Articoli di riviste sul tema "Chicken cutlets"

In recent years, much attention has been paid to the development of functional food products with enhanced fiber. Dietary fiber (DF) is one of the essential foods vital for human health in various aspects, and the benefits include reducing the risk of colon cancer, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases. Green banana peel (BP) (Musa balbisiana), which is rich in DF that had been powdered after solar drying and utilized in the preparation of chicken meat cutlets in different ratios at 3%, 5%, and 7%. The chicken cutlets were prepared using the standard procedure. The prepared chicken cutlets were used to study the various physicochemical properties, proximate composition, and sensory evaluation. The study revealed that there was a significant (P = 0.05) change observed in the sensory score of all the treatments (T1, T2, and T3) over the control. There was no significant change in cooking time and product pH among the control and treatments, further that the sensory scores were almost same for the control and with cutlets at inclusion level of 3% BP powder (BPP). Based on the study, it is concluded that cutlet prepared with 5% inclusion level of BPP had better physico-chemical properties, namely, pH, and sensory score, fiber, fat. . KEYWORDS :Banana peel, Chicken meat cutlet, Cooking yield, Dietary fiber, Oil binding, Water absorption

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop chicken cutlets enrobed with bread crumbs vis-à-vis dried carrot pomace and to assess its effect on physico-chemical properties, sensory attributes and texture profile analysis. Design/methodology/approach Three experimental groups were made: control group chicken cutlets (C), chicken cutlets enrobed with bread crumbs group (Tb) and chicken cutlets enrobed with dried carrot pomace group (Tc). All the procedures used in the study for estimation of various physico-chemical properties, sensory evaluation and texture profile analysis were standard protocols. Findings There was a significant (p < 0.05) increase in water holding capacity, crude fibre content and ash content of enrobed chicken cutlets, whereas moisture, fat content and shrinkage of product were significantly (p < 0.05) decreased. The results for sensory evaluation and texture profile analysis of enrobed chicken cutlets were better than control group. Overall acceptability score of chicken cutlets enrobed with dried carrot pomace was revealed to be highest (7.5 ± 0.29) and that of control group was found to be lowest (6.4 ± 0.22). Hardness (N/cm2) value found for control group chicken cutlets, chicken cutlets enrobed with bread crumbs group and chicken cutlets enrobed with dried carrot pomace group were 2.2 ± 0.17, 3.1 ± 0.29 and 4.3 ± 0.27, respectively. Research limitations/implications Future research may benefit to assess the effect of enrobing with bread crumbs and dried carrot pomace on mineral and vitamin content and lipid profile of meat products. Originality/value Enrobing of chicken cutlets with bread crumbs and dried carrot pomace improved the sensory attributes along with texture profile analysis. Hence, enrobing with bread crumbs and dried carrot pomace could be used as processing technology to improve sensory appeal, especially crispiness of meat products.

A study was conducted during a period of six (6) months from June to December, 2019 at the Division of Livestock Products Technology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India to develop a nutritious, convenience and shelf stable ready-to-cook chicken cutlet mix extended with dried vegetables as a source of antioxidant dietary fiber. Dehydrated vegetable mix was added at three different levels (2.5, 5 and 7.5%) and compared with control having no added vegetables. The results revealed that the dehydrated vegetable mix proved to be an additional source of minerals and dietary fibre in the chicken cutlet mix. Extension of ready-to-cook cutlet mix improved the yield, and colour saturation of the mix. The chicken cutlets prepared using the extended mix offered improved juiciness and overall acceptability along with better textural profile. Physico-chemical analysis revealed that the mix was shelf stable due to its low water activity and moisture content and hence could probably be stored for long periods of time. Extension of the mix with DVM enhanced the functionality of the product by improving its antioxidant potential. However, as indicated by sensory evaluation higher levels of dehydrated vegetables (7.5%) altered the colour, texture and flavour of developed product. Hence, 5% level of DVM was found to be the most suitable level for extension of the ready-to-cook mix. Therefore, extension with dehydrated vegetables could serve to meet technological and functional properties in the development of convenient, nutritious and tasty ready-to-cook dehydrated mix, which could serve an alternative to fresh meat cutlets.

In this paper the technology of preparation the protein-fat emulsion and its effect to sensory, physicochemical and microbial characteristics of meat cutlets are presented. The protein-fat emulsion consists of 75% of the chicken crests, 15% of the vegetable oil and 10% water. The protein, fat and ash content of emulsion are 9.53%, 6.38% and 0.95%, respectively. The amino acid composition of the protein-fat emulsion includes a complete set of essential amino acids - 36.2%. Adding of protein-fat emulsion as an ingredient in meat cutlets increase the total protein content, improves the sensory parameters and consistency of meat cutlets.

Kazakhstan's market for producing minced meat semi-finished products is not sufficiently developed. At the same time, the demand for products of the “economy” segment is growing. Providing balanced recipes for semi-finished meat products, with a rational combination of raw materials of animal and vegetable origin, is a significant problem. Chopped meat cutlets with high nutritional and low energy value have been developed, which are not inferior in functional and technological properties and sensory characteristics to traditional products. Pork and wheat bread were excluded from the recipes, with a replacement for lamb or broiler chicken meat in combination with a protein-carbohydrate composition (PCC) of the composition: soy minced okara – chickpea flour – whey protein concentrate (WPC 80) in a ratio of 9:5:10, at 1:3 hydration. The rational share of the introduction of PCC into the recipe of cutlets was 25% for minced beef – the meat of broiler chickens and 20% for minced beef – lamb. The studied samples of PCC, control minced meat with pork and bread, and two modified minced meat recipes for cutlets have similar values of the mass ratio of water fractions at three stages of dehydration during heat treatment. PCC particles are evenly distributed between the muscle fibers in minced meat. It has been shown that the developed PCC can serve as a substitute for minced meat not only in terms of the balance of the amino acid composition of the total protein but also in terms of the percentage of moisture with different forms of communication with the product, influencing the microstructure and consistency of raw semi-finished products of the combined composition, the consistency and juiciness of fried cutlets. According to the developed recipes, the mass fraction of protein in cutlets increased from 13.8 to 19.1-19.8%; fat decreased from 12.6 to 9.5-9.7%.

Purpose. Studying the possibility of enriching poultry chopped cutlets with calcium by using the food additive E 333(iii) calcium citrate. Materials and Methods. The object of research was chicken chopped semi-finished products (cutlets) produced according to TU 9214-009-42855891-2002 (GOST 31936-2012). The calcium-containing dietary supplement calcium citrate (GOST R 54538-2011) was used as a mineral concentrator. To determine the optimal amount of calcium citrate application, recipes for chopped chicken cutlets were developed without the use and with the use of calcium citrate in an amount of 1.0 (experienced no. 1) and 1.5% (experienced no. 2) by weight of raw materials. Classical and modern methods of analysis were used in the research: the moisture content in the finished product was determined according to GOST 33319-2015; the amount of protein substances – according to GOST 25011-2017; fat – according to GOST 23042-2015; ash content – according to GOST 31727-2012; the content of carbohydrates in terms of glucose – according to GOST 31470-2012; calcium content – according to GOST R 55573-2013. Results. Experimentally, it was found that the enrichment of the prototypes with calcium citrate had a positive effect on the calcium content in the finished product. Thus, the enrichment of minced meat by 1.0% contributed to an increase in the calcium content by 40.60%, compared with the control sample, and the enrichment of minced meat by 1.5% – by 50.03%, respectively. During the conducted studies, it was found that the content of essential amino acids in the experimental samples was slightly higher than in the control: lysine – by 1.79 and 4.71%, phenylalanine – by 1.87 and 1.07%, histidine – by 0.81 and 0.27%, leucine and isoleucine – by 1.19 and 0.32%, methionine – by 1.80 and 0.90%, valine – by 0.36 and 0.90%, threonine – by 2.96 and 0.85%, tryptophan – by 0.91 and 1.82%, respectively. The caloric content of the resulting cutlets ranged from 209.75 to 209.91 kcal. Conclusion. It has been established that the use of calcium citrate makes it possible to significantly enrich the finished food with this important macronutrient in human metabolism, and the resulting cutlets do not differ in their taste qualities from ordinary chopped cutlets. And the low calorie content of cooked cutlets is ideal for dietary nutrition and people leading a healthy lifestyle.

The purpose of the study is to identify the possibility of using the aerial part of purslane in cutlet recipes. Objectives: to determine the dosage of purslane in ground turkey meat, ensuring the best quality indicators of the product; to conduct a tasting assessment of the product; to develop a schematic diagram for the production of semi-finished meat and vegetable products. The components for the production of chopped semi-finished meat products complied with the regulatory documentation: turkey meat – in accordance with GOST R 55365-2012 “Mince meat. Technical conditions" and GOST 32951-2014 "Semi-finished meat and meat-containing products. General technical conditions"; chicken eggs – according to GOST 31654-2012 “Chicken eggs for food. Technical conditions"; onions – according to GOST 34306-2017 “Fresh onions. Technical conditions"; black pepper – according to GOST 29050-91 “Spices. Black and white pepper. Technical conditions"; table salt – according to GOST R 51574-2018; vegetable oil – according to GOST 1129-2013; breadcrumbs – according to GOST 28402-89. Organoleptic and tasting assessment of finished products was carried out in accordance with GOST 31986-2012 (GOST 7269-2015 and GOST 9959-2015) on a 5-point scale. A recipe was developed for turkey meat cutlets with the addition of a plant component – purslane. Purslane was collected in the vicinity of Krasnoyarsk and was added crushed to minced meat in dosages from 3 to 9 % in increments of 3 instead of raw meat. The study of the organoleptic characteristics of the finished minced meat product showed that the rational dosage introduced into the meat cutlet mass of the vegetable ingredient is 6 % of the mass of the minced meat. The test sample with the introduction of 6 % plant component received the highest rating from tasters. Stages for the production of cutlets have been developed with the addition of chopped aerial parts of purslane to the recipe. The use of purslane in the recipe for chopped semi-finished meat products will help expand the range of this type of product, improve the consumer properties of meat products, increase the content of essential components in the composition, and reduce costs.

