Talking about Food food, nutrition and health

Teachers Notes

Talking about Food - food, nutrition and health

This topic is in eight parts Part 1 Food in our lives
Students consider the significance of food in their daily lifestyles and culture. They track their food through a typical day. In groups they discuss how eating habits and food culture has changed in their area in recent years. Students interview older members of their community to find out about local food myths and folklore stories, and investigate whether any science exists behind the stories.

Part 2 You are what you eat?

These activities explore the nutritional value of food and the balanced diet. Students look at a typical meal from their area to create a flow chart of ingredients and processes. They measure the nutritional value and discuss what else would be required for a balanced diet in the day. Students discuss the potential health benefits or risks of the hidden ingredients in food both natural and artificial.

Part 3 Beyond the plate. Where does our food come from, or go to?
Students track the ingredients of their meal to build a map of where their food comes from. Later they build a second map to show where their local produce travels to. They compare these maps and discuss any patterns or issues that arise. For example, does their community have local, national or global food supply chains? Students consider the positive and negative issues relating to the growth in global trade, including fair trade, food miles, and climate change.

Part 4 Food Issues and Food News

This section explores food security. Students explore the main issues relating to food, nutrition and health in their country. They explore positive news stories to find out what is being done to help more people have healthy diets. Working in groups, students explore and present one issue creating a news report, TV or radio broadcast presentation.

Part 5 Action Plan You are what you grow?!

Students work as a class to create a healthy eating calendar for their region. They explore healthy recipes for a balanced diet based on their local seasonal produce. The nutritional content and cultural significance of these recipes are also presented.

Part 6 Exchanging information

Students collate their information and results to complete their Exchange Form.

Part 7 Comparing information from other countries

Comparisons and discussions of responses from different countries.

Part 8 Information Section

In Part 1 students explore food in their daily lifestyles and culture. In Part 2 look at nutrition and the balanced diet. In Part 3 students investigate how food travels from harvest to meals, global issues of fair trade, food miles and climate change. In Part 4 students explore the main issues relating to food, nutrition and health in their country. In Part 5 students create a healthy eating calendar relating to the seasonal produce in their region. In Parts 6 and 7 Students exchange their findings with students in other countries.

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Talking about Food food, nutrition and health

Teachers Notes

Talking about Food - food, nutrition and health

The issues Food for sharing, feasting and celebrating Diets, recipes and food fadsThis topic helps students to look at what they eat, what it does for them, where it comes from, and how it affects the world around them. The topic first explores what is meant by a balanced diet. Students look at their own diets and discuss the role of food in their home life and culture. The topic then explores issues relating to global and local food production, trade and food miles, nutrition and health, and food security. Students then consider how their local seasonal produce can be used as the basis for a healthy balanced diet, creating a recipe calendar to share with their community and across different countries.

The Aims of this topic 1. To help students look at the role of food in their daily lives how it affects their health and culture through: a. Exploring the nutritional aspects of food and the concept of a balanced diet. b. Investigating how diets have changed in their local region over time. c. Looking at how food is connected to the local culture, through festivals, celebrations and folklore. 2. To explore how food connects people and regions together through trade, and to consider some of the issues relating to this. 3. To help students to understand some of the reasons for lack of food security in their regions, and to look at positive solutions for the future. 4. To promote the development of school or community gardening for healthy diets. Age Range In most countries this topic is suitable for students aged 11 to 16 years old. Curriculum links This topic will fit into the biology curriculum. It links closely with design and technology, geography, global citizenship and sustainable development. It provides an excellent opportunity for cross-curricular study and for addressing the global dimension and sustainable development within science.

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Talking about Food food, nutrition and health

Teachers Notes

Talking about Food - food, nutrition and health Part 1 Food in our lives
Aims:

To create a personal survey of what students eat in a typical day. To consider the role that food has in the home and in the community. To explore traditional myths and folklore stories in the local culture.

