The Special
FRONT COVER
Culinary Issue
Fall 2015
The Special is an online magazine produced by journalism students at Texas A&M University-Commerce.
Content
and
produc on
are
the
responsibili es
of
the
students.
The Special is produced during
the
fall
and
spring
semesters.
conTacT:
The
Special,
Texas
A&M
University-‐Commerce,
Box
4104,
Commerce,
Texas
75428. STaff:
Kerry
Wilson,
Tristen
Harris,
Mandi
Carpenter,
Shomari
Harris faculTy adviSer: Fred
Stewart
(Fred.Stewart@tamuc.edu)
TABLE OF CONTENTS Tiger Butter By Kerry Wilson
Freshman 15 By Christian Hall
Eating healthy By Shomari Harris
Wine and food By Mandi Carpenter
Tiger Butter
The
best
kept
secret
of
the
South By Kerry Wilson
I
Viktoria Tabeleva, native of Kyrgyzstan, has lived in the United States for four and a half years and during her time here, one of the desserts she has enjoyed has been tiger butter. Tabeleva said her first time trying tiger butter was with her American family in
Photo Courtesy of Kerry Wilson
nternational Coffee House night at the Baptist Student Ministry brought international students together to fellowship while sharing desserts from their native countries and allowed one student to enjoy a familiar dessert from America – tiger butter.
Tiger Butter dessert
Willis Point during Christmas. “The first time I had it was during Christmastime when everybody was getting presents,” Tabeleva said. “I got it and I was like, ‘Oh OK, what is this?’ and I opened it and there were all kinds of cookies and peanut brittle and this butter.” Tiger butter, a native dessert of the southern part of the U.S., is a mixture of white chocolate, peanut butter, and dark chocolate. The white chocolate and peanut butter are melted in a pot and then poured into a baking pan. Dark chocolate is then melted and swirled with the white chocolate-peanut butter mixture, creating the impression of tiger stripes. Tabeleva said one thing that is different about tiger butter from desserts in Kyrgyzstan is that it is made by hand. “See, the cool thing is that they actually made it, because in Kyrgyzstan we buy such things,” she said. “We don’t actually make them because chocolate is expensive, so we can buy a chocolate bar where chocolate is kind of mixed.” Tabeleva mentioned that aside from chocolate desserts being made by hand in America, the reason tiger butter is not made in Kyrgyzstan is because peanut butter is a rare find there.
Continued on page 5
Photo Courtesy of Kerry Wilson
Viktoria Tabeleva trying a different desert
“My mother never made desserts so much, so coming to college there is much more of a sharing of food between communities,” he said. “Tiger butter wasn’t a
thing to me because chocolate and peanut butter, those two together, made me think of Reese’s peanut butter, but then the way that they make this, it’s a lot better.”
Photo Courtesy of Kerry Wilson
“The number one reason why we don’t have tiger butter in Kyrgyzstan is because it is hard to find peanut butter, and it’s not very famous in Kyrgyzstan,” she said. “I had to look for it actually, but while I was living in Kyrgyzstan I didn’t know about peanut butter’s existence, so I got introduced to peanut butter for the first time here in the U.S. I fell in love with peanut butter, so when I went back home, I had to find it.” When Tabeleva saw that tiger butter was one of the desserts on the menu at International Coffee House night, she was excited because the dessert reminds her of Christmastime and her family in America. But despite tiger butter being a trademark dessert of the south, many Texas A&M UniversityCommerce students (who are from Texas) have never heard of it. A&M-Commerce junior, Evangelio Meek, tried tiger butter for the first time after starting college. “The time I had tiger butter, it was actually more of a surprise to me,” Meek said. “Because personally I really don’t like peanut butter other than peanut butter, so like Reese’s Pieces I don’t really enjoy. But, the interesting thing about eating tiger butter was that there was like this interexchange between the chocolate and the peanut butter flavors, and it kind of mellows out at the end. It was actually a really good experience.” Meek grew up in Sulphur Springs and said that while growing up, his mother never made desserts a lot. He said that college opened the door to trying tiger butter.
A&M Commerce International Student Viktoria Tabeleva
Photo Courtesy of Kerry Wilson
By Christian Hall
F
reshman 15 is traditionally a new college student’s concern, but there are ways to prevent it and beat it with the right tips and tools. College freshmen have a reputation of typically making poor choices that include skipping class, not studying, and eating less healthy foods over the more healthy likes of fruits and vegetables. Consequences may include nutritional deficiencies, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and heart disease along with inefficient performance on daily tasks and sleeping much longer than is needed to stay healthy. Because of these poor eating habits, weight gain occurs, thus providing the Freshman 15 – those 15 pounds gained during a student’s freshmen year. But there are ways to beat the issue that are simple to follow. For the avid snacker, chips and ice cream are typically high on the
list of things to buy while grocery shopping for the dorm, students are encouraged to add apples with peanut butter, Greek yogurt and fruit, and whole grain cereal in the basket next time the snack temptation strikes. Breakfast is an important meal of the day because it wakes up the metabolism and gives the brain and muscles energy for daily tasks. Some on-the-go breakfast options include hard boiled eggs and fruit, whole grain toast with peanut butter, and a low-fat granola bar and fruit. The campus cafeteria is where some students make poor choices when it comes to eating because there may be high-calorie foods and over-sized portions, but there are also more healthy choices. “After I was informed about the meaning (of Freshman 15), I believed it all,” Alfredo Martinez said. “I came to this school
weighing 120 pounds and went up to 135 in a month.”
