Kindergarten Edible Social Studies: Week 4

This week we read Marcia Brown’s retelling of the European folktale Stone Soup. We talked about what the story is trying to teach us as readers. At the beginning of the tale, the villagers are protective of their resources and unwilling to share them with the newly arrived soldiers. At the end of the book, we learn how the soldiers draw out everyone in the community to contribute something to the meal, which is then enjoyed and celebrated by everyone. The villagers could not have made something as delicious as stone soup had they cooked in siloes. Only by coming together did they create a dish worthy of sharing.

In the kitchen, we made our own version of stone soup, including adding a real stone to our pot! Every single chef contributed something, whether that was chopping celery, potatoes, pepper, and carrots; measuring the vegetable stock; mincing herbs; mincing garlic; or stirring the pot. You can make stone soup with anything you have on hand as long as everyone works together towards the grand finale.

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 3

In the classroom this week we read The Story of Manoomin and learned more about a sacred food of the Anishinaabe people. We also watched a short film from PBS Wisconsin featuring Fred Ackley Jr. of the Sokaogon Chippewa Community of Mole Lake. Students watched Fred go through the process of harvesting, drying, parching, winnowing, and cooking wild rice and heard the Ojibwe origin story about the food that grows on water.

In the kitchen we made a salad with cooked wild rice originally produced by the Red Lake Nation. The first grade chefs added three additional ingredients that are native to present-day North America: cranberries, squash, and pumpkin seeds. They learned to make a salad dressing by slowly adding oil to lemon juice to create an emulsion, and added arugula, green onion, and dill for additional texture and flavor. We enjoyed the manoomin salad with strawberry leaf tea, another ingredient native to present-day North America and a staple of Anishinaabe foodways and medicinal practices.

Kindergarten Edible Social Studies: Week 3

This week our theme was all about making art! In the classroom we read the book Time to Make Art by Jeff Mack and talked about how being creative is a great way to stay healthy and how sharing art is a great way to build strong communities.

In the kitchen we prepared a number of edible materials, then grabbed cutting boards as our canvases. Each chef was able to use a variety of colorful ingredients to make their own masterpiece. Then, we drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil, seasoned with salt and freshly ground pepper, and enjoyed our salad/art. Almost every chef was able to try something new today, which made the project even more fun.

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 2

In the classroom this week we read Sandra L. Richards’ book Rice & Rocks. The protagonist is a child of Jamaican heritage who learns that his friends come from different cultures around the globe that all love to eat rice and beans.

In the kitchen we made rice and peas (the Jamaican name for beans in this dish as it’s traditional to use Gungo or pigeon peas) with Jamaican flavors, which include green onions, allspice, ginger, coconut, and thyme. We also enjoyed a chilled Jamaican drink called sorrel tea, which features hibiscus, citrus, and fragrant spices.

Kindergarten Edible Social Studies: Week 2

We focused this week on Indigenous foodways—foods that human beings have been eating and food preparation techniques people have been practicing for thousands of years. In the classroom we read Tomie de Paola’s The Popcorn Book, which provides great information about the history of popcorn and its enduring popularity.

In the kitchen classroom, the kindergarten chefs ground their own spice blend by using an ancient food preparation tool, the mortar and pestle. They also chopped green apple and pineapple and squeezed fresh lime juice for a Peruvian drink made from purple corn called chicha morada. It was a tasty celebration of all things corn and a reminder that the best snacks can often be as simple and affordable as dried popcorn kernels heated with a little oil.

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 1

In the classroom this week, we read The Have a Good Day Café about a Korean American family that finds success through sharing their food traditions with their community.

In the kitchen, the first grade chefs made kimbap, a dish that looks a lot like sushi but is seasoned with sesame oil rather than vinegar and is filled with cooked ingredients. We learned to position the kim, or seaweed, on a bamboo mat; wet our fingertips to work with the bap, or cooked rice; placed our fillings of choice (including egg, braised burdock, pickled daikon, spinach, carrot, and cucumber) on the rice; and rolled tightly so that the pieces we eventually cut would stay bite-sized. Everyone worked so well together and had a lot of fun working with their hands and trying some new ingredients and techniques!

