Daily Bruin – Page 59

Alum chef calls the shots in culinary company aimed to advocate food mindfulness

Chef Loghan Call jokes at the start of the dinners he hosts that those in attendance aren’t allowed to eat anything until he’s explained the dish.

The dinners are one of the signature programs of Call’s company, Planted Cuisine, and Call wants consumers to be aware of the story and nuances behind each dish instead of just digging in – the farmer who grew the ingredients, the particular broth used to cook a component, the various spices added for health benefits. Unpacking the different layers of the dish can heighten people’s culinary experiences, he said.

Call, an alumnus of UCLA Extension, is the chef and founder of Planted Cuisine, a food company based in Michigan that emphasizes mindfulness and regenerative food practices, he said. While Planted Cuisine lacks a brick-and-mortar location, Call said it puts on a variety of classes, pop-ups and dining experiences.

“Food touches everything – it is so interconnected in our daily lives and (that) speaks to its impact, but it also speaks to how hard it is to make seismic changes within the system itself,” Call said. “I just started building this narrative with my food around soil health, nutrient density, regenerative practices, food as medicine.”

Call studied sustainability and agriculture at UCLA Extension and, while working on a class project, he met Erik Cutter of Alegría Fresh, an Orange County farm focused on soil health and sustainable agriculture. Cutter said he works with many people, particularly chefs like Call, to emphasize the importance of soil health and regenerative food practices. The two connected over the idea of changing the way food is cultivated so that the net impact on the community and land is positive, rather than harmful, Cutter said.

“We realized back then that we were both interested in food and we were concerned about fresh food and how food is grown,” Cutter said. “Chefs need to start looking at what kinds of food can they serve, make them taste delicious, make it look beautiful … and lastly, (ask) ‘Does it really heal people?'”

Call began working alongside Cutter, taking home boxes of produce to cook with. After posting photos of the food he cooked on Instagram, he hosted a seven-course pop-up dinner for seven of his friends and Instagram connections in his apartment, which became the first Planted Cuisine event.

Since then, Call said the company’s events are intended to tie food and community together, a connection he believes has been diminished due to convenience and technology. With the popularization of microwaveable food and takeout, paired with watching television or streaming while eating, food and interaction have become secondary to convenience and entertainment, he said.

“As much as possible with events, we’re doing family-style seating and also just using our platform, our business as a way to convene people,” Call said. “Just using food as a means of bringing people together and getting people to talk face to face and helping to break down those barriers that exist.”

Planted Cuisine’s primary events are its dinner experiences, which are similar to pop-up dinners or tastings, but with an educational element. As Call serves dinner, he explains both the food being presented and also the practice of regenerative food systems and practices. One example is conscious soil maintenance to make sure it is rich in nutrients, Cutter said.

However, because some soil lacks the necessary nutrients, Planted Cuisine also works to infuse medicinal herbs and minerals into its food for additional health benefits, said Call’s mother Naomi Call. Naomi Call is a nutritionist and herbalist, and often collaborates with Loghan Call on various aspects of the business.

“I believe very strongly that food is medicine and raised (Loghan Call) with that belief to really have very high regard for what we eat, that once it crosses the threshold of our lips, it’s a part of who we are,” Naomi Call said. “So (we’ve) come to really embrace and understand the powerful impact that food has on us, not just on our physical bodies but also mentally and spiritually.”

Because food touches so many different aspects of everyday life – from politics and healthcare to nutrition and agriculture – changing practices and perceptions is a necessary step toward healthier individuals and a healthier society, Loghan Call said.

“Most Americans don’t even have the bandwidth or time, the luxury or the privilege, to understand the impacts of food in their lives,” Call said. “You have to start pushing the door open into all these different industries and all these different areas.”

Student-produced play uses gods to mirror themes reflected in actors’ own lives

Gods and goddesses will rule over destruction and chaos from campus this week.

An event titled “An Evening of Devised Works,” running Thursday through Saturday in Melnitz Hall, will catalogue their actions. The event’s single play, titled “A Creation Myth,” is the result of Cohort 6 – a group of graduate acting students – partnering with graduate directing student Mark Vallejo and graduate playwriting student Ryan Stevens. The play focuses on gods in charge of concepts like order and connection, who deal with the crumbling of systems in humans’ lives, such as love, culture and identity. Graduate acting student David Kepner, who plays the god Desmos, said he hopes students are drawn toward the play because of the universality of its themes.

