Leigh Ann 11.16.09

Observation: Grocery Shopping Options

I observed the different types of places to buy food to see what the difference in food choices and overall experience.  Specifically, I wanted to see where there were the most sustainable food options, what kind of organic and local food each place sold, and how they were appealing to their customer base.  I chose to shop at a “conventional” grocery store (Food Emporium), a chain natural food store (Whole Foods), and a Farmers Market (Union Square Green Market).

Observation: Cooking Together

I asked a group of friends to prepare dinner together.  I wanted to see how they would go about choosing what to make, shopping for food, and preparing the meal.  They chose to make fried chicken, brussel sprouts, and mashed potatoes.

+When shopping for chicken, they decided to buy the whole chicken instead of 4 breasts because it would be about 6 dollars cheaper.  They hesitated to tackle carving the whole bird, but Molly said she had done it before and would try the best she could to do it.

 +She used scissors to cut off the skin because she said the skin was not good for frying.  She says that you know where to cut by finding the bone joints.

 +Drew cut the brussel sprouts and cooked them his “secret” way: “Just cook them in the skillet with butter A LITTLE bit, then put them in the oven!”  His girlfriend Molly went into the oven later to “cut them up the right way!”

 +Drew says it’s so much fun to be cooking together!

 +Will batters the chicken in an egg wash and then bread crumbs with curry powder.  By the end, his hands are battered too!

 +After the Molly cuts all of the meat off of the chicken, we realize that we should boil down the carcass with water to make some chicken stock.  I didn’t really know exactly how to do this, but I filled a pot with water, salt, pepper, garlic scraps, and a few green onions.  I put the carcass in and then simmered it on low until it was close to half reduced.

People I spoke with:

+Cornelia Hoskin: Manager of Homegrown.org

+Leslie: Owner of Angelica Kitchen (local+organic restaurant in the east village)

+Mark Dunau: Owner and Farmer of Mountain Dell Farm (hancock, ny)

Feedback from today:

+describe what a “proper meal” is

+set up the entire scenario of cooking at home

+who exactly is my user (are they a family, what is their income like, etc…)

+if I want people to cook, I have to give them the assurance that it is possible under the restrictions my user has for each meal (ex: they must feel comfortable with the idea that they can make a full meal in 30 minutes from fresh ingredients)

+I am concerned not with making cooking convenient, but with allowing people to enjoy the process of cooking and learn these skills enough to be able to apply them on their own.  In other words, I want someone to be able to feel comfortable cooking without a recipe.

For next week:

+Layout research done so far in “book” form for proposal

+Sketch layout for 30x30 board (and fill in the blanks)

+conduct interview with manager of park slope food co-op

+100? Concepts sketched