826LA Good TImes Vol. 5 Issue 5

There are a bunch of unusual foods, but here are just a few unusual foods.

A survey of students and tutors asked, “If you were to live on a island, what food would you choose?” found that they would eat mostly snakes and pink slime. The things that they would eat least were crickets, cock-roaches, spiders, scorpions, and dog meat.

Some of the different foods that students and tutors have eaten are alligator, frog legs, balut, duck, cow stomach lining, and sea cucumber.

Patrick, who is an awesome drawer, had eaten balut. A balut is a developing duck embryo that has been boiled alive and is eaten with the shell. Balut is from the Philippines.

Emily has eaten frog legs. She ate them in Hong Kong. She says it tasted like chicken.

APRIL 7, 2014

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VOLUME V, ISSUE V

CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2014

GOODTIMES

Most students who don’t take their own lunches to school and get stuck with the school lunch don’t like it. The school lunch most of the time doesn’t seem very appetizing because of the ingredients.

Sheila, the assistant cafeteria manager at Bancroft Middle School, said “All the ingredients come from a food warehouse downtown.”

A lot of students don’t eat because they refuse to eat the school lunch. The bad thing about school lunch is that the menu does not change; the same food rotates over and over throughout the year.

According to a survey, only 11 students in the 826LA journalism workshop get school lunch. Only 1 out of those 11 like the lunch. Four out of 11 don’t like the lunch, and 6 out of 11 like some of the foods. Some of the favorites were burrito, chicken, rice and beans, and turkey with rice. Some of the least favorite were chicken fajitas, spaghetti, enchiladas, hamburgers, and cheese sandwiches.

Victoria, a food service worker at Bancroft Middle school, said, “The most given food is burritos, but the most popular is burger with fries.”

Most students don’t like the breakfast they serve in homeroom either. If students don’t eat breakfast at home, and they don’t eat at school, then they don’t eat until lunch. There are some students who don’t eat until they get home.

Three students at 826LA got surveyed about the school lunch. The two questions were: Why don’t you like the school lunch? And: How could the lunches be better?

California has a drought that is causing us a lot of problems with crops and nature, including danger of wildfires in the driest years. Los Angeles gets most of its water from mountains in Nevada and Colorado. This year we had half the snow that we usually have, and that was also part of the problem.

Many people are trying to help with the drought. Even Lady Gaga became a spokeswoman for the drought and told people to save water. Other people are taking out grass and planting other plants that use less water. Some people also recommend taking shorter showers to save water so that we can use water for crops.

In order to know more about the drought, we talked with Evelyn Cortes-Davis from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. She explained how the drought causes California problems and how we can save water.

Q: How did the drought happen? A: Droughts are periods when a region does not have rain. Global climate is changing: dry weather

gets drier, causing droughts. Wet weather gets wetter, causing floods. These extremes are happening all over the world. We don’t know exactly when a drought will happen but we know they can happen anywhere in the United States. In Los Angeles, our weather has dry and wet “cycles”: for every 10 years, we have about 3 years with good rain and about 7 years that are dry.

Q: How could we solve it? A: We don’t have control over droughts but we can control how we use the water we do have. We can find better ways to capture the rain we do get. We can con-serve even more water than we are already doing. We can also reuse water whenever possible. In L.A. we have been using recycled water to water the grass and for industrial uses for more than 30 years. We want to recycle even more in the future. We have the technol-ogy to purify recycled water so well that we can place it in the ground and mix it with our drinking water supplies. So, part of the solution will be to capture, conserve, and reuse more water.

Q: Is it bad or good? A: Droughts are bad. They can cause shortages in the water supply, destroy crops, and increase danger of wildfires when trees and plants dry up. In many parts of the world, droughts can cause widespread hun-ger. Droughts also dry up soil, which could then get

TURN TO ‘WATER’ ON PAGE 5

A parched Folsom Lake, northeast of Sacramento. Credit: Sacramento Bee

SCHOOL LUNCH The truth about what you’re eating might surprise you By Kaylin Lopez

TURN TO ‘LUNCH’ ON PAGE 4

UNUSUAL FOODS By Ana Martinez-Lozano

SECRET MENUS Shhh ... I know where menus are a secretBy Gem Anthony Galiciano

Mention “secret menus” and many people think of hidden functions on Blackberries or Xbox games. Actually, “secret menus” refers to items you can special order at restaurants that aren’t mentioned on standard menus.

Some places, like Chipotle Mexican Grill, have a whole secret menu that’s limited only by your imagi-nation. On the other hand, In-N-Out Burger’s “secret menu” is so un-secret it’s posted on their Web site. Kind of takes the cool factor out of having the inside scoop, doesn’t it?

Here is sample of secret menu items — try keep it under your hat.

TURN TO ‘SECRET’ ON PAGE 5

WATER BATTLECalifornia feels the effects of drought

By Dayanara Martinez-Lozano

Balut, a food from the Philippines. Credit: www.mrstyleking.com

Joy ate cow stomach lining, which is from Mexico. It is part of a soup called menudo.

Ryuichiro ate duck. His family bought it in China-town. He said it tastes a lot like chicken.

Ana Martinez-Lozano is in fifth grade and goes to Clifford Street School. She is 10 years old. Her favorite sport is soccer. She likes journalism because it’s fun and she gets to learn a lot.

