Food for the Future

Unit 1: Food for the Future

Lesson 3: Time to Taste the Vegetables! Objectives:

 Students will be introduced to various types of vegetables (and herbs) by observing and tasting them.  Students will identify favorite vegetables from a class survey and construct a table, chart and/or graph showing results.

Assessment/Evaluation:

Formative: Discussion/participation checklist for group activity Summative: Completed Journal worksheet, completed chart, graph, and table of tasting results, group participation and discussion.

Materials:

 Measuring tools – rulers, tape measures, etc.  Colored pencils for sketches  Paper plates and napkins  Sharp knife for cutting vegetables  Tasting vegetables purchased with VeggieCash from Veggie U  Veggie U Tasting Identification Sheet or Veggie Tasting Activity Sheet  Chart or graph paper for whole class graph/chart

Vocabulary:

Create a vocabulary list of vegetables purchased for the tasting.

Journal Prompt:

Time to Taste the Vegetables!

©Veggie U 2016/17 Unit 1 Lessons Teacher Tips: Some of the vegetables you could possibly choose for your classroom include:

Rainbow Carrots (red, orange, yellow) Summer Squash Seeing multi-colored carrots piques This delicate, yellow squash is the kind you interest that not ALL carrots are orange, will be growing in your squash pot. plus they are tasty raw. Try to find Everything can be eaten, skin, seeds and the carrots that have some stem attached creamy white flesh. to demonstrate they grow in the ground.

Broccoli Cauliflower

Broccoli is well-received by most White, orange, green or purple, this mild, children. nutty and crunchy vegetable tastes a bit like broccoli.

Sugar Snap Peas Celery Sweet to eat raw, pod and all. The peas While most people enjoy the crunchy stems, inside are actually seeds. Sugar snap the leaves are great to eat, too. You will be pods are plump, with visible peas. You growing leaf celery in your Veggie U garden. will be growing Sugar Snap Peas in your

Veggie U garden. Snow Pea Pods Spinach and/or leaf lettuce Similar to sugar snap peas, these are Raw spinach or lettuce may be familiar from sweet to eat raw, pod and all. Snow eating salads. Look for unique leaf lettuces, peas are flat with tiny seeds that are since iceberg has less nutritional value. barely visible through the pods.

Green beans Basil Some children are more likely to try Basil is one of the most recognizable, highly vegetables fresh picked from the fragrant herbs whose leaves are used as a plant or vine. Raw green beans taste seasoning. While sweet basil is bright and different when eaten fresh vs. pungent, other varieties like lemon basil, anise basil and cinnamon basil all have flavors cooked! that subtly reflect their name. Yellow wax beans Peppers Wax beans, which are pale yellow in Mild peppers are a sweet combination of color, are a type of snap bean with a tangy taste and crunchy texture and come in slightly mild flavor, similar to green a wide array of vivid colors ranging from beans. green, red, yellow, orange, and purple.

Tomatoes Mint Tomatoes are available seasonally in a Trying spearmint leaves is a neat lesson to variety of colors and sizes, and the find out where the familiar “mint” flavor of small ones are fun to pop in your gum/candies derives. Other herbs to try mouth and eat like grapes. include basil, cilantro, and parsley.

©Veggie U 2016/17 Unit 1 Lessons When selecting your 6-8 different vegetables for Tasting Day, think about a variety of colors and textures. If you can get any vegetables with stems attached and show them before cutting, it will help the children make the connection that the food on their plate was recently growing in the ground.

You might wish to use your VeggieCash to support local growers by visiting a farm market or other local business, and to take advantage of growing seasons and vegetable preferences in your area.

You will want to prepare the veggies you buy before serving. Any root vegetables will need to be scrubbed, but not peeled and any other varieties should be rinsed. The leafy veggies, whether spinach or lettuce, need to be rinsed thoroughly to remove all grit. However, since it is important that you don’t to spend a lot of extra time preparing the vegetables, a bag of triple washed spinach is certainly a time saver over fresh bunches.

It might be helpful to enlist the help of another adult to help prepare and serve the vegetables for tasting.

For your tasting, we hope that you will serve everything raw and without dip. Even the root veggies can be served raw. Cut the veggies a little before serving, and you will probably want to leave at least one whole to show your students what it looks like.

Stress careful examination of vegetables. For example, it is not easy to tell a white carrot from a white turnip without examining the parts of the plant carefully!

Procedures:

1. Discuss food likes and dislikes regarding vegetables. Ask students which vegetables they’ve always liked or disliked. List/chart/graph their answers. Ask how long it has been since they tried that vegetable. Stress the fact that our tastes do change as we mature.

2. Students should wash hands in preparation for handling and tasting vegetables.

3. Place each vegetable on a paper plate marked with a number. In groups, students will analyze and identify the type of vegetable.

©Veggie U 2016/17 Unit 1 Lessons 1. Using the journal pages Veggie U Tasting Identification Sheet, students should write accurate descriptions of the color, texture, shape and size of each vegetable. Brainstorm and share ways to measure vegetables and expressive vocabulary to use in descriptions. Students work in groups or with partners to analyze and taste each vegetable, compare it to the pictures on the list and identify the type of vegetable. Teacher can provide answers to the mystery vegetables. Students share and correct their answers. -or- 2. (Alternate) Veggie Tasting Activity Create a “buffet-style” display of the purchased vegetables, including one whole vegetable along with bite sized samples. Have students take one of each sample and return to their seats to taste. As they taste, students will mark yes or no on their Veggie Tasting Activity worksheet. This activity can be continued at home using the reverse side to the sheet to have student record tasting new vegetables.

3. (For both activities) List class favorites. Were there any surprises? Discuss and share. Chart/graph the results.

Optional Activities:

Additional Journal prompts:  Describe your experience tasting new vegetables today.

 If you could “invent” the perfect vegetable, what would it be like? Describe its taste, appearance, smell, etc.

Additional Resources:

http://www.veggieu.org

Enrichment Activity:

Taste Bud Discovery

©Ve ggie U 2016/17 Unit 1 Lessons Unit 1: Lesson 3 Veggie Tasting Identification Sheet NAME: DATE:

Directions: You will be given different vegetables. Write down your information on the charts below:

Sample Color Texture Shape Size Taste Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Name the Vegetables!

Vegetable Guess Vegetable Name Were you correct? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Which vegetable was your favorite?

Which was your least favorite?

©Veggie U 2016/17 Unit 1 Worksheet

Vegetables YES, No, Thank You. I like this! But I will try it again I’ve Tasted I will eat this again! some other time!

Sugar Snap Peas

Spinach

Radishes

Carrots

Basil

Red Lettuce

Green Beans

Red Peppers

Cucumbers

Tomatoes

Veggie Tasting Activity Visit us at veggieu.org!

Add your own veggies!

Vegetables YES, No, Thank You. I like this! But I will try it again I’ve Tasted I will eat this again! some other time!

Veggie Tasting Activity Visit us at veggieu.org!

Unit 1: Lesson 3 Journal NAME:

DATE:

Time to Taste the Vegetables!

Describe your experience tasting new vegetables today.

If you could “invent” the perfect vegetable, what would it be like? Describe its taste, appearance, and smell.