California Tortilla Application: Fill & Download for Free

Re: What do you think about popular American food culture, or convenience food?This is a fascinating subject, that we can really divide into three main areas:“Fast” or “Convenience” food brands.Domestically-popular American food culture brandsGlobally-popular unbranded American food cultureFirst, “Fast” or “Convenience” foodReally, this is only marginally connected with “food”, or in any event the food is fungible. Really, this was the application of the American genius for process, assembly-line techniques and branding to the problems of creating and delivering freshly-cooked food at a global scale, with consistency and repeatability.It’s quite incredible how successful America has been at this. There are few countries in the world that don’t have first-gen American companies like McDonalds, second-gen companies like Taco Bell, and third-gen companies like Starbucks. Some brands, like KFC, are much more successful internationally than domestically.As a world traveler, I can say that the degree of consistency of these brands is just phenomenal. When you go into a McDonalds or a Starbucks, anywhere in the world, you enter a branded, consistent experience. For better or worse, you know what you will be getting.It is interesting to note that no other country has built such a set of globally-successful restaurant brands.Second, Domestically-popular American food cultureGiven the success of the American export market, it always amazes me the number of purely-domestic popular food brands. I’m talking about the Waffle House, IHOP, In-And-Out Burger, Denny’s, Cracker Barrel, and the like. These places are ubiquitous, and in many parts of the country I would argue that they are more successful than the international brands.I love eating at these places. Many of them are deliberately quirky, and they retain the regional influence of their founding. They make absolutely no pretensions at all, and really are all about “what you see is what you get”. Many of them (Waffle House comes to mind) are deeply individualistic, with long-term employees. There is a whole level of culture here that blends the small-town experience with a veneer of corporate identityThird, Globally-popular unbranded American food cultureParticularly with the rise of food TV, we are now seeing the global adoption of what was formerly deeply regional food culture in the USA.Case in point, southern US “barbecue” (slow cooked or smoked meats). When I was a kid, you could find this in but a few southern states. I was lucky to live in Georgia, and loved barbecue as a kid, but this cuisine was literally unknown outside the southern USA. Now I can get great barbecue in Toronto, London, Auckland, and every point in between.Many, many other regional American cuisines (California, Steakhouse, Tex-Mex, California Mexican, Cajun, Buffalo Wings, PNW Cafe Culture) have similarly gone out and conquered the world.What’s really cool to see now is how these are morphing. Both in the USA and around the world we are seeing incredible mashups that pair local and foreign foods into something completely new. Toronto had a popular “Korean Mexican” spot serving slow-cooked barbecue with Korean flavours, all wrapped in a tortilla. Yum.What does this all mean?Many Americans are obsessed with the idea of American influence being tightly tied to “jobs” or “exports”. Tangible things. They think that somehow their influence has waned, because people are no longer buying American-built Fords.But America, now and always, has been about ideas. The very founding of the country was a radical idea. When you look at the greatest exports of America, they are not physical things. They are the ideas of liberalism, the ideas of pluralism, the ideas of diplomacy and multilateralism. Look at what we are using right now: the internet is the very embodiment of American ideas of egalitarianism and freedom.So it is with food. The ideas of American regional foods have traversed across the world. You literally can’t walk down a street in any city in the world without seeing American food (or at least American food ideas).And America is genius with ideas. Not just ideas — but meta ideas. I might have a great idea for a movie about a shark attacking a beach. Cool. But only America could take the meta idea of this, and build a theme park ride about that idea. And then take the meta idea of that and build a whole company dedicated to making theme parks about ideas of movies that are about ideas.Or Apple. Apple has gone way beyond the idea of a computer, or even ideas about computers. Apple is now about the delivery of pure ideas, in the form of content and games. The computer is just the carrier.And, if I may take the next step, it is this meta idea of America that makes America “America” to the rest of the world. In a way that I think few Americans understood, America really was the shining house on a hill. The idea that at least one country was striving to do the right thing, to champion the idea of ideas… that’s what America stood for.It is the idea of America that America needs to worry about, and it is the idea of America that is under attack from within. With every tweet and every misstep, America is actively destroying the idea — or even the ideal — that is the American brand.Please, please, please. Think about this. Think about what America stands for. Think about the influence your ideas have. Don’t let them be trampled.

In addition to the accurate explanation already given, as a graduate of SDSU, a teacher of seniors in the Sweetwater HS District that has Compact for Success, a lifelong resident of San Diego, and the mother of a current student at State I can enlighten this further. The number one reason why San Diego State University is so impacted is because of A program/agreement with two local districts call “Compact for Success” which guarantees admission into San Diego State University if their students meet a minimum requirement list which, is while rigorous and ensures college readiness, results in an absolute tidal wave of students coming in to San Diego State in the fall of each year. “The partnership between San Diego State University and the Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD) was the first of its kind in the nation, and others are now forming to model its achievement. Applications to SDSU have increased more than 120 percent since the beginning of the program. “ Students from Sweetwater ( the 2nd largest High School district in CA) send literally thousands of freshmen to SDSU each fall hemming out many prospective applicants and impacting classes. Additionally, all San Diego colleges are highly sought after by students across the US and internationally because of our climate, beaches, and local culture. It is an incredible place to live and work and SDSU has been known for decades as a major party school making the Playboy to 10 party school list often over years despite having our Greek life suspensed for several. ( it has since been reinstated). Finally the four major universities in that local area it is the 2nd easiest “affordable” school in the San Diego -(read that incredibly expensive but less so than most popular public universities in CA) to get into. That is to say that University of California, San Diego is highly selective and prestigious set above some of the best beaches in town in the lush, tree- scaped ,wind-swept hills of one of our most affluent coastal towns, La Jolla. California State, San Marcos is has easiest admission criteria to meet and it is a very new and academically sound college, however it is in the North West inland area of San Diego, far from beaches (40+ Min drive) , downtown and most of the club- life (60+min drive) and good beaches that SD offers. USD ( Catholic)and Point Loma Nazarene (Prodestant) are both private and the tuition rates reflect it. Sometimes private colleges are easier to get into than public colleges however you should know that both of those universities have breathtaking campuses especially point Loma Nazarene university which is set on point Loma overlooking the ocean. All in all you can’t go wrong going to college here in San Diego. I personally think that San Diego State is the absolute best university option in San Diego. It’s a righteous school, we have a righteous football team, our basketball team is off the charts, the school culture is so much fun, we have Bitchin colors of red and black, and we have a constant ongoing argument regarding our mascot Monty Montezuma and whether or not he is culturally appropriate or an insult to the indigenous peoples of Mexico and this area. That in and of itself is it huge controversy and it underscores the rich complexity and cultural pluralism of living in a Border Town. We also have Lolita’s Taco Shop where the carne asada buritto is basically church in a tortilla. Best of luck applicants.