It was the 100th day of school this week, and the second graders spent our time together in the classroom looking at a couple of issues of the San Francisco Call newspaper from 1903, more than 100 years ago! We read from two articles describing a strike in the sugar beet fields of Oxnard, California organized by Japanese and Mexican farmworkers. The Japanese Mexican Labor Association was one of America’s first multiracial labor unions, and the strike won the workers better wages and the right to negotiate directly with the farms.
In the kitchen, students made a roasted beet salad incorporating both Japanese and Mexican foodways. They blanched the greens; peeled and sliced three types of beets; made a dressing from miso, ginger, and Cara Cara orange juice; and garnished the salad with sliced green onion and toasted pepitas. Everyone was excited to compare notes on how vividly the red beets dyed their fingers and to nourish our growing fava beans with leftover water from the table. Watch out for magenta pee after eating this salad!