“Because each character in the play has an identity and what they stand for, it’s also like an identity crisis,” Kepner said. “What do you do when you don’t know what to do? How does that crumble you, or (how do you) grow from it? It’s extremely universal.”

Because of the program’s interdisciplinary structure, the actors in Cohort 6 also helped write and direct the play, said graduate acting student Taji Senior, who plays the Egyptian goddess of order, Ma’at. The students took directing and acting classes throughout the year that helped them prepare for the production, Senior said. They also took a class specifically focused on devised works – pieces of theater that emerge collaboratively in response to a certain stimulus. These classes, Senior said, allowed them ample time to come together to discuss the play at large, focusing on character and plot development.

Multiple students contributing to the writing and directing of the play was beneficial in some ways, Kepner said. The ability to go into a scene with acting in mind helped ease the process of writing scenes, Senior said. However, the interdisciplinary nature also presented difficulties in terms of deciding which ideas to cut as well as how much stage time each character receives, Kepner said. The actors also want to keep the audience engaged as they deal with lofty concepts such as chaos and identity, which can easily just become people talking about concepts, he said.

“Today’s stories are hero-villain centric, … often focused (on one person),” Kepner said. “How do we change that formula, and how do we make it interesting?”

When deciding on the play’s subject, the students shared personal stories that mattered to them, and from there, they chose the themes they felt they could incorporate into their play, Senior said. An example is how Kepner had family members go to jail and how the system of incarceration changed his relationship with them. With Kepner’s god Desmos symbolizing connection or bonding, he was able to explore some of those themes personal to him, he said.

These characters, who represent aspects of the natural world as well as human life, were self-selected by each of the actors. The actors brought in research to every class session to figure out how each different character fit into the themes of the play, Senior said. While Senior’s character was inspired by the Egyptian religion, the name of Kepner’s fictitious god came from the Greek language.

Not all aspects of their individual interests made it into “A Creation Myth,” but they showed up in other ways – such as graduate acting student Kendale Winbush’s story. His original interest was in bees and how human activity affects bees’ lives. Bees are not in the story, but the themes of Earth and destruction are, so some of his ideas blended in when the play explores how people deal with the fallout of chaos, he said.

“(Those) characters never made it into the play, but another central theme is Earth and destruction,” Winbush said. “In a light way, the beekeeper is still in the play.”

Since the themes were chosen because everyone in the group had an ability to speak about them, they are universal, Kepner said. One universal theme deals with how people approach the notion of identity, Senior said, because the play deals with how we act within socially constructed rules of society.

“When I was an undergrad, we were talking about identity differently than we talk about it now,” Senior said. “We are all starting to think very critically about identity and about who we are.”

The Quad: Why specialty coffee shops have bean on the rise, culture surrounding them

When I envision the perfect homework setup for a Sunday morning, I expect the typical lecture notes and essay outlines.

But more than anything, I look forward to my oat milk latte at one of the many craft coffee spots in Los Angeles.

As craft coffee’s popularity has risen sharply in recent years, the options for where to find that perfect pick-me-up are endless – especially in Los Angeles. With the arrival of new coffee shops in the Westwood area like Upside Down and Metro Cafe where quality sourcing is key to customer satisfaction, it’s clear that independent coffee shops are on the up and up and here to stay.

In 2018 alone, specialty coffee shops increased in magnitude by 3.8 %, with a market value of $45.4 billion paving way for great predicted growth in the coffee sector.

All of that technical jargon basically means this: Craft coffee shops are on the rise, and are only going up. But why now?

In a study by the Specialty Coffee Association, craft coffee goes beyond its caffeine effects; sipping it is an experience that creates emotional value and tells a story. While the studies here prove valid, it’s important to consider the bias that may permeate the study given it was conducted by the SCA on a sample of individuals who already enjoyed the craft coffee experience.