VOLUME V, ISSUE VGOODTIMESPAGE 2

THE OPINION PAGE

GOOD AND DISGUSTING PIZZAS

By Raeonnya Iverson

I asked people at Good Times what their favorite piz-zas were: pepperoni (13 people liked), pineapple (10 people liked.)

Because I like pizza and they taste so good. If some-body says they’re nasty, you should ask them to to try them. Pizza is the best thing, and oreo pizza is kind of nasty when I saw the video. Melon pizza, I haven’t tried it. I’ve seen the picture, and it was disgusting, and I don’t want to try it.

What makes pizzas good and bad is because some-times when people make pizzas they don’t wash their hands and other times when their bosses walk past them they wash their hands and other times people get sick and make them not want to go to a pizza place any more because they got sick because the employees didn’t wash their hands. Also because some people might end up putting other stuff like hot sauce, soap or even pieces of wood and other stuff, so you have to look at your food. Make sure it’s fresh, and make sure employees hands are sanitized. You don’t want the pizza to taste like sanitizer.

Pizzas are good in different ways.I like pepperoni be-cause it is good and that you can taste the cheese melt-ing in your mouth and the sauce dripping down from your face. I like cheese pizza because it’s so cheesy and sometimes it’s really hot.

List of nasty pizzas: Oreo, maitruney pizza, bans pizza, peppermint pizza, pig ears pizza, crshobow and melon pizza, mokretvy pizza, tomato and basil pizza, masken tokow pizza and the spicy pizzas.

Raeonnya likes dancing, singing, playing around, making things, typing, painting, going on rides, watching scary movies, playing with her brother, having fun with her family, getting to know other people. She gets to make a lot of friends and why she likes pizzas is because they are deli-cious and she hears a lot of people commenting about them.

McDONALD’S Don’t eat it every day

By Ivan Paz

Mcdonald's sells hundreds of burgers a day to people -- millions of McDonald’s burgers sold a year. Mc-Donald’s is a business that was made in 1940.

McDonald’s didn’t answer my questions — that means they’re hiding something.

Things sold at McDonald’s are like eating acid. Just talk to a McDonald’s manager who didn’t reply and left me with nothing, who just sent me: “I'm sorry to say that we don't give out restaurant information, but I'm sure you can get most of your answers using Google.”

I had to look for it by myself and I found a shocking secret that chicken McNuggets are mechanically sepa-rated meat also known as pink slime. Also, the fries have harsh chemicals that prevent them from molding for weeks.

GMOs ARE BAD

By Eddie Song

GMOs are bad. They ruin the healthiness of plants and animals by taking away nutrients. GMOs stands for Genetically Modified Organisms, which are grown in laboratories. (Think about eating plants from labo-ratories, yuck!)

The GMOs produce more in quantity but not in qual-ity. Using GMOs take away nutrients from the plant, prevent the plant from growing, and also is messing with nature. (Note: This reporter is not a hippy.)

This reporter interviewed his teacher and a real farmer who doesn't use GMOs! First with his teacher, Ms. DeSimone.

Q: How would you react to a GMO if you passed by one in the market? A: There are lots of foods in the market that are made from Genetically Modified Organisms, so my reaction is sadness that we even have to worry about that.

Q: What are the effects of a GMO taking process? A: It contaminates the soil. It doesn't allow seed savers to produce new seeds from that plant. It changes the nutrients in the plant. It prevents bugs from hurting the plant.

Q: On a scale of one to 10 how bad are GMOs? A: I think an eight. While they have bad effects, they can also be used to mass produce foods so that people don't starve.

Q: How do GMOs affect humans? A: Research has shown that the effects of GMOs on humans have been disorders such as ADHD, allergies, malnutrition, reproduction effects, antibiotic resistance, genetic effects, digestive effects, and others.

Thank you to Ms. DeSimone, the reporter’s teacher, for answering all of these questions. But now to farmer Aaron’s answers. Farmer Aaron works with farm ani-mals at Tara Firma farms in Petaluma, Calif.

Q: What is the difference between growing GMOs and non GMOs? A: GMOs are genetically modified organisms. GMOs are plants that have a messed up chemical compound.

Q: How big are GMOs compared to non GMOs? A: GMOs are bigger than non GMOs. They give the most bang for the buck, but this means there aren't as much nutrients in the crop as in organic crops.

Q: Have you ever tried to grow a GMO? A: No never had the opportunity. GMOs are largely used in animal processing places. I raised animals with what they have to eat.

Q: What tastes better: GMOs or non GMOs? Is there a difference? A: When it comes to a difference, it has a huge differ-ence in which the organic one is tastier. Also factory ones are kind of watered down. Organic is what it is supposed to taste like.

Q: How do you raise your animals? Do you eat your animals? A: All the animals are raised on a pasture instead of cages. Yes, I eat them. They are raised responsibly. The cows graze on the grass; the pigs dig up the ground. When the pigs dig, the worms come up and the chickens eat them. The chickens poop and fertilize the ground, which makes the grass grow. Then the cycle re-peats. The pigs eat just about anything, cows eat alfalfa and grass, and the chickens eat worms and pretty much anything like the pigs. Pigs hate citrus and onions!

So according to both interviews, both people think that GMOs are bad and can be harmful to us and the environment. The GMOs can also cause birth defects that can lead to many unneeded body parts, to missing body parts or to ADHD! So as much as GMOs are bad, they are needed to keep people from starving. But overall, we hate GMOs!

