different spices, especially cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg (http://www.theepicentre.com/Spices/allspice.html). Allspice is used in Jamaican soups, stews, and curries. 

January 5 - Babette's Feast

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092603/

 1. The story is based in Jutland.  Using Google, find information about Jutland.  Where is it located? 

Jutland is a peninsula that sticks out of northern Europe and forms the mainland of Denmark. There are three regions of the peninsula: North Jutland, Central Jutland, and the Region of Southern Denmark.  One interesting thing about Jutland is that in World War 1, there was one of the largest naval battles in history that took place here.

2.   This is a movie about celebrating the senses – how does the director of the movie enable you to experiences the senses? (i.e. how is French cuisine used with transformative powers in this movie? How does hearing music inform the power of sight?)

When the people in the movie tasted the French cuisine, it changes the way that they think. They were not happy about having such a worldly meal, so they did not want to talk about the food they were eating and wanted to eat in silence.  The food is so delicious to them that is changes them.  They become happy and changes the way that they think about each other. For example, two men were angry with each other because one felt cheated while the other denied it, but after the feast they come to an understating between the two.

3.   Babette is both a cook and an artist.  When she says, “I made them happy”, what is she conveying?

As an artist, Babette’s art is the food that she created.  With that art, she made the people happy. They forgave each other of the wrongs that they had done and they got over being at odds with each other. 

4.    Are you able to trace Christian themes of sin and salvation in this movie? (Use any one of the characters in the movie)

For Babette’s character, the sisters believed that she was worldly and wicked because of the food that she is preparing. They think that it is wrong to eat the food that she makes so they make a decision to not talk about the food that they eat. They come to realize that the food is amazing and it changes the way that they interact with each other. They come to see the amazing talent of Babette. 

5.   In this movie, there is a strong contrast between the material and the immaterial. Are Christians expected to choose one or the other?

      

      As Christians, we are not to be obsessed with material things.  It is not wrong to have material things and to enjoy these things, but we should not be so concerned with material things that we devout our lives to them.  We are not expected to choose between the two, but if the material things in our life are becoming the center of our lives, that is when we need to consider how it is impacting our lives. 

6.    If you had to write an Afterword to this story, what would it be? (it could be along the following line.. how do you think the two sisters and Babette’s relationship may be different after the feast?  or how may they remain the same?)

The relationship between the two sisters and Babette will be changed greatly because of the feast. There is more of an understanding between them because the sisters know more about who she really is.  They will be able to appreciate her more and the work that she does for them.