Restricted Diet Reflection In this unit we learnt about how people have restricted diets where they are

forbidden to eat a specific category of food e.g. meat. We were then assigned into groups and we were given a restricted diet. We then needed to create a problem about someone who has that diet and research into answering the problem. Then we needed to make our first dish which meets the diet. After evaluating it, we made a second one which was an improved version of the first one. My diet was lactose intolerance and I made a salad dressing that does not contain lactose since lactose is in a variety of salad dressing. Here is my recipe:

Lactose Free Salad+ Dressing Recipe

Ingredients Ingredient Lettuce Spinach Cherry Tomatoes Sesame Seeds Extra virgin olive oil Lemon juice Sesame Seeds Oregano Salt and Pepper Garlic Equipment Mixing bowl Cutting knife Cutting board Spoon Amount 8 pieces 10 pieces 7 pieces 100g 60ml 30ml 30g N/A N/A 1 clove

Step by Step 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Prepare all equipment 5min Pour the lemon juice into the bowl 2min Pour the olive oil into the bowl 2min Mix well 3min Mince the garlic 3min Put the garlic into the mixing bowl and mix 3min Measure 1.5 tablespoons of sesame and put it into the bowl and mix 2min Add oregano, salt and pepper according to preferences 2min Mix all the ingredient together 2min Put all the vegetables (cabbage, lettuce, cherry tomatoes,) into the bowl 4min Mix the vegetables with the dressing 2min Done

Total Time: 30minutes

After I made the salad and tasted it, I think that the salad wasnt that good because not many people ate it and when my target audience tasted it, they said that it was a little too sour. I agree because I think I have added too much lime into the dressing. When I was making the dressing, I think that I have added too much olive oil. This makes the dressing to oily. At the end I had to cover up the sour taste with different types of seasoning such as oregano, salt, pepper etc. This made the dressing taste a little better though the sour taste was too strong. Though there were many points that could be improved, there are many positive things about this product. One of the strengths of this dish was that it had high calcium. This was one of the specifications and it also went well with my dish. Another thing would be that It contained fresh vegetables which made the salad fresh and appetizing. The only problem with my salad was not with the vegetables but with the dressing because of its taste. I think that the taste was not too bad but it could still be improved. Next time, I would reduce the amount of lemon so I dont need to add more seasoning next time. The next time I make this dressing, I would try to use lemon instead of lime because it is a sweeter and it is less sour than lime.

My Specifications:

Must not contain lactose Must taste good Must contain high calcium Must be visually appealing to target audience Must contain cheese The dish must be done within the time limit

I partially met the diets because my dish was lactose free. Even though there is a variety of salad dressing without lactose, there werent many that tasted good because most of them were made from ingredients that were quite bland such as olive oil. Even though I had some olive oil in my dressing, it was mainly supposed to taste sour from the lime so it should be distinguished compared to other lactose-free dressing. My salad also contained high calcium. The calcium was mainly from the vegetables I used especially the cherry tomatoes. The final set-up for my product was also visually appealing because even though I cant really garnish the salad, I had arranged the dressing, bowl and the spoon and fork to make it look appealing to my target audience. Though my salad was not that delicious, it had a moderate taste which could be improved, but it is still not considered as bad so I might have somewhat failed a few specifications. My salad did not contain any type of lactose free cheese because my other group members were too make cheese pastas which was part of our whole meal plan so that specification does not count for this dish. My dish was also made in the time limit which was around 1 hour. I finished my dish in around 30-40 minutes because the salad is quite simple and so is the dressing. For the rest, I helped my team members create their second dish. My dish made an impact on people who were lactose intolerance because most of the time, the salad dressing in countries such as Thailand are usually dressings such as thousand island or Caesar dressing. These dressings contain lactose therefore people who are lactose intolerance cant eat it or they can only eat only a small portion of it. Most of the products without lactose were either bland or too sour. I think that by finding a new distinguish dressing will allow people with lactose intolerance to start eating salad more often. People with lactose intolerance, as my problem has stated, have problems with calcium and salad is a great source of calcium but if they dont have a dressing to eat it with, the salad will be quite bland or maybe even bitter. Finding a good lactose free dressing is, overall, a good solution for people with lactose intolerance. IB learner profile: Reflective: In this process I was reflective because I need to reflect on how my dish tasted and how I can improve it. I also need to see if it had met the specifications that I have made. Open minded: I had to share my ideas with my groups for what we should make during the planning process. I also considered ideas from other people from my group because the dressing was actually one of my group members ideas and I thought and researched for vegetables that had high calcium and I can added it into my dish Risk taker: I am being a risk taker because most of the time when I cook, I usually cook normal food without any conditions or restrictions but this time, I need to cook food for people with lactose intolerance along with my group. This was a challenge because the ingredients used are different from normal ingredients

Inquirer: I need to research into problems about being lactose intolerance and I needed to find out things such as what kind of ingredients contain lactose or how much calcium does a child or adult need daily. Communicator: I had to plan and divide the labor in my group evenly so that everybody has an equal amount of difficult task for example one person can do the easy dish and two people can work and the hard dish. This makes the task even and we can always help one another when someone is finished. Thinker: One of the main profiles that I need is thinker because I need to think and explore various alterations of common dishes for lactose intolerance. This also includes the ingredient because I need to think about what kind of ingredients would best suit by dish and what would not. In this unit, I have learnt about how other people have restrictions either by their belief or health problems. These people need to face a tougher situation than us because they cant eat a specific type of food therefore in some occasions, it will make it hard and difficult for them to find food. From this aspect, I have also learnt that there are many alternatives for these people e.g. lactosefree milk. These alternatives, thought they work, are more expensive thought so it is still a problem for people with restricted diets especially ones who have a disease such celiac. Overall, I have learnt a variety of things about allergies in this unit and I have also learnt that there are many alternatives for people with these allergies which I did not know before researching.