A Baby's Birthright Final Draft.

Jasmine M. Goff Sturgill

Ron Mitchell

English 201.501

August 21, 2009

Essay #2, Final Draft

1437 words

A Baby’s Birthright

Would you like to try something that can be both entertaining and horrifying? All you have to do is simply walk into a group of women and mention that you are pregnant and intend to breastfeed “for at least the first year of life and beyond for as long as mutually desired” as the American Academy of Pediatrics or AAP recommends. The amusement combined with terror and even discouragement will come when the women begin bombarding with reasons why breastfeeding is too hard, too time consuming, or even impossible for somebody they know (Breastfeeding). The reality is every mother should make a good honest effort to nurse her baby because its the best choice for both her baby and herself.

Most of us have heard the phrase “Human milk is for human babies,” but how many really think about what it means? It means it's meant for a baby to drink. Every mother’s milk is the perfect blend of watery foremilk and rich fatty hind milk with a good dose of whatever antibodies she has formed being exposed to various pathogens. The proteins in human milk do not cause allergies, gives a baby the proper amount of sugars and carbohydrates, and contains the correct amount of easily dissolved vitamins and minerals (Perkins 10).

Infants are meant to exclusively consume breastmilk until they are six months old as per the World Health Organization and the AAP. Babies have what is know as an open gut meaning that their intestines are not fully developed and able to handle the germs and bacteria in regular food until they are at least six months old but also meeting several milestones like being able to sit unassisted (Bonyata When). Few people know that colostrum and later mature breastmilk contains antibodies that help to babies' intestines finish developing (Bonyata Why). The World Health Organization says “It(…) contains antibodies that help protect infants from common childhood illnesses - such as diarrhea and pneumonia, the two primary causes of child mortality worldwide.” Formula-fed babies are at a disadvantage to breast fed babies because they do not get these antibodies according to Sharon Perkins and Carol Vannais (18). Formula-fed babies are 50% more likely to have ear infections, 64% more likely to have problems with their open gut, 72% more likely to be hospitalized due to pneumonia, 40% more likely to have asthma, 39% more likely to develop insulin dependent diabetes, 19% more likely to have childhood leukemia, and 36% more likely to die of SIDS (The Risks). These risks all go up with premature infants. Every single month a baby is fed artificial baby milk, his risk of obesity goes up by 4% (The Risks). With the childhood obesity epidemic in our country, that fact should be encouraging all on its own. WHO has a published a fact file with 10 facts on breastfeeding. Especially interesting is number four.

Beyond the immediate benefits for children, breastfeeding contributes to a lifetime of good health. Adults who were breastfed as babies often have lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol, as well as lower rates of overweight, obesity and type-2 diabetes. There is evidence that people who were breastfed perform better in intelligence tests.

One would think no parent would want to deny their child an intellectual edge in today's competitive world so please do not think this was just one isolated study: both McGill University and the New York Times author Nicholas Bakalar reported the same thing in May of 2008. A study was done in New Zealand in the 1970s that found that adults who were breastfed as babies made better grades in school than their formula-fed classmates. Even the American Academy of Pediatrics reviewed dozens of studies and concluded that there is a link between breastfeeding and intelligence (Concato).

One aspect of breastfeeding is advantageous for both mother and child, economics.The breastfeeding resource published by Kelly Bonyata has a really handy table showing the various things a mom could purchase instead of formula. Using 2005 prices, Bonyata determined that a mom who breastfed rather than buying high end formula, she can save about $50 in the first six weeks. Better yet,if she breastfeeds for 6 months, that translates to about $1,600 and 12 months to over $3,000 (Bonyata Financial).These numbers are astounding. Who would want to throw $3,000 away when they have something better for their child that is free? Bonyata's table also includes several things mothers could purchase with the money they saved by breastfeeding. Just think of the amazing custom computer a mother could build with three thousand one hundred sixty three dollars and eighty six cents!