1 What are we eating? The introductory paragraph sets the scene before students are asked to think back to the previous day and list what they ate. A table has been provided for students to record their food and eating habits through their day. Activities: students fill in the main activities of their day such as the time they got up, their journey to school, lessons, mid day break. Meals eaten: students should be encouraged to remember everything they ate, including snacks. Where you ate: at school in the dining room with friends, alone in front of the TV, in the kitchen with family Who chooses your food? yourself, the school, mother etc (students might also record who prepared their food).

2 Food Talk The text box on potatoes in Peru could be used to generate a discussion about the cultural significance of particular food crops in the local region. Do any crops have a role in festivals or celebrations during the year? Are these crops and festivals still celebrated today, or is the significance changing in the modern culture? Small groups are given a series of questions to base their discussions around. The groups are encouraged to choose a creative way of representing the main points of their discussion to demonstrate the current role of food in their lives and culture. For example, they might design a poster or a celebrations calendar to plot local food customs, write an article for a travel magazine, or make up a play, song or a film. They could also represent how food culture has changed in recent years, and try to highlight any issues that emerged through their discussions. Groups could present their work to the class before identifying the common themes that emerge. This work will provide a rich resource to exchange between different countries. 3 Food Facts or Food Myths? As a class, read the text box famous food quotes in the Students Notes before brainstorming other famous quotes about food from the region or your country.
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Talking about Food food, nutrition and health

Teachers Notes

Idea for a drama activity Divide the class into small groups of 4 or 5. Give each a slip of paper with one of the famous food quotes written on it (or give blank pieces of paper and the students can write their own). Give students a few minutes to dramatise their quote using themselves and props if necessary, to create a physical, silent picture to represent it. Students can either choose to use movement, or to create a still picture (a tableau). Each group shows their picture to the rest of the students, who try to guess the famous quote.

Students are given an example of a myth relating to apples. As a homework activity, they are asked to interview an older member of the family or community to explore mythology and folklore relating to food and plants in the area. Students should be encouraged to find out about wild and cultivated plants. It may be that you live in an area with a deep tradition of medicinal plant remedies. Students find out about famous quotes, myths or stories about plants and food in the region. These stories can be written and illustrated by the students. They could also explore the internet and other sources of information to find out whether any of these plants have been researched and whether there is scientific fact behind their community understandings. Local, regional or national plant science institutions or botanical gardens might be able to help with this research. Alternatively, you may have an expert in your community (amateur or professional) who can talk to students about local plants with medicinal or health benefits, and their folklore.

Part 2 You are what you eat?

Aims:

To look more closely at the nutritional aspects of food and the balanced diet. To consider the hidden ingredients in food and the positive or negative impacts these may have on health.

Read the introduction with your students which explains the basic food groups and what is meant by a balanced diet. The Information Section includes a table to show the roles of particular food groups, and the nutritional value of some common foods. 4 Whats in a meal? Students choose a typical meal from their region and draw a flow diagram to trace the meal back to its raw ingredients, including plants. This activity is easily differentiated more able students might explore a full meal with all side dishes, and research the processes for creating the dishes; less able students might concentrate on one particular dish. This activity will work for both home prepared and processed food. For processed food, it may be possible to contact the manufacturer about the ingredients and where these come from (leading into Part 3). Similarly, a parent or local cook could be invited to the school for a
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Talking about Food food, nutrition and health

Teachers Notes

practical cooking activity on regional dishes giving students the chance to handle, smell and taste the raw ingredients.