Kindergarten Edible Social Studies: Week 1

Our theme this week was eat the rainbow! In the classroom, we read the book Eat Your Superpowers! How Colorful Foods Keep You Healthy and Strong by Toni Buzzeo and illustrated by Serge Bloch. We learned that richly colored fruits and vegetables provide our bodies with essential nutrients that power our blood, bones, eyesight, muscles, hair, skin, heart, and so much more. Not only does including a variety of colorful plants in our diet help our bodies stay strong, but also surrounding ourselves with a rainbow of people with different backgrounds, perspectives, and ideas keeps our communities strong.

In the kitchen, the kindergarten chefs made a rainbow fruit salad featuring red strawberries, orange Cara Cara oranges, yellow pineapple, green kiwis, blue blueberries, and purple Marion blackberries. We learned to use both a nylon and a wavy crinkle cutter knife. We learned how to keep everyone safe with proper hygiene while working with food. Most importantly, we had a lot of fun eating in community and celebrating the beauty of the rainbow in our school.

2nd/3rd Grade Edible Social Studies: Field Trip

The second and third grade chefs braved public transportation and the rain and had a wonderful time at Heart of the City Farmers Market for our culminating field trip. Each student was tasked with finding three items we’ve cooked with this year in Edible Social Studies and interviewed a farmer or food producer. They got $5 to spend at the market. Some got broccoli, some got apples, some got cookies, some got fresh cider, and one chef purchased a giant carrot. When we were done with our tour of the market, we met with Steve Pulliam, the executive director of Heart of the City (and Harvey Milk parent!), who told us more about the market and its unique role in the San Francisco food system.

2nd/3rd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 10

For our final class of the year, we watched a CBS Mornings Note to Self featuring Dolores Huerta looking back on all she has accomplished. The students were moved by Dolores’ many setbacks and her incredible strength and resilience. We talked about how the farmworkers movement is still ongoing. It is up to the next generation to the take up the mantle and believe that “¡Sí, se puede!”

In the kitchen classroom, we hosted one last celebration of the winter season with a bounty of citrus fruit and mini olive oil cakes. The second and third grade chefs layered cake, freshly squeezed orange juice, citrus salad, citrus yogurt, fresh whipped cream, candied lemon peel, mint, and edible flowers for a sweet and refreshing dessert. In our closing circle, each person in our classroom community shared their favorite recipe from our exploration of the farmworkers movement and an appreciation. Thank you to all of our students, teachers, and volunteers. Until next year!

2nd/3rd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 9

In the classroom this week we celebrated Black History Month by learning about Mississippi Delta hot tamales, a dish many historians believe was forged out of friendships between migrant Mexican farmworkers and African American sharecroppers in the American South a century ago.

In our rainy day kitchen classroom (aka Room 107) every chef worked with soaked corn husks; a cornmeal dough; a filling featuring corn, poblano chiles, and tofu; and rolled and folded the tamales like pros. Hot tamales are cooked in a spiced, tomato-based broth and deepen in flavor the longer they steam. Mr. Orlando’s students made hot tamales for Ms. Reynolds’ students, and Ms. Reynolds’ students made hot tamales that were shared with the community. Our theme for the week was that across our differences, the things we create together are stronger, more creative, and more delicious. Happy Black History Month!

2nd/3rd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 8

We reviewed the history of agricultural labor organizing this week and learned that the United Farm Workers is still going strong, though its membership today is far smaller than at the height of its power in the 1970s. A few headlines from the UFW website highlight the fear of deportation felt by farmworkers around the country, the poor air quality farmworkers in Southern California are facing as a result of the catastrophic wildfires, and labor wins like the recent union certification at an apple farm in New York state.

We’ve learned about several legends of the farmworkers movement over the past few weeks. Our lesson this week named some of the less famous but no less important people in our community who feed us. In the classroom we watched a short introduction to the Heart of the City Farmers Market, which we will visit in a few weeks on a field trip and which is run by one of our very own Harvey Milk community members! We also explored the contents of a CSA box from Eatwell Farm, which is run by farmer Lorraine Walker and sells produce at another farmers market in San Francisco at the Ferry Building on Saturdays. We learned that some farms use a community-supported model where members receive a share of the farm’s produce every week, that members can connect directly with the farmer and its farmworkers through newsletters and farm visits, and that a simple recipe like a stir-fry can help us try new or unfamiliar vegetables.