Another disadvantage to feeding her child artificial milk a mother should take into consideration is simply that formula-fed babies are sicker than breastfed babies. Not only do babies who are fed formula get sick more often, but they often are sicker than their breastfed counterparts sometimes even into childhood (Cohen).Therefore formula-feeding mothers who work outside the home miss more days of work caring for their sick infants. A study by the AAP determined that medical costs alone cost between $331 and $475 more for a formula-fed baby in any given year (Ball).

Most people do consider the cost of the tangible artificial baby milk itself but what about the time it takes to prepare it. Breastmilk is ready to go whenever, wherever a mother and child may happen to be.There is no need to worry about the temperature, water safety, or to ever consider boiling a nipple for sterility, OUCH! .

Breastfeeding is best for the mother. Declining the opportunity to nurse her baby, a mother is more likely to suffer from postpartum depression, her chances of developing type 2 diabetes increases, as well as her chances for various types of cancer (Benefits).We all also know sleep helps everyone recover from everything from hangovers to surgery, so it is safe to assume more sleep during the first few weeks of being a new parent would help a mother recover from delivery faster too.

When I was pregnant with my daughter, I asked my own mother Betty Hayden many of the questions that kept me awake at night. She summed it up best when she said it was also easier for her “to just pop the baby on the boob and sleep while he ate.” My mom said she simply needed to get the baby latched on and she could read, practice typing one handed, watch TV, attend a phone conference for work or any number of things all while bonding with her child and giving him the best nutrition nature can provide. A true multitasker, she bragged she could nurse her child, make a sandwich,watch a football game, talk on the phone, all while winning gin rummy.

Breastfeeding also causes a woman’s body to produce a hormone known as Oxytocin. Oxytocin is also known as “the love hormone” as reflected in the July 28, 2009 Hathor The Cow Goddess comic. Production of Oxytocin not only helps a mother to bond with her baby, but also helps her uterus shrink back to its pre-pregnancy size. While the uterus does contract on its own, breastfeeding helps it go back quicker normally resulting in decreased lochia or postpartum bleeding, quicker loss of “baby weight” (Perkins 23) and the quicker the after pains end.

Nusing an infant requires about 500 calories a day on top of a woman’s normal caloric needs. For a one hundred sixty pound mom, burning off that many calories would take 40 minutes of high impact step aerobics to burn off (Calorie). Given the unfortunate combination of baby weight and exhaustion that nearly all new mothers experience, any help to lost weight should be welcomed!

Formula feeding has hidden costs in missed wages, sleep loss, work experience and medical costs that negatively impact the child's life as well as the life of his mother as well as the entire household. Declining the opportunity to breastfeed her child increases a mother’s chances of having a number of problems both with her recovery from birth and with her own health later in life as well as decreasing her chances of crucial bonding with her baby. On the most basic level, mothers want their children to be happy, healthy, successful people who both are and know how to love. By allowing a child full unscheduled access to what is his by right of his birth, a mother helps her child by giving him the best chance possible to grow up into a happy and healthy adult.

Works Cited

Works Cited
10 Facts on Breastfeeding. July 2009. World Health Organization 13 08 2009.
American Academy of Pediatrics. Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk. PEDIATRICS Vol. 115 No. 2 February 2005, pp. 496-506.

Bakalar, Nicholas."Nutrition: Breast-feeding Tied to Intelligence” New York Times 13 05 2008.

Ball, Thomas and Wright, Anne. Healthcare Costs of Formula-Feeding in the First Year of Life. PEDIATRICS Vol. 103 No. 4 April 1999, pp. 870-876

Benefits of Breastfeeding. 27 02 2009.Federal Government Source for Women’s Health Information. 13 08 2009.

Bonyata, Kelly.“Financial Costs of Not Breastfeeding.” Kellymom.com. 2005. 13 08 2009.

Bonyata, Kelly. When will baby be ready for solid foods. Kellymom.com. 2005. 21 08 2009.

Bonyata, Kelly. Why Delay Solids. Kellymom.com.2006. 21 08 2009.

Breastfeeding Myths. 2006. Parenting Web. 21 08 2009.

Calorie Burn Calculator. 2007. Internetfitness.com Inc. 13 08 2009.

