LESSON 10 10 Next Generation Science & ELA Standards* The Culture of • RI.5.9 • RST.6-8.9 Overview *Refer to the NGSS & ELA Correlation chart in the Appendix for the full description of each standard. 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 of food cultures – and give students a chance to share their different food traditions and favorite dishes. Making Connections Today's Goals within the unit and to other subjects

We can: • This lesson allows students to compare • Understand what culturally different are. and contrast different cultures and foods. • This is another opportunity for students to • Identify that come from different parts bring in their own experiences and compare it of the world. with classmates and those around the world. • Understand that is a melting pot Students can evaluate food in terms of nutrition because they have been given the foundation of cultures and associated cuisines/dishes. to do so in previous lessons. • Discussions of cultures and the map activity Vocabulary allows students to use/develop geography skills. • Staple • Spotlight on Sustainability

• As an educator you know that knowledge is Key Points: power. The more we understand and learn about each other, our differences and • similarities, the more well-rounded and People around the world embrace different food empathetic we are. Through Green Beetz we traditions, both in terms of what they eat and how they teach the importance of being “good food eat it. The food people eat often depends on what foods citizens” and food literate, which in essence are plentiful in their region. makes us conscious of the role we play in and on our environment. Hopefully this program has • The US is a melting pot of different cultures, including helped your students to understand that the food culture. environment is ONE, there is only one Earth. There may be borders, there may be different • languages spoken across the world, different Experiencing the cuisine from another country is one way foods, and different ways to eat and prepare to experience a part of their culture. foods, but we share the same food citizenship responsibilities and therefore global citizen • When families move from other countries to the US food responsibilities. serves an important link to their cultural identity.

• Food brings people together and gives us the chance to explore and learn about each other. with friends and family are not only a source of nourishment but also important quality time to spend together.

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LESSON 10 10 The Culture of Food: Part 1

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OUTLINE

Students may have a wide-range of cultural backgrounds. Encourage them to share and be Challenge 3-5 minutes the “experts” in their cultural heritage for you and the class. Introduction: Turn & Talk 2-3 minutes

Vocab Review MISCONCEPTIONS 1-3 minutes Video: The Culture of Food & Discussion Humans innately notice patterns and are quick to 7-10 minutes make generalizations. Make sure students are not stating stereotypes as they discuss cultures - Discussion either their own or others. 10 minutes Food Detective Exit Card 10 minutes

MATERIALS

O Video: The Culture of food O https://greenbeetzteachers.org/videos/

PROCEDURE

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.

My mood and/or My mood and/or Any other interesting Breakfast Breakfast Date energy level right energy level 1 hour observations about how Food after after eating I feel today

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The Culture of Food: Part 1

Introduction: Turn & Talk 2-3 minutes If you want to ask the students the week before to bring in family recipes, you can have them share them instead of asking about them. Or, you can open with a favorite recipe that represents your cultural background and then have students turn and talk. This might be a nice opportunity to bring in a photo of the family member who you associate with this recipe or a picture of the so students can get to know you, too!

• Has anyone ever made something from a recipe that had been passed down from one family member to another? • Does anyone have a favorite recipe that is from their family’s cultural traditions? Transition Review the lesson's objectives. We can:. • 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.

Vocab Review 1-3 minutes You can preview these words by assessing how familiar students are (you can use a thumbs up, thumbs down, or sideways strategy). If most students know a word, you can have students give examples or a definition of each word. • 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 elsewhere.

• Cuisine - a style or method of , especially one characteristic of a particular country or region.

Video: The Culture of Food 7-10 minutes • View and play the video online (after you register) at: https://greenbeetzteachers.org/videos/

Discussion Questions: 1. What did you feel as you saw all the different types of food? 2. What was the most interesting thing you saw or learned? 3. Was there anything surprising? 4. What do you think the message of the video was? 5. Did you notice anything about how food from the different countries and regions featured in the video was prepared differently? How were the types of foods similar or different?

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The Culture of Food: Part 1

Discussion If these ideas did not come up during the discussion, be sure to discuss them 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 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, , , 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 . 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 LESSON 10: THE CULTURE OF FOOD

LESSON 10.2 The Culture of Food: Part 2

PRIOR KNOWLEDGKNOWLEDGEE OU TLINE

Breakfast Challenge 5-7 minutes Students may have a wide- range of cultural backgrounds. Activity: Food of the World Encourage them to share and 5-7 minutes be the “experts” in their cultural heritage for you and the class. Group Presentations: Culture of Food 10-15 minutes

Snackz & Factz 10 minutes

Test Your Noodle MISCONCEPTIONSONS 5 minutes

Food Detective Exit Card Humans innately notice patterns 8-10 minutes MA TERIALS and are quick to make generalizations. Make sure students are not stating O Large World Map stereotypes as they discuss O Push pins/sticker dots/smartboard markers cultures - either their own or O Snackz: Student Suggestion others.

PROCEDURE

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.

