I really think this is fabulous! It makes learning so much more exciting! It really pumps me up and makes me want to come to school and see how the students will respond to so many new and exciting things. Some students come from other cultures, while others have never had some of the crazy things we make, so it's really important to show them all things they aren't familiar with.
When I started teaching the Foods One classes, they were entering the Orient. That was really exciting for me because I lived in Japan for 4 years from ages 12-16. I was so excited to share things with them that people just don't know unless they live there... part of that being some of the food! Granted, we Americanize our Asian food, but I was still psyched!
One of the recipes we made is something my family makes on a regular basis: curry. The best thing about it is that it's SO easy to make! (and SOOO delicious!)
Brown some stew meat and then throw all this stuff in a big pot:
the meat
potatoes, chopped up
onions, cut in a half moon shape
carrots, diced
a curry season packet (that you can get from the Oriental section of the grocery store)
enough water to almost cover the ingredients
Bring it to a boil, then turn it down to medium-low and simmer until the sauce thickens and your vegetables are tender. Serve over rice.
At the same time, I taught the kids how to use chopsticks. They loved it!
Not only were they learning about another culture, they were applying the State Standards in their labs.
While we made curry, we learned how to cook rice, reviewed proteins and fats - especially in relation to browning our beef, and the importance of vegetables in our diet. This Japanese curry is healthy for us because of its varied ingredients - and we talked about that in class while we made it.
It is so exciting to teach them in this way and then apply the "book smarts" to the "kitchen smarts" so that these students can learn life-long skills and ways they can vary their diet to eat healthily.
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