South Philly SE3

Kerry dePenaloza

Mr. Leake

Writ 1133

16 April 2013

South Philly

            This past Sunday afternoon, a friend and I enjoyed a nice lunch at the location restaurant known as South Philly.  Upon entrance to the establishment, the first thing we walked past was the bar and the bartender was very friendly as we walked in.  After passing the bar, we made our way towards the blown up menu that is on the rear wall, which makes ordering easier.  Seeing as how the restaurant is called South Philly, I most certainly order the delicious Philly cheese steak sandwich that is offered here.  My friend and I then sat down at a table in the middle of the room.  While waiting for the food to arrive, I noticed the type of crowd that was at the restaurant.  There were two groups of four, all young men, eating sandwiches and drinking beer.  This observation led me to believe that this restaurant attracts a younger male crowd for many reasons.  For one, they offer mostly food that is eaten without silverware, there were three different sports being played on their televisions, and the atmosphere in the restaurant has young college male written all over it.

            The food arrived within 10 minutes and it was hot and fresh and extremely delicious.  The French fires I ordered were still sizzling from the fryer and the sandwich was fresh off the grill.  While eating my sandwich, a question came to my mind.  The Philly cheese steak is a famous sandwich with its roots in Philadelphia.  After this realization, I asked myself, “Why are there always Philly cheese steak restaurants outside of Philadelphia?”  With this question in mind, I wanted to do a little research.  In an article by Robin Lee Allen, she talks about the development of the restaurant industry in America.  Among the things she talks about, a section of it is about the infamous Philly cheese steak sandwich.  Allen writes, “Brothers Pat and Harry Olivieri of Philadelphia in 1930 created a grilled-steak sandwich with hot sauce on Italian bread.  A decade later they added cheese, giving birth to the Philadelphia cheese-steak.” She stresses the importance of this sandwich to the restaurant industry in America.  The sandwiches became so famous that they are now “offered widely in sandwich shops and chains nationwide.” (Allen).  This certainly explains why there are places in every city where one can purchase a Philly cheese steak sandwich.  However, to experience the proper sandwich, and Philadelphian will tell you where to go. 

            Something else that I noticed about the restaurant South Philly was the layout of the restaurant.  When one first enters the restaurant, the bar is the first thing they will pass.  Seeing as how this place is a restaurant/bar, why would the bar be the first thing you walk by.  While there, I noticed a group of young men eating food, when they all decided to get some beers from the bar.  This observation was a large part of the second question I asked myself while eating my sandwich.  I wondered if the layout of a restaurant subconsciously makes customers buy certain things.  I wondered if someone comes into this restaurant for a sandwich, how often to they persuade themselves to buy a drink from the bar.  Conversely, if someone comes into the bar for a drink, how often do they persuade themselves to get a sandwich, maybe after a few drinks?  Regardless of what anyone might say, the layout of a restaurant/bar is extremely important to the success of the business.  Most of the time, a place like this will make a solid percentage of their earnings from the bar.  I noticed that the bar had a large amount of specials, which certainly adds to the idea of someone ordering a drink when they only came for food. 

            Some other things I noticed about South Philly were the type of atmosphere they were creating.  They were playing music that was uplifting and enjoyable to listen to, but it was at respectable volume level, which is nice because it is easy to carry on a conversation.  Certainly the time of day, around 2pm on Sunday, was not that perfect time to observe this restaurant in action.  With the lack of people at the restaurant, the staff was not very enthusiastic about working.  However, when the bartender took our orders he was very polite and seemed glad that we had decided to come to South Philly for lunch.  I can imagine that when the restaurant is full of people that it could be a fun place to eat and have a good time.  The atmosphere of the restaurant certainly backs me up when I say that it is a fun place to be and a great place to get a Philly cheese steak sandwich in Denver.