My mood and/or My mood and/or Any other interesting Breakfast Breakfast Date energy level right energy level 1 hour observations about how Food Drink after eating after eating I feel today

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The Culture of Food: Part 2

Activity: Food of the World 5-7 minutes Display or project a large world map in the classroom or on the smartboard. You can use a paper map and have them place stickers or you can freeze a smartboard and allow them to draw an x or dot on the country where their dish originates. Students may need help finding the country, which is a great link to geography. Have your students looks at their Exit Card from last week and ask: • Where did your family's dish come from? (place a marker on the map) • Once everyone has placed their mark, ask: Do we notice any patterns - do many of us have similar cultural backgrounds? o Depending upon the class, there may be areas that are dense with pins/stickers, or they may be very out.

Group Presentations: Culture of Food 10-15 minutes

Divide the class into groups according to regions based on where they placed their pin/sticker on the map. • Depending upon the class, you might group them by world regions such as Asia, , Africa, Latin America, South America, , etc. • Or you may be able to be as specific as countries. You may want to separate one sticker dense country from others within crowded region. • Or you may want to separate one country or region by cardinal direction (east and west or north and south). • If there are individuals who don’t quite fit into a region with others, they could be put into a mixed group, or added to the nearest geographic grouping. • Assigning roles to group members (recorder, presenter, leader, etc. like you did for the Nutrition Posters Project) may help the group work more cooperatively and allow presentations to go smoother.

Have groups look at their Exit Cards from the previous lesson and work together to compare their food choices: ? What is different about the meals that they each chose? ? What do their meals have in common? ? Are their similar ingredients, foods, or cooking techniques that are common in their region? ? Have any of these foods changed since the family or ancestors have brought them from another country to the US? Ask each group to present to the rest of the class a summary of their discussion. The presentations should include: • The countries, cities, or regions that each represented - point this out on the map. • A list of the foods that each student wrote about. • What was common about foods in their group/region? • What was different about the various foods of the region?

After the Presentations ask your class: • What surprised you or what did you find interesting about the culture of food around the world? Page 203 GREEN BEETZ 7 LESSON 10: THE CULTURE OF FOOD

The Culture of Food: Part 2

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?

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 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?

Page 204 Culture of Food: Part 1 - Exit Card

Name:______Date:______

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?

______

Culture of Food: Part 1 - Exit Card

Name:______Date:______

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?

______

Page 205 Culture of Food: Part 2 - Exit Card

Name:______Date:______

• What is the most important thing you learned during Green Beetz?

______• What do you still have questions about?

______

Culture of Food: Part 2 - Exit Card

Name:______Date:______

• What is the most important thing you learned during Green Beetz?

______• What do you still have questions about?

______PREPARTION & BACKGROUND INFORMATION

LESSON 10 The Culture of Food Background to Support the Key Points Key Vocabulary

The food that people eat around the world often depends Staple – foods that are so plentiful in a region that they upon what foods are plentiful in the region. Foods that are have become part of the daily food consumption and may so plentiful that they have become a part of one or more be a part of one or more meals each day. Traditionally, meals per day, are considered staples. Examples of staple staples may have been grown or produced in the same foods are corn and wheat. Take a look at most processed region, but with a global economy, staples for many regions foods, in the US to see that these are two staple foods in may be produced in others. 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 Optional Extension Ideas vegetables, grains, beans), and of these, the most common are grains. Rice, corn and wheat are the staple foods Reading and Writing: for over four billion people and constitute two thirds of “Exploring Flavors of Your Community”, KidsGardening. human food consumption worldwide. However, some Org. Accessed August 5, 2015. A lesson that asks stu- popula-tions rely on animal products as staples, such as dents to first dig deeper into their family’s food traditions the native peoples of Alaska and northwestern Canada and then to look outward to interview someone who has who rely on sea mammals such as seals, walrus, and recently emigrated to the US to take a look at a different whale for the bulk of their calories. food tradition. http://www.kidsgardening.org/node/11782

Some staple foods originated in the same region as where Barclay, Eliza, “Eating to 100: Longevity Diet Tips they are currently staples. One example is potatoes in South From the Blue Zone”, The Salt: What’s on Your Plate, American Andean countries like Bolivia and Peru. Other Colorado Public Radio - News. April 11, 2015. Accessed staples have traveled around the world since the August 15, 2015 Encourage students to make the con- agricultural revolution and now sustain populations far from nection between the culture of food and healthy eating by where they originated. Consider rice. It originated in a introducing them to the five communities of the world with small region of China but has spread to become a staple the highest numbers of centenarians. Read this article and throughout Asia, parts of Africa and much of Latin America. then discuss how the diets of these communities might In fact, rice is the most consumed staple food, feeding over contribute to their unusually long lifespans. http://www. half of humanity and making up 20% of caloric intake npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/04/11/398325030/eating-to- worldwide! break-100-longevity-diet-tips-from-the-blue-zones.

Each student may have a unique story to tell about food in School Garden: their home, family or culture. Focus on the stories that your “The Global Garden”, Dig In! curriculum, USDA. Ac- students bring to the classroom, and let them provide the cessed August 5, 2015. Several activities from this lesson "background information". Help to link their experiences and could be completed together or individually to link the stories to the Key Points, while being careful to avoid culture of food and the school garden.http://www.fns.usda. generalizations and stereotypes about foods, in particular gov/sites/default/files/diginTG_lesson6.pdf 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.

Page 207 PREPARTION & BACKGROUND INFORMATION

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).

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