Cohen, Rona and Mrtek, Marsha B. and Mrtek, Robert G. Comparison of Maternal Absenteeism and Infant Illness Rates Among Breast-feeding and Formula-feeding Women in Two Corporations. American Journal of Health Promotion. 20 02 1995.

Concato, John and Jain, Anjali and Leventhal, John M. How Good Is the Evidence Link in Breastfeeding and Intelligence?. PEDIATRICS Vol. 109 No. 6 June 2002, pp. 1044-1053.

Hayden, Betty. Personal Interview. 15 08 2005.

Higher IQ Connected to Breastfeeding. 05 01 1998. Breastfeeding.com. 13 08 2009.

McGill University."Breastfeeding Associated With Increased Intelligence, Study Suggests."ScienceDaily 6 May 2008. 13 08 2009.

“Oxytocin.” Hathor The Cow Goddess. Cushman-Dowdee, Heather. 28 July 2009. Web Comic. 2009.

Perkins, Sharon and Vannais, Carol. Breastfeeding for Dummies. Hoboken NJ: Wiley Publishing, 2004.

Rabin, Roni Caryn.“Breast-Feeding Linked to Lower Cancer Risk”. New York Times 10 08 2009:

The Risks of Infant Formula Feeding. 2009. The Breastfeeding Task Force of Greater Los Angeles. 12 08 2009 .

A Baby's Birthright

Jasmine M. Goff Sturgill
Ron Mitchell
English 201.501
August 13, 2009
Essay #2, First Draft
1235 words