The basis of the state policy of Ukraine in the field of healthy nutrition of the population for the period until 2025 is to preserve and strengthen the health of the population, prevention of diseases caused by poor and unbalanced nutrition. Food products enriched with irreplaceable components, including dietary fibers, have been developed. The article substantiates the use of broiler meat as the main ingredient of the recipe, selects and studies the vegetable supplement of oat bran, which contains dietary fibers. The functional-technological and organoleptic indicators of minced meat models with different amounts of vegetable additives were studied, as a result, the optimal dose of introduction was determined and the formulation of the product made from broiler meat with an increased content of dietary fibers was developed. Optimal modes of heat treatment of the semi-finished product using a steam convection oven and modes of cold treatment of the finished product in "shock" freezing chambers were selected. The thermophysical characteristics of the new product were studied, and the duration of its freezing was calculated using Planck's formula. The technology of production of a functional product from broiler meat is proposed. The developed product is characterized by high organoleptic characteristics, such as juiciness of the product, pleasant smell and taste, uniform consistency, as well as a large yield of the finished product. The product contains dietary fibers, in one portion their amount is 8 g, which contributes to the satisfaction of 40% of the body's daily need for this food substance. The optimal recipe and technology of chicken cutlets with dietary fibers have been scientifically substantiated and developed. The possibility of producing chicken cutlets with a high content of dietary fiber has been theoretically and experimentally substantiated. Based on the analysis of the chemical composition and the study of the content of dietary fibers, functional-technological and organoleptic indicators of six vegetable supplements, the feasibility of introducing the vegetable supplement "Oat bran" into the recipe of chicken cutlets was substantiated. The effectiveness of thermal processing of chicken cutlets with increased dietary fiber content when using a convection oven in the steam + convection mode compared to the traditional method of processing has been proven. The raw materials for the production of the finished product were selected, the recipe was developed, the heat treatment parameters were selected, and the technology of quick-frozen finished product was developed. The developed ready-made poultry dish has an increased nutritional value due to the content of dietary fibers. It is taken into account that dietary fibers should be a mandatory part of the diet. Their total content in one portion is 8 g per 125 g of the finished product, which meets the daily need for this indicator by 40%.

The level of scientific and technical literature related to the research topic is analyzed. Unexplored areas in the technique and technology of baked fish and vegetable products using various types of equipment have been identified. In the process of research, the issues of combining lean fish species with products of plant origin, which mutually complement the amino acid composition of highly prepared semi-finished products, were considered. The main raw material for the production of cutlets was fresh frozen pink salmon fish with the addition of buckwheat, rolled oats, millet and rye flour, as well as powders of plant origin: freeze-dried dill, parsley and paprika, and onions, orange and yellow carrots, and milk were used as plant and animal raw materials, butter and chicken egg. For heat treatment, gentle heat treatment methods and modes were chosen: baking in a combi oven in the “steam” and “heat” modes and, for comparison, the same method – baking in an oven. Based on modeling the components of the recipe, taking into account their biological value, new taste qualities of baked fish cutlets were obtained. As a control, there were fish cutlets prepared according to the traditional recipe available in the regulatory documentation. The dependences of raw and heat-treated products and their influence on the structure of cutlets were revealed. The sensory characteristics of new semi-finished products with a high degree of readiness were obtained, taking into account processing in a combi oven and baking in an oven. The parameters of technological processes have been established for baking in the “steam” and “heat” mode at a temperature of 180-200 ° C in a combi oven, and at 200°C baking for 7 minutes, and then at a temperature of up to 250 ° C until the inside reaches 80°C (more 3-5 minutes). The dependences of milk, eggs and butter on the binding components of the formulation - herbal additives – have been identified. The resulting model formulation meets the requirements, regulatory documentation and consumer preferences. Baking in the “heat” mode is characterized by a loss of protein of 3,43-3,68%, fat – 0,02-0,23%, carbohydrates - 0,43-0,61%. Oven roasting has a gentler effect on nutrient loss. At the same time, the loss of protein is 2,00-2,49%, fat - 0,13-0,43%, carbohydrates – 0,11-0,46%.

The basic information about the quality of meat-and-vegetable functional combined minced meat, developed on the basis of a wide range of semi-finished products: "Detsky" steak, "Totosha" schnitzel, "Shkolny" rump steak, croquettes with zucchini, "Solnechnogorsk" cutlets, sticks with vegetables, lazy cabbage rolls "School" , chicken cutlets, "School" meatballs, "Children" meatballs, in which combinations of various types of meat and poultry with bread, cereals, flour, eggs, dry milk, breadcrumbs, vegetables, parsley are selected. Such a mutual addition of the recipe with various components allows you to create a product that best meets the needs of the body in terms of nutritional value and calorie content. Particularly important is the introduction of various vegetables into minced meat recipes, which are a storehouse of vitamins and minor substances necessary for the child's body. The most valuable for the digestion of a growing organism is the introduction of cauliflower with onions, cabbage, which is necessary to stimulate the growth of healthy microflora. Therefore, the selected combinations for various types of raw materials for the design of new generation products that meet the physiological needs of a growing organism in a timely manner, and their development is relevant. The purpose of the study is the development of recipes and technologies for specialized products of increased nutritional value for school meals. Marketing research was used, physical and chemical, structural and mechanical, organoleptic, functional and technological, microbiological indicators were used. The possibility of using quick-frozen cauliflower onions containing lactulose for the production of meat products from cutlet mass, contributing to the full functioning of the intestine by improving the microflora, has been substantiated. Studied consumer preferences of students. The technologies of freezing and long-term storage without changes in quality and safety indicators have been proposed. Dependences of organoleptic, structural and mechanical, functional and technological indicators on the properties of raw materials and materials have been revealed. New values of physicochemical, radiological and microbiological indicators of functional products have been obtained after 30 days of storage. The nutritional and energy value has been determined. The regulatory and technological documentation has been completed and tested in the production conditions of school food factories. Developed rations for students in grades 1-4 with the inclusion of specialized meat dishes.

ABSTRACT In this study we examined the presence of Staphylococcus aureus and staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) in 20 industrial breaded chicken products obtained from different retail butchers and supermarket stores in Italy. The levels of contamination in the products analyzed were quite low, although the pH values and water activities (aw) in the samples considered were in ranges favorable for S. aureus growth. As demonstrated by phenotypic and molecular characterization, in spite of the high percentage of coagulase-positive Staphylococcus strains, only three strains could be referred to the species S. aureus. Moreover, all the strains were negative in PCR assays targeting staphylococcal enterotoxin genes (seA to seE, seG to seJ, and seM to seO), as well as the toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 gene, and no SEA was detected in the retail breaded chicken samples analyzed by a reversed passive latex agglutination assay or by Western blotting. Hence, we evaluated the thermal resistance of two strains of SEA-producing S. aureus in a laboratory-scale preparation of precooked breaded chicken cutlets. The heat treatment employed in the manufacture determined the inactivation of S. aureus cells, but the preformed SEA remained active during product storage at 4°C. The presence of the staphylococci and, in particular, of S. aureus in the retail breaded chicken products analyzed is a potential health risk for consumers since the pH and aw values of these kinds of products are favorable for S. aureus growth. The thermal process used during their manufacture can limit staphylococcal contamination but cannot eliminate preformed toxins.

Manufacturing of chopped products of poultry meat and lentils is one of the promising areas of meat food production. The combination of animal and plant components allows to supplement the products with lacking biologically active substances and to obtain food products with a required chemical composition. In this respect, issues related to the investigation of the possibility to use lentil flour, maize grits in prefabricated poultry meat products, and the improvement of their technology are relevant. An analytical review of the literature was conducted, meat for processing was selected, new recipes of truncated semi-finished products using lentil flour, maize grits were developed, organoleptic parameters of truncated semi-finished products were determined, physicochemical and functional-technological properties of minced meat products of semi-finished raw and finished products were investigated. The main raw material for the production of semi-finished products is semi-lean pork, goose meat, chicken meat, sprouted lentil flour, maize grits for pre-dust and other components according to the developed formulation. Cutlets were taken as a control sample, its recipe include first grade beef, semi-lean pork, wheat flour bread, wheat bread wheat bread and other ingredients. According to the organoleptic evaluation of new types of minced semi-finished products, it was found that the best organoleptic properties had samples that included semi-lean pork and chicken meat, with addition of 8% of sprouted lentil flour and chicken meat, with the addition of 12% of lentil flour. It was revealed that meat and lentil flour cause the increase of the weight fraction of protein (16.91, 18.04%) in specimens number 1 and number 3. The moisture- and grease-retention capacity of the products is improved by the use of lentil flour and maize grits for pre-dust in samples No. 2 and No. 3

Обоснована возможность получения мясных кулинарных продуктов с добавлением компонентов морского происхождения (макруруса малоглазого, тепловых экстрактов из голотурий - трепанга и кукумарии). В качестве основного сырья использованы мясо индейки и курицы, баранина и говядина. Критериями для оценки данного направления в технологии служили результаты органолептического исследования образцов и показателей биологической ценности. Установлено, что рациональным количеством при производстве котлет из мяса птицы мышечной ткани макруруса малоглазого является 25 % от основного ингредиента рецептуры; биологическая ценность готового изделия при этом увеличивается почти на 20 %. Тепловые экстракты из голотурий (трепанга и кукумарии), применяемые практически вместо воды в составе рецептур котлет из говядины или баранины, способствуют повышению органолептической оценки, а также положительно влияют на биологическую ценность, которая выше, чем у контроля, почти на 18 %. Использование тепловых экстрактов из морского сырья (голотурий) приводит к обогащению продукции растворимыми коллагеновыми фрагментами (установлено по увеличению количества свободного оксипролина), биологически активными аминокислотами (глутаминовая и аспарагиновая, аланин, глицин, пролин), аминосахарами и тритерпеновыми гликозидами. The possibility of obtaining meat culinary products with the addition of components of marine origin (small-eyed macrurus, thermal extracts from holothurium-trepang and cucumaria) is justified. Turkey and chicken meat, lamb and beef are used as the main raw materials. The criteria for evaluating this direction in the technology were the results of organoleptic examination of samples and indicators of biological value. It is established that the rational amount in the production of cutlets from poultry meat of muscle tissue of small - eyed macrurus is 25 % of the main ingredient of the recipe; the biological value of the finished product increases by almost 20 %. Thermal extracts from holothurias (trepang and cucumaria), used instead of water in the recipes of beef or lamb cutlets, contributes to an increase in organoleptic evaluation, and also positively affects the biological value, which is higher than that of the control by almost 18 %. The use of thermal extracts from marine raw materials (holothurias) leads to the enrichment of products with soluble collagen fragments, biologically active amino acids (glutamic and aspartic, alanine, glycine, proline), amino sugars and triterpene glycosides.