Eddie Song is a sixth-grader attending Walter Reed Middle School/Junior High. He likes journalism because it keeps him busy and interested. He recently won a medal for 2nd place at Battle of the Books (a competition that makes kids read books. The competitions are held between schools, and there are four rounds with a judge who asks questions about the books, trivia style. The points are added up to a total that determines the winners.) He is a senior writer at 826LA! ASK A KID!

Q: How should I ask my girlfriend to

marry me?

Monica Lee: Well, give her an onion ring and say, “Baby I love food, but I love you more. Give me your heart. I want you to live with me forever. Baby, kiss moi!”

Arianna Mah-Candalaria: Well, I think that you should go to her favorite place. Once you get there ask to go watch the sunset. Once that is over, walk slowly away, bend down on one knee, and ask “Will you marry me?” But make sure that you know you want to be with her forever.

Q: I just saw a UFO in my backyard. What should I do?

Ryuichiro Nonomura: You should kiss it. You should also hug it. You should also pet him. You should give it dog food. You must get a ride on the UFO.

Andres Mah-Candelaria: You should call Area 51, tell them to shoot it down. If there is a kid on board, bring him to jail if he did a fake UFO.

McDonald’s restaurants are always placed in low-income neighborhoods so lower-income people buy the food.

McDonald’s has many well known soda drinks and advertisement to help sell their products to the public. The person or manager from McDonald's must be under contract not to tell me nutrition facts because if I find out that’s less money in the manager's salary of $8, which is used to buy only food from McDonald's.

McDonald's burgers are unhealthy, and by squishing, a load of grease comes out. The only burger that is made from real meat is fish filet and the fish is imported from Ireland.

McDonald's is 10 times more unhealthy than Flamin Hot Cheetos with lemon, and more deadly than yo mama jokes. One day I hope that McDonald's can turn from being cheap and actually afford real meat and use less grease.

Ivan Paz is 11year old going to GCS. After writing this article I still eat McDonald’s and I don't feel bad.

VOLUME V, ISSUE VGOODTIMESPAGE 3

CRICKET-EATING SODASAn experiment with soda, coins and crickets

By Natalie Sanchez

Soda: when you think of it, it reminds you of a refreshment. The thing you don’t think about is that the soda can destroy your body! Soda can cause can-cer but it can also be a good thing. Soda can clean blood, coins, and toilets.

Squirt has 62g of sugar. That is a handful! That can give you a sugar rush. Most of the soda that you drink has a lot of sugar. It can also give you diabetes.

This an experiment that can explain most of what you just read.

Imagine nine bowls with three kinds of soda: Diet Coke, Coke and Sprite. There are coins and crick-ets in each kind of soda. After they were put in the refrigerator for a week, most of the items in the

INSECTS!Can you eat them? Should you?

By Rachel Kim

Have you ever seen something more disgusting than eating a bug? From the website www.girlmeetsbug.com, Daniella Martin explores many varieties of bugs and insects from different parts of the world. There are so many, but the most disgusting looking one to me was the fried dung beetle.

During one of our journalism sessions for this article, 826LA volunteer Cat brought in a container of dried crickets. I tried to eat one, but I was really scared.

To try to encourage me, my tutor, Patrick, and fellow 826LA journalist Alessia both ate 12.

I asked people what it tasted like. One person said it tasted like a potato chip, with a little sourness. Patrick said it was crunchy and tasted tangy from the chili and lime seasoning. But the dried cricket looked very disgusting to me, so I didn’t eat one.

It was a challenge to try to eat one because of its

unpleasant and stale smell, its shape and size, and its rough texture, which was like dried plums. I didn’t like seeing the broken off legs in the container, which made trying to eat one even more scary.

One insect I actually love to eat is called Bon Daegi in Korean, or silk worms. It tastes like dried rice but has a mushy texture. It has a brown and orange color that looks like wood when it is cooked. When it is alive, it is white and black. It is a very popular Korean dish, and we ate it every week on Saturdays and Sundays when they were available in Korean stores.

My grandfather would eat it with wasabi. My dad would eat it with hot sauce. My mom would eat it with kimchi. But I would eat it with soy sauce.

I hope I can eat Bon Daegi again. I have three cans of them left but I want to save them because I love them so much!

Rachael Kim is 9 years old. She goes to Third Street Elementary School and loves writing and typing. Rachael is also a talented artist and comedian. Her birthday is April 17, 2005.

Hungry for bug? Daniella Martin of girlmeetsbug.com is. Credit: www.girlmeetsbug.com

sodas had dissolved. They were put out so they could be examined.

Sprite was excellent with dissolving the dirt on the coins, but with the cricket, it was still as it was originally.

Coke was an interesting surprise. The coins did poorly, but the cricket did extremely well – its insides were dissolved.

Diet Coke’s coin did better than the Coke coin, but the cricket dissolved as well as in the Coke.

Soda can be bad for you, but it can also be good in many ways. Soda can do many things to your body. It could be dangerous, but a little bit could be okay. Soda can be good for cleaning.

Natalie Sanchez goes to Clifford Street Elementary School. She is 12 and in the sixth grade. She likes journalism because she likes writing and meeting new people.

PEOPLE WHO DON’T EAT MEAT

By Ryuichiro Nonomura

People become vegetarian because some of the meats are too hard or they don’t like the taste. Some vegetar-ians eat broccoli, carrots, lettuce, and rice and other food.