A Baby’s Birthright

Expecting a new baby is an exciting time full of questions. Will he have his daddy’s nose? Will she have her mommy’s ears? After the baby is born, the questions change. When will she sleep through the night? When am I going to sleep through the night again? Is he ever going to stop crying? With all the questions running through the minds of new parents, few should be as easy to decide as the decision breastfeed. The reasons for nursing a new baby are simple: its best for the baby, its best for the mom, and it’s the most economical route to go.
Human milk is for human babies. It’s meant for a baby to drink. Every mother’s milk is the perfect blend of watery foremilk and rich fatty hind milk with a good dose of whatever antibodies she has formed being exposed to various pathogens. The proteins in human milk do not cause allergies, gives a baby the proper amount of sugars and carbohydrates, and contains the correct amount of easily dissolved vitamins and minerals (Perkins 10).
Babies are born with very weak immune systems. They have to be exposed to germs in their day-to-day lives to develop immunity to the common bugs in their lives. “It(…) contains antibodies that help protect infants from common childhood illnesses - such as diarrhea and pneumonia, the two primary causes of child mortality worldwide.” (10 Facts) Formula-fed babies are at a disadvantage to breast fed babies because they do not get these antibodies (Perkins 18). Formula-fed babies are 50% more likely to have ear infections, 64% more likely to have gastrointestinal infections, 72% more likely to be hospitalized due to pneumonia, 40% more likely to have asthma, 39% more likely to develop insulin dependant diabetes, 19% more likely to have childhood leukemia, and 36% more likely to die of SIDS (The Risks). These risks all go up and others come into play with premature infants. Every single month a baby is fed artificial baby milk, his risk of obesity goes up by 4% (The Risks). The World Health Organization has a published a fact file (10 Facts) with 10 facts on breastfeeding. Interesting is number four.
Beyond the immediate benefits for children, breastfeeding contributes to a lifetime of good health. Adults who were breastfed as babies often have lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol, as well as lower rates of overweight, obesity and type-2 diabetes. There is evidence that people who were breastfed perform better in intelligence tests. (10 Facts)
Adults who breastfed as infants are performed better on intelligence
tests. Why would anyone not want to give their child this advantage? Please do not think this was just one isolated study: McGill University(McGill) and the New York Times(Bakalar) reported the same thing in May of 2008. A study was done in New Zealand in the 1970s that found that adults who were breastfed as babies made better grades in school than their formula-fed classmates. Even the American Academy of Pediatrics (Concato) reviewed dozens of studies and concluded that there is a link between breastfeeding and intelligence.
It certainly seems that a baby is better off being breastfed than formula fed. A breastfed baby is more likely to be both intelligent and healthy when compared to a formula fed baby. Breast is best for the baby.
Breastfeeding is also best for the mother. Declining the opportunity to nurse her baby, a mother is more likely to suffer from post partum depression, her chances of developing type 2 diabetes increases, as well as her chances for various types of cancer (Benefits). A mother interviewed while expecting my own child said it was also easier for her “to just pop the baby on the boob and sleep while he ate.” Since sleep helps everyone recover from everything from hangovers to surgery, one would assume more sleep during the first few weeks of being a new parent would help a mother recover from delivery faster too.
Breastfeeding also causes a woman’s body to produce a hormone known as Oxytocin. Oxytocin is also known as “the love hormone” as reflected in the July 28, 2009 Hathor The Cow Goddess comic (Oxytocin). Production of Oxytocin not only helps a mother to bond with her baby, but also helps her uterus shrink back to its pre-pregnancy size. While the uterus does contract on its own, breastfeeding helps it go back quicker normally resulting in decreased lochia or post partum bleeding, quicker loss of “baby weight” (Perkins 23) and the quicker the after pains end.
Breastfeeding an infant requires about 500 calories a day on top of a woman’s normal caloric needs. For a one hundred sixty pound mom, burning off that many calories would take 40 minutes of high impact step aerobics to burn off (Calorie). For someone who is not a big fan of exercise, breastfeeding certainly sounds like the lazy way out!
The third reason to nurse your baby instead of formula feeding is economics. The breastfeeding resource kellymom.com has a really handy table showing the various things a mom could purchase instead of formula. Using 2005 prices, they determined that a mom who breastfed rather than buying high end formula, she can save about $50 in the first 6 weeks. Better yet, if she breastfeeds for 6 months, that translates to about $1,600 and 12 months to approximately $3,000(Financial).
These numbers are astounding. Who would want to throw $3,000 away when they have something better for their child that is free? Also, these numbers do not take the other “costs” for formula feeding into consideration. This is simply a comparison of the cost of the artificial baby milk verses the cost of breast milk.
Formula-fed babies are sick more often than breastfed babies. Therefore mothers who work outside the home miss more days of work caring for their sick infants. Not even considering their lost wages, a study by the AAP determined that medical costs alone cost between $331 and $475 more for a formula-fed baby in any given year (Ball).
Most people do consider the cost of the artificial baby milk itself but what about bottles, pacifiers, gas drops, drop-in inserts, sterile water and the time it takes to prepare it. Breastmilk is ready to go whenever, wherever a mother and child may happen to be. There is no need to worry about the temperature, water safety, or to ever consider boiling a nipple for sterility, OUCH! The mother simply need help her baby latch on and she can read, practice typing one handed, watch TV, attend a phone conference for work or any number of things all while bonding with her child and giving him the best nutrition nature can provide. My own mother bragged she could nurse her child, make a sandwich, watch a football game, talk on the phone, all while winning gin rummy(Hayden).
Formula feeding has hidden costs in missed wages, sleep loss, work experience and medical costs. Declining the opportunity to breastfeed her child increases a mother’s chances of having a number of problems both with her recovery from birth and with her own health later in life. By allowing a child access to what is his by right of his birth, a mother helps her child by giving him the best chance possible to grow up into a happy and healthy adult. What more could a mother ask for?

Works Cited
10 Facts on Breastfeeding. July 2009. World Health Organization August 13,
2009 .
Bakalar, Nicholas. "Nutrition: Breast-feeding Tied to Intelligence” New York
Times 13 May 2008: .
Ball, Thomas and Wright, Anne. Health care Costs of Formula-Feeding in the
First Year of Life. PEDIATRICS Vol. 103 No. 4 April 1999, pp. 870-876
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/103/4/S1/870
Benefits of Breastfeeding. 27 February 2009. Federal Government Source for
Women’s Health Information. August 13, 2009.
Calorie Burn Calculator. 2007. Internetfitness.com Inc. August 13, 2009.