The level of scientific and technical literature related to the research topic is analyzed. Unexplored areas in the technique and technology of baked fish and vegetable products have been identified. In the process of research, the issues of combining lean fish species with products of animal and vegetable origin, mutually complementing the amino acid composition of the finished product, were considered. The main raw material for the manufacture of cutlets, soufflé, scrambled eggs and casseroles was fresh-frozen pollock fish with the addition of vegetable powders: sublimated dill, parsley and paprika, and onion, orange and yellow carrots, milk, butter and chicken eggs were used as vegetable and animal raw materials. . For heat treatment, sparing methods and modes of heat treatment were chosen: baking in a combi oven in the “steam” and “heat” modes. Based on the modeling of the components of the recipe, taking into account their biological value, new taste qualities of soufflé, casserole and scrambled eggs stuffed with the addition of powdered additives and vegetables that perform an additional structuring role were obtained. Soufflé, scrambled eggs and casserole prepared according to the traditional recipe available in the regulatory documentation were used as control. The dependences of raw and heat-treated products and their influence on the structure of soufflé and scrambled eggs are revealed. The sensory characteristics of new dishes were obtained, taking into account the processing in a combi steamer. The parameters of technological processes during baking in the "steam" and "heat" modes at a temperature of 180-200 ° C were established. The dependences of milk, eggs and butter on the binding components of the recipe - rice flour and powdered vegetable additives - were revealed. The resulting model composition of the recipes meets the requirements, regulatory documentation and consumer preferences. Comparative analysis of the content of essential amino acids in the developed products "Fish soufflé", "Fish baked with egg and milk sauce", "Smile stuffed omelette" and "Baked pollock cutlets" showed that the content of such amino acids as leucine, lysine, threonine , their phenylalanine is slightly higher than the control sample. They are characterized by a high content of essential amino acids that limit the biological value, g / 100 g of the product: lysine - 0.213-1.708; methionine - 0.104-0.570; tryptophan - 0.057-0.202.

Using artificially contaminated chicken, the quantitative overall effect of Campylobacter jejuni cross-contamination, either via cutlery, cutting board, or hands, on the microbiological quality of a chicken salad was tested to identify the most critical transfer route. The end contamination level of salads prepared according to different scenarios, with or without cross-contamination, was compared. It was shown that the mean transfer rate calculated for all salads prepared allowing cross-contamination was 0.12% of the initial number of C. jejuni on the chicken fillet (8.8 ± 0.2 log CFU). The difference in calculated transfer rates for the tested cross-contamination routes was not significantly different (P &gt; 0.05). The prevention of cross-contamination by replacing cutlery and cutting board after handling raw chicken and the prevention of hand contact resulted in considerably reduced end contamination levels (&lt;2.4 log CFU) or noncontaminated end products. The results of this study emphasize the importance of preventing cross-contamination during food handling in reducing the risks of foodborne infections, and they provide useful data for quantitative microbiological risk assessment.

The article is devoted to the first translation of I. A. Krylov's plays in China, published in 2020. The translator is Li Chunyu, a lecturer at the Faculty of foreign languages of Xiamen University. This is the first book to introduce Chinese readers to Krylov as a playwright. As a fable writer he has long been well known in China, but his plays were translated for the first time by Li Chunyu, and he translated all 13 of Krylov's plays, including three unfinished ones. The article discusses some features of these translations, primarily the specifics of the title transformations, when the comic opera “The Coffee Lady” is translated as “The Soothsayer”, the comedy “Naughty Men” as “Chickens Fly and Dogs Jump”, the comedy “Pie” as “Chicken Cutlet”, and the most famous Krylov comedy “Lesson to Daughters” as “French Marquis” (the entire book is also called that). The article explains that the names of Krylov's plays were not changed accidentally, that the choice made by the translator is justified both by the peculiarities of the literary text perception by Chinese readers, and in terms of the history of Russian literature, when the title of Krylov's play “The French Marquis” (instead of “The lesson for daughters”), according to the translator, corresponds to the name of the famous comedy by N. V. Gogol “The Inspector General”. The article pays special attention to the analysis of the Golden Russia series of books, whose publication was launched in 2014 by the People's Publishing House (Zhenmin Chubanshe) of Sichuan province, edited by Wang Jianzhao, professor of the Institute of Foreign Literature at Beijing University of Foreign Languages, aimed at studying and publishing the best works of Russian culture for Chinese readers.

In broiler chicken production, there is a critical need for sustainable feed supplements that can simultaneously improve growth performance, enhance meat quality, and increase profitability. To optimize broiler performance, this research examines potential synergies by combining two promising supplements, sweet potato leaf meal (SPLM) and multi-herbal extracts (MHE). The underlying hypothesis posits that combining SPLM in the diet and MHE in drinking water will improve broiler performance more than using either supplement alone. The experimental design involved broiler feed supplemented with SPLM ranging from 10 to 30 g/kg and water with MHE ranging from 0 to 10 mL/L, following a 2 x 4 factorial arrangement over 7-35 days. Growth parameters were assessed, including feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion ratio (FCR), and final body weight. Carcass quality analyses quantified dressed weights, cutlet weights, and edible offal. Economic analysis was also conducted, focusing on return on investment (ROI). Results revealed that 10 mL/L MHE and 30 g/kg SPLM combination elicited the maximum weight gain, lowest FCR, and highest dressed weights. This observation confirmed a synergistic augmentation of growth and muscularity. Furthermore, the economic analysis demonstrated that 10mL/L MHE + 30g/Kg SPLM maximized the return on investment. The study highlights a unique interaction between the nutrients in SPLM and the phytochemicals in MHE. This potentially enhanced broiler productivity through complementary bioactive mechanisms, modulating digestion, immunity, and protein accretion. Further research is warranted to delve into the precise modes of action and validate the universal applicability of this synergistic approach across diverse production systems.

The polymeric immunoglobulin receptor is expressed in a variety of polarized epithelial cells. Newly made receptor travels first to the basolateral surface. The receptor is then endocytosed, transported across the cell in vesicles, and exocytosed at the apical surface. We have now deleted the membrane spanning and cytoplasmic portions of the receptor by site-directed mutagenesis, thus converting the receptor to a secretory protein. When expressed in polarized Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells the truncated protein is secreted at both surfaces, with a ratio of apical-to-basal secretion of 3.4. In contrast, when the exogenous secretory protein chicken lysozyme is expressed in these cells, it is released at both sides with a ratio of apical-to-basal secretion of 0.43. (Koder-Koch, C., R. Bravo, S. Fuller, D. Cutler, and H. Garoff, 1985, J. Cell Biol., 43:297-306). Lysozyme is thought to lack a signal that targets it to one surface or the other, and so its secretion may represent a default, bulk flow pathway to both surfaces. When compared with lysozyme, the truncated polymeric immunoglobulin receptor is preferentially secreted apically by a factor of 3.4:0.43 or 7.8. We suggest that the lumenal portion of the polymeric immunoglobulin receptor contains a signal that targets it to the apical surface.

This study was performed to compare the likings of fish (Pangas) and chicken cutlet as well as to find the best preparations among three fish cutlets. Taking three groups- Teachers, staffs, and students as panelists, it was found that all the panelists preferred one fish cutlet equally with chicken cutlet. Teacher and staff group liked the cutlet incorporated with 40% fish muscle, whereas student group liked the cutlet made with less amount of fish muscle (30%). The attributes like – Odor, Color, Taste, Texture were studied and compared among each preparation of cutlets along with overall acceptability of the products. Proximate compositions were checked to reveal the nutritional containment at various stages. The biochemical qualities of the final cutlets were checked to ensure that no serious quality compromission has occurred during preparation and all parameters were found to be at a safe level.

The aim of this research paper was a sanitary-toxicological study of the effectiveness and safety of developed functional property products, such as chopped semi-finished products from chicken with wheat bran and shortbread cake with cottage cheese and sea buckthorn, in preclinical studies on laboratory animals. Methods — The effect of new products on the experimental rats was studied using physiological, biochemical, pathomorphological and histological research methods. As a result, it was discovered that the inclusion of foods with wheat bran and fresh sea buckthorn into the diet of experimental animals had a positive effect on the behavioral reactions of rats, the increase of appetite and the rapid growth of animals. Results — The improvement in the metabolic processes physiology of the studied rats was noted in the biochemical and morphological blood parameters. In the experimental group of rats where carbohydrates were partially substituted with cottage cheese shortbread cake and sea buckthorn, a significant decrease in the total bilirubin content was noted; the level of cholesterol in the blood serum of experimental animals from group which received chicken cutlets with bran was 1.4-1.7 times lower than the cholesterol content in animals of the control and other experimental groups. At the same time, statistically significant differences in the number of red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and hemoglobin level, the activity of alanine and aspartate aminotransferases, alkaline phosphatase and amylase, the level of total protein and the creatinine content were not revealed in the group of experimental rats compared with the control group of rats, receiving a standard diet. The histological data showed that the liver structure of the experimental animals had a more pronounced beam and capillary structure compared with the control group, and the condition of the villi and epithelium of the small intestine showed the positive physiological effect of the studied herbal additives in food technology with functional properties. Conclusion — The research results allow us to conclude that the developed products are functional, intended for the systematic use in the composition of food rations by all age groups of a healthy population, which reduces the risk of gastrointestinal and liver diseases.