826LA Good Times interviewed a worker at Sage restaurant because they serve vegetarian foods and to learn about why vegetarians don’t eat meat. Here is Ryuichiro’s conversation with David, who works at Sage, and Leo from 826LA.

Leo: David has been working at Sage restaurant as a host for about seven months. He has been vegetarian since he was about 7 years old.

Ryuichiro: Do you like meat? David: No, I don’t actually.

R: Why don’t you like meat? D: Because I believe in animal rights, and, two, since I was a little kid, I was very picky about what I would eat.

R: Is everyone in your work a vegetarian? D: Surprisingly, no. I would say it might be around 45% of people working here who are vegetarian or vegan.

R: Do you like your job? D: I do actually. I got a job doing what I like, and it’s really nice. People are really friendly.

R: Do you like cooking? D: I had to because I grew up not eating meat. So I grew up making my own meals. I got to pick what I like. Pick what I don’t like. And I’m also allergic to some animal products; I can’t eat egg at all. So those are some of the reasons I enjoy cooking.

R: What food do you serve here? D: We have a lot of vegan options. It goes from salads to sandwiches to entrees. A lot of things. Even mac and cheese!

L: What do vegetarians do when they are at a family feast and their family likes meat? Or what if they get meat on their plate? R: I think they will bite, but not swallow the food. Also I think they will go out of the party and put the meat in a bag.

L: Do vegetarians never ever ever eat meat? R: I think they eat a little bit of meat on really special occasions like Thanksgiving.

L: Can you name every single reason why a person might become vegetarian? R: I think they can be vegetarians because they eat a lot of vegetables.

L: Why do they stop eating meat? R: I think they stop eating meat because they have al-lergies. Also they have a right to eat anything.

L: What have you learned about vegetarians? R: I learned about how people eat vegetables and have a right to not kill the animals.

Ryuichiro goes to Arroyo Seco Museum Science. He is 9 years old and is in third grade.

VOLUME V, ISSUE VGOODTIMESPAGE 4

THE BIG GUY VERSUS THE LITTLE GUYHow mom-and-pop restaurants compete with big chains

By Alberto Checcone

Neighborhood restaurants have a tough struggle to overcome: big chains.

In the United States, there are 1,000 McDonald’s restaurants, 131 just in Los Angeles. The top 50 fast-food chains in the U.S. combined have 144,744. Together, they make over $22.7 billion.

Bigger chains have more customers and suppliers so are able to charge less and buy from a bigger spectrum of farmers.

According to the McDonald’s website, “At McDon-ald’s, because we serve so many people each day, we are able to buy in bulk and then pass along the value to you. This enables us to offer our customers the best prices on the freshest, highest quality products. ... We have suppliers and farms across the country.”

Jason said, “They try to make the lunches too healthy. It can be better if they added treats.”

“It seems artificial,” said Arrianna. “It should be home-made.”

The last person was Ivan, and he said, ”It smells like feet, and can’t afford it. Would be better if it was cheaper.”

Sheila also said, ”Most lunches come from the Nutri-tion Center downtown, and some are made by the cooks. It all depends on the menu.”

The students’ request is to make school lunches more appetizing and less healthy. To make it more fresh and not have it cold when served to the students.

Victoria also said, ”The lunches are fresh, they are made between one and one half through two hours before lunchtime. At the warehouse, the lunches are made by a lot of cafeteria staff.”

Kaylin is a seventh grade student at bancroft Middle School. She enjoys journalism because she is getting writing practice. Her personal opinion is she has become better at writing articles, compared to when she first started jour-nalism. She enjoys working with great tutors.

‘LUNCH’: FROM PAGE 1

INGREDIENTS IN FAST FOODAzodicarbonamide and other chemicals you didn’t know about

By Andres Mah-Candelaria

Did you know that in many of the foods you eat have a chemical called azodicarbonamide? The food franchise Subway used the chemical, also found in yoga mats, to make its bread fluffy and soft.

Other ingredients in fast food are the pink slime from McDonald’s in the Chicken McNuggets. The pink slime is created from animal skin, bone, and cow con-nective tissue, according to the Huffington Post.

Other common ingredients in fast food are salt, mono-sodium glutamate (MSG), and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). MSG is a concentrated salt that enhances the flavor of food.

However, there are more ingredients in fast food than people think there are.

According to TLC, the famous Big Mac from Mc-Donald’s has 67 ingredients. People say that Taco Bell employees lick the taco shell, but ABC News proved that they don’t lick the shell. In Jack in the Box’s Mon-ster Taco, there is more than just beef in the taco. There is soy protein. Ingredients in gelatin include animal skins, but it is mostly pig skin.

In Health.com’s article showing the 18 grossest ingredients, with salt water being injected into foods, bisphenol A or (BPA) is in plastic baby bottles and in the lining of some cans. BPA is bad for our foods like tomatoes because it is an acidic food.

And there are more than 18 gross ingredients, so keep an eye on what you eat.

Andres Mah-Candelaria is a fourth-grader at Eagle Rock Elementary. I am also 9 years old, and I don’t eat pink slime.

In order to compete with large chains who are cheap and fast, small restaurants need a different way to at-tract customers: quality.

For example, Sage in Echo Park uses cruelty-free plant-based foods. They work with several organic farms, including Tutti Frutti, that supply them with local, in-season produce.

