This week, the first graders worked with edible rice paper and rice vermicelli. In the classroom, we read a book called Duck for Turkey Day about how a Vietnamese American child and her classmates enjoy different foods at home for the same holiday. In the kitchen, we made Vietnamese spring rolls.
Students got to work prepping fresh herbs (mint, cilantro, Thai basil), cucumber, carrot, cabbage, lettuce, and braised tofu into long, thin shapes, then rehydrated the rice paper in a bowl of water. Once the rice paper was wet and placed on the worktable, we piled on the fillings of our choice, including the rice noodles coated in sesame oil and edible flower petals.
There was enough for every chef to make at least two rolls, so all had ample practice rolling the wrapper up over the filling, folding in the sides, then continuing to roll up until all of the paper is folded around the filling. We made a simple vegan dipping sauce featuring lots of fresh lime juice and optional minced serrano chiles. One of the kids at Strawberry table exclaimed, “I love this so much!”