5 A balancing act Students are asked to consider the nutritional value of their meal. A table is provided for the students to complete. Table 2 in the Information Section may help students to find the nutritional values of some of the main foods. The nutritional information on food labels may also be helpful. Looking at their charts, students identify what else they would need to eat in the day when they have this meal, to ensure that they have eaten a balanced diet. 6 The hidden ingredients 6a Read the introductory paragraph with students and then discuss how the flavour of their food can be enhanced. In the first part of this activity, students explore the most common substances used to enhance the flavour of food in home cooking. For herbs and spices, they identify what plant and what part of the plant these come from and try to describe the flavour. Students can investigate the following: do these herbs and spices have any particular health benefits, do these grow locally, or are they imported? Students design a herbs and spices poster. Include information on the potential health benefits of these ingredients, or give warnings where appropriate. Where possible, take students outside to find and identify wild or cultivated plants. You could also try to grow these in pots, or in your school garden. Help? For this activity, it is worth finding out what expertise exists in the school and local community (staff, governing body or parents) as many amateur gardeners or people interested in plants, have extensive knowledge and could provide valuable input. Similarly, local cooks often have detailed knowledge about herbs and spices. 6b In the second part of the activity, students consider packaged food. Ask students to look at packaged food to find out what is added to make the food taste better or last longer. What additives are flavourings, flavour enhancers and preservatives? Which of these are natural and which are synthetic? The students should work in groups to discuss how they feel about having synthetic additives in their food.

Part 3 Beyond the plate Where does our food come from, or go to?
Aim: To explore how food connects people and regions together through trade, and to consider some of the issues relating to this.
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Teachers Notes

To introduce the terms food miles and fair trade.

The Information Section supports this section, and includes a table of the main countries that grow these plants commercially. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations website (www.fao.org) may also prove very useful. 7 From field to plate Read the introductory information with your students. Students are then asked to look back at the meal they chose in activity 4 and to find out where their plant ingredients came from. Students are given some research ideas: It may be that you know exactly where some or all, of your ingredients came from, for example, vegetables from your back garden, eggs from your neighbours farm, but you may need to explore further. Try going back to shops, markets, or super-markets, to interview the shop managers. You could also look at labels and the packaging to see if a country of origin is marked. The Information Section includes a table that shows the main producing countries of some of the worlds most important crops. As a class students plot their food on a map to show where the class food came from, the journeys and food miles of the food ingredients. Students then use the maps to calculate (or estimate) the food miles for the class meals. With students, think about the advantages and disadvantages of a mainly locally sourced diet compared to food that has travelled a long way. Students could be encouraged to think about environmental, economic and social issues. Examples of some positive and negative issues that might emerge are: Positive Essential food items that cannot be grown in the local climate or environment can be imported to provide a balanced diet. Foods from other countries can be enjoyed. Trade gives an income for local people and businesses. People learn about food customs in other places. Food items can be imported to help feed populations during disasters, like drought or war. Negative Food miles use up a lot of carbon. This contributes to climate change and pollution.

Local areas become dependent on the produce from other places and are no longer self-sufficient. Local specialities, foods and customs can be forgotten. In complicated food supply chains, the consumers become disconnected from the growers and suppliers. Issues relating to fair trade arise. Local areas start to produce one crop and therefore depend on one source of income. This also has an effect on local environments as vast areas are used for one crop.

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Talking about Food food, nutrition and health

Teachers Notes

Additional Activity idea: Food chain Students could think about the chain of events that their food might have been through on its travels from other regions. These could be developed into poems, songs or designed as cartoon strips. Excellent additional resources that may help with looking at the global supply chain are: Papapaa, Divine Chocolate. Primary and Secondary resources about chocolate and fair trade. www.divinechocolate.com/edu Dubble Agents. The Day Chocolate Company Primary and Secondary resources about chocolate and fair trade. www.dubble.co.uk Oxfam. Fair Trade and specific information about coffee. http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/fairtrade/index.htm

8 What grows in your place? A text box describes what is meant by a staple food. Students find out what food-plant crops can be grown and harvested at different times of the year in their local area. Animal products may also be considered. Is there a seasonal pattern linked to food availability? To find this out, students could visit gardens and allotments in their local area to interview gardeners and farmers that grow food crops and rear animals. In urban areas, city farms or allotments could be very useful. It would be worth finding out if you have a keen gardener in your school or local community (amateur or professional) who could offer help. Students write down the time of the year, as months and seasons, when their main staple crops are harvested. 9 Where does it all go to? Students are asked to find out where the local produce from the area travels to. A second map is drawn to present these findings. Students consider whether the growers and producers in the area are linked to local consumers. Some interesting patterns and questions could arise when the two maps are compared. For example, it may be that the main crops grown in your region are not for food, but for animal feed or commercial sale (e.g. cotton, sisal). In some places much of the local produce may be exported while the main foods are imported.

