Reflections on Cooking for the High Cost of Culture

Reflections on Cooking for the High Cost of Culture

Our team very much enjoyed cooking for the High Cost of Culture class with Dr. Hadley. Dr. Hadley defined the high cost of culture as the potential monetary and wellbeing costs that come from attempting to adhere to cultural norms or by striving to adhere to status hierarchies that are costly. In particular, Dr. Hadley explained the issue in the context of US consumers purchasing branded vs generic food. He pointed out that people tend to prefer branded over generics and pay more for them even though data suggests that there are very few nutritional differences. In fact, he discussed that in many occasions generics have a higher nutritional value.

For cooking inspiration, Dr. Hadley suggested cooking two meals- one using all generic ingredients and one using all name brand ingredients. Using his suggestion, we decided to do a taco comparison of all organic Whole Foods ingredients to tacos purchased from the fast food chain Taco Bell. We chose these two because Whole Foods as a grocery store enjoys a reputation as top quality foods for an excessively high price, whereas Taco Bell has a reputation for very poor quality food for a very reasonable price. We thought the two would create an interesting dichotomy of price, quality, taste, and overall experience. Taco Bell had similar items in its bean burrito and 7 layer burritos. We loosely based our organic tacos on a recipe from Food Network.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups onion, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons minced garlic
• 3 tablespoons ground cumin
• 2 pounds ground beef (vegetarian option Beyond Beef)
• 1 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 12 to 16 taco shells or warmed soft tortillas, as desired
• Grated Monterey Jack or Cheddar, for garnish
• Diced tomatoes, for garnish
• Minced jalapenos, for garnish
• Sour cream, for garnish
• Shredded iceburg lettuce, for garnish
• Guacamole, recipe follows, for garnish
• Salsa, recipe follows, for garnish
• Chopped red onion, for garnish
• Guacamole:

o   3 ripe avocados, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

o   3 tablespoons finely chopped yellow onion

o   3 cloves garlic, minced

o   1 tablespoon freshly minced cilantro leaves

o   2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

o   1/2 teaspoon salt

·       Salsa:

o   4 large tomatoes, about 21/2 pounds, seeded and roughly chopped

o   1 cup chopped white onions

o   5 teaspoons minced garlic

o   4 serrano peppers, stems and seeds removed, minced

o   1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

o   2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

o   1/2 teaspoon salt

To feed the same number of people, the cost of Whole Foods tacos as around $145, while the total from Taco Bell was around $30. Everyone agreed that Whole Foods was a lot more preferable. They discussed how Taco Bell did not taste very fresh and was much saltier and staler. Still the price tag differential was so large that it displayed the high cost of culture, particularly when college kids lean towards Whole Foods on very small budgets. At the end of the day, the caloric values are similar, and a problem would arise when people go hungry to avoid the fast foods for the cultural value of organic groceries. Although our meal brought up an interesting discussion, I think it was a unique example of the high cost of culture. The Taco Bell to Whole Foods comparison is not your typical generic to branded comparison in terms of freshness, processed ingredients, cost comparison and overall quality. It would be another interesting experiment to buy organic vs. name brand items from the same grocery store- for example in black beans or tortilla chips. I think it would be a lot harder to tell the difference then.

Overall, Dr. Hadley’s class brought up several interesting issues around hunger.  When young professionals in India use their money to purchase designer clothes or the newest mobile phones, while going hungry, should they be included in the hunger index?  Likewise, when people in poverty do not meet daily caloric demands using the cheap options available, but instead they adhere to a diet that matches  social/cultural norms about the "right" kinds of foods, such as meat, are they truly hungry? In general, Dr. Hadley’s class opened our eyes to the many layers of “hunger” and the complicated dynamics surrounding the design of social safety net programs. It is not as simple as the stereotypical iimage of an underwiehgt individual, as food insecurity is often associated with overweight in the US and poor mental health.  I very much appreciated the lecture for broadening our understanding of the issue.