Cultural Cuisine: Explore the World Through Food with Your Preschooler

To go with this week’s social-emotional objective of learning about others’ families, languages, and cultures, let’s make a fun recipe and experience a taste of a different culture first-hand.

Do you have ancestors or family members from a different culture? Try a recipe that’s been handed down or look one up from their home nation. You could also choose a recipe from a culture that you experienced during the diversity dress-up activity or the pictures of people from diverse backgrounds activity. Any recipe from any culture that is new and different to you will work!

Often, children enjoy both making and eating sweet treats or bread recipes. You could try Jewish Hamantaschen Cookies or Native American Fry Bread.

Materials:

• A recipe from a culture different from your own
• Information and fun facts about the culture and how they use this recipe
• Ingredients and kitchenware to make the recipe
• An open mind to trying new things!

As you make the recipe, talk with your child about the people and places it comes from. Is it used on any holidays or festivals? Is it everyday food? Does it have any special symbolic meaning in that culture?

Don’t forget that cooking is the ultimate unit study. Cooking incorporates just about every single subject:

• Cognitive thinking: researching a recipe using different resources (the internet, a cookbook), and researching the culture it’s from.
• Language and literacy: reading the recipe (with help) and using complex vocabulary and sentence structure . . . including prepositions: “Pour in the bowl.” “Get the eggs next to the milk.”
• Math: measuring ingredients, fractions, counting.
• Science: This is a great time to talk about convection as you feel the cold air fall from the refrigerator and the warm air rise from the stove or oven.

Teaching moments:

Add geography to the mix. While you’re enjoying your treats, look up the location the recipe came from on a map or globe.

And how about a little history? What is the history and historical significance of this dish? How old is the recipe?

Are there any other dishes from this culture you would like to try?