Semi-finished food production from the meat raw material has gained a broad application in the consumer market due to ease of its production organization, digestibility, fast consumption, long shelf life and safety. The research considers the development trends in cutlet (semi-finished meat product) manufacturing technologies via quail meat and plant-based filler application. The study aims to improve cutlet production technology through replacing the chicken meat with quail meat and supplementing buckwheat flour. A new cutlet production technology and recipe has been developed and their relevance has been proved.

BackgroundEmerging research suggests changes in dietary patterns among adolescents during the global nutrition transition, but little is known about the nature of the nutrition transition among adolescents residing in regions that are in different stages of exposure to global markets.ObjectivesTo describe and compare the nutrition transition among adolescents in new versus established urban centers in South India.MethodsResponses to the validated Nutrition Transition‐Food Frequency Questionnaire by adolescents ages 13–18 years in two regions in South India were used to assess and compare their diets with a focus on evidence of transitioning diet patterns. The dietary data were drawn from a representative sample of adolescents from the new urban region (population > 5,000) of Vijayapura (n=198) and from a convenience sample of adolescents from the established urban city (population >100,000) of Bengaluru (n=192) in Karnataka, South India. The validated Nutrition Transition‐Diet score (range 0–10), an index of nutrition transition developed in our previous work, was used to evaluate and compare the nutrition transition among adolescents in the new versus established urban centers. Characteristics and diets of adolescents in the highest quartile (≥75 percentile) of the Nutrition Transition‐Diet Score, indicating more transitioned diets, were compared with those of adolescents with less transitioned diets using chi‐sq tests and Students t tests.ResultsThe mean Nutrition Transition‐Diet Score (range 0–10) of adolescents was 6.1 ± 1.2 (range 2–9) in Bengaluru (urban region) and 5.6 ± 1.2 (range 1–8) in Vijayapura (urbanizing region); it was significantly higher among those in highest quartile versus lower quartile groups in both cities (Bangalore 7.3 ± 0.5 vs, 5.4 ± 0.8, p ≤0.001; Vijayapura 7.1 ± 0.3 versus 5.1 ± 0.9, p ≤0.001). The Nutrition Transition‐Diet Score was higher among non‐vegetarians than vegetarians (6.1 ± 1.1 versus. 5.4 ± 1.1, p ≤ 0.05) and among private school pupils than public school pupils (6.4 ± 1.0 versus. 5.8 ± 1.2, p ≤ 0.01) in Bengaluru. A higher proportion of adolescents in the established urban center as compared to the new urban center consumed processed foods and fried foods daily (intake ≥ 30 g/d; processed foods 74.5% vs. 43.9% and fried foods 91.7% versus 83.3%). On the contrary, a higher proportion of adolescents in the new urban center than the established urban center consumed bread and bread products (intake ≥ 30 g/d; 47.5% versus 30.7%). Adolescents in both cities had saturated fat intake ≥ 10% of total calories (100% vs. 99.5%) but total fat intake was < 30% of total calories.ConclusionThe nutrition transition among adolescents is more advanced in the established urban center than the new urban center in South India.Support or Funding InformationNida I. Shaikh was supported by the award number 1‐R25 TW009337‐01 funded by the Fogarty International Center at National Institutes of Health Proportion of adolescents across each component of the pre‐defined Nutrition Transition‐Diet Score in new versus established urban center in South India Nutrition Transition‐Diet Score Bengaluru (established urban center)n=192 Vijayapura (new urban center)n=198 Components Criteria for score 11 Criteria for score 02 Score 13 Score 03 Score 13 Score 03 1. Processed foods ≥ 30 g/d < 30 g/d 74.5 25.5 43.9 56.1 2. Fried foods ≥ 30 g/d < 30 g/d 91.7 8.3 83.3 16.7 3. Sugar‐sweetened beverages > 0 ml/d 0 ml/d 96.9 3.1 94.9 5.1 4. Dairy ≥ 500 ml/d < 500 ml/d 4.7 95.3 7.1 92.9 5. Fruits and vegetables ≤ 400 g/d > 400 g/d 86.5 13.5 88.9 11.1 6. Breads ≥ 30 g/d < 30 g/d 25.5 74.5 47.5 52.5 7. Added sugar ≥ 30 g/d < 30 g/d 32.3 67.7 1.0 99.0 8. Fat, total ≥ 30% of total calories < 30% of total calories 0 100.0 0 100.0 9. Saturated fat ≥ 10% of total calories < 10% of total calories 100.0 0 99.5 0.5 10. Sodium ≥ 2300 mg/d < 2300 mg/d 93.8 6.2 91.9 8.1 Score 1 indicates presence of the Nutrition Transition dietary behavior. Score 0 indicates absence of the Nutrition Transition dietary behavior. All values are percentages. Dietary Guidelines of India and the literature on the nutrition transition used to develop the predefined Nutrition Transition‐Diet Score. Differences in food intake according to the highest vs. lower pre‐defined Nutrition Transition‐Diet Score among adolescents in new versus established urban centers in South India. Fond group (g/d)1 Bengaluru (established urban center) Vijayapura (new urban center) Overalln=l92 Highest quartile2n=63 Lower quartilen=129 Overalln=198 Highest quartilen=47 Lower quartilen=15l Energy‐dense foods Bread3 22.3 (22.1) 35.4 (24.1) 14.7 (16.9)*** 37.0 (38.4) 76.6 (40.2) 24.6 (28.2)*** Global foods, unhealthy4 45.6 (48.5) 45.7 (40.8) 45.6 (52.5) 28.4 (39.7) 54.3 (52.2) 19.4 (29.7)*** Global foods, healthy5 17.8 (34.9) 27.2 (45.7) 12.4 (25.5)** 1.3 (6.1) 2.4 (10.0) 0.9 (3.9) Processed foods6 60.0 (36.4) 72.6 (31.3) 52.3 (37.2)** 33.7 (28.8) 62.5 (25.4) 23.7 (22.5)*** Snacks, non‐fried7 18.1 (17.6) 23.8 (20.9) 14.8 (14.5)** 38.1 (36.6) 48.8 (44.1) 34.4 (33.0)* Snacks, fried8 93.1 (73.2) 99.6 (58.5) 89.3 (80.5) 79.5 (78.9) 137.4 (103.3) 59.4 (56.3)*** Fried traditional food9 24.8 (26.7) 28.7 (28.1) 22.5 (25.8) 23.7 (19.7) 35.1 (25.2) 19.7 (15.6)*** Sweets & desserts 62.9 (44.6) 72.1 (45.5) 57.7 (43.4)* 66.7 (55.7) 98.6 (59.0) 55.6 (50.2)*** Animal‐source foods Red meat 22.7 (44.9) 21.1 (39.4) 23.4 (47.9) 4.5 (6.7) 6.1 (11.1) 4.0 (9.8) Lean meat 40.6 (43.7) 47.6 (49.2) 36.6 (39.8) 12.1 (24.7) 18.6 (35.6) 9.9 (19.2) Eggs 21.6 (20.4) 22.1 (17.1) 21.4 (22.2) 18.0 (25.6) 27.8 (37.2) 14.6 (19.1)* Dairy 209.7 (147.8) 261.0 (162.3) 180.2 (130.3)** 175.5 (176.9) 249.9 (194.6) 149.7 (163.3)** Beverages Soda & energy drinks 23.0 (30.8) 25.4 (25.9) 21.7 (33.3) 17.3 (31.0) 35.1 (42.2) 11.2 (23.1)** Fruit juice 38.7 (41.7) 50.7 (49.7) 31.9 (34.8)** 62.1 (67.1) 102.0 (79.8) 48.2 (56.1)*** Tea & coffee 84.0 (97.5) 95.9 (108.4) 76.4 (90.4) 158.9 (113.8) 72.7 (40.7) 149.4 (109.9)* Traditional foods Fruits 130.2 (85.0) 146.7 (81.7) 120.7 (85.8)* 109.6 (83.5) 126.5 (76.8) 103.8 (85.2) Vegetables 112.4 (82.0) 104.9 (57.4) 116.7 (93.2) 115.1 (104.3) 139.0 (137.1) 106.8 (89.2) Pulse & nuts 226.1 (145.6) 233.7 (163.5) 221.6 (134.9) 264.7 (140.9) 301.1 (132.3) 251.7 (141.9)* Grains 492.3 (241.8) 487.8 (232.9) 494.8 (247.6) 552.0 (267.5) 588.6 (256.3) 504.6 (255.5)*** Added sugar 24.7 (19.8) 35.6 (21.8) 18.5 (15.5)*** 4.5 (6.7) 5.9 (7.9) 4.0 (6.2) Ghee 1.9 (3.8) 1.8 (3.3) 2.0 (4.0) 1.3 (2.7) 1.7 (3.7) 1.2 (2.2) Dietary data were collected in Vijayapura in November 2013–January 2014 and in Bengaluru in November 2014–January 2015. p<0.05, p<0.05, p<0.001. T‐tests for differences in food group intake among adolescents with high and low Nutrition Transition Diet Scores in Vijayapura and Bengaluru. Values are mean (SD) of food group intake in grams/day. For the predefined Nutrition Transition Diet Score, the ‘highest’ group indicates participants in the lop quartile (≥75th percentile) and ‘lower’ group indicates those in the remaining quartilcs. Dietary data were from adolescents' responses to the validated Nutrition Transition‐FFQ in Vijayapura and Bengaluru in Karnataka. India. Breads include white bread, brown bread, and paav/bun. Unhealthy global foods include vegetarian burger, non‐vegetarian burger, vegetarian pizza, chicken pizza, vegetarian puff, egg puff, pancake, and pasta. Healthy global foods include oats, multigrain biscuit, and breakfast cereal. Processed foods include Toffee (candy), chocolate, instant noodles, and cream and non‐cream biscuits. Non‐fried snacks include popcorn, pav bhaji, chooda, and khaari/rusk/butter. Fried snacks include Potato chips, packaged, finger chips, frozen paratha, frozen cutlet, samosa, wada pav, dahi wada, medhu wada, sago (sabudana) wada, chaats, bhajji, potato bonda, and kachori. Fried traditional foods include puri, paratha, puranpoli, and papad.

