Teach Primary Issue 19.5

Do your pupils know where meat comes from, or how bread is made? Talk through the basics and furnish themwith skills for life, says Mary Hoffman ... F ood is one of those universal things that brings us all together. We all have to eat, which means most of us need to plan meals, shop and cook (though some choose to use ready meals or order takeaways, this still requires decision-making). Some of you may even pride yourselves on cooking every meal from scratch, making your own bread, never buying a packet sauce, and being aware of the nutritional value of every mouthful. It may seem like an urban myth that children believe that milk comes from cartons, eggs from the fridge, and bacon from plastic packs, but like many myths, this one has a kernel of truth. If pupils aren’t aware, for example, that meat comes from animals that are killed, they are unlikely to think about how the animals are looked after, and how they – and everything else we eat – are transported and processed before they reach our plates. So, it’s important that we teach our classes a bit of food awareness. Questions like “What do butter, cheese and yoghurt all come from?”, “What is a burger?”, and “How is bread made?” are all useful starting points, followed by an introduction to the different countries that popular foods come from. For example, you can point out that tea comes from India and China, orange juice from Spain and Florida, and jam from all over Europe. Other staples such as rice, chapatis, samosas, noodles and pasta may be familiar to many children in the class, whether or not they hail from the countries in which the food originates. In the time between now and Harvest Festival (Sunday 5 October 2025), you could cut out images of food from magazines and newspapers (preferably colour), or download and print some. At Harvest in the UK, we are particularly focused on grains – wheat, oats, barley and rye – but we can use the event to learn about all kinds of food. Harvest festivals were originally about thanks and praise, and were an important part of the year for the church, but we can celebrate in a secular way, too. Try the following activities with your class, and see how much they can learn about their food’s journey. Corn (maize) Show children a few ears of corn on the cob. Ask them how many things they can think of that come from corn. Cornflakes, sweetcorn, and popcorn are all good answers. Talk about how all of these products derive from the whole corn cob, and how they’re made (you can find the information from a quick internet search). You could bring examples to share in class, too. Yummy! Give each pupil a paper plate and coloured pens or pencils, and ask them to draw their favourite meal. Then, break into groups and talk about how each of the various elements from the meals are grown, raised, or produced, and use the collected images from magazine cutouts and show where the food has come from. For example, if a child has drawn a beefburger, chips and peas, you might want to show them a cow, wheat flour for the bun, pea pods or beans, and potatoes, etc. Think, too, about what might be in sauces (e.g. tomatoes, salt, sugar and vinegar for ketchup). What do we eat? Using your collection of food images, talk as a class about how you might divide them into different groups. Present children with the categories of grains, vegetables, fruit, animals, fish, and dairy, and ask them to organise their images into the appropriate ones. Children can then make a display of their different foods, and what they’re used for. Lifecycle of a plant Seeds, shoots, leaves and fruits! Ask pupils what they might already know about plants (can they give any names, such as ‘petal’, ‘stem’ or ‘root’?). Talk about how farmers prepare the ground, plant seeds, water them, sometimes use pesticides (has anyone heard the term ‘organic’?), pick the edible parts, and send them off to factories for processing. This BBC Bitesize video is a good starting point: tinyurl.com/tp-BBCfood TP Food, GLORIOUS food Mary Hoffman is a writer and critic. Her latest book, Food for All , illustrated by Ros Asquith (£14.99 HB, Otter-Barry Books), is out now. 30 | www.teachwire.net HE A L TH & WE L L BE I NG S P E C I A L