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Culinary Concepts

Grade Level
6 - 8
Purpose

Through project-based learning, students will develop and manufacture a unique and nutritious food product that includes ingredients that have been sourced locally and can be served in retail outlets or the school cafeteria. Grades 6-8

Estimated Time
Ten 45-minute class periods
Materials Needed

Milestone 1: Entry Event

Milestone 2: Planning and Design

  • Team notebooks

Milestone 3: Development and Prototype

  • Various local ingredients depending on the project solutions
  • Kitchen staples such as sugar, oil, baking soda, and baking powder
  • Kitchen for the creation and testing of food products
  • Team notebooks
  • Solution/Product Rubric

Milestone 4: Production and Final Product Presentation

  • Team notebooks
  • Various local ingredients depending on the project solutions 
  • Kitchen staples such as sugar, oil, baking soda, and baking powder
  • Kitchen for the creation of food products
  • Presentation Rubric
Vocabulary

carbon footprint: a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by a single endeavor or by a company, household, or individual through day-to-day activities over a given period

comparative advantage: a situation in which a country, individual, company, or region can produce a good at a lower opportunity cost (production costs, raw materials, taxes, environmental regulations, farmers’ skills, proximity to market) than a competitor

economy: the wealth and resources of a country or region, especially in terms of the production and consumption of goods and services

food miles: the distance food is transported from the time of its production until it reaches the consumer

fossil fuel: a natural fuel such as coal or petroleum formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms

local food: the direct or intermediated marketing of food to consumers that is produced and distributed in a limited geographic area

locavore: a person whose diet consists only or principally of locally grown or produced food

Background Agricultural Connections
Culinary Concepts is a Project-Based Learning (PBL) plan. PBL is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge.1

A quality PBL experience requires seven essential elements.

  1. Challenging Problem or Question: The project is framed by a meaningful problem to be solved or a question to answer at the appropriate level of challenge.
  2. Sustained Inquiry: Students engage in a rigorous, extended process of posing questions, finding resources, and applying information.
  3. Authenticity: The project involves real-world context, tasks and tools, quality standards, or impact, or the project speaks to personal concerns, interests, and issues in the students' lives.
  4. Voice and Choice: Students make some decisions about the project, including how they work and what they create.
  5. Reflection: Students and teachers reflect on the learning, the effectiveness of their inquiry and project activities, the quality of student work, the obstacles that arise and strategies for overcoming them.
  6. Critique and Revision: Students give, receive, and apply feedback to improve their process and products.
  7. Public Product: Students make their project work public by explaining, displaying, and/or presenting it to audiences beyond the classroom.2

Buying Local

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines local food as the direct or intermediated marketing of food to consumers that is produced and distributed in a limited geographic area.3 Local food is commonly considered to be food grown within 100 miles of its point of sale or consumption. A locavore is a person whose diet consists only or principally of locally grown or produced food. Buying food from local farms and businesses is good for communities, the economy, and the environment. Purchasing locally grown food lowers the consumer's carbon footprint, ensures freshness, and benefits the local economy.

Most food in the United States is shipped an average of 1,500 miles before being sold.4 While comparative advantage needs to be considered, these distances substantially increase when considering food imported from other countries. Reducing food miles lessens the environmental impact of food by cutting back on air pollution and fossil fuel consumption.

Typically, produce in the US is picked 4-7 days before being placed on supermarket shelves. Locally sold produce can be harvested at its peak ripeness and reaches the consumer faster and at a fresher stage. In addition, because local produce is fresh, there is less waste. When produce is shipped long distances, the amount of food lost to spoilage increases.

When consumers buy local, more of their money stays in their community. The choice to buy local food affects not only the farmer that grows the food, but also the trucking company that ships the products, the store that sells the product, and the state and city governments that operate on taxes from the businesses that are supported by the manufacturing of the products. Every dollar spent to purchase locally produced products adds four times more to the local economy than a dollar spent at a national chain retailer.5

Local foods can be found at farmers' markets, restaurants, community supported agricultural programs (CSAs), food co-ops, food hubs, food stores, and online. Due to consumer demand, more and more grocery stores and restaurants are highlighting locally grown food. Below is a list of state programs that promote local foods:

In this project-based learning activity, students will develop a unique retail food product that includes ingredients (51%) that have been sourced locally to create a new company. Student teams will need to design a product that could be created with locally-grown products. The resulting food product could be sold in retail outlets and/or be served in school cafeterias. Students will work through the problem to select a product they think will be successful (based on the demand, sales, profit) and will need to work with the following ingredients: wheat/flour, honey, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and seasonings (this list can be customized to the school's specific location). Several possible recipes with the ingredients noted above can be found on this Pinterest Board. 

Career Highlights
This PBL plan introduces students to the following career opportunities: food scientist and technologist, dietitian and nutritionist, baker, food batchmaker, accountant, marketing specialist, graphic designer, general and operations manager, retail salesperson, customer service representative, advertising and promotions manager, advertising sales agent, secretary and administration assistant, computer programmer, computer network support specialist. Explore the career profiles to discover job outlooks, education requirements, and average salaries.

 

 
Engage

At the beginning of the project, students are introduced to key content using a compelling situation that provides context and serves as a catalyst for an authentic problem or challenge. In Project-Based Learning (PBL), this authentic problem/challenge is referred to as an "Entry Event." Students use the Entry Event to initiate inquiry by reflecting on their prior knowledge of the key content, generating questions that they need to know the answers to in order to successfully complete the project or process that will solve the problem, and identifying what their next steps might be to answer their questions. These questions are used in an ongoing way throughout the project to track learning and guide inquiry.6 While students may have several questions, one driving question needs to be agreed upon that, when answered, should address the initial solution. Refer to Milestone 1 for Entry Event procedures.

Explore and Explain

In PBL, projects are organized into milestones. Each milestone represents a significant stage of the project. Click on each milestone below to access instructional procedures.

Milestone 1: Entry Event (approximately 2 days)

Milestone 2: Planning and Design (approximately 1 day)

Milestone 3: Development and Prototype (approximately 3 days)

Milestone 4: Production and Final Product Presentation (approximately 3 days)

If you teach in the following states, find more lesson plans and resources about home grown foods in your state:
Evaluate
As a final wrap-up, review and summarize the following key points:
  • Local food is commonly considered to be food grown within 100 miles of its point of sale or consumption.
  • Buying food from local farms and businesses in good for communities, the economy, and the environment.
  • Local foods can be found at farmers' markets, restaurants, community supported agricultural programs (CSAs), food co-ops, food hubs, food stores, and online.
Sources
  1. https://www.pblworks.org/what-is-pbl
  2. https://www.pblworks.org/what-is-pbl/gold-standard-project-design
  3. https://www.nal.usda.gov/aglaw/local-foods#quicktabs-aglaw_pathfinder=1
  4. http://www.foodsystemprimer.org/food-distribution/
  5. https://amiba.net/?s=multiplier
  6. https://my.pblworks.org/resource/ntks
Recommended Companion Resources
Author
Debra Spielmaker
Organization
National Center for Agricultural Literacy
Powered by the National Agricultural Literacy Curriculum Matrix (agclassroom.org)