"verbiage very thinly sliced and plated up real nice" (Barrett 1)IntroductionMany of us share in an obsessive collecting of cookbooks and recipes. Torn or cut from newspapers and magazines, recipes sit swelling scrapbooks with bloated, unfilled desire. They’re non-hybrid seeds, peas under the mattress, an endless cycle of reproduction. Desire and narrative are folded into each other in our drive, as humans, to create meaning. But what holds us to narrative is good writing. And what can also drive desire is image—literal as well as metaphorical—the visceral pleasure of the gaze, or looking and viewing the sensually aesthetic and the work of the imagination. Creative WritingCooking, winemaking, and food and wine writing can all be considered art. For example, James Halliday (31), the eminent Australian wine critic, posed the question “Is winemaking an art?,” answering: “Most would say so” (31). Cookbooks are stories within stories, narratives that are both factual and imagined, everyday and fantastic—created by both writer and reader from where, along with its historical, cultural and publishing context, a text gets its meaning. Creative writing, in broad terms of genre, is either fiction (imagined, made-up) or creative nonfiction (true, factual). Genre comes from the human taxonomic impulse to create order from chaos through cataloguing and classification. In what might seem overwhelming infinite variety, we establish categories and within them formulas and conventions. But genres are not necessarily stable or clear-cut, and variation in a genre can contribute to its de/trans/formation (Curti 33). Creative nonfiction includes life writing (auto/biography) and food writing among other subgenres (although these subgenres can also be part of fiction). Cookbooks sit within the creative nonfiction genre. More clearly, dietary or nutrition manuals are nonfiction, technical rather than creative. Recipe writing specifically is perhaps less an art and more a technical exercise; generally it’s nonfiction, or between that and creative nonfiction. (One guide to writing recipes is Ostmann and Baker.) Creative writing is built upon approximately five, more or less, fundamentals of practice: point of view or focalisation or who narrates, structure (plot or story, and theme), characterisation, heightened or descriptive language, setting, and dialogue (not in any order of importance). (There are many handbooks on creative writing, that will take a writer through these fundamentals.) Style or voice derives from what a writer writes about (their recurring themes), and how they write about it (their vocabulary choice, particular use of imagery, rhythm, syntax etc.). Traditionally, as a reader, and writer, you are either a plot person or character person, but you can also be interested primarily in ideas or language, and in the popular or literary.Cookbooks as Creative NonfictionCookbooks often have a sense of their author’s persona or subjectivity as a character—that is, their proclivities, lives and thus ideology, and historical, social and cultural place and time. Memoir, a slice of the author–chef/cook’s autobiography, is often explicitly part of the cookbook, or implicit in the nature of the recipes, and the para-textual material which includes the book’s presentation and publishing context, and the writer’s biographical note and acknowledgements. And in relation to the latter, here's Australian wine educator Colin Corney telling us, in his biographical note, about his nascent passion for wine: “I returned home […] stony broke. So the next day I took a job as a bottleshop assistant at Moore Park Cellars […] to tide me over—I stayed three years!” (xi). In this context, character and place, in the broadest sense, are inevitably evoked. So in conjunction with this para-textual material, recipe ingredients and instructions, visual images and the book’s production values combine to become the components for authoring a fictive narrative of self, space and time—fictive, because writing inevitably, in a broad or conceptual sense, fictionalises everything, since it can only re-present through language and only from a particular point of view.The CookbooksTo talk about the art of cookbooks, I make a judgmental (from a creative-writer's point of view) case study of four cookbooks: Lyndey Milan and Colin Corney’s Balance: Matching Food and Wine, Sean Moran’s Let It Simmer (this is the first edition; the second is titled Let It Simmer: From Bush to Beach and Onto Your Plate), Kate Lamont’s Wine and Food, and Greg Duncan Powell’s Rump and a Rough Red (this is the second edition; the first was The Pig, the Olive & the Squid: Food & Wine from Humble Beginnings) I discuss reading, writing, imaging, and designing, which, together, form the nexus for interpreting these cookbooks in particular. The choice of these books was only relatively random, influenced by my desire to see how Australia, a major wine-producing country, was faring with discussion of wine and food choices; by the presence of discursive text beyond technical presentation of recipes, and of photographs and purposefully artful design; and by familiarity with names, restaurants and/or publishers. Reading Moran's cookbook is a model of good writing in its use of selective and specific detail directed towards a particular theme. The theme is further created or reinforced in the mix of narrative, language use, images and design. His writing has authenticity: a sense of an original, distinct voice.Moran’s aphoristic title could imply many things, but, in reading the cookbook, you realise it resonates with a mindfulness that ripples throughout his writing. The aphorism, with its laidback casualness (legendary Australian), is affectively in sync with the chef’s approach. Jacques Derrida said of the aphorism that it produces “an echo of really curious, indelible power” (67).Moran’s aim for his recipes is that they be about “honest, home-style cooking” and bringing “out a little bit of the professional chef in the home cook”, and they are “guidelines” available for “sparkle” and seduction from interpretation (4). The book lives out this persona and personal proclivities. Moran’s storytellings are specifically and solely highlighted in the Contents section which structures the book via broad categories (for example, "Grains" featuring "The dance of the paella" and "Heaven" featuring "A trifle coming on" for example). In comparison, Powell uses "The Lemon", for example, as well as "The Sheep". The first level of Contents in Lamont’s book is done by broad wine styles: sparkling, light white, robust white and so on, and the second level is the recipe list in each of these sections. Lamont’s "For me, matching food and wine comes down to flavour" (xiii) is not as dramatic or expressive as Powell’s "Wine: the forgotten condiment." Although food is first in Milan and Corney’s book’s subtitle, their first content is wine, then matching food with colour and specific grape, from Sauvignon Blanc to Barbera and more. Powell claims that the third of his rules (the idea of rules is playful but not comedic) for choosing the best wine per se is to combine region with grape variety. He covers a more detailed and diversified range of grape varieties than Lamont, systematically discussing them first-up. Where Lamont names wine styles, Powell points out where wine styles are best represented in Australian states and regions in a longish list (titled “13 of the best Australian grape and region combos”). Lamont only occasionally does this. Powell discusses the minor alternative white, Arneis, and major alternative reds such as Barbera and Nebbiolo (Allen 81, 85). This engaging detail engenders a committed reader. Pinot Gris, Viognier, Sangiovese, and Tempranillo are as alternative as Lamont gets. In contrast to Moran's laidbackness, Lamont emphasises professionalism: "My greatest pleasure as a chef is knowing that guests have enjoyed the entire food and wine experience […] That means I have done my job" (xiii). Her reminders of the obvious are, nevertheless, noteworthy: "Thankfully we have moved on from white wine/white meat and red wine/red meat" (xiv). She then addresses the alterations in flavour caused by "method of cooking" and "combination of ingredients", with examples. One such is poached chicken and mango crying "out for a vibrant, zesty Riesling" (xiii): but where from, I ask? Roast chicken with herbs and garlic would favour "red wine with silky tannin" and "chocolatey flavours" (xiii): again, I ask, where from? Powell claims "a different evolution" for his book "to the average cookbook" (7). In recipes that have "a wine focus", there are no "pretty […] little salads, or lavish […] cakes" but "brown" albeit tasty food that will not require ingredients from "poncy inner-city providores", be easy to cook, and go with a cheap, budget-based wine (7). While this identity-setting is empathetic for a Powell clone, and I am envious of his skill with verbiage, he doesn’t deliver dreaming or desire. Milan and Corney do their best job in an eye-catching, informative exemplar list of food and wine matches: "Red duck curry and Barossa Valley Shiraz" for example (7), and in wine "At-a-glance" tables, telling us, for example, that the best Australian regions for Chardonnay are Margaret River and the Adelaide Hills (53). WritingThe "Introduction" to Moran’s cookbook is a slice of memoir, a portrait of a chef as a young man: the coming into being of passion, skill, and professionalism. And the introduction to the introduction is most memorable, being a loving description of his frugal Australian childhood dinners: creations of his mother’s use of manufactured, canned, and bottled substitutes-for-the-real, including Gravox and Dessert Whip (1). From his travel-based international culinary education in handmade, agrarian food, he describes "a head of buffalo mozzarella stuffed with ricotta and studded with white truffles" as "sheer beauty", "ambrosial flavour" and "edible white 'terrazzo'." The consonants b, s, t, d, and r are picked up and repeated, as are the vowels e, a, and o. Notice, too, the comparison of classic Italian food to an equally classic Italian artefact. Later, in an interactive text, questions are posed: "Who could now imagine life without this peppery salad green?" (23). Moran uses the expected action verbs of peel, mince, toss, etc.: "A bucket of tiny