Concato, John and Jain, Anjali and Leventhal, John M. How Good Is the
Evidence Linking Breastfeeding and Intelligence?. PEDIATRICS Vol. 109 No. 6 June 2002, pp. 1044-1053
Financial Costs of Not Breastfeeding. 2005. Bonyata, Kelly. August 13, 2009.

Hayden, Betty. Personal Interview. 15 August 2005.


Higher IQ Connected to Breastfeeding. 05 Jan 1998. Breastfeeding.com.
August 13, 2009.
McGill University. "Breastfeeding Associated With Increased Intelligence,
Study Suggests." ScienceDaily 6 May 2008. 13 August 2009
.
Oxytocin. 28 July 2009. Cushman-Dowdee, Heather. August 13, 2009.

Perkins, Sharon and Vannais, Carol. Breastfeeding for Dummies. Hoboken
NJ: Wiley Publishing, 2004.
Rabin, Roni Caryn. “Breast-Feeding Linked to Lower Cancer Risk”. New York
Times 10 August 2009:

The Risks of Infant Formula Feeding. 2009. The Breastfeeding Task Force of
Greater Los Angeles. August 13, 2009 .

Game Plan

I am picking the second prompt. I've been thinking about this prompt and my topic of choice since the first week of class. I've been interested in and have been researching my topic off and on for the past 2-3 years on my own but just haven't had time to do any additional research recently so I'm also using this paper for my own personal gains. I'm a big fan of the whole "kill two birds with one stone" approach to things.

My specific topic is how to purchase mostly organic foods on a budget. I know that my life as a working class parent leaves me with a grocery budget similar to most of the people in my class per person so I think it will be something with a pretty wide appeal. Pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics in our food are things I feel causes lots of people concern. I think that researching the foods that are best to buy organic versus the ones we can worry about later is an interesting approach that can benefit most everyone from learning more about it. Its really interesting to find out about exactly what the various labels mean and how difficult it really is for farmers to actually get the right to label their products USDA organic. I had no idea that farmers who are USDA organic certified are not allowed to save their seeds to plant again the following year unless they are also certified by the government as a seed distributor.
Hormones are not allowed in raising hogs or poultry. Therefore, the claim "no hormones added" cannot be used on the labels of pork or poultry unless it is followed by a statement that says "Federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones." Source also struck me as kind of a wow thing to read about.

Most of the research I've done in the past has been online but for the purposes of this class, I've tried to find a lot of "hard copy" sources too since that's something I personally need work on.

I think I'll be using mostly a classification/division approach since I am talking about grocery shopping. Part of what I am going to write about will be the differences in pesticide levels of various foods (like peaches which have LOTS when grown standard and onions have very little) so I will also use compare/contrast.
As I stated earlier, most of my research completed has been online. I've found sites that explicitly are about "organic on a budget" which go right to the bone of what I'm interested in. I am also researching some of the other side to try and get an equal footing for my own head before I start writing.

402 words before the quote.

Let There Be Links.

I had mentioned that I've done a lot of research on my topic choice for my own life/family previously.
My first link is one I first saw last weekend. A like minded girlfriend posted it on her blog last week... Eating Real Food On A Budget.
Link Number Two is from a blog I've followed a long time... The Organic Thirfty Food Challenge.
Here is one from SparkPeople. I started following sparkpeople because i was looking to lose some weight... Its helped a bit. :)
Sparkpeople also had a link on the link above called Why Go Organic? that has a lot of good info.
This is the shopper's guide to pesticides....Has a lot of good info for what to get, what not to get, etc.
The next couple are google finds...
This one is called 17 tips for organic on a budget.
This one is another with a similar title, how to eat organic on a budget.
Another organic for cheap article talks about how the author spent about $60/week/person for mostly organic groceries. That sounds like a LOT of money to me! We average $35-40 per person per week in my family and rarely if ever buy organic milk and never buy organic meats. Still, something neat to ponder.