“It can get very packed, but it’s well worth any wait,” one customer wrote on Yelp.

Alberto Checcone is a seventh-grader at Polytechnic School in Pasadena. His strongest subject is math, but he thought that a journalism workshop would be interesting.

Credit: AdWeek

CHOCOLATE IS THE ANSWERAn interview about See’s Candies

By Alessia Checcone

Chocolate. Creamy, soft, sweet, with a touch of tangi-ness. Sure, it’s sensational and heavenly, but whose hands are behind the magic at See’s Candies? Hannah Gray, a spokesperson for See’s, answered my questions.

Employees at See’s inside the shops, factories and cor-porate offices all work together to create a good busi-ness. A few of the most popular candies that they have are scotchmallow, a layer of honey marshmallow coated in dark chocolate. Bordeaux is a rich blend of brown sugar dipped in milk or dark chocolate and topped off with chocolate rice. Pecan Buds are plump pecans drizzled with vanilla caramel, and then coated in aged milk chocolate. Almond Buds are roasted almonds coated with caramel and then milk chocolate.

Q: What does aging chocolate mean? A: It is to make a smooth mellow flavor and make the taste of the chocolate bolder and sweeter overall for everyone of all ages. See’s has been making chocolate for a very long time and has had over 200 candy shops. All of Sees’s candies have been made in America, specifically in San Francisco and our home-town, Los Angeles.

Q: How did See’s candy get started? A: Well, it all started with a smiling, speckled, and silver-haired woman named Mary See. Mary See started the old-fashioned way of making comfort-ing candies and organizing a friendly service to send customers on their way with a smile and a big bag of chocolate. Charles See, the son of Mary See, arrived in L. A. in 1921 from Canada to help her out with the candy business. Florence, the wife of Charles See, decided to help her mother-in-law and opened the first ever See’s Candies shop and kitchen in Los Angeles on Western Avenue in November 1921. It was designed to look like a replica of Mary See’s home kitchen.

With the help of the high quality candy, See’s was able to ascend to twelve shops by the mid-1920s. Dur-ing the Depression, See’s was able to expand to thirty shops.

In 1936, See’s could expand to San Francisco! Sadly, Mary See passed away at the age of 85 in 1939. Fortunately, the company was flexible, and keep the same old-fashioned service that she had passed down to others. After World War II, See’s stores grew in California, yet one thing never changed: the ability for the See’s family to continue making, inventing and keeping the tradition alive for so long. In the ’50s, See’s established a new growing hit: shopping malls. See’s was able to buy and expand stores all over malls to sell their sweet, satisfying candy.

In 1972, the See’s family thought it was too much on their plate and sold the entire company to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. From then on, Warren Buffett made Charles N. Huggins CEO and President. Charles then dedicated himself to continue the company that he joined in 1951, making sure that everything was a step-by-step progress and that they maintained the old-fashioned values set by Mary See until his retire-ment at the end of 2005.

Today, See’s Candies are sold in more than two hun-dred stores throughout the West. Without the help of Charles See, Charles Huggins, Florence, and of course, Mary See, See’s Candies wouldn’t exist, and neither would its forever yummy flavor - that is why to this day, See’s Candies is using its old-fashioned, step-by-step process to make perfect candy, proven by the satisfied smile on your face. Charles See’s motto lives on today: “Quality without compromise.”

For more information, you can go to sees.com.

Alessia Checcone is 10 going on 11 and attends Polytechnic School. She has one elder brother, a dog named Jasper, and recently-deceased fish. Her favorite color is pink, her favor-ite animal is a dog/puppy, and one of her favorite books is “The Sun also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway.

Box of chocolates. Credit: Adventures in All Things Food

VOLUME V, ISSUE VGOODTIMES

Many of these disasters have to do with the fact that no one pays attention to the serving size. Each bag states that 13 Cheetos is considered one serving. But because everyone just eats through the whole bag, this plays a big part in why kids go to the hospital.

Have you ever wondered why Flamin’ Hot Cheetos are so addicting? Well I have one answer for you: vanishing caloric density. This quality helps you believe that the chip melts in your mouth, and it tricks your brain into believing that the substance has no or little calories so you can go on eating them. Many snack designers carefully pick their ingredients to make sure the chips are as addicting as possible.

And there you have it, all the little secrets and chemi-cals being digested by eating a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

Arianna Mah-Candelaria is 13 and loves to write and read. She lives with her brother, sister, mom, dad and amazing dog, Charlie. She goes to school at Eagle Rock Junior/Senior High School. And she hopes to get a scholar-ship to the college of her dreams. She loves to be an 826LA journalist because she learns so many things in such a short period of time.

PAGE 5

INTENSITY OF FLAMIN’ HOT CHEETOSWhat’s in them, are they healthful and why are they so popular?

By Arianna Mah-Candelaria

Flamin’ Hot Cheetos seem very tasty and delicious, but do you really know what is inside?

Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, created by Cheetos Company, have become so popular that they are the No. 1 snack in America. It is advertised by a cheetah named Ches-ter and has become so popular that it doesn’t even need commercial advertisements.

Kids and adults all over the world snack on these bite-sized chips of flame, almost all of them not knowing what they are actually digesting. A bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos contains tremendous amounts of acid. Some children who eat them two to three times a day, every day, have gone to the hospital because of the acids and different chemicals contained in each bag. And because of all these chemicals and acids, the contents burned through their liver.

