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Making Connections
within the unit and to other subjects
- This lesson allows students to compare and contrast different cultures and foods. - This is another opportunity for students to bring in their own experiences and compare it with classmates and those around the world. Students can evaluate food in terms of nutrition because they have been given the foundation to do so in previous lessons. - Discussions of cultures and the map activity allows students to use/develop geography skills.
Next Generation Science & ELA
Standards*
Key Points:
- People around the world embrace different food traditions , both in terms of what they eat and how they eat it. The food people eat often depends on what foods are plentiful in their region. - The US is a melting pot of different cultures, including food culture. - Experiencing the cuisine from another country is one way to experience a part of their culture. - When families move from other countries to the US food serves an important link to their cultural identity. - Food brings people together and gives us the chance to explore and learn about each other. Meals with friends and family are not only a source of nourishment but also important quality time to spend together.
Vocabulary
• RI.5.
• RST.6-8.
*Refer to the NGSS & ELA Correlation chart in the Appendix for the full description of each standard.
L E S S O N 1 0 1 0
The Culture of Food
Overview
This lesson highlights the diversity of global food traditions and the important role that food plays in our cultures, our identities, and our social interactions. We explain that the US is an unique melting pot of food cultures – and give students a chance to share their different food traditions and favorite dishes.
Today's Goals
We can:
- Staple - Cuisine - Understand what culturally different foods are. - Identify cuisines that come from different parts of the world. - Understand that New York City is a melting pot of cultures and associated cuisines/dishes.
Spotlight on Sustainability
- As an educator you know that knowledge is power. The more we understand and learn about each other, our differences and similarities, the more well-rounded and empathetic we are. Through Green Beetz we teach the importance of being “good food citizens” and food literate, which in essence makes us conscious of the role we play in and on our environment. Hopefully this program has helped your students to understand that the environment is ONE, there is only one Earth. There may be borders, there may be different languages spoken across the world, different foods, and different ways to eat and prepare foods, but we share the same food citizenship responsibilities and therefore global citizen responsibilities.
GREEN BEETZ 2
P R I O R K N O W L E D G E O U T L I N E
Humans innately notice patterns and are quick to make generalizations. Make sure students are not stating stereotypes as they discuss cultures - either their own or others.
Students may have a wide-range of cultural backgrounds. Encourage them to share and be the “experts” in their cultural heritage for you and the class.
P R O C E D U R E
P R I O R K N O W L E D G E
M I S C O N C E P T I O N S
M A T E R I A L S
O Video: The Culture of food O https://greenbeetzteachers.org/videos/
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The Culture of Food: Part 1
Breakfast Challenge 3-5 minutes
Introduction: Turn & Talk 2-3 minutes
Vocab Review 1-3 minutes
Video: The Culture of Food & Discussion 7 -10 minutes
Snack Discussion 10 minutes
Food Detective Exit Card 10 minutes
Breakfast Challenge 3- 5 minutes
- Remind students they should complete one more week of the Breakfast Challenge. We’ll compare what we ate during this final week with what we ate and felt during our first week of the program. - You can have them complete this at home or give them 5 minutes each morning in class to record their intake, moods, and other observations.
Date Breakfast Food
Breakfast Drink
My mood and/or energy level right after eating
My mood and/or energy level 1 hour after eating
Any other interesting observations about how I feel today
LESSON 10: THE CULTURE OF FOOD
GREEN BEETZ 4 LESSON 10: THE CULTURE OF FOOD
The Culture of Food: Part 1
If these ideas did not come up during the discussion, be sure to discuss them Key Points:
Discussion
- People around the world embrace different food traditions, both in terms of what they eat and how they eat it. The food people eat often depends on what foods are plentiful in their region. The way food is prepared and served depends on “local customs” that have developed over many generations (e.g. eating with chopsticks, eating with your hands). - The US is a melting pot of different cultures, including food culture. For example, much of the food we see in Harlem was brought to New York from people that came from the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Mexico, and Central and South America. - Experiencing the cuisine from another country is one way to experience a part of their culture. In a city like New York, we can explore different cultures through food. - When families move from other countries to the US, food serves as an important link to their cultural identity. Often people blend their traditional cuisine with American cooking traditions. - Food brings people together and gives people the chance to explore and learn about each other. Meals with friends and family are not only a source of nourishment but also important quality time to spend together.