08/03/09 Class Exercise

1. As soon as I opened the door to the apartment, I knew that my roommate had played party host all weekend long.

As soon as I opened the door to the apartment, I knew that my roommate had played party host all weekend long. The door barely opened from the stack of pizza boxes shoved in the corner. Two girls were asleep on the couch at either end with a bottle of vodka sticking out from beneath the cushion between them. There were at least 40 empty beer cans on the coffee table spilling onto the floor. An empty beer keg sat on the kitchen table while a naked man slept curled up underneath with the tablecloth over his face. And the biggest indicator was the pile of crumpled up neon orange fliers that said "ROOMMATE GONE THIS WEEKEND! BYOB!"


2. There are many ways that the university bookstore takes advantage of students.

There are many ways that the university bookstore takes advantage of students. They will not allow refunds on optional texts. They never seem to have the books needed for the first week of class, instead saying it will be in on a specific date so you tredge into the store looking for the book only to find its still not in and by the time it is in, you've spent more money on soft drinks than the book cost in the first place. They mark the prices up tremendously on everything from t-shirts to spark notes. The lists of books needed is listed by section number rather than class time and place the way most students remember them. But the biggest way they rip us off is by only giving us pennies on the dollar for books we purchased or worse, not even buying them back when we had to buy a new Algebra book for $176.47.

3. When it was all said and done, I was just glad to call it a day.

My daughter peed in her bed in the wee hours of the morning, striped out of her wet clothes and decided to crawl in my bed and pee on me too. I was woke up by the smoke alarm since my husband had forgotten to check the oven before he turned it on and melted my favorite bowl. When I woke up, I realized I was soaked, the bed was soaked and I thought the house was on fire so I grabbed the naked pee covered child in my bed and ran towards the back door only to step on a hairball conveniently left so I could step on it with my bare feet by my loving cat. By that point, the squirming child in my arms was screaming, the husband was screaming, and of course, I was screaming too while trying to get the slime off my foot. All the screaming gave me a headache. So I went to school where I had a pop quiz in one class, the teacher didn't show up for the other and I lost my student ID. I started towards my car and the front tire was flat which reminded me my husband took my jack out of my trunk the week before and my cell phone was dead. When it was all said and done, I was just glad to call it a day.

4. When I first met Fern, I knew immediately that she was a smoker.

When I first met Fern, I knew immediately that she was a smoker. There was a haze of smoke that followed her everywhere she went. Her nails were yellow. Her eyes were bloodshot. She coughed up chunks that she spit on the sidewalk every time she laughed. Oh and she was wearing a t-shirt that said "I smoke. Get over it."

5. My roommate has a very peculiar morning ritual.

When his first alarm goes off, he usually screams and throws something at it from across the room. When his second alarm goes off, his girlfriend yells at him and shoves him out of their bed so he will turn it off. When the third alarm goes off, I usually scream and throw something in his general direction from my room down the hall. Once he actually gets out of bed, he walks around the house in his scooby doo boxers while scratching himself and murming under his breath on the way to his treadmill. He turns on Hip Hop Harry on Discovery kids and dances and sings along with that sad rapping teddy bear while he runs on his treadmill for an hour. After working out awhile in his underwear, he goes into the kitchen and falls back asleep in his cereal before his girlfriend sees he's asleep again and wakes him up again. My roommate has a very peculiar morning ritual.


6. Attending USI has changed my life in many ways.

Attending USI has changed my life in many ways. I've grown up as a person. I've changed my majors and my financial outlook for life at least 3 times. I rode public transit and met strange people. I discovered that what I loved to do wasn't something I wanted to do for a living. And I've made some friends that I'll want to keep around for the rest of my life.

Final Draft.

Sampling Bait

I never have had anybody in my life who would try new foods. My Papaw thought there were only two vegetables that were worth eating and both were potatoes. Mom wasn’t much better but she would eat things that were green. I’ve improved, but I still refuse to eat a steak that isn’t the same color on the inside as it is on the outside. Yet somehow, I find myself as a bit of a sushi aficionado. Everyone outside of my nuclear family thinks I’m crazy and while that may be true, to me there isn’t much out there that tastes better than a good fresh sushi roll. Unfortunately, as I’ve moved around the past few years I have discovered that every single sushi joint in the country seems to use the same two dozen names for their rolls but never seem to have the same “stuff” inside!

