HOW

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HOW DID THAT

HOW DID THAT GET TO MY TABLE?

AT GET TO MY TABLE?
HOW DID THAT
GET TO MY TABLE?

SALAD
BY EM ILY J. DO L BE A r
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O DID THAT GET TO MY TABLE

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 sAlAD
Published in the United States of America by Cherry Lake Publishing
Ann Arbor, Michigan
www.cherrylakepublishing.com

Content Adviser: Anuradha Prakash, PhD, Professor, Food Science, Chapman University
Reading Adviser: Cecilia Minden-Cupp, PhD, Literacy Consultant

Photo Credits: Cover and page 1, miskolin, used under license from Shutterstock, Inc.; page 5,
Dusaleev Viatcheslav, used under license from Shutterstock, Inc.; page 7, Tree of Life, used
under license from Shutterstock, Inc.; page 9, Jim West/Alamy; page 11, Mark Gibson/Alamy;
page 13, Jennifer Brown/Alamy; page 15, The Photolibrary Wales/Alamy; page 17, Blend
Images/Alamy; page 19, MBI/Alamy; page 21, allOver photography/Alamy

Copyright 2010 by Cherry Lake Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress CataLoging-in-PubLiCation Data

Dolbear, Emily J.
How did that get to my table? Salad / by Emily J. Dolbear.
p. cm.(Community connections)
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60279-473-3
ISBN-10: 1-60279-473-1
1. SaladsJuvenile literature. 2. Salad vegetablesJuvenile literature.
I. Title. II. Title: Salad. III. Series.
TX807.D65 2009
641.8'3dc22 2008047268

Cherry Lake Publishing would like to acknowledge the

work of The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Please
visit www.21stcenturyskills.org for more information.
 How Did That Get to My Table?
contents

4 Do You Like Salad?

6 Fields and Greenhouses
10 Heading to the Market
18 Make Your Salad!

22 Glossary

23 Find Out More

24 Index

24 About the Author

 Do You Like
saLaD?

Whats that pile of green stuff on

your dinner plate? Its a salad!
The most common kind is a
garden salad. It might have
lettuce, tomatoes, and carrots.
Maybe you topped it with
dressing. Do you like salad? Do
you know where it comes from?

4
How many different vegetables do you see in
this salad?
5
 FieLDs anD
Greenhouses

The vegetables we eat in salads

grow on plants. The plants
grow in fields and greenhouses.
A greenhouse is a building
made of glass or plastic. It has
the right temperature and
light for growing plants.
Plants also need the right
amount of water.
6

These tomatoes are growing in a greenhouse.

7
 Vegetables need water, sunshine,
and healthy soil to grow. Then its
time to gather the crops.
Lettuce heads and tomatoes
are cut from the plants. Tomatoes
are picked when they are still
a bit green. They will ripen on
their way to market. Carrots
grow beneath the soil. Machines
lift carrots from the ground.

8
Workers use machines to help them
pick lettuce.
 !
THINK
Lettuce and carrots
grow better in cooler
weather. They are
called cool-season
crops. Tomatoes grow
better in warmer
weather. What do
you think tomatoes
and other crops that
grow better in warm
weather are called?

9
 heaDinG to
the Market

What happens to the vegetables

before they get to the store?
Workers at packing houses
wash the vegetables. That
helps remove germs. Germs
can make you sick. Machines
spin the washed lettuce to
dry it.

10
Machines wash the vegetables to remove dirt
and germs.
11
 Machines at the packing house
wrap the washed heads of lettuce
in plastic. Other machines pack
washed lettuce leaves and
carrots into special bags. The
bags help keep the food fresh.
Tomatoes usually go into
plastic boxes.
Machines stamp a date on
every package. The date tells
how long you can store the food
before it spoils.

12
Many stores sell vegetables packed in
plastic bags.
13
 Then the vegetables are
loaded onto cooling trucks.
Vegetables must be kept cool to
stay fresh. The trucks carry the
vegetables to stores.

14

Trucks can carry many kinds of vegetables.

 !
LOOK
Look at the vegetables
in the produce
section. See if any
packages have
stickers showing
where the vegetables
were grown. Were
any of them grown
in another country?
If they were, they
probably came
by airplane.