The second and third graders marinated tofu in multiple kinds of citrus juice, chopped daikon radish and purple-topped turnips, and picked the leaves of so many different kinds of leafy greens: mizuna, arugula, Komatsuna spinach, and chard. We enjoyed our stir-fry over warm brown rice and many chefs topped their snack off with some chili crisp for heat. Thank you to the whole team at Eatwell for this beautiful meal celebrating the abundance of Northern California in the middle of winter! We are grateful.

2nd/3rd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 7

In the classroom this week we read Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez. We learned that he wasn’t just one of the most effective and powerful advocates for farmworkers’ rights in history, but also a champion of women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and animal rights. We also learned that historical figures are often complicated. In Chavez’s case, he was vehemently opposed to undocumented immigrants, a view that would certainly not be shared by most of his activist peers today.

In honor of Chavez’s Mexican heritage and his veganism and vegetarianism, we cooked a vegan tortilla soup featuring vaquero beans, which are named for their similarity in appearance to the spotted coat of the appaloosa horse. There was so much activity in this lesson, we didn’t get many photos. But we played several lively games of telephone while we waited for the soup ingredients to simmer and deepen in flavor. Some chefs loved the soup, while others found the inclusion of chipotle peppers a bit too spicy for their tastebuds.

2nd/3rd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 6

In the classroom this week we read Dolores Huerta: A Hero to Migrant Workers. We learned about her early experiences as a schoolteacher that fueled her activism, her many arrests for nonviolent acts of civil disobedience, her coining the rallying cry “¡Si, se puede!,” and her role in organizing farmworkers and establishing the labor union that is now called the United Farm Workers. We learned Huerta is 94 years old, has a social justice foundation in her name, and that a public elementary school in San Francisco was re-named for her in 2018.

In the kitchen we made a classic Mexican farm breakfast, huevos rancheros, in celebration of Huerta’s and her students’ Mexican roots. Students warmed corn tortilas, made pico de gallo, and fried eggs to order. This was a complicated recipe with a lot of components, but everyone worked together to put together a visually stunning and truly satisfying meal!

2nd/3rd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 5

In the classroom this week we learned about the labor leader and activist Larry Itliong, who immigrated to the United States from the Philippines when he was a teenager. We looked at several books that feature Itliong’s life and specifically his role in the formation of the United Farm Workers union during the Delano Grape Strike of 1965-1970. For Labor Day 2024, PBS News Hour aired an animated StoryCorps short film featuring Itliong’s son Johnny and his grandson Aleks, which we watched together.

In the kitchen we made lumpia filled with onion, garlic, carrot, Japanese sweet potato, Savory cabbage, and bell pepper. We learned to roll the filling in a wrapper not unlike the dumpling wrappers we worked with earlier and sealed each lumpia with an egg wash. The chefs took turns placing the lumpia gently into hot oil, waiting for them to turn golden brown, and removing them safely onto a paper-towel-lined plate. We enjoyed the lumpia with banana ketchup, a popular sweet/savory/spicy Filipino condiment.

4th/5th Grade Edible Social Studies Field Trip

Room 202 braved three modes of public transportation (MUNI, BART, and AC Transit) on a beautiful, sunny winter day and visited Cafe Ohlone’s latest outdoor restaurant space, called ‘oṭṭoytak, on the UC Berkeley campus. Students met with the Ohlone chefs and activists Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino, who shared their languages, basketry, history, instruments, native plants, and family stories. We learned a song in Chochenyo and played an Ohlone game with sticks very similar to one we played together during our last cooking class of the year.

No matter how many points each table got while playing the game, everyone got a special treat to end the sesssion: rosehip and elderflower tea served with chia and black walnut brownies. Thank you, Cafe Ohlone, for hosting us and modeling the thriving Indigenous past, present, and future.