Part 4

Food Issues and Food News

Aims: To introduce the terms malnutrition and food security. To consider the difference between having access to enough food and having access to a healthy balanced diet. The Information Section introduces issues relating to food security and nutrition; and provides some more examples of positive news stories. Read these with students before completing
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Teachers Notes

the activities. Discuss whether students think it is possible to have enough food but not food security? 10 Too much or not enough? Students should prepare for activities 10 and 11 by talking to family members, looking at newspaper headlines and stories, listening to the radio or watching the TV over a week to see whether any issues relating to diet and health are covered. Students think about and discuss issues relating to food, nutrition and health in their country and region, and the reasons behind these issues. Encourage students to think about the issues that affect them, or the problems that they know affect people in their region. It may be that they have found out about problems that affect certain groups of people in the population such as young or old people. Discuss whether the main issues in your region relate to: environmental issues such as climate, pollution, soil degradation social issues such as food trends, diets political issues such as civil unrest, war, corruption economic issues such as access to credit/finance, poverty. Students consider positive solutions possible actions either by individuals, organisations or governments - to help more people to have healthy diets. For example, how could more people grow their own food? A positive example is given. 11 Food news! Students work as a group to choose one of the issues they have identified; preferably one with more than one side to the argument, and that will be interesting to students from another country. They may either design the front page of a newspaper, produce a radio broadcast or short film outlining the story and presenting a positive way forward.

Part 5

Action Plan You are what you grow?!

Aim: To combine the themes of this topic into a creative, practical task. 12 You are what you grow? Ultimately this is a whole class challenge, but students should work in small groups. If possible split your class into 12 groups and allocate each group a month of the year. First, look back at the results from activity 8 and the rest of this topic to design healthy, balanced recipes for locally produced meals based on the harvest and plants of your area. Each group designs a recipe for their month. They should also present the nutritional content and any interesting folklore stories or myths behind their ingredients. Groups that are working on the winter or low harvest months, may need to supplement their recipe with stored produce from other seasons or imported produce. Working as a class, design a healthy harvest calendar, aiming to produce a meal from the harvest of each month for the year.
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Talking about Food food, nutrition and health

Teachers Notes

This could make a fantastic poster, or be produced as a real calendar. If you have a school garden, it may set a challenge for planting in the next growing year.

Part 6

Exchanging information

Students need a copy of the Exchange Form which they can download for themselves or you can provide on paper or in an electronic format. The Exchange Form for this topic has been designed so that students can complete each activity on the form as they work through the topic. It is suggested that they first work on their own forms individually or in small groups. They can then agree on amalgamating ideas so that one Exchange Form is completed for each class or group. Students can complete the Exchange Form as a paper copy or on-screen, and then send it to other schools as an email attachment, by fax or post. Establishing communication links with other schools before starting detailed work on the topic helps with more immediate feedback. Some schools enjoy exchanging ideas and progress reports by email while they are working on the topic.

Part 7

Comparing information with other countries

When you have received the Exchange Forms from other schools, copy these and your own Exchange Forms for comparison and analysis. Compare and discuss the responses with the help of some of the questions in the Students Notes.

