Process Writing

     I was worried going into some of the writing pieces for this class. I find writing about myself to be pretty easy so I knew I could do the memoir, but the other pieces scared me. I remember reading the syllabus on the first day and wondering how the hell I was going to write a restaurant review and cook for people and write about it. I’m not exactly a food aficionado. Growing up, my family never really went out to eat and the foods we ate at home were always very simple, so I wasn’t really confident in my knowledge or ability to write about food. Every time I watch Food Network with my roommates, I need to ask what some of the items are and what they taste like.

     Once I got past my fear, the writing was actually very fun. In my restaurant review, I tried to keep my food descriptions simple. I did my best to judge their food and tried to bring in the food smarts I had. The cooking project was even more enjoyable and while I wrote, I was forced to really think about my stance on food. I think that writing about food has helped to seriously improve my writing. Food writing is something I have never done before and I think that as you write about more things, you gain more techniques that you apply to universally to your writing.

     The lack of food smarts confidence made me stick to simple ideas for my writing. Comerica Park was an easy topic to pick as its commonly a place I refer to as one of my favorites in the world. Writing about it from a food standpoint made me think about it in a way I never have before and I think that this class made me do that with a lot of things. I’m walking away from this class with a vastly different perspective on food than I had first week. I notice food advertisements, tastes and cultural meanings so much more. I’m also much more critical of the food industry (thanks to Pollan for that one). I’m thankful to have these new perspectives, though. As I make the transition to being independent from my parents, I think it’s important to gather my own views on food. Someday I’ll be forced to enter a supermarket and purchase food for myself. I think that after this class I’m better prepared for that day. There is still a lot about food I need to learn and this class has peaked my interest on it. 

     Workshops in this class were especially helpful to me, even more so than in other classes. The comments were great, but to me the best part was being able to read how each person approached topics differently. I was able to learn about each person, but I was also able to learn more about myself after reading everyone’s points of view. Each person’s writing forced me to think about a different facet of food and that made me decide what was most important to me. That extends beyond just the major pieces of writing. Everyone seemed to have very different reactions to our readings as well. For example, many people wrote about and discussed pieces of Pollan’s book that I did not give second thought to. That helped tremendously in my own writing as well. I was able to really decide what I wanted to focus on in my pieces after hearing and discussing everyone’s views. I like to think that I always listened to and tried to gain from other people’s opinion, but I think in this class I’ve learned to value them even more. I hate to admit it, but there were times in the past where I ignored what people said in workshops because I trusted myself more than I trusted them. In our workshops, I may not have taken everyone’s advice, but I definitely thought critically about every point in deciding whether or not I wanted to include it in my piece.