clams needs a good tumble under the running tap" (92). But he also uses the unexpected hug, nab, snuggle, waltz, "wave of garlic" and "raining rice." Milan and Corney display a metaphoric-language play too: the bubbles of a sparkling wine matching red meat become "the little red broom […] sweep[ing] away the […] cloying richness" (114). In contrast, Lamont’s cookbook can seem flat, lacking distinctiveness. But with a title like Wine and Food, perhaps you are not expecting much more than information, plain directness. Moran delivers recipes as reproducible with ease and care. An image of a restaurant blackboard menu with the word "chook" forestalls intimidation. Good quality, basic ingredients and knowledge of their source and season carry weight. The message is that food and drink are due respect, and that cooking is neither a stressful, grandiose nor competitive activity. While both Moran and Lamont have recipes for Duck Liver Pâté—with the exception that Lamont’s is (disturbingly, for this cook) "Parfait", Moran also has Lentil Patties, a granola, and a number of breads. Lamont has Brioche (but, granted, without the yeast, seeming much easier to make). Powell’s Plateless Pork is "mud pies for grown-ups", and you are asked to cook a "vat" of sauce. This communal meal is "a great way to spread communicable diseases", but "fun." But his passionately delivered historical information mixed with the laconic attitude of a larrikin (legendary Australian again) transform him into a sage, a step up from the monastery (Powell is photographed in dress-up friar’s habit). Again, the obvious is noteworthy in Milan and Corney’s statement that Rosé "possesses qualities of both red and white wines" (116). "On a hot summery afternoon, sitting in the sun overlooking the view … what could be better?" (116). The interactive questioning also feeds in useful information: "there is a huge range of styles" for Rosé so "[g]rape variety is usually a good guide", and "increasingly we are seeing […] even […] Chambourcin" (116). Rosé is set next to a Bouillabaisse recipe, and, empathetically, Milan and Corney acknowledge that the traditional fish soup "can be intimidating" (116). Succinctly incorporated into the recipes are simple greyscale graphs of grape "Flavour Profiles" delineating the strength on the front and back palate and tongue (103).Imaging and DesigningThe cover of Moran’s cookbook in its first edition reproduces the colours of 1930–1940's beach towels, umbrellas or sunshades in matt stripes of blue, yellow, red, and green (Australian beaches traditionally have a grass verge; and, I am told (Costello), these were the colours of his restaurant Panoroma’s original upholstery). A second edition has the same back cover but a generic front cover shifting from the location of his restaurant to the food in a new subtitle: "From Bush to Beach and onto Your Plate". The front endpapers are Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach where Panoroma restaurant is embedded on the lower wall of an old building of flats, ubiquitous in Bondi, like a halved avocado, or a small shallow elliptic cave in one of the sandstone cliff-faces. The cookbook’s back endpapers are his bush-shack country. Surfaces, cooking equipment, table linen, crockery, cutlery and glassware are not ostentatious, but simple and subdued, in the colours and textures of nature/culture: ivory, bone, ecru, and cream; and linen, wire, wood, and cardboard. The mundane, such as a colander, is highlighted: humbleness elevated, hands at work, cooking as an embodied activity. Moran is photographed throughout engaged in cooking, quietly fetching in his slim, clean-cut, short-haired, altar-boyish good-looks, dressed casually in plain bone apron, t-shirt (most often plain white), and jeans. While some recipes are traditionally constructed, with the headnote, the list of ingredients and the discursive instructions for cooking, on occasion this is done by a double-page spread of continuous prose, inviting you into the story-telling. The typeface of Simmer varies to include a hand-written lookalike. The book also has a varied layout. Notes and small images sit on selected pages, as often as not at an asymmetric angle, with faux tape, as if stuck there as an afterthought—but an excited and enthusiastic afterthought—and to signal that what is informally known is as valuable as professional knowledge/skill and the tried, tested, and formally presented.Lamont’s publishers have laid out recipe instructions on the right-hand side (traditional English-language Western reading is top down, left to right). But when the recipe requires more than one item to be cooked, there is no repeated title; the spacing and line-up are not necessarily clear; and some immediate, albeit temporary, confusion occurs. Her recipes, alongside images of classic fine dining, carry the implication of chefing rather than cooking. She is photographed as a professional, with a chef’s familiar striped apron, and if she is not wearing a chef’s jacket, tunic or shirt, her staff are. The food is beautiful to look at and imagine, but tackling it in the home kitchen becomes a secondary thought. The left-hand section divider pages are meant to signal the wines, with the appropriate colour, and repetitive pattern of circles; but I understood this belatedly, mistaking them for retro wallpaper bemusedly. On the other hand, Powell’s bog-in-don’t-wait everyday heartiness of a communal stewed dinner at a medieval inn (Peasy Lamb looks exactly like this) may be overcooked, and, without sensuousness, uninviting. Images in Lamont’s book tend toward the predictable and anonymous (broad sweep of grape-vined landscape; large groups of people with eating and drinking utensils). The Lamont family run a vineyard, and up-market restaurants, one photographed on Perth’s river dockside. But Sean's Panoroma has a specificity about it; it hasn’t lost its local flavour in the mix with the global. (Admittedly, Moran’s bush "shack", the origin of much Panoroma produce and the destination of Panoroma compost, looks architect-designed.) Powell’s book, given "rump" and "rough" in the title, stridently plays down glitz (large type size, minimum spacing, rustic surface imagery, full-page portraits of a chicken, rump, and cabbage etc). While not over-glam, the photography in Balance may at first appear unsubtle. Images fill whole pages. But their beautifully coloured and intriguing shapes—the yellow lime of a white-wine bottle base or a sparkling wine cork beneath its cage—shift them into hyperreality. White wine in a glass becomes the edge of a desert lake; an open fig, the jaws of an alien; the flesh of a lemon after squeezing, a sea anemone. The minimal number of images is a judicious choice. ConclusionReading can be immersive, but it can also hover critically at a meta level, especially if the writer foregrounds process. A conversation starts in this exchange, the reader imagining for themselves the worlds written about. Writers read as writers, to acquire a sense of what good writing is, who writing colleagues are, where writing is being published, and, comparably, to learn to judge their own writing. Writing is produced from a combination of passion and the discipline of everyday work. To be a writer in the world is to observe and remember/record, to be conscious of aiming to see the narrative potential in an array of experiences, events, and images, or, to put it another way, "to develop the habit of art" (Jolley 20). Photography makes significant whatever is photographed. The image is immobile in a literal sense but, because of its referential nature, evocative. Design, too, is about communication through aesthetics as a sensuous visual code for ideas or concepts. (There is a large amount of scholarship on the workings of image combined with text. Roland Barthes is a place to begin, particularly about photography. There are also textbooks dealing with visual literacy or culture, only one example being Shirato and Webb.) It is reasonable to think about why there is so much interest in food in this moment. Food has become folded into celebrity culture, but, naturally, obviously, food is about our security and survival, physically and emotionally. Given that our planet is under threat from global warming which is also driving climate change, and we are facing peak oil, and alternative forms of energy are still not taken seriously in a widespread manner, then food production is under threat. Food supply and production are also linked to the growing gap between poverty and wealth, and the movement of whole populations: food is about being at home. Creativity is associated with mastery of a discipline, openness to new experiences, and persistence and courage, among other things. We read, write, photograph, and design to argue and critique, to use the imagination, to shape and transform, to transmit ideas, to celebrate living and to live more fully.References Allen, Max. The Future Makers: Australian Wines for the 21st Century. Melbourne: Hardie Grant, 2010. Barratt, Virginia. “verbiage very thinly sliced and plated up real nice.” Assignment, ENG10022 Writing from the Edge. Lismore: Southern Cross U, 2009. [lower case in the title is the author's proclivity, and subsequently published in Carson and Dettori. Eds. Banquet: A Feast of New Writing and Arts by Queer Women]Costello, Patricia. Personal conversation. 31 May 2012. Curti, Lidia. Female Stories, Female Bodies: Narrative, Identity and Representation. UK: Macmillan, 1998.Derrida, Jacques. "Fifty-Two Aphorisms for a Foreword." Deconstruction: Omnibus Volume. Eds. Andreas Apadakis, Catherine Cook, and Andrew Benjamin. New York: Rizzoli, 1989.Halliday, James. “An Artist’s Spirit.” The Weekend Australian: The Weekend Australian Magazine 13-14 Feb. (2010): 31.Jolley, Elizabeth. Central Mischief. Ringwood: Viking/Penguin 1992. Lamont, Kate. Wine and Food. Perth: U of Western Australia P, 2009. Milan, Lyndey, and Corney, Colin. Balance: Matching Food and Wine: What Works and Why. South Melbourne: Lothian, 2005. Moran, Sean. Let It Simmer. Camberwell: Lantern/Penguin, 2006. Ostmann, Barbara Gibbs, and Jane L. Baker. The Recipe Writer's Handbook. Canada: John Wiley, 2001.Powell, Greg Duncan. Rump and a Rough Red. Millers Point: Murdoch, 2010. Shirato, Tony, and Jen Webb. Reading the Visual. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 2004.