Sources of information
The Eden Project. The Living Theatre of People and Plants explores the relationships between people and plants, and how communities and environments are linked across the globe. www.edenproject.com The Royal Horticultural Society, UKs leading horticultural charity. www.rhs.org.uk Kew Gardens The role of education at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is to increase knowledge and understanding of the value and vital importance of plants. Their website includes teaching and learning resources. www.rbgkew.org.uk The Henry Doubleday Research Association is a UK organic association, with a schools education section and an international research department. www.hdra.org.uk Programmes from In the Field Series: www.nri.org/InTheField In the Field is a series of programmes made in collaboration between the BBC World Service and the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Greenwich, supported by the Rural Livelihoods Department (UK Government Department for International Development). SAPS (Science and Plants for Schools) - educational resources to promote exciting teaching of plant science and molecular biology in schools. www.saps.org.uk
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Teachers Notes

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. www.fao.org Statistical information table in the Information Section. World Learning, BBC World Service, Bush House, Strand, London WC2B 4PH World.learning@bbc.co.uk Papapaa, Divine Chocolate. Primary and Secondary resources about chocolate and fair trade. www.divinechocolate.com/edu Dubble Agents. The Day Chocolate Company Primary and Secondary resources about chocolate and fair trade. www.dubble.co.uk Oxfams Cool Planet for teachers. Oxfam.org.uk Includes information about Fair Trade and other educational resources and publications. Out of Eden (Eden Project Books, 2005). ISBN: 1903919266. www.edenproject .com Plants of Eden. Frost, L and Griffiths, A (2001). ISBN: 0 906720 29 X. www.edenproject.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

References
Albright, K; and Warham, E. 2004. Health and Natural Resources The Forgotten Link. www.id21.org Burgess, A., Maina, G., Harris, P. and Harris, S. (1998): How to Grow a Balanced Diet: A Handbook for Community Workers. VSO Books. ISBN: 0 95090 50 6 2. CIP (The International Potato Centre) 2001, The Potato Treasure of the Andes. From agriculture to culture. ISBN: 92 9060 205 8 DFID Forestry Research Programme, www.frp.org DFID (2001) Future Harvest. www.dfid.gov.uk. ISBN 1 86192 347 3 FAO (1995) Dimensions of Need An Atlas of Food and Agriculture ISBN: 92 5-103737-X Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. www.fao.org Statistical information table in the students notes information section. Frost, L and Griffiths, A (2001). Plants of Eden. ISBN: 0 906720 29 X. www.edenproject.com International Wheat and Maize Improvement Centre (CIMMYT). www.cimmyt.org Natural Resources Institute (2001). In the Field Exploring Innovative Improvements to Livelihoods Around the World. www.nri.org/InTheField

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Teachers Notes

Out of Eden (Eden Project Books, 2005). ISBN: 1903919266. www.edenproject .com Purseglove, J.W. (1981) Tropical Crops Monocotyledons. The Plant. Discover the Fascinating world of plants - their structure, variety and life history'. Dorling Kindersley Ltd, London 1989. ISBN: 0-86318-368-9

Consultants
Jacquie Ashton Penrice Community College, Cornwall, UK Jackie Chave Royal Horticultural Society, UK Marianne Cutler Science Across the World, UK Vandana Desai Kapila Khandvala College of Education, Mumbai, India Gill Hodgson Eden Project, UK Christine Newton Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK Helen Sambili Egerton University, Njoro, Kenya Anne Spetch Camelford Primary School, Cornwall Tom Vandenbocsh World Agroforestry Centre, Nairobi, Kenya. Elizabeth Warham Department of International Development, UK Egbert Weisheit Friedrichsgymnasium, Hessen, Germany

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Talking about Food food, nutrition and health

Teachers Notes

This is a resource of Gardens for Life which is funded by the UK Department for International Development, Creative Partnerships, Syngenta Foundation, DfES, Cisco Foundation and Future Harvest. Gardens for Life is managed by the Eden Project in collaboration with Science Across the World, Association for Science Education; Centre for Development Education, Pune; Creative Partnerships, Cornwall; Global Dimension Trust; Kenya Youth Education and Community Development Programme; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Royal Horticultural Society. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the donors or partners.

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