7th grade students explored issues around food production in the United States. How has it changed over time? How does our current industrialized food chain affect our relationship with the food we eat and the farmers who grow it?

We began with reading the following excerpts:

Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma Young Readers Edition (Chapters 1-6)

Schlosser & Wilson's Chew On This, The Secret of Fries

Perspectives: Farmacology, from the Nourish: Food + Community Curriculum

Farmer in Chief, a letter to the President Elect by Michal Pollan from the NY Times Food Issue, October 12, 2008

Michael Pollan: "Our Food Is Dishonestly Priced", BillMoyers.com activism blog, February, 2014

Students presented on the ideas discovered in these articles and created an image to present to their classmates that summarized the ideas. Students then explored ways that 8 common foods were used in various countries around the world. Students layered this new investigation onto an ongoing exploration of the economics and culture of an assigned country.

Students then submitted recipes that used their assigned food. Many students were also able to help plant their assigned food in our school garden. We sifted through the recipes to find the most intriguing and make-able recipes for our Earth Day celebration. On Earth Day, 15 student worked together to prepare these dishes and present a "Global Foods Tasting Table" as part of our Earth Day Community Picnic.

The following recipes were our "Global Food Tasting" Contributors:

Bureek- Arabic Savoury Pastry

Israeli Couscous with Diced Sweet Potato and Sumac

Kenyan-style Collard Greens with Lemon

Edamame Gohan- Japanese Soy Beans

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Korean Salad with Sesame Dressing

Russian Potato Salad

Brazilian Vegetable Feijoada

Tofu Keema- Indian tofu recipe

Simple Chocolate Pudding

Arabic Cardamom Shortbread (Gorayba)