Introduction Lillian Ng was born in Singapore and lived in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom before migrating to Australia with her daughter and Ah Mah Yin Jie (“Ah Mahs are a special group of people who took a vow to remain unmarried … [so they] could stick together as a group and make a living together” (Yu 118)). Ng studied classical Chinese at home, then went to an English school and later on studied Medicine. Her first book, Silver Sister (1994), was short-listed for the inaugural Angus & Robertson/Bookworld Prize in 1993 and won the Human Rights Award in 1995. Ng defines herself as a “Chinese living in Australia” (Yu 115). Food, flesh and meat are recurrent topics in Lillian Ng´s second novel Swallowing Clouds, published in 1997. These topics are related to desire and can be used as a synecdoche (a metaphor that describes part/whole relations) of the human body: food is needed to survive and pleasure can be obtained from other people´s bodies. This paper focuses on one type of meat and animal, pork and the pig, and on the relation between the two main characters, Syn and Zhu Zhiyee. Syn, the main character in the novel, is a Shanghainese student studying English in Sydney who becomes stranded after the Tiananmen Square massacre of June 1989. As she stops receiving money from her mother and fears repression if she goes back to China, she begins to work in a Chinese butcher shop, owned by Zhu Zhiyee, which brings her English lessons to a standstill. Syn and Zhu Zhiyee soon begin a two-year love affair, despite the fact that Zhu Zhiyee is married to KarLeng and has three daughters. The novel is structured as a prologue and four days, each of which has a different setting and temporal location. The prologue introduces the story of an adulterous woman who was punished to be drowned in a pig´s basket in the HuanPu River in the summer of 1918. As learnt later on, Syn is the reincarnation of this woman, whose purpose in life is to take revenge on men by taking their money. The four days, from the 4th to the 7th of June 1994, mark the duration of a trip to Beijing and Shanghai that Syn takes as member of an Australian expedition in order to visit her mother with the security of an Australian passport. During these four days, the reader learns about different Chinese landmarks, such as the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Ming Tomb and the Summer Palace, as well as some cultural events, such as a Chinese opera and eating typical foods like Peking duck. However, the bulk of the plot of the book deals with the sexual relationship, erotic games and fantasies of Syn and Zhu Zhiyee in the period between 1989 and 1992, as well as Syn´s final revenge in January 1993. Pigs The fact that Zhu Zhiyee is a butcher allows Lillian Ng to include references to pigs and pork throughout the novel. Some of them refer to the everyday work of a butcher shop, as the following examples illustrate: “Come in and help me with the carcass,” he [Zhu Zhiyee] pointed to a small suckling pig hung on a peg. Syn hesitated, not knowing how to handle the situation. “Take the whole pig with the peg,” he commanded (11).Under dazzling fluorescent tubes and bright spotlights, trays of red meat, pork chops and lamb cutlets sparkled like jewels … The trays edged with red cellophane frills and green underlay breathed vitality and colour into the slabs of pork ribs and fillets (15).Buckets of pig´s blood with a skim of froth took their place on the floor; gelled ones, like sliced cubes of large agate, sat in tin trays labelled in Chinese. More discreetly hidden were the gonads and penises of goats, bulls and pigs. (16)These examples are representative of Syn and Zhu Zhiyee´s relationship. The first quotation deals with their interaction: most of the time Zhu Zhiyee orders Syn how to act, either in the shop or in bed. The second extract describes the meat’s “vitality” and this is the quality of Syn's skin that mesmerised Zhu when he met her: “he was excited, electrified by the sight of her unblemished, translucent skin, unlined, smooth as silk. The glow of the warmth of human skin” (13). Moreover, the lights seem to completely illuminate the pieces of meat and this is the way Zhu Zhiyee leers at Syn´s body, as it can be read in the following extract: “he turned again to fix his gaze on Syn, which pierced and penetrated her head, her brain, eyes, permeated her whole body, seeped into her secret places and crevices” (14). The third excerpt introduces the sexual organs of some of the animals, which are sold to some customers for a high price. Meat is also sexualised by Zhu Zhiyee´s actions, such as his pinching the bottoms of chickens and comparing them with “sacrificial virgins”: “chickens, shamelessly stripped and trussed, hung by their necks, naked in their pimply white skin, seemed like sacrificial virgins. Syn often caught Zhu pinching their fleshy bottoms, while wrapping and serving them to the housewives” (15-16). Zhu also makes comments relating food with sex while he is having lunch next to Syn, which could be considered sexual harassment. All these extracts exemplify the relationship between Syn and Zhu Zhiyee: the orders, the looks and the implicit sexuality in the quotidian activities in the butcher´s shop. There are also a range of other expressions that include similes with the word `pig´ in Ng´s novel. One of the most recurrent is comparing the left arm and hand of Zhu Zhiyee´s mother with a “pig´s trotter”. Zhu Zhiyee´s mother is known as ZhuMa and Syn is very fond of her, as ZhuMa accepts her and likes her more than her own daughter-in-law. The comparison of ZhuMa´s arm and hand with a trotter may be explained by the fact that ZhuMa´s arm is swollen but also by the loving representation of pigs in Chinese culture. As Seung-Og Kim explains in his article “Burials, Pigs, and Political Prestige in Neolithic China”: In both Melanesia and Asia, pigs are viewed as a symbolic representation of human beings (Allen 1976: 42; Healey 1985; Rappaport 1967: 58; Roscoe 1989: 223-26). Piglets are treated as pets and receive a great deal of loving attention, and they in turn express affection for their human “parents.” They also share some physiological features with human beings, being omnivorous and highly reproductive (though humans do not usually have multiple litters) and similar internal anatomy (Roscoe 1989: 225). In short, pigs not only have a symbiotic relationship with humans biologically but also are of great importance symbolically (121). Consequently, pigs are held in high esteem, taken care of and loved. Therefore, comparing a part of a human´s body, such as an arm or a hand, for example, to a part of a pig´s body such as a pig´s trotter is not negative, but has positive connotations. Some descriptions of ZhuMa´s arm and hand can be read in the following excerpts: “As ZhuMa handed her the plate of cookies Syn saw her left arm, swollen like a pig´s trotter” (97); “Syn was horrified, and yet somewhat intrigued by this woman without a breast, with a pig´s trotter arm and a tummy like a chessboard” (99), “mimicking the act of writing with her pig-trotter hand” (99), and ZhuMa was praising the excellence of the opera, the singing, acting, the costumes, and the elaborate props, waving excitedly with her pig trotter arm and pointing with her stubby fingers while she talked. (170) Moreover, the expression “pig´s trotters” is also used as an example of the erotic fetishism with bound feet, as it can be seen in the following passage, which will be discussed below: I [Zhu Zhiyee] adore feet which are slender… they seem so soft, like pig´s trotters, so cute and loving, they play tricks on your mind. Imagine feeling them in bed under your blankets—soft cottonwool lumps, plump and cuddly, makes you want to stroke them like your lover´s hands … this was how the bound feet appealed to men, the erotic sensation when balanced on shoulders, clutched in palms, strung to the seat of a garden swing … no matter how ugly a woman is, her tiny elegant feet would win her many admirers (224).Besides writing about pigs and pork as part of the daily work of the butcher shop and using the expression “pig´s trotter”, “pig” is also linked to money in two sentences in the book. On the one hand, it is used to calculate a price and draw attention to the large amount it represents: “The blouse was very expensive—three hundred dollars, the total takings from selling a pig. Two pigs if he purchased two blouses” (197). On the other, it works as an adjective in the expression “piggy-bank”, the money box in the form of a pig, an animal that represents abundance and happiness in the Chinese culture: “She borrowed money from her neighbours, who emptied pieces of silver from their piggy-banks, their life savings”(54). Finally, the most frequent porcine expression in Ng´s Swallowing Clouds makes reference to being drowned in a pig´s basket, which represents 19 of the 33 references to pigs or pork that appear in the novel. The first three references appear in the prologue (ix, x, xii), where the reader learns the story of the last woman who was killed by drowning in a pig´s basket as a punishment for her adultery. After this, two references recount a soothsayer´s explanation to Syn about her nightmares and the fact that she is the reincarnation of that lady (67, 155); three references are made by Syn when she explains this story to Zhu Zhiyee and to her companion on the trip to Beijing and Shanghai (28, 154, 248); one refers to a feeling Syn has during sexual intercourse with Zhu Zhiyee (94); and one when the pig basket is compared to a cricket box, a wicker or wooden box used to carry or keep crickets in a house and listen to them singing (73). Furthermore, Syn reflects on the fact of drowning (65, 114, 115, 171, 172, 173, 197, 296) and compares her previous death with that of Concubine Pearl, the favourite of Emperor Guanxu, who was killed by order of his aunt, the Empress Dowager Cixi (76-77). The punishment of drowning in a pig´s basket can thus be understood as retribution for a transgression: a woman having an extra-marital relationship, going against the establishment and the boundaries of the authorised. Both the woman who is drowned in a pig´s basket in 1918 and Syn have extra-marital affairs and break society’s rules. However, the consequences are different: the concubine dies and Syn, her reincarnation, takes revenge. Desire, Transgression and Eroticism Xavier Pons writes about desire, repression, freedom and transgression in his book Messengers of Eros: Representations of Sex in Australian Writing (2009). In this text, he explains that desire can be understood as a positive or as a negative feeling. On the one hand, by experiencing desire, a person feels alive and has joy de vivre, and if that person is desired in return, then, the feelings of being accepted and happiness are also involved (13). On the other hand, desire is often repressed, as it may be considered evil, anarchic, an enemy of reason and an alienation from consciousness (14). According to Pons: Sometimes repression, in the form of censorship, comes from the outside—from society at large, or from particular social groups—because of desire´s subversive nature, because it is a force which, given a free rein, would threaten the higher purpose which a given society assigns to other (and usually ideological) forces … Repression may also come from the inside, via the internalization of censorship … desire is sometimes feared by the individual as a force alien to his/her true self which would leave him/her vulnerable to rejection or domination, and would result in loss of freedom (14).Consequently, when talking about sexual desire, the two main concepts to be dealt with are freedom and transgression. As Pons makes clear, “the desiring subject can be taken advantage of, manipulated like a puppet [as h]is or her freedom is in this sense limited