Snack Discussion 10 minutes
- Explain that the culture of food is not limited to main meals. As the teacher, you have introduced them to several healthy ideas for snacks. Now it is their turn! Ask them to share ideas for snacks from their own cultural traditions. Explain that you are looking for healthy snack ideas, so the snack should either be healthy to begin with, or they should suggest alterations that would help make it healthier. Students who consider their cultural tradition to be from the USA should also share what their favorite snacks are. Make a list of snacks on the board with notes if they are unfamiliar to most people in the class. - Record the list of snacks and choose one for the next lesson's Snackz and Factz segment.
Food Detective Exit Card 10 minutes This might be a nice way to get to know students and get them thinking about the role food plays in their culture and vice versa. You can have students share their ideas with their classmates now or at the beginning of the next lesson.
- Name one kind of food that is typically served at one of your family’s special meals or celebration? o What makes the food special? o Why is this particular food eaten as part of a celebration or holiday? o Does the food or celebration come from a particular culture, country, or region of the world? Which one? o How is the food prepared/served? Page 201
GREEN BEETZ 5
O U T L I N E
Humans innately notice patterns and are quick to make generalizations. Make sure students are not stating stereotypes as they discuss cultures - either their own or others.
P R O C E D U R E
P R I O RP R I O R K N O W L E D G EK N O W L E D G E
Students may have a wide- range of cultural backgrounds. Encourage them to share and be the “experts” in their cultural heritage for you and the class.
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The Culture of Food: Part 2
Breakfast Challenge 5- 7 minutes
Activity: Food of the World 5-7 minutes
Group Presentations: Culture of Food 10-15 minutes
Snackz & Factz 10 minutes
Test Your Noodle 5 minutes
Food Detective Exit Card 8-10 minutes
M I S C O N C E P T I O N S O N S
O Large World Map O Push pins/sticker dots/smartboard markers O Snackz: Student Suggestion
M A T E R I A L S
Breakfast Challenge 5-7 minutes If it has been a week, you can have students compare and contrast what they ate the 1st week of the program and how they felt and what they ate last week. Highlight anyone who has engaged in changing what they eat to improve mood but also note anyone who acknowledges feeling tired when they don’t have a balanced (or any) breakfast. If students eat school breakfast and notice that their choices don’t feel healthy, this could be an interesting avenue to pursue in ELA. Students could write letters explaining what they have learned about nutrition and what they wish schools/DOE could provide.
Date Breakfast Food
Breakfast Drink
My mood and/or energy level right after eating
My mood and/or energy level 1 hour after eating
Any other interesting observations about how I feel today
LESSON 10: THE CULTURE OF FOOD
GREEN BEETZ 7 LESSON 10: THE CULTURE OF FOOD
Snackz & Factz 10 minutes
Share one of the snacks from the students’ cultural snacks discussed last week or better yet have them prepare the snack! You can set up stations to help them prepare. Ask them:
- Have you ever had this snack before? - What do you like about it? - Does it seem healthy? Why? - Is it similar to something in another culture? How?
The Culture of Food: Part 2
Test Your Noodle & Green Beetz Points 5 minutes
? Besides nourishment, what is another reason that people eat meals together? (quality time spent together, social interaction, company, etc.)
? The food that people eat depends on what? Name at least one thing. (food available in the region, family tradition, cultural tradition, personal preferences)
? Fill in the blank: The United States is a ______________ of many different cultures, including food culture. (melting pot)
? Multiple Choice: When families move to the US from other countries, preparing familiar foods is one way for them to hold onto their ______________
- Spices - Health - Cultural Identity - None of the above
? Even if you can’t travel to far off places, what is one way to explore other cultures? (trying foods from other cultures)
Food Detective Exit Card 5-10 minutes
Next week is the Farewell lesson and the Test Your Noodle Championship. This is an interesting way to assess what students have learned and what they still want to know. You can have students share their answers to this final Food Detective Exit Card after they are finished writing or they can share at the beginning of next week’s lesson.
1. What is the most important thing you learned during Green Beetz? 2. What do you still have questions about?
Culture of Food: Part 1 - Exit Card
Name one kind of food that is typically served at one of your family’s special meals or celebration?
- What makes the food special?
- Why is this particular food eaten as part of a celebration or holiday?
- Does the food or celebration come from a particular culture, country, or region of the
world? Which one?
- How is the food prepared/served?
Name:_____________________ Date:________
Culture of Food: Part 1 - Exit Card
Name one kind of food that is typically served at one of your family’s special meals or celebration?
- What makes the food special?
- Why is this particular food eaten as part of a celebration or holiday?
- Does the food or celebration come from a particular culture, country, or region of the world? Which one?