The study found when customers are deciding where to grab their next cup o’ joe, only 18% took taste or other physical qualities of the coffee into account, whereas sourcing and sustainability were the most important factors in contributing emotional value to their experience.

A lot of this emotional value is linked with a focus on sustainability and direct sourcing of the shop’s coffee practices. For example, when coffee shops advertise sustainable sourcing, the consumers often experienced a “halo effect” meaning they saw the quality of coffee as better and the price per cup as justified.

While modern coffee consumers may crave direct trade and sustainable sourcing, they ultimately crave authenticity in experience, production and communication within the walls of a craft coffee shop.

When asking people why they chose to spend time at a coffee shop, which may add an extra half-mile to their commute or cost a dollar more, there was a common theme – the desire for a calming, yet communal space that felt like a home of sorts.

What these people are describing is a “third place” – a snapshot of a local community and a setting outside the home or workplace that feels like a comfortable, informal and inviting space of social belonging.

The third place, like a welcoming coffee shop, may be essential for college students away from home for the first time, and might point to the rise of craft coffee shops in college towns.

Denisa Tudorache, a first-year psychobiology student, spends her time between classes drinking almond milk lattes with a notebook in hand and laptop in view at local coffee spots.

“I like working in an environment that’s not stressful,” Tudorache said. “The atmosphere is steady with people smiling, enjoying each other’s company and a good latte.”

[ICYMI: Coffee Cultured: A taste of the LA coffee scene]

One of her favorite specialty shops is just down the street from campus – an art, community and coffee space called Upside Down.

In opening the coffee shop, Isaac Brickner, the director of this coffee-fueled space said he and other members of his team at Jews for Jesus wanted to create a space that connects Westwood through both coffee and art. Brickner said he sees the combination of coffee and art in an inviting space as fuel for conversation and a common denominator among people in Westwood.

“Lacking in this community was a point of connection that coffee and art offer. What people have found in coffee shops is an area that throws you into a common space with people,” Brickner said. “Having this space enables you to meaningfully interact with people and ideas – a shop that feels like home.”

Clearly, specialty shops like Upside Down aim to foster a connection between the citizens and visitors of the area as a whole. One way shops like Upside Down or Metro C afe in Santa Monica do this is by increasing accessibility and affordability by way of adopting a donation-based pay protocol.

Brickner said although it seems like a risky endeavor, for the most part, the earnings really even out.

“Some people come in and believe in the mission of our shop so much, and give us 20 bucks. Donation based pay gives any individual freedom to contribute what they can,” Brickner said.

Although donation-based pay may point to a new wave of coffee culture emphasizing hospitable service and community, many craft shops focus more on the art and production of coffee itself, branding it with a steep price when shots of vanilla syrup and oat milk substitutions are added.

“When coming into a craft coffee shop, alongside a pleasant experience, people are expecting an expertly crafted, artisanal product,” Brickner said.

This expectation requires significant time, training and of course, money.

According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, coffee prices were 26.95% higher in 2018 than 2000 – a little over a $5 difference in value, even though the price of wholesale coffee for big purchases is cheaper than its been in years, costing less than $1 per pound.

First-year nursing student Clarissa Cabil justifies spending $3 to $5 on average, because, while admittedly the drinks taste better to her, the purchase of a drink comes with a space for motivation and increased creativity.

“A coffee shop is a chill environment to do work, and honestly, my creative work turns out much better. I’d pay any amount of money to be in a space where I can be creative and be present with my thoughts,” Cabil said.

According to research published in Journal of Consumer Research, a moderate level of ambient noise like the cling of cups and the hiss of the steamer can boost performance on creative tasks.

Furthermore, even being present in an environment filled with others, especially others working on projects, has a contagious effect on the output of work and productivity, as demonstrated by a study conducted by The Free University of Brussels.

This makes Westwood, with its UCLA students, freelance artists and 9-to-5 businessmen, the prime place for cultivating both this third place and workplace.

The doors of a coffee shop are opened to all walks of life. Clearly, consumers are craving a feeling that lasts much longer than the few-hour buzz and crash of caffeine; they are a craving a human connection, or at the least, human presence, which can be lost with the growth of social media, the stress of schoolwork, and the expectations of career-life.