15
 Workers at the store unpack the
vegetables. They put them in the
produce section. They are kept
cool. Some vegetables also need to
be kept moist. They are misted
with a fine spray of water. This
helps keep the vegetables fresh.

16
Store workers put vegetables in the
produce section.
 ues s!
a G
Make
Lettuce leaves hold
a lot of water. Do
you think lettuce
has vitamins in
it? Make a guess.
Check on a lettuce
food label. Was
your guess correct?

17
 Make Your saLaD!

Now the vegetables are ready

to buy. Look for the freshest
vegetables. You want crispy,
green lettuce. Look for deep
red tomatoes. Pick out bright
orange carrots. Stay away
from vegetables with limp
leaves. Pass up vegetables
with rotting spots.

18

The freshest vegetables make the best salads.

19
 The lettuce, carrots, and
tomatoes you picked will make a
tasty salad. Their trip from the
farm to your table was a long
one. The trip from the table
to your mouth is a short one.
Grab your fork and dig in!

20

Now you know where your salad came from.

 e!
creat
Draw a picture of
how salad gets from
a farm to your table.
Show all of the stops
along the way. Share
your drawing with
a friend. Pictures
help people learn
new things.

21
 GLossarY
germs (JURMZ) very small living things that can
make people sick

misted (MIST-ed) sprayed with tiny drops of water

packing houses (PAK-ing HOUS-sez) buildings with

equipment used to prepare and package vegetables

produce (PROH-dooss) fruits and vegetables that are

grown for eating

salad (SAL-uhd) a dish of raw vegetables usually served

with a dressing, sometimes made with fruit or other food

temperature (TEM-pur-uh-chur) a measurement of how

hot or cold something is

vitamins (VYE-tuh-minz) substances in food that help

people stay healthy

22
FinD out More
books

Graimes, Nicola. Kids Fun & Healthy Cookbook. New York: DK,
2007.

Katzen, Mollie. Salad People and More Real Recipes: A New

Cookbook for Preschoolers and Up. Berkeley, CA: Tricycle Press,
2005.

Leavitt, Amie Jane. A Backyard Vegetable Garden for Kids.

Hockessin, DE: Mitchell Lane Publishers, 2008.

Web sites
agriculture in the Classroom
www.agclassroom.org/kids/index.htm
Take a farm-related quiz, get some ideas for science projects, and
take a virtual tour on a real family farm

fresh for Kids

www.freshforkids.com.au/index.html 23
Click on the Fruit & Veg tab for a lot of information about fresh fruits
and vegetables
 inDex
airplanes, 15 machines, 8, 10,
12 uth or
t the a
bags, 12 misting, 16 abou
boxes, 12
packing houses, Emily J. Dolbear
carrots, 4, 8, 9, 12, 10, 12 works as a freelance
18, 20 pictures, 21
editor and writer
cooling trucks, 14 plants, 6, 8
cool-season crops, 9 produce section, of childrens books.
country stickers, 15 15, 16 She lives with her
family in Brookline,
date stamps, 12 stores, 14, 15, 16
Massachusetts. Her
dressing, 4
temperature, 6 sons are learning
food labels, 17 tomatoes, 4, 8, 9, the joys of eating
freshness, 12, 14, 12, 18, 20 delicious salads.
16, 18 trucks, 14

garden salads, 4 vegetables, 4, 8, 9,

germs, 10 10, 14, 15, 16,
greenhouses, 6 18
24 vitamins, 17
lettuce, 4, 8, 9, 10,
12, 17, 18, 20 workers, 10, 16
 HOW
O DID THAT GET TO MY TABLE
OW T ?

HOW DID THAT GET TO MY TABLE?

HOW DID THAT GET TO MY TABLE?
C
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Do you eat food? Do you use electricity? Do you live in

a building or go to a school? These are just some of the
activities that connect you to other people in your community.
Discover the Community Connections we depend on to
provide the things we need.
Read the How Did That Get to My Table? books to
learn about the connections that bring us our food:

Cereal Pasta
Ice Cream Peanut Butter
Ketchup Pumpkin Pie
Orange Juice Salad

ISBN 978-1-60279-473-3

9 781602 794733

O DID THAT GET TO MY TABLE

HOW
OW T ?