by the experience of desire” (15). While some practices may be considered abusive, such as bondage or sado-masochism, they may be deliberately and freely chosen by the partners involved. In this case, these practices represent “an encounter between equals: dominance is no more than make-believe, and a certain amount of freedom (as much as is compatible with giving oneself up to one´s fantasies) is maintained throughout” (24). Consequently, the perception of freedom changes with each person and situation. What is transgressive depends on the norms in every culture and, as these evolve, so do the forms of transgression (Pons 43). Examples of transgressions can be: firstly, the separation of sex from love, adultery or female and male homosexuality, which happen with the free will of the partners; or, secondly, paedophilia, incest or bestiality, which imply abuse. Going against society’s norms involves taking risks, such as being discovered and exiled from society or feeling isolated as a result of a feeling of difference. As the norms change according to culture, time and person, an individual may transgress the rules and feel liberated, but later on do the same thing and feel alienated. As Pons declares, “transgressing the rules does not always lead to liberation or happiness—transgression can turn into a trap and turn out to be simply another kind of alienation” (46). In Swallowing Clouds, Zhu Zhiyee transgresses the social norms of his time by having an affair with Syn: firstly, because it is extra-marital, he and his wife, KarLeng, are Catholic and fidelity is one of the promises made when getting married; and, secondly, because he is Syn´s boss and his comments and ways of flirting with her could be considered sexual harassment. For two years, the affair is an escape from Zhu Zhiyee´s daily worries and stress and a liberation and fulfillment of his sexual desires. However, he introduces Syn to his mother and his sisters, who accept her and like her more than his wife. He feels trapped, though, when KarLeng guesses and threatens him with divorce. He cannot accept this as it would mean loss of face in their neighbourhood and society, and so he decides to abandon Syn. Syn´s transgression becomes a trap for her as Zhu, his mother and his sisters have become her only connection with the outside world in Australia and this alienates her from both the country she lives in and the people she knows. However, Syn´s transgression also turns into a trap for Zhu Zhiyee because she will not sign the documents to give him the house back and every month she sends proof of their affair to KarLeng in order to cause disruption in their household. This exposure could be compared with the humiliation suffered by the concubine when she was paraded in a pig´s basket before she was drowned in the HuangPu River. Furthermore, the reader does not know whether KarLeng finally divorces Zhu Zhiyee, which would be his drowning and loss of face and dishonour in front of society, but can imagine the humiliation, shame and disgrace KarLeng makes him feel every month. Pons also depicts eroticism as a form of transgression. In fact, erotic relations are a power game, and seduction can be a very effective weapon. As such, women can use seduction to obtain power and threaten the patriarchal order, which imposes on them patterns of behaviour, language and codes to follow. However, men also use seduction to get their own benefits, especially in political and social contexts. “Power has often been described as the ultimate aphrodisiac” (Pons 32) and this can be seen in many of the sexual games between Syn and Zhu Zhiyee in Swallowing Clouds, where Zhu Zhiyee is the active partner and Syn becomes little more than an object that gives pleasure. A clear reference to erotic fetishism is embedded in the above-mentioned quote on bound feet, which are compared to pig´s trotters. In fact, bound feet were so important in China in the millennia between the Song Dynasty (960-1276) and the early 20th century that “it was impossible to find a husband” (Holman) without them: “As women’s bound feet and shoes became the essence of feminine beauty, a fanatical aesthetic and sexual mystique developed around them. The bound foot was understood to be the most intimate and erotic part of the female anatomy, and wives, consorts and prostitutes were chosen solely on the size and shape of their feet” (Holman). Bound feet are associated in Ng’s novel with pig´s trotters and are described as “cute and loving … soft cottonwool lumps, plump and cuddly, [that] makes you want to stroke them like your lover´s hands” (224). This approach towards bound feet and, by extension, towards pig´s trotters, can be related to the fond feelings Melanesian and Asian cultures have towards piglets, which “are treated as pets and receive a great deal of loving attention” (Kim 121). Consequently, the bound feet can be considered a synecdoche for the fond feelings piglets inspire. Food and Sex The fact that Zhu Zhiyee is a butcher and works with different types of meat, including pork, that he chops it, sells it and gives cooking advice, is not gratuitous in the novel. He is used to being in close proximity to meat and death and seeing Syn’s pale skin through which he can trace her veins excites him. Her flesh is alive and represents, therefore, the opposite of meat. He wants to seduce her, which is human hunting, and he wants to study her, to enjoy her body, which can be compared to animals looking at their prey and deciding where to start eating from. Zhu´s desire for Syn seems destructive and dangerous. In the novel, bodies have a price: dead animals are paid for and eaten and their role is the satiation of human hunger. But humans, who are also animals, have a price as well: flesh is paid for, in the form of prostitution or being a mistress, and its aim is satiation of human sex. Generally speaking, sex in the novel is compared to food either in a direct or an indirect way, and making love is constantly compared to cooking, the preparation of food and eating (as in Pons 303). Many passages in Swallowing Clouds have cannibalistic connotations, all of these being used as metaphors for Zhu Zhiyee’s desire for Syn. As mentioned before, desire can be positive (as it makes a person feel alive) or negative (as a form of internal or social censorship). For Zhu Zhiyee, desire is positive and similar to a drug he is addicted to. For example, when Zhu and Syn make delivery rounds in an old Mazda van, he plays the recordings he made the previous night when they were having sex and tries to guess when each moan happened. Sex and Literature Pons explains that “to write about sex … is to address a host of issues—social, psychological and literary—which together pretty much define a culture” (6). Lillian Ng´s Swallowing Clouds addresses a series of issues. The first of these could be termed ‘the social’: Syn´s situation after the Tiananmen Massacre; her adulterous relationship with her boss and being treated and considered his mistress; the rapes in Inner Mongolia; different reasons for having an abortion; various forms of abuse, even by a mother of her mentally handicapped daughter; the loss of face; betrayal; and revenge. The second issue is the ‘psychological’, with the power relations and strategies used between different characters, psychological abuse, physical abuse, humiliation, and dependency. The third is the ‘literary’, as when the constant use of metaphors with Chinese cultural references becomes farcical, as Tseen Khoo notes in her article “Selling Sexotica” (2000: 164). Khoo explains that, “in the push for Swallowing Clouds to be many types of novels at once: [that is, erotica, touristic narrative and popular], it fails to be any one particularly successfully” (171). Swallowing Clouds is disturbing, full of stereotypes, and with repeated metaphors, and does not have a clear readership and, as Khoo states: “The explicit and implicit strategies behind the novel embody the enduring perceptions of what exotic, multicultural writing involves—sensationalism, voyeuristic pleasures, and a seemingly deliberate lack of rooted-ness in the Australian socioscape (172). Furthermore, Swallowing Clouds has also been defined as “oriental grunge, mostly because of the progression throughout the narrative from one gritty, exoticised sexual encounter to another” (Khoo 169-70).Other novels which have been described as “grunge” are Edward Berridge´s Lives of the Saints (1995), Justine Ettler´s The River Ophelia (1995), Linda Jaivin´s Eat Me (1995), Andrew McGahan´s Praise (1992) and 1988 (1995), Claire Mendes´ Drift Street (1995) or Christos Tsiolkas´ Loaded (1995) (Michael C). The word “grunge” has clear connotations with “dirtiness”—a further use of pig, but one that is not common in the novel. The vocabulary used during the sexual intercourse and games between Syn and Zhu Zhiyee is, however, coarse, and “the association of sex with coarseness is extremely common” (Pons 344). Pons states that “writing about sex is an attempt to overcome [the barriers of being ashamed of some human bodily functions], regarded as unnecessarily constrictive, and this is what makes it by nature transgressive, controversial” (344-45). Ng´s use of vocabulary in this novel is definitely controversial, indeed, so much so that it has been defined as banal or even farcical (Khoo 169-70).ConclusionThis paper has analysed the use of the words and expressions: “pig”, “pork” and “drowning in a pig’s basket” in Lillian Ng´s Swallowing Clouds. Moreover, the punishment of drowning in a pig’s basket has served as a means to study the topics of desire, transgression and eroticism, in relation to an analysis of the characters of Syn and Zhu Zhiyee, and their relationship. This discussion of various terminology relating to “pig” has also led to the study of the relationship between food and sex, and sex and literature, in this novel. Consequently, this paper has analysed the use of the term “pig” and has used it as a springboard for the analysis of some aspects of the novel together with different theoretical definitions and concepts. Acknowledgements A version of this paper was given at the International Congress Food for Thought, hosted by the Australian Studies Centre at the University of Barcelona in February 2010. References Allen, Bryan J. Information Flow and Innovation Diffusion in the East Sepic District, Papua New Guinea. PhD diss. Australian National University, Australia. 1976. Berridge, Edward. Lives of the Saints. St Lucia: U of Queensland P, 1995. C., Michael. “Toward a sound theory of Australian Grunge fiction.” [Weblog entry] Eurhythmania. 5 Mar. 2008. 4 Oct. 2010 http://eurhythmania.blogspot.com/2008/03/toward-sound-theory-of-australian.html. Ettler, Justine. The River Ophelia. Sydney: Picador, 1995. Healey, Christopher J. “Pigs, Cassowaries, and the Gift of the Flesh: A Symbolic Triad in Maring Cosmology.” Ethnology 24 (1985): 153-65. Holman, Jeanine. “Bound Feet.” Bound Feet: The History of a Curious, Erotic Custom. Ed. Joseph Rupp 2010. 11 Aug. 2010. http://www.josephrupp.com/history.html. Jaivin, Linda. Eat Me. Melbourne: The Text Publishing Company, 1995. Khoo, Tseen. “Selling Sexotica: Oriental Grunge and Suburbia in Lillian Ngs’ Swallowing Clouds.” Diaspora: Negotiating Asian-Australian. Ed. Helen Gilbert, Tseen Khoo, and Jaqueline Lo. St Lucia: U of Queensland P, 2000. 164-72. Khoo, Tseen; Danau Tanu, and Tien. "Re: Of pigs and porks” 5-9 Aug. 1997. Asian- Australian Discussion List Digest numbers 1447-1450. Apr. 2010 . Kim, Seung-Og. “Burials, Pigs, and Political Prestige in Neolithic China.” Current Anthopology 35.2 (Apr. 1994): 119-141. McGahan, Andrew. Praise. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1992. McGahan, Andrew. 1988. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1995. Mendes, Clare. Drift Street. 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