“We have been in a culture wired for success for too long. We are in the new wave of coffee where we really become wired for connection,” Brickner said.

UCLA professor emeritus sentenced to eight years in prison for sexual assault

A former UCLA professor was sentenced to eight years in state prison for sexually assaulting two children for several years.

Thomas Fairleigh Denove, a professor emeritus in the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, was sentenced to six years – the minimum sentence – for one count of long-term sexual abuse of a child under 14 and two additional years for performing a lewd act on a child under 14.

Earlier this month, Denove pled no contest to the two charges and not guilty to another count of long-term sexual abuse of a child. He could have faced up to 40 years in prison for the three charges of sexual abuse.

The prosecutor called the survivors’ grandmother to testify about the effects of the abuse on her grandchildren. The grandmother also read a statement written by her daughter, the mother of the survivors.

“I am not sad for you,” she said to Denove. “I am sad for the innocence lost. Justice is served.”

Denove had been out on $2 million bail after being arraigned in early November.

UCLA spokesperson Tod Tamberg said May 2 the matter was under review, but has not provided further updates about Denove’s standing as a professor emeritus going forward.

Campus Consensus: Student sustainability

Students reflect on how they live a sustainable lifestyle as well as how they would like to see UCLA implement more eco-friendly practices on campus.

Students say they are left in the dark about how university allocates their fees

Students said they are often unaware how the university spends their student fees.

Students pay two types of fees: UCLA-specific referendum fees, which are proposed by students and voted on during spring elections, and University of California systemwide fees, which are set by the UC Board of Regents.

Ten out of 11 student fee charges listed on the undergraduate BruinBill, which include all additional charges on top of tuition, are referendum fees paid only by students at UCLA.

Robert Watson, president of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, said he thinks referendum fees allow students to give the administration input about how their money is spent.

“Students are the most aware of what resources are lacking on campus,” Watson said. “Because of that, they should have the ability to propose referendum (fees) to the council.”

Some students said they are unaware they have the ability to vote on student fees, or that they find the voting process confusing.

Matthew Ko, a second-year computer science student, said he knows students have the option to vote on some student fees, but does not know how the voting process works.

Alexis Pinal, a fourth-year English student, said she did not know some student fees were approved by student votes.

All UC students are required to pay a Student Services Fee in addition to tuition. The Student Services Fee is set by the UC Board of Regents and funds services including social and cultural activities, physical and psychological health care services, and financial support for students.

Half of UCLA’s Student Services Fee funds mental health services while Chancellor Gene Block allocates the other half to campus departments and organizations, in part based on a recommendation from the Student Fees Advisory Committee.

The majority of allocated student fees go toward paying for nonstudent wages, said Zak Fisher, a law student and graduate student representative on SFAC. Fisher added administrative positions funded by nonstudent fee sources request Student Services Fee funding to cover 20-30% of their expenses.

Fisher said he thinks SFAC meetings should be more accessible to students so they can be better informed.

He added though SFAC meetings are open to the public in Murphy Hall 2325, he said he thinks the size of the room and lack of publicity discourage public attendance.

“If you had it in a room with a capacity that was greater than 20, when it’s a 12-person committee, maybe it would feel like a public meeting,” Fisher said.

Even within SFAC, some students say they feel administrators are overrepresented in the decision-making process.

Javier Rodriguez, a graduate student in social welfare and a graduate student representative on SFAC, said he felt student representatives’ views do not actually impact decisions regarding student fees.

“It didn’t seem right to me,” Rodriguez said. “There is like a hidden agenda happening here.”

Calvin Howes, a doctoral candidate in atmospheric and oceanic sciences, said he thinks it is difficult for students to find out online where student fees go.

“On the BruinBill, they’re listed with a name and to learn anything about their reasoning I had to follow a few links after that,” Howes said. “So it wasn’t exactly easy to learn what they were even when I wanted to.”

Rodriguez said he thinks the administration does not want students to know where their money is going.

“I think if (students) do know, then we’re going to be able to dictate where money should be going and where it should not be going,” Rodriguez said. “I think a lot of it is about control.”