‘WATER’: FROM PAGE 1picked up by the wind and cause dust storms.

Q: Who is going to solve it?A: We will all have to do our part to use water wisely!

Q: Are companies trying to help it?A: Yes! The L.A. Department of Water and Power is paying people $2.00 for every square foot of grass they replace with “California Friendly” plants that do not use as much water. We have rebates for water-efficient washing machines and many other devices for homes. Also, many companies are choosing to change the way they use water in their businesses, using less and recycling more, which saves both water and money.

Q: How is it going to affect LA?A: In L.A., most of our water supply comes from hundreds of miles away through big channels called aqueducts. Our supply here depends on how much snow falls on the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Colorado Rocky Mountains. If the drought conditions affect the snow in those two places, we have less water available. This year, we have not had very much snow in the Sierras and the Rockies have had just normal amounts of snow. The good news for L.A. is that we have been preparing for a year like this one. We have been conserving water for many years. We have also built up our water reserves, keep-ing it in storage, so we will able to get the water we

Credit: Natural Cures Not Medicine

need this year. With everyone’s help in the city, we will keep conserving and switch to use more water that is local, like groundwater, recycled water, or rain water (when we get it!).

Q: How is the drought going to affect the state?A: Some parts of the state that are not able to store large amounts of water are more affected. They have less water in a dry year like this one. Also, when water supplies are short, food crops can sometimes be destroyed, farm-related jobs can be lost, and food prices can increase. Drought has been a problem in the states throughout the American Southwest for years. Check this out: http://www.runningdry.org/americansouthwest/trailer.html

Q: How much less water is California or L.A. getting than usual?A: Much of the state’s water depends on the snow we get in the mountains. Here are 2 photos of the snow-pack on the Sierra Nevada Mountains, taken one year apart. You can tell that we had very little snow at the beginning of this year. Right now, we believe we may only get about half of the snow we normally get. Go here to see the NASA images animated: http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0125-nasa-image-california-drought.html Dayanara Martinez-Lozano lives in Echo Park and she’s 11 years old. She loves pie and playing video games and playing sports. She goes to Clifford Street School, which just became a California Distinguished School.

1. Pink Starburst: The smoothie that just explodes with the flavor that you love from the favorite brand Starburst. It tastes remarkably like Starburst that it feels like you just turned a packet of Starburst into a liquid and drank it. ( Jamba Juice)

2. Suicide Burger: It is also known as the quad stacker because it has four beef patties, American cheese, and enough bacon to kill an elephant. Can you say diabetes in the hospital on life support? (Burger King)

3. Dr. Pepper O: Just the way it sounds. In it is the deadly trio of drinks that will make your bladder col-lapse on itself: Dr. Pepper, lemonade and Powerade. Most of them end in “nade” which stands for grenade. (Sonic)

4. Butterbeer Frappucino: Welcome to the world of Harry Potter, where theButterbeer magically flows from the taps from the Hog’s Head Pub into your Starbucks coffee cup.

5. Neapolitan Shake: It is three flavors of ice cream fused together in the labs of In-n-Out. Loyal patron Mariesa says that it is awesome and that when you drink it you can get more than one flavor.

6. Burritodilla: It is the slightly less dangerous monster that attacked the inside of your stomach (aka Tokyo). It is the version that combines a burrito and a quesadilla and it is somewhat healthier that the que-sarito. (Chipotle)

7. Hot Pocket Bowl: It is snack that gamers and on demand movie goers consider a work of microwaveable art. It is rare food that combines corn, gravy, chicken, cheese, and dough. (KFC)

8. Marshmallow Creme: It is so white, that when you put it against snow no one will notice it is there. It is a sugary concoction that has vanilla ice cream and marshmallow topping. (Dairy Queen)

9. The Superman Burrito: It is a bird, a plane, it’s…Super Burrito. Inside of the burrito there is more beef, potatoes, sour cream, tortilla strips, and guaca-mole which makes this bullet proof. (Taco Bell)

10. Land, Sea, and Air: When this burger was first made, the people at McDonald’s said, “What have we done?!” It is McDonald’s 3 nasty burgers combined —McChicken, Big Mac, Filet-o-Fish.

It gives a sense of power when the customer is privy to a secret menu item that few others know about. It makes the customer feel more special, as if they know the secrets to enjoying life on another level.

My name is Gem. I go to Bancroft Middle School. I like to play video games and play sports like basketball.

‘SECRET’: FROM PAGE 1

Refreshing after a long day of quiddich. Credit: E! Online

VOLUME V, ISSUE VGOODTIMESPAGE 6

For the fifth anniversary of the GoodTimes, 826LA volunteer Cat Vasko interviewed Jason Lee. Jason has worked at the paper since it’s founding in 2009.

Q: Why did you get interested in journalism in the first place?A: My mom found it online and I was going to the tutoring sessions here, and then she made me go. It was a food theme, and we had food from a Mexican restaurant, and since we tasted all that food I thought it was fun and I started coming all the time.

Q: What’s different now from then?A: We had one thing we all focused on. We all just wrote about that restaurant. Now we all do our own things.

Q: Do you like getting to do your own ideas?A: I like freewriting. I like doing our own articles.

Q: Now both your sisters come as well. Did you get them excited about it?A: Monica got Christina excited about it. I didn’t do anything.