Eating healthy is primary concern fo
Salads, fruits being selected over f By Shomari Harris
A campus survey showed that 55% of students eating in the cafeteria are choosing salads over Nutrition is the process of fried and baked foods. providing or obtaining the food “The cafeteria is a great necessary for health and growth. place to eat healthy food,” volleyWhen it comes to nutrition, ball player Shantel Williams said. consistently maintaining nutrients “Buying salad or fruit from the groin their body is a student’s biggest cery store can be very expensive challenge. On the Texas A&M Uni- once you run out, but the cafeteria’s versity-Commerce campus healthy salad bar has the right amount of food is being provided by the uni- nutrients that I need.” The cafeteria offers a variversity’s cafeteria.
ety of healthy choices for students, such as yogurt and fruit including peaches, pineapples, fruit cocktail and fresh orange slices. “It is very easy to eat unhealthy as a college student,” a university ca-
or many A&M-Commerce students
fried and baked foods more often terer said, “that’s why I like to try and give examples of being healthy without direct communication.” Unsweetened tea, with 0 grams of trans-fat and two calories, is often the drink of choice in some
younger teens or kids.” local restaurants. “Surprisingly, unsweetened ‘The cafeteria is a great tea gets chosen more than you would place to eat healthy...’ expect,” a host at Luigi’s said. “But another thing that is not surprising, Shantel Williams is more adults order it rather than
Wine and food
By Mandi Carpenter
the fruit character of red, which is what makes it the perfect wine Wine drinking has bepairing with almost all cheese come a popular leisure activity in varieties. the last few years as businesses Rosé
sparkling
wines
have
celebrate “Wine Wednesday,” such
depth
and
lavor
that
they
wineries seem to be popping up pair well with a variety of main everywhere, and lists have been course
meals. released pairing candy and Girl Sauvignon Blanc wine Scout cookies with wines that pairs well with tart dressings complement
their
lavors. and sauces, whereas Grüner A report published by Veltliner’s citrus and clover scent “Current Biology” found that the accents herbs in a dish, while the way food and wine feel in our silkiness of Chardonnay complimouth is actually what makes the ments seafood, both in and out of lavors
more
appealing,
not
the
rich
sauces. taste
itself.
Off-dry Riesling wines We perceive similarities pair well with sweet and spicy aromatically because most of dishes.
The
spiciness
and
hot
what
we
think
of
as
lavor
-‐
aclavors
of
hot
tamales
candies
tually
comes
from
smell.
The
are best complimented with the tongue only picks up sweetness, apricot
and
white
peach
lavors
saltiness, bitterness, tartness, of
Riesling
Chateau
Montelena. and
savoriness. Most dry sparkling wines, “A stringent wine and fatty like champagne, have a faint meat are like the ying and yang of touch of sweetness which makes the food world, sitting on oppothem more refreshing when site ends of a sensory spectrum,” paired
with
salty
food. Cell Press, publisher of Current “I don’t normally snack Biology stated in an October while drinking wine, but if I were 2012
article. to snack, I would choose someOne key to pairing the thing salty,” Shelby Thomas, wine right wine with the right food connoisseur
said.
“I
prefer
sweet
is matching recipes to the wine wine, like Moscato, so I want that is made in the same culture something
salty
to
mix
with
it.
as
the
food.
For
instance,
Tuscan
Sweet food makes the wine taste recipes and Tuscan wines almost bitter.” always
it
together
naturally. The sweet sparkling Cheese and wine is a lavors
in
Moscato
wine
emphastaple when it comes to food and size the fruit in a desert rather wine pairing but some varieties than
the
sugar.
Moscato
perfectly
are
better
than
others.
A
dry
rosé
offsets the sugar-dusted lemon has the acidity of white wine with lavors
of
the
Savannah
Smiles
Girl
Scout
cookie.
Cabernet Sauvignon’s tannins refresh the palate after each bite of red meat and Syrah wines match great with highly spiced dishes.
The
spicy
notes
of
the
red wine mix well with heavily seasoned meats without being overpowering. Malbec wines are big and bold enough to drink with foods brushed heavily with spiced barbeque
sauces. The Girl Scout cookie, Do-si-dos, are suggested to be paired
with
a
tawny
port
wine.
Due
to
the
nut
lavor
and
oatmeal
aromas of the port, the oatmeal and
peanut
butter
lavors
of
the
cookie
are
emphasized. Samoa cookies are best paired
with
Madeira
Malvasia.
The
cooked
lavors
in
the
Madeira mix excellent with the coconut lavor
in
the
Samoas
just
like
they
do with the rich peanut butter and
chocolate
lavors
of
Tagalong
cookies. Thin Mints rich dark chocolate
and
mint
lavor
appeals
the
sweetness
and
jam
lavor
of
a
red wine which also compliments Peanut M&M’s and Whoppers candy. All of the food and wine pairings
are
subject
to
personal
interpretation but the examples stated serve as good guidelines to getting the most savoriness out of
food
and
wine.