UCLA spokesperson Ricardo Vazquez declined to answer questions about how students can become better informed about what student fees pay for.

Fisher said he thinks the administration should be more forthcoming about how student fee revenues are spent.

“Chancellor Block’s website has the Bruin values: respect, accountability, integrity, service and excellence,” Fisher said. “So I say all those values point towards transparency, radical transparency in my mind, at least compared to what we have right now.”

Contributing reports from Martín Bilbao, Daily Bruin contributor.

Night market opens up Asian American cultures to UCLA through dance, music

Students enjoyed traditional Asian American foods and cultural activities at a night market in Bruin Plaza.

Over a hundred students attended the night market hosted by the Asian Pacific Coalition on Friday, which featured Asian Pacific Islander Desi American cuisine, performances and activity booths. The APC held the market in celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Student groups such as Hanoolim, a Korean cultural awareness group, Hui O ’Imiloa, a Hawaiian dance club, and Vietnamese Student Union performed traditional dances and music pieces from their respective cultures.

Tammy Truong, a fourth-year sociology student and the social and cultural affairs coordinator for APC, said the market aimed to bring together all the different APIDA student organizations that make up the APC.

“When people hear ‘night market,’ we think about food, we think about activities and performances – just people coming together and having fun,” Truong said.

Traditionally, night markets are open-air street markets that take place after sunset. They are common in places such as Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, and they have become more common in North America in recent years, according to the Los Angeles Times.

One such market is 626 Night Market, which takes place in Santa Anita Park in Northeast LA. Established in 2012, it is now one of the largest night markets in North America, according to its website. It helped to inspire APC’s own version of the event, said Truong.

“If you’ve heard of 626 Night Market, it’s really lively, there’s a lot of food. It’s just really fun,” said Vikkie Jiang, community empowerment chair of the ACA and a second-year neuroscience student. “We’re kind of trying to mimic that vibe here.”

The student night market was similar to those common in Asia, featuring food, activities and an atmosphere of sociability, Jiang said.

“Bruin Plaza is a really good choice, it’s kind of like a central area,” Jiang said. “People come in, they can just like walk around and go through each booth, so it’s similar to the idea of an actual night market.”

Josephine Tang, a third-year psychobiology student who performed with her dance team Samahang Modern at the event, said she sometimes feels like an outsider in both the United States and China, and the night market helped her to reconcile those two cultures.

“I speak for myself when I say that (the night market) really celebrates Asian American culture and what we stand for as the intersection between representing what our culture is in both places,” Tang said. “I can say a lot of us have felt like, ‘Oh, here you’re kind of those people,’ but they say the same thing in our mother countries. Like if I go back to China they’re like, ‘Oh, she’s American.’”

Truong said the APIDA community has historically felt underserved on campus and the night market aims to help the community establish its presence on campus.

“(APC is) a political organization,” Truong said. “Taking up space and making ourselves known in a campus that has historically just neglected some of our community is a political move, as well.”

Different Asian American student groups on campus set up activity booths at the market, danced, performed music or put on skits.

“Urban dance plays a role in Asian American culture,” said Genesis Garing, a third-year pre-cognitive science student and an artistic director of Samahang Modern. “I know a lot of Asian Americans who utilize dance in their lifestyle. It was nice that we were reached out to.”

While the night market was a celebration of APIDA heritage, it was also aimed at including UCLA community members of all cultural backgrounds in the festivities and educating them about APIDA culture, said Lauren Doh, the public affairs director for Asian Pacific Health Corps and a fourth-year molecular, cell, and developmental biology student.

“For APHC, I think something that we’re trying to do or we hope for the future is (to) have a more diverse member base,” Doh said. “Anyone is welcome who is interested in (Asian American Pacific Islander health) to join.”

Truong said she thinks the APIDA community has been seen as apolitical in the past, but that she hopes all marginalized communities, not just those of Asian origin, feel as though they have a voice and can tackle issues that affect them.

She said APC aims to be a voice of the APIDA community and to empower it to take action on campus through events like the night market.

“I sort of see this event as reclaiming our space on campus,” Truong said. “It’s a step in (APC’s) whole mission to be more connected with each other, and hopefully in the future we can start doing a lot more.”