Exploring Food

The term ‘food’ refers to what we eat and what nourishes our body. Some of our knowledge of what early man ate comes from archaeological studies of cave drawings of food and preparation activities. Primitive men collected their food from wild animals and plants. To understand the evolution of food over the years and to explore origins, development, diversity of food around the world; the topic of ‘Food: Culture, Traditions & History’ was introduced to our 3rd & 4th graders.

In the launch stage, learners defined the word food & what it meant to them personally. They learnt the origin and evolution of food from the prehistoric times till date. Learners explored the development of agricultural skills/ farming over the last few centuries resulting in change of diet patterns over the years. They understood how today in our diet, traditional foods are being replaced by fast foods with advancement in technology. Learners conducted primary research on the food preferences among different generations of their family and presented the data in the form of a bar graph for their assessment.

For deep dive, learners inspected various foods and flavours from different regions of India. They could truly taste ‘Unity in Diversity’. They were acquainted with the origin/history of various Indian cuisines. They understood why certain food dishes belonged to a certain region on the basis of their climatic conditions. Learners were shown a few documentaries, blogs, podcasts on food to get a detailed understanding. Each learner had to create a vlog on any Indian regional dish of their choice for assessments.

Finally, in coda stage, learners learnt how food connects the world around them. Learners explored the origin of various food dishes around the world. They also found out how global influence is expanding its reach on Indian food dishes. They watched an advertisement named, ‘Bhujia Ghum Aai Duniya’ for a better understanding of the influence of the global/western culture on Indian food. Learners were asked to prepare a food journal for their final assessment. It was a great experience for both the learners and the educators