2nd/3rd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 4

We started class this week by reading the book Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, which introduced the concept of a labor union and a labor strike. We then learned about a famous strike of sugar beet farmworkers in Oxnard, California in 1903. In opposition to their wages being cut and being paid in store credit among other issues, farmworkers across languages and cultures came together to form the Japanese-Mexican Labor Association, one of the first multi-racial labor unions in American history. The farmworkers ultimately won their fight against the sugar beet company and their contracting company. We looked at some photos from Oxnard from this time period and a poster from 2023 inviting locals in Oxnard to a public ceremony commemorating the events of 120 years ago.

In the kitchen, we made a salad of roasted beets with a dressing of garlic, ginger, orange, and miso. Students were able to customize their own rice bowls with toppings from Japanese and Mexican food cultures: nori, furikake, pepitas, salsa macha, avocado, green onion, cilantro, and lime. It was many chefs’ first exposure to beets and everyone had a lot of fun getting messy and dyed fuschia!

2nd/3rd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 3

This week in the classroom we learned that some of California’s earliest farmworkers were Chinese immigrants who were looking for work after helping to build the transcontinental railroad in the 19th century. We looked at photos from this time period of Chinese people in the fields and vineyards of California as well as a political cartoon referencing the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the United States’ relationship with other minority and historically oppressed peoples.

We watched a video about the history of dumplings and talked about how almost every food culture has some form of dough wrapped around a delicious filling.

In the kitchen we made our own dumplings, filling them with fresh, local produce as well as a few hidden coins. The tradition of hiding coins in dumplings is a part of Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations, which will occur in January of 2025. The Chinese zodiac will turn from the year of the dragon to the year of the snake. The person who gets the coin will be very lucky and have good fortune in the new year!

2nd/3rd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 2

In the classroom this week we reviewed statistics about California’s farmworkers: most are Mexican, most are men, most are undocumented. We discussed how people without documentation are not protected by laws guaranteeing a minimum wage, meal and rest breaks, or the right to vote. Mexico is both California’s neighbor and another major agricultural producer. We read the book Mi papá es un agrícola/My Father the Farmworker, which was written by the son of a Mexican man who came to the United States to work on farms as part of the Bracero Program in the mid-20th century.

In the kitchen, we made a bright, delicious guacamole using Haas avocados grown in Mexico and Bacon avocados grown in California. The chefs enjoyed the guacamole with yellow and blue tortilla chips from local food producer Sabor Mexicano. At the end of class, we washed the avocado seeds and every student placed one inside a damp paper towel inside a sandwich bag, where they will sit for a few weeks while we wait for them to sprout. In the new year, all the second and third graders will be able to take home an avocado plant, which won’t likely produce fruit for many years but should make a lovely houseplant!

2nd/3rd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 1

For our first week together, the second and third graders learned that California is an agricultural powerhouse that produces much of the produce eaten around the country and even the world. In the classroom, we read Before We Eat: From Farm to Table by Pat Brisson and illustrated by Mary Azarian to remind us of and celebrate all the labor that goes into our food system.

In the kitchen, we made a 100% California-grown salad highlighting the autumn season. Our produce came from local organic farms in San Benito, Santa Barbara, San Mateo, Tulare, Monterey, and Santa Cruz Counties. The thyme came from San Francisco County from a pot on my balcony! There was quite a bit of salad spinning, chopping, and emulsifying involved in putting together all the colorful components of our dish. In our closing circle, each chef named their favorite ingredient in the salad. Every ingredient (except for poor fennel) got at least one shoutout. Happy fall!

4th/5th Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 10

In the classroom this week we watched a short film called Seeds of Our Ancestors from the Cultural Conservancy featuring Native youth from California talking about their relationship to Native foodways. We spotted 12 ingredients in the film that we’ve used during our unit this year.

For our final course of the year, the fourth and fifth grade chefs made a simple chia porridge with a huckleberry sauce and topped the dessert with edible flowers, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, cocoa powder, bee pollen, and mesquite powder—all ingredients native to the Americas.

Each table played the Ohlone staves game, a fun game of chance with extreme highs and lows. It was wonderful to see how supportive the chefs were with each other through robust competition. In our closing circle, everyone shared a favorite recipe from the fall and an appreciation about Edible Social Studies. Our fifth graders will be sorely missed!