Q: Do you feel like your writing has improved?A: Yeah. A lot. Q: What is your favorite thing to write about?A: Obviously I’ve written a lot about sports, especially

INTERVIEW WITH JASON LEEBy Cat Vasko

BREAKFAST IN THE CLASSROOM

By Christina Lee

In some schools, LAUSD allows breakfast in the classroom (also known as BIC). This program started in April 2013.

BIC provides breakfast at no charge to students in class. Over 553,000 students qualify for free breakfast, but 400,000 students don’t eat breakfast. The meals are packed in cafeteria bags and sent by kids who come to pick up the meals. The more students who eat BIC, the more state money flows to LAUSD.

Many teachers in some schools don’t like BIC. Teach-ers think the food will drive pests in the class and it’ll be a waste of time. However, the Food Research and Action Center thinks that BIC helps kids learn and that BIC gives kids health benefits.

The process of BIC is simple. Students will be assigned to take and bring back the carts with the food. The carts will be next to the classroom door. When the bell rings the two students will bring the cart in the classroom. Once everything is set up, students can get their breakfast if they would like. The students who do get their breakfast check their name off of a chart. The students will grab the meal, a drink, a wipe, straw, and a napkin set so they can go back to the desk and start eating.

Once they’re done, they trash the food and the two students pack everything up and start heading to the cafeteria.

“So far, 500 schools already serve BIC, but a manda-tory new program will require the rest of the district’s schools to introduce classroom breakfast--no school

can opt out,” says the KPCC. “Some parents and teachers are speaking out against the program, argu-ing that dedicating class time to meals and clean-up distracts students. Others worry about allergies, dietary restrictions, and overeating, though LAUSD assures that no student will be forced to eat breakfast.”

“Many students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, and LAUSD says attendance is up and tardiness is down in schools offering a breakfast in the classroom program,” says KPCC. Omelets, coffee cake and, especially the syrup-topped waffles are messy and bring pests to the classroom.

Overall, BIC may be the only time for students to eat in the morning before recess and lunch. BIC is both a good choice and bad choice for schools who do this program because it helps kids to learn and gives them health benefits. But it can also drive pests into the classroom. Many teachers and parents complain because of this program. They want their children to learn, but BIC takes half of their time in the mornings.

Christina Lee is 10 years old. She likes journalism because it improves her writing She also loves art.

Credit: LAUSD

It is now spring, which means that it is time for spring training, and with that, comes the 2014 Major League Baseball season.

Fans come from places around the nation and even around the world to come and watch hometown and international baseball players play.

In order to make a team last the season till October, the team must have a combination of ingredients that must work. Not all ingredients will work out, and some might seem like an unlikely combination; however, they eventually make it work such as the 2013 World Series champions, the Boston Red Sox.

This year teams will be stocked with great players and new promising rookies. It is only a matter of time till the ingredients work together to create diverse flavors.

(Note: Order of appearance is in the order of predic-tions made.) American League East

1. Tampa Bay Rays: The Rays are still looking for their first championship ring. The Rays have a diverse selection of “ingredients” or players starting with star pitcher and 2012 Cy Young winner David

Price and third baseman Evan Longoria. For the Rays, it’s all about their spicy pitchers.

2. New York Yankees: For the Yankees, it’s all about international food and trying out new ingredients. The Yan-kees acquired the top pitcher in free agency, Masahiro Tanaka, who is a Japanese

phenom, who unfortunately we do not have much in-formation about. The Yankees got Jacoby Ellsbury and Brian McCann this year, who are the two new ingredi-ents that are unlikely combinations.

3. Boston Red Sox: The defending World Series champions were the “in-gredients that could” who lost some flavor during free agency. However they could be contenders again in this

very difficult league.

4. Baltimore Orioles: The Orioles are a decent team, a four-out-of-five star team. They could be contenders too, but in this division, it is pos-sible that they might not be in the race to the World Series.

5. Toronto Blue Jays: With aging spices the Blue Jays have the star power but their ingredients spoil quickly. The Blue Jays have the star players but they are aging and are getting injured quickly.

Shortstop Jose Reyes and pitcher R.A. Dickey are their two stars who unfortunately had limited playing time. If the Blue Jays do make it they have a chance.

MLB SEASON PREDICTIONSBy Jason Lee

predicting the outcome in certain sports. In the past I’ve also written a lot about media -- video games, movies, TV shows. I like predicting things.

Q: Do you want to be a sports writer someday?A: When I grow up I want to get into the movie industry. I want to produce or direct. I want to pitch ideas to people.

Q: Do you have any good ideas now?A: I based it off Elysium. There’s a world where you take tests and if you get everything correct you go to a better world, but if you get things wrong they kill you or leave you to starve, but there are black markets where people sell immortality. My main character buys the immortality and becomes immortal but then it drives him insane because he sees the people he loves passing away.

Q: Do you want to write it?A: I wouldn’t mind someone else directing it and then I could write it and collaborate with others.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about journalism after all this time?A: I like when we throw out ideas and people can pick them. My advice for that is that if you really want to write something, keep it to yourself.

Q: Any advice for people starting in journalism?A: The 5 Ws and the H go first. And then you can write about the rest. Don’t be afraid to go beyond the information that was given. Look for other things that will interest your readers.

VOLUME V, ISSUE VGOODTIMESPAGE 7

WHAT IS IN MY FOOD?!The chemicals you may not know about

By Monica Lee

Do you want to know what is in your food? What you eat almost every day? What goes in and out of your stomach? What you digest? Well, all of these questions should be answered soon.