Our adventures with sushi started in Kingsport, Tennessee. Squeamish about any food even slightly undercooked, I’ve never been much for any fish that isn’t in nice deep fried little sticks the way God intended so this was a HUGE stretch for me. The husband was stoked that I was willing to try it so we ordered a variety of rolls. My favorite there was the Philadelphia roll containing smoked salmon, avocado slices, and cream cheese. It had a slightly smoky taste from the fish itself. The avocado lent a savory taste while the cream cheese gave it the creamy element that brought it all together. Okay, I’ll be honest: the real reason I liked it so much was because it was smoked. I wasn’t up for the idea of eating raw fish yet.

My husband was a big fan of their spicy roll combo. The meal came with salad, soup, and 3 full sized sushi rolls cut into 8 pieces each. One roll was a chunk of tuna and spicy vegetables, one roll had just spicy white fish, and the third was spicy salmon. One sniff told me that those rolls were too hot to cross my lips.

That fall, we moved. We got settled in and found ourselves familiar with the new town and went off exploring “metropolitan” Bristol, Virginia. Bristol’s Osaka was warm, cozy, and inviting with candles on the tables like The Fuji House. They had a lot of rolls we hadn’t tried before so we went a little crazy the first time we visited. Of course, after we tried them we realized a lot of them were the same things as what we’d had at The Fuji House in Tennessee.

They had all kinds of combinations that would leave your taste buds dancing for days afterwards. We tried sweet potato rolls, crunchy cucumber rolls, two different kinds of crab based California rolls, and dozens of others. We loved it but when we ordered a Philadelphia roll and it had cucumber inside, we were a little surprised!

My husband and I both found new rolls at Osaka that we preferred. He loved two of the new ones. His favorite is their spicy tuna roll containing pounded tuna and spices. The only way I can describe it is my mental image of Japanese tuna salad where it’s mixed up with Japanese mustard, some vegetables, and spice. We both enjoy their dragon roll. The dragon roll is huge with almost a whole avocado on top of it with sweet and salty mystery sauce on top. It’s got crab, cucumber, cream cheese, salmon, tuna, and crunchy bits inside and that sweet sauce and avocado on top and it is every bit as fabulous as it sounds. My favorite is the salmon skin roll and while I do not know what is actually inside it other than salmon, I am content to keep it that way. I’m still a bit squeamish about the idea of any food being less than well-done so it’s really one of those times where “the less I know…”

Well, the time came that we decided to move to my Hoosier hometown. Evansville has tons of stuff to do after living in “the sticks”, so we figured we’d find lots of great sushi joints. We live on the east side of town with my other half working on Green River Road so we tried Zuki first. While the sushi was okay, the prices were not. We went to Nagasaki and while the food was great, the sushi choices exponential, the names were all different and most everything was just a different name for the same things I’d had before. Also, it’s just too expensive to go back.

Recently, we decided to try Tokyo Japan. I had the same feeling I had at Osaka and The Fuji House from the candles and atmosphere. I looked at the menu and I did a double take at how cheap things were. My family of three can eat there and walk out with lunch for the next day and not spend thirty dollars. Of course, the rolls were all called by different names again! Their version of the Philadelphia roll is my favorite out of all the choices they offer. It is completely different from all the other places I’ve been containing crab, cucumber, and cream cheese inside and a big swatch of avocado on the outside topped off with crunchy bits and a “secret sauce” made mostly of soy sauce and something sweet. It tastes very similar to what you get mixing soy sauce and Japanese shrimp sauce in that it’s not only salty and savory but sweet. My husband likes their spicy tuna roll but it’s very different from what he’d had at previous restaurants. At Toyko Japan, a spicy tuna roll has a small piece of tuna, some Japanese mustard, spices, and is topped with a piece of kiwi! Because of the sweet draw of kiwi, I was lured into trying it and found my tongue nearly burnt out of my mouth.

It seems like restaurant owners don’t take each other into consideration when planning their menus. Really though, I can’t fault them. The combinations they opt to serve are their own choices to make. It just goes to show you really never know what you like until you try things. Sometimes it takes awhile catch what you’re after but if your net is big enough, you’ll reel it in.