            If you haven’t been to South Philly yet, I would highly recommend it.  The food is delicious and they have such an extensive menu you could eat there many time and not try the same thing once.  I’m glad that I chose this restaurant for my observations.  I have never actually done something like this, but South Philly was a great place because they made it easy to observe the establishment, employees, and customers.  

Possible Sources From the Library

While looking for a topic for an article on Philly cheese steaks, I found this one.  It does not focus entirely on the sandwich, rather it does state that you can get one anywhere in the US, which was one of my questions from class.  Why are there always Philly cheese steak restaurants outside of Philadelphia?
http://0-search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/229335858

I thought that this article would help in my research as to why Philly cheese steak sandwiches are so popular.  It shows the importance it has to the city and why the sandwich is so good.
http://0-search.proquest.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/docview/236826052

Spread P4

Kerry dePenaloza

Mr. Leake

Writ 1133

9 April 2013

P4

In Mary Ann O’Donnell’s article “The Cultural Politics of Eating in Shenzhen” she puts a lot of emphasis on the importance that food played in Communist China, especially for Shenzhen people.  The Shenzhen people are important workers in the Chinese community because they are “college-educated immigrants.”  Food was so important for these people because there were so many sacrifices done by them in order to develop the cities and industrialize towns. 

            In Sandra Cate’s article “Breaking Bread with a Spread” I found it very interesting how big of a role the spread plays in the lives of the prisoners.  The ability to create something for them creates a sense of freedom.  This ability to make the spread is really important for their well being. This freedom allows for prisoners to be calm because they are able to express creativity when creating the spread.  Also, the spread helps to bring prisoners together because they tend to eat the spread together.  Most importantly, without a doubt, the spread is better food then the food that they receive on a regular basis.  If they have the means, they will make the spread as often as they can.

            Sandra Cate and Mary Ann O’Donnell both relate the importance of food to different communities.  Cate shows the importance of spread to the prison community.  Now you may not think of a prison as a community, but it certainly is one.  Spread does so much for them and Cate does a great job of stressing that importance.  Just like Cate, O’Donnell certainly sows the importance of food in the Shenzhen community.  Food for them is something they hold dear to their hearts because it is essential for them.  They work so hard during the day that they need the nourishment that only food can provide. 

            For me, the most interesting and fascinating thing I learned was about the spread in prison.  This class is the only reason I now know spread exists.  The idea of it never really crossed my mind.  I can understand why prisoners enjoy having spread instead of the generic mundane food that is served in prison.  The freedom they get from expressing creativity and enjoying a good meal was really emphasized in Cate’s article.  It wasn’t just the spread that I found most interesting, but it was some of the recipes and how the prisoners go about obtaining the ingredients to concoct the perfect spread. 

Food Advertisements SE2

Kerry dePenaloza

Mr. Leake

Writ 1133

6 April 2013

Food Advertisements SE2

Advertisements are a part of our every day lives.  Whether we see them on TV, in a magazine, or hear them on the radio, you can not escape them.  The thing about these ads is that they are specifically designed for a certain audience, which helps to sell their product.  The advertising industry is a multi billion dollar industry and advertisers study what types of advertising is the most effective in getting their product sold.  These advertisers use ethos, logos, and pathos in order to help appeal to a certain audience.  Most ads use these rhetorical analysis methods in their advertisements.

An advertisement that was done by subway a few years ago shows these rhetorical analysis ideas.  The add shows a couple driving up to a fast food restaurant and ordering things like “thunder thighs” or “blubber” because subway wants to show that their food is healthier for you.  The fast food restaurant in the advertisement is bland, boring, and even the menu looks too simple.  This was done on purpose so as to show that the fast food is nothing special and when subway advertises their product, it is very colorful and happy.  This is a great example of the rhetorical analysis idea of logos simply because of the difference in the food.  Subway shows how healthy their food is when it is compared to fast food companies.

In this same advertisement, subway uses the rhetorical analysis idea of ethos towards the end.  They are advertising subway’s new fresh fit sides and drinks.  They show fresh fruit and milk when talking about this.  Then what makes the idea of ethos really stick out is when they say, “Subway’s new fresh fit meal fit into the American Heart Association’s approach to a healthy lifestyle.”  This simple statement gives the subway and their new fresh fit meals credibility.  Something as simple as this makes subway look so much better when compared to the fast food restaurant at the beginning.  It is clear that the advertising team for subway is reaching out to a person who eats on the go and wants something that is healthier then fast food.  To put it into broader terms, this advertisement is reaching out to the working class. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxqRg2Nohso

Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s are notorious for having advertisements with attractive women.  In the ad for their Memphis BBQ burger, the use of attractive women is obvious.  One thing about advertisement that has worked for a lot of people is the idea that sex sells.  Not only are they using attractive women in their ads, they are also using famous attractive people.  The use of a celebrity in an advertisement is one of the rhetorical analysis ideas.  They are using the idea of ethos and pathos in this particular advertisement.  The ethos comes from the two models that are cooking pork and burgers on a grill.  They get into a slight scuffle and end up combining a cheeseburger and pulled pork, which is the whole idea behind the burger.  Pathos comes in to play during this ad because both the girls in the ad seem to be having fun eating the new Memphis BBQ burger.  Also, two young guys in the background are showed having a good time watching these two women do what they do. 

This Memphis BBQ burger ad is focusing its attention on men for the most part.  They are probably directing the ad to men from the ages of 18-30 or so.  Men this age will easily be drawn to an advertisement with two beautiful women, grilling pork and burgers in skimpy cowgirl clothing.  Again, this ad is using sex to sell their product because it is simply the most effective advertisement tactic to attract the audience they want. 

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1krJqn3smbI

Based upon the appeals of these two advertisements, it is easy to say that food advertisements all play a part in our culture.  These ads are everywhere in our lives.  No matter what they are trying to sell, they have specific ways of reaching their desired audience.  For Hardees’ or Carl’s Jr. they use attractive women to get the attention of their male audience, while Subway uses the idea of healthy food and getting healthy food fast to appeal to their working class audience.  It seems that food companies will do whatever they can possibly to do make their main audience happy.  They value the customer and they value the way they attract their main audience to the point where ads are becoming more and more unique and prevalent. 

Freedman and Jurafsky P3

Kerry dePenaloza

Mr. Leake

Writing 1133

2 April, 2013

Freedman and Jurafsky P3

            In the article by Joshua Feedman and Dan Jurafsky, they explain the importance of food and they type of advertising that is used to sell it.  They focus on three different aspects of advertising categories, language, culture, and food.   While reading the article, it is clear that they believe advertising done with potato chips is directed toward many different socioeconomic classes due to the type of language that is used on the packaging.  One thing they explained was the fact that the nicer chip company used longer phrases on the bag, while the less expensive chip company used shorter, more simple phrases.  Another aspect of advertising that Freedman and Jurafsky focused on with the potato chips was the fact that the more expensive chips were healthier than the less expensive ones. 

            The most interesting thing I thought about this article that I learned was the language that was used by the chip companies.  The fact that I have never noticed the difference between the cheaper chips and the more expensive chips is funny.  After reading this I don’t think I will look at the chips the same way again.  It makes a lot of scene to me that certain chip companies would advertise a certain way.  For example, Lays seems to keep the words short and sweet and focus more on the flavor of the chip. 

            I can imagine this same type of advertising with beer companies.  For example, the cheaper, lighter beers use less words and focus more about the name of the beer, while the more expensive, heavier beers have a lot of words on the can that glorify the type of beer it is.  For example, Bud Light has a lot less words on the bottle, while say a Fat Tire bottle has an entire story on the side of it that explains how great the beer is.  I’m certain that many different things use this same type of advertising because it is such a simple and effective way to get a certain group of people to buy their product.