Foods taste amazing because most of them have chemicals.

Bread is one of the important things we eat. After all grain is or used to be the most important part of our diet. Apparently some kinds of bread have a type of chemical that is used in yoga mats.

Vani Hari, a blogger (also known as “Food babe”), had started a campaign, which has gotten more than 92,000 signatures. Her campaign had to do with bread.

Many different bread companies and sandwich shops use a type of chemical, known as Azodicarbonamide (ADA). This chemical is now going to be included on several bread labels.

The FDA approved the use of ADA in food in 1962.

The World Health Organization has figured that ADA causes respiratory problems and skin irritation. Vani Hari discovered that Subway uses ADA in their sandwich bread.

Besides Subway using this chemical, other fast food restaurants also use it, such as McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Arby’s, Dunkin Donuts, and more.

Even though ADA doesn’t harm everyone who eats it, there are other types of chemicals that could get us sick.

Some chemicals are: Zearalenone or even Zeranol. Zearalenone is an naturally occurring chemical com-pound caused by fungus that grows on grains. Zeranol is a chemical that usually used on meat.

Sometimes it is not the chemical’s fault – it could be improper packaging allowing dangerous chemicals to form.

Although the word chemical might mean something bad to you, there are also good chemicals in several types of food. An example would be antioxidants.

This is a group of chemicals that are usually found in colorful fruits and vegetables. This chemical has a spe-cial “magic” to it. It helps prevent or even treat certain types of diseases.

Another example is carrageenan. This chemical is a type of fiber that is found in certain types of seaweed. This chemical forms a gel, which is used in soymilk, ice cream, cream, cheese, sauces and more. Many people

believe that this chemical has health benefits.

Omega-3 fatty acids help our nervous system function, and are good for your heart.

There is another type of chemical that we should all know about: dietary fiber. Fiber reduces cholesterol and it lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease.

By now you have probably discovered that several chemicals are good for you, but several chemicals are bad for you. Chemicals are usually in food to either make the food taste better or to make the food cook faster and better. Now that you know about chemicals in food, hopefully you will know what food is healthy and which chemicals are good for you.

Monica Lee is 12 years old. She believes in fairies and she has a best friend mermaid. Monica Lee is in the seventh grade. She likes journalism because she gets to learn more facts about the world.

Cheeseburger, hold the yoga mat. Credit: New York Daily News

WHICH FOOD IS BEST?A debate of food flavors

By Joon Kim

There are many delicious foods out there, such as pizza and spaghetti. However, many people have different opinions about their taste.

For proof, in 826LA: Fifteen people like cheese sticks, seven like fish sticks.

Nineteen people like whole wheat, four like rye bread. Seven like smoked sausages, 14 like Italian.

Seven eat soft serve, while 16 prefer regular.

Nineteen like to eat mashed potatoes, five people like sweet ones.

Twenty-one like skinny fries, while five like fat ones.

Fifteen people like apples, and 10 like bananas.

There’s more, so keep reading.

Eleven people like cheddar cheese, while 10 like Swiss. Seventeen people like chocolate cake, while eight like to eat strawberry shortcake.

Eighteen people like glazed donuts, six like chocolate sprinkle donuts, three like old-fashioned, and two like peanut donuts.

There are other foods to compare, but this list would take forever, so this is all. But sometimes opinions can be surprising.

“I like Italian sausages because I like the spicy flavor.” said Pedro, staff member of 826LA.

“I like regular ice cream because it tastes original.” said Eddie, a member of 826LA.

Joon Kim goes to Third Street School. He is 10 years old and is in fourth grade. His favorite food is pasta, and his favor-ite part of journalism is making comics and horoscopes.

Graphic by Joon Kim

VOLUME V, ISSUE VGOODTIMES

The Good Times is written by the students of the 826LA in Echo Park

Journalism workshop.

1714 W. Sunset Blvd.Los Angeles, CA 90026

VOLUNTEER AT 826LA!826LA, a non-profit tutoring center for students and budding literary enthusiasts ages 6–18, is looking for

adult volunteers in every shape, form and skilled capacity, and for all hours and days of the week.

Write to us at: [email protected]

Check out our website: www.826la.org

PAGE 8

Comic by Joon Kim

WISE OLD MAN WITH ESP’S

HOROSCOPESBy Joon Kim

Aries (March 21 - April 20) You will be the greatest dancer in the entire world.

Taurus (April 21 - May 21) You will get a DVD of Star Wars as a gift on Christ-mas.

Gemini (May 22 - June 21) You will have a lifetime supply of M&Ms.

Cancer (June 22 - July 22) Monkeys will visit your house.

Leo (July 23 - August 22) You will have deep-fried tarantulas for dinner.

Virgo (August 23 - September 23) You will marry someone very beautiful or hand-some.

Libra (September 24 - October 23) Your house will be made out of bacon.

Scorpio (October 24 - November 22) You will come across a giant apple.

Sagittarius (November 23 - December 21) You will find a croissant in your lunchbox.

Capricorn (December 22 - January 20) You will ride the coolest jet on Christmas Eve.

Aquarius (June 21 - February 19) You will find a large supply of Jamba Juice in your fridge.

Pisces (February 20- March 20) Dinosaurs will destroy your neighborhood.