Lesson Plan: Food for Thought

Rationale: To understand the importance of food and foodways - that is, food related activities, preparations and beliefs - as a part of our cultural heritage, and to use this focus as a means of encouraging conversation about ethnic diversity; to give students an opportunity to interview family and community members. Issues surrounding immigration can be difficult or controversial. To balance the seriousness and complexity of these issues, this exercise can be a fun way to

Materials: Pencil, paper, photocopy machine or access to developing an online resource; potentially, various food supplies and access to kitchen facilities; if available, tape recorder and/or videocassette recorder.

Time Required: One to six hours (depending on the choice and number of assignments); involves work outside the classroom.

Method: There's a old saying: you are what you eat! That may or may not be true, but everyone has a favorite dish or recipe, and strong memories tied into the foods we share with one another. What can you say about someone's culture based on what they eat and how they eat it? A lot. FOOD WAYS is one of those taken-for-granted aspects of culture, even though it plays such a critical role in so of our many celebrations.

Think of all the "traditional" foods prepared for family gatherings, weddings, religious events and picnics. What kind of food do you find at the movie theater? At the county fair? At summer camp? Food does more than provide nourishment - it helps define our cultural or ethnic heritage, who we are, where we came from, where we now live. For example, gumbo - a kind of seafood stew - is identified as a Cajun specialty from Louisiana; grits are associated with southern cooking; paella is a familiar Mexican American dish using saffron rice and meat; pierogies are a favorite among many Eastern European communities; traditional Irish cooks are praised for their soda bread; and no powwow would be complete without frybread and honey.

Activity 1: Here are some questions for you to answer:

a)Is there one particular dish or recipe, or an ingredient, a way of preparing food, a favorite vegetable or spice that you identify as part of your family's heritage? Where did this recipe come from - a friend, a relative, a cookbook? Would your ancestors have prepared this same dish or ingredients in the same way in their country of origin? When do you make or eat this kind of food?

b)More questions: What recipes or food products define where you live? Is there a typical "Hoosier" vegetable or fruit or dish identified with Indiana?

c)Take action: Compile a cookbook, sharing recipes with teachers and other classes. Be sure to include your Hoosier family stories - tell why this particular ingredient or recipe defines who you are, where you came from, where you now live. If you have access to the appropriate software, consider publishing the cookbook online as a class project.

 

Activity 2: For this assignment, you are asked to interview a person raised in a society other than the U.S.A., to prepare a dish of food from a recipe you obtained in your interview, and to research some of the foodways of the culture from which this recipe comes.

a) Planning and conducting the interview: Work with your teacher to identify other students or community members willing to talk with you about their cultural heritage and to share ideas about foodways, recipes and cooking with you. Take notes; if you bring along a tape recorder, be sure to ask their permission first. If the person you interview agrees, you might even consider making this a group project by bringing along a video recorder and assigning different roles to your team (for example: interviewer, camera person, audio person, editor). Important: The person you interview should NOT be a relative and should not have been born in the USA.

b)What did you learn? Write a report based on your interview. Be sure to include: the name of the recipe, how it is made, and a brief personal history of the person who shared this recipe with you. Discuss who eats this dish (what community, what ethnic group, what region, what country), what time of year (Christmas, Passover, breakfast, anytime), and, of course, what you've learned about cultural heritage in general by studying foodways.

c) Rattle those pots and pans! Prepare the recipe you've been given using available ingredients. Share it with friends - and be sure to add this experience to your report!