Food connections (What you eating?)
Today we all source our foods from various avenues (grocery stores, farm-markets, fast-food restaurants) and yet we often never take the time to research where our food is coming from.
Take out all the ingredients from your last meal.
Read the labels on the food and find out where the ingredient is from.
The location is somewhere on the label. On my bag of Lay’s salt and vinegar chips, the location (Plano, Texas) was below the Nutrition Facts section
Supplies:
For younger kids And adventurous parents:
Four stations ( you can use for sections of your home)
4 different kinds of food (junk, vegetable, local fruit, sweet)(feel free to google foods if you don’t have one at your disposal)
A notebook to take down notes.: you can be creative and make a passport book using stapled pieces of paper.
station card questions( Provided Below)
Boarding pass ( optional)( parents you can get creative and make individual boarding passes for your kids)
Giant t-chart or a way to house all your data.
Computer or cellphone (web access information)
Something to take time with ( 15min at each station)
What’s for dinner
A list of from foods from dinner
A list of the ingredients from each food.
A notebook to take down notes.: you can be creative and make a passport book using stapled pieces of paper.
Computer or cellphone (web access information)
Objective:
Know the origins of each food in the station. Students should know where, when, why, and how of each food is made and to find out where the food comes from.
Steps :
Follow these steps for every one of your ingredients. Some foods, like many fruits and vegetables, don’t come with a package so you may be unable to immediately determine where they came from. Find out for as many ingredients as you can.
k-9:
*optional* Cut out what you need. passports and boarding passes
Specify which station gets what food( its easier to separate the food ingredients into stations if you are working with younger kids so that they can focus on each thing at a time.)
Set up your station
A. Put a question card at each station
B. Label each station
C. Put food in the station
D. Web access tool. i.e laptop,cellphone.
4. *Optional* Pass out passports and boarding pass.
5. Have each participant go to each station and fill in the passbook/notebook. (Participant should no more than 15 mins in each station to ensure maximum participation).
*Use your phone or a computer to find the distance between where the food came from and your home. For instance, I found that my bag of salt and vinegar chips must have traveled at least 983 miles according to distance-cities.com.
6. Gather participants and have the group share and fill in a giant chart or notebook that should already be made.
7. ENJOY! EAT! EAT!
Highschool
*Use your phone or a computer to find the distance between where the food came from and your home. For instance, I found that my bag of salt and vinegar chips must have traveled at least 983 miles according to distance-cities.com.
Follow these steps for every one of your ingredients. Some foods, like many fruits and vegetables, don’t come with a package so you may be unable to immediately determine where they came from. Find out for as many ingredients as you can.
Research Questions
Where did you get your food from?
How many miles must your meal have traveled in total?
Which food came from furthest away?
Which food came from the closest to you?
What food (if any) weren't you able to collect data on?
Debrief Questions?
Which food’s original location surprised you the most?
Why do we get certain foods from certain places?
Can you think of any positive things that result from getting food from far away?
Can you think of any negative things that result from getting food from far away?
Can you think of any positive things that result from getting food from close by?
Can you think of any negative things that result from getting food from close by?