- How is the food prepared/served?
Name:_____________________ Date:________
P R E P A R T I O N & B A C K G R O U N D I N F O R M AT I O N
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The Culture of Food
Background to Support the Key Points
The food that people eat around the world often depends upon what foods are plentiful in the region. Foods that are so plentiful that they have become a part of one or more meals per day, are considered staples. Examples of staple foods are corn and wheat. Take a look at most processed foods, in the US to see that these are two staple foods in our own country. Besides being eaten frequently, staples are foods that make up a large portion of the diet for most people in the population. Most staple foods are plants (root vegetables, grains, beans), and of these, the most common are cereal grains. Rice, corn and wheat are the staple foods for over four billion people and constitute two thirds of human food consumption worldwide. However, some popula-tions rely on animal products as staples, such as the native peoples of Alaska and northwestern Canada who rely on sea mammals such as seals, walrus, and whale for the bulk of their calories.
Some staple foods originated in the same region as where they are currently staples. One example is potatoes in South American Andean countries like Bolivia and Peru. Other staples have traveled around the world since the agricultural revolution and now sustain populations far from where they originated. Consider rice. It originated in a small region of China but has spread to become a staple throughout Asia, parts of Africa and much of Latin America. In fact, rice is the most consumed staple food, feeding over half of humanity and making up 20% of caloric intake worldwide!
Each student may have a unique story to tell about food in their home, family or culture. Focus on the stories that your students bring to the classroom, and let them provide the "background information". Help to link their experiences and stories to the Key Points, while being careful to avoid generalizations and stereotypes about foods, in particular regions or cultures. Consider that in a country like India, with over a billion people and a broad and varied geographic area, there is bound to be variation from one subregion to another. Geography, religion, family history, and family preferences can all lead to variety in food culture from one family to the next. At the same time, finding similarities in how people relate to food helps us to understand the role of food in our human lives.
Key Vocabulary
Staple – foods that are so plentiful in a region that they have become part of the daily food consumption and may be a part of one or more meals each day. Traditionally, staples may have been grown or produced in the same region, but with a global economy, staples for many regions may be produced in others.
Optional Extension Ideas
Reading and Writing: “Exploring Flavors of Your Community”, KidsGardening. Org. Accessed August 5, 2015. A lesson that asks stu- dents to first dig deeper into their family’s food traditions and then to look outward to interview someone who has recently emigrated to the US to take a look at a different food tradition. http://www.kidsgardening.org/node/
Barclay, Eliza, “Eating to Break 100: Longevity Diet Tips From the Blue Zone”, The Salt: What’s on Your Plate, Colorado Public Radio - News. April 11, 2015. Accessed August 15, 2015 Encourage students to make the con- nection between the culture of food and healthy eating by introducing them to the five communities of the world with the highest numbers of centenarians. Read this article and then discuss how the diets of these communities might contribute to their unusually long lifespans. http://www. npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/04/11/398325030/eating-to- break-100-longevity-diet-tips-from-the-blue-zones.
School Garden: “ The Global Garden”, Dig In! curriculum, USDA. Ac- cessed August 5, 2015. Several activities from this lesson could be completed together or individually to link the culture of food and the school garden.http://www.fns.usda. gov/sites/default/files/diginTG_lesson6.pdf
P R E P A R T I O N & B A C K G R O U N D I N F O R M AT I O N
Investigate the different flavors of the world by visiting this interactive world spice map from the Exploratorium. http:// www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/seasoning/map/spicemap. html.(Accessed August 4, 2015)
Then visit the school garden to find the corresponding spices that might be growing there or plan to grow these combinations of herbs when the growing season begins.
Students can explore using their sense of taste and smell. Dried herbs and spices could be brought in if they are unavailable in the garden or grown in a classroom window.
Background Resources
Choi, Amy S. “What Americans Can Learn from Other Food Cultures,” TED talks, December 18, 2014. Ac- cessed August 4, 2015. http://ideas.ted.com/what-ameri- cans-can-learn-from-other-food-cultures/
“What the World Eats”, National Geographic Maga- zine Interactive Media Spotlight. Accessed August 5,
2015. http://education.nationalgeographic.com/media/di- etary-consumption-around-world/
The Meaning of Food. Executive Producer Sue Mc- Claughlin. PBS, 2005. An interactive website based on the documentary, The Meaning of Food. Explore what it means to be Kosher, food in literature, and what some would consider unusual foods from around the world: http://www. pbs.org/opb/meaningoffood/food_and_culture/ (Accessed August 5, 2015).
