Our second grade Edible Social Studies unit introduces the fact that California grows much of the fresh fruits and vegetables for the rest of the United States and also played a major role in the birth of the farmworkers movement. This week, the fourth and fifth graders learned that California, and specifically the Bay Area, is now also playing a major role in new food technologies designed to help fight climate change.
In the classroom we watched a video from Wired called The Strange Science of the Impossible Burger. A lively discussion ensued about whether the access and cost issues, concerns about the health impacts of ultra-processed foods, and real or perceived differences in taste will ultimately relegate companies like Impossible Foods or Beyond Meat to just another passing food fad or mean they can convince enough consumers to adopt their products that it will translate into meaningful reductions in harmful emissions.
In the kitchen we made Impossible meat sliders with a seasonal side salad of Japanese cucumber, red cabbage, Sungold tomatoes, and parsley from our school garden. Many students had never tasted Impossible meat before and many were very impressed by how much it resembled hamburger in taste, texture, and smell.
We were joined this week by one of our Harvey Milk alums who is now in 8th grade. His class