Features
PAGE 8 • EXAM ISSUE 2012
NOODLES continued from page 6
friends led different lives, although their friendship never died. Mao endured six more years of war and the closing of his family’s restaurant in 1968, and Hopfenberg worked for six years with the immigration department to enable Mao to immigrate to North Carolina. In 1972, Hopfenberg and his family welcomed Mao, and Mao stayed with the host family for three years. Dur-
PITA
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between D.C. and Miami.” The family started with basic equipment and all seemed to be on track. However, according to Joe, Cecilia was quick to point out the flaw in their plan — the Saleh men were not bakers. “Sam and my uncle found a bakery in Brooklyn that made pita bread,” Joe said. “They went and spent about three weeks there. They had a lot to learn because mom actually makes the best pita.” When Sam returned, the brothers were ready to get started. According to Joe, Neomonde’s reputat ion for quality preceded them as word caught on and grocery chains like Winn-Dixie and Big Star contacted the family to negotiate deals. The Irregardless Cafe also took notice of Neomonde and became the
ing that time, Mao cooked at a friend’s restaurant and worked to bring his family from Vietnam, bringing his fiancée and now wife, Quyen, to the U.S. in 1973. During the next 2 ½ years, Mao sponsored the immigration of most of his family from Vietnam, and it wasn’t long before Mao found himself managing a string of restaurants in Raleigh. Mao said the American palate has changed over the years, and now he can be more flexible and adventurous with his cooking, com-
pared to when he first got his start. “Americans don’t just want fried rice or sweet and sour pork anymore,” Mao said. “Though I can’t get too exotic, I enjoy introducing people to new flavors, and people are liking it.” Mao said he cooks Chinese fusion food, and his restaurant’s menu is a snapshot of the best hits of East and Southeast Asian cuisine, including many traditional Chinese noodles and dumplings, Vietnamese pho soup, and different types of Malay
bakery’s first restaurant customer. In 1987, the brothers expanded the business by opening a deli. Cecilia herself, using family recipes and only authentic ingredients, prepared most items displayed in the deli case. “We started making what’s called, in the Lebanese cuisine, pies,” Joe said. “Soon people started to come here at lunchtime. Later, we added some popular dishes from the region.” By p opu l a r dem a nd, Mounir and Joe launched a small grocery so fans of the restaurant could purchase Lebanese staples and spices to prepare Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine themselves. In 2000, Neomonde opened a new establishment and relocated their wholesale baking facility and corporate offices to a 20,000-squarefoot location in Morrisville. Today, Neomonde Baking Company produces more
than 250 varieties of breads and pastries and the two restaurants serve about 750 diners daily. “Life is not all about business, of course,” Joe said. “When you work hard in America you can get somewhere.” To the Saleh family, Raleigh is more than just a place to live and carry out business. And as they enter the 35th year of operation, the Lebanese family who took a big risk still reflects on what has made the last three and a half decades so successful. “In the dynamic of creating the place called home, the more family members there are, the deeper your roots are in that place,” Joe said. “All of these experiences, we will not ever forget.”
curries. Hopfenberg has kept up both his cooking and his friendship with Mao, and they have been neighbors for 32 years. Hopfenberg continues to praise Mao’s hard work in the United States, and the professor frequents David’s Dumpling and Noodle Bar just as often has he had The Eskimo. “David has been a wonderful friend and neighbor,” Hopfenberg said. “And ever since I’ve known him, he’s been a tremendous chef.”
SEABOARD continued from page 6
PHOTO COURTESY OF SUZANNE STANARD/UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
feel like my customers appreciate the fact that we get the best ingredients. They come more often, spend more money and tell their friends.” Smith buys from a variety of North Carolina suppliers, including seafood from Pamlico Pride Shrimp and Carolina Classics Catfish and goat cheese from Prodigal Farm. “We use a key ingredient as a focal point of the dish and pull back the layers of the direction we want to go,” Smith said. “The good thing is people trust us and enjoy the different things we create.” This past September, 18 Seaboard purchased $13,800 from local purveyors, with most purchases accounting for seafood and produce, according to its website. So far, the restaurant has purchased more than $80,000 in seafood alone this year.
FARMER
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use in their herds,” Hutchinson said. “We’re trying to raise a cow that when introduced in a herd can put a calf on the ground that will grow and put on a lot of weight and make, so to speak, a lot of hamburgers.” Cows that Hutchinson raises are send to Texas and the Midwest, where feed is plentiful, rather than bring food to cows across the nation. The U.S. will consume more than 52 billion pounds of beef during 2012, according to the Earth Policy Institute. “The amazing thing is we produce that much meat a year because consumption is so high,” Hutchinson said. “America has a taste for meat, and it keeps me in business.” Though Hutchinson aspires to go to vet school, he said he will always be a farmer. “When I look out on the farm, I see not just land, tree or grass, I see a part of my history.”
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Nutrition hits home Ravi Chittilla Staff Writer
Tod ay, t he Un ited States faces the reality of increased childhood obesity, an increased chance of being diagnosed with heart disease and a lack of education about our nutritional needs. With a tough economy, many families do all they can to put food on the table. They often may not be aware of the nutritional content of their food and what their children might need to develop into strong, healthy adults. North Carolinians face challenges, and according to the UNC School of Law, 17.5 percent of North Carolinians fall below the poverty line. Worse still is the fact that 1 in 4 children in the state lives in poverty. Suzie Goodell, an assistant professor of nutrition at N.C. State, has attempted to put programs in place that will combat the malnutrition so often accompanying poverty. Launched in 2009, Nutrition NUTS (Nutrition Understanding Through Service) is a program that works with both children and their parents to improve nutritional education “by targeting specifically on obesity prevention for low income, lowresource parents and their preschool-aged children.” Nutrition NUTS runs a subprogram, including PEAS (Preschool Education in Agricultural and Nutrition Science), which is currently on hold as its effectiveness is improved. PEAS, the component that works with educated preschoolers, is currently engaging children in nutritional education lessons and “story time” sessions.
RESCUE
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case work with a counselor. The mission also has a children’s center where working mothers can leave their kids. The mission has 51 staff members, 36 full-time and 15 part-time. In addition, about 100 individuals and up to 50 groups volunteer every month, according to Holly Cook, director of volunteer ministry. Cook said that while most people first think of volunteering as serving food, there are a number of ways to volunteer at the mission, including tutoring and babysitting. Reiterating the idea that homelessness affects diverse
“Preschool is always playbased, and the most formal experience is meant to be enjoyable, so reading a book to a child is fun, and it’s something they get excited about,” Goodell said. “Children learn through a variety of mediums appropriate for their demographic. Whether they are simply getting acquainted with vegetables, singing a veggie song, or devouring a healthy snack, everything is a learning experience.” Goodell said that a key component of working with preschoolers was to make sure that they donot to automatically stereotype fruits and vegetables as “nasty” as so many children have done. Instead of “nasty,” Goodell said she tries to do something else. “We encourage positive reinforcement, and encourage a willingness to try new things,” Goodell said. “Somewhere along the way we get the idea that healthy food is nasty.” According to Goodell, at the age of 4, most children don’t distinguish between healthy and unhealthy. They tend to focus more on something like its color, what it looks like or what it feels like. But the most important experience, Goodell said, is that the students that go to work with these children learn from them as well. “T hese chi ld ren have come from a variety of backgrounds, some with very loving and stable families, others not so much,” Goodell said. “But our students have come with a variety of backgrounds as well, so it’s really important that they serve as a role model to them. Children get more excited when they see someone as enthusiastic as the college students that are working with them, and because they look up to you guys so much, they’re even more motivated to try them.”
groups of people, Cook said tutors are needed for all levels of reading and math. According to Cook, some residents may have a Master’s degree while others cannot read at all or be at an extremely low reading level. Cameron Hicks, 29, has been volunteering with RRM for a year and a half and said after volunteering once with her Bible study group, she then reached out to the mission to continue serving. “I love the people here. I like the people who work here and the people in the program. I like to give back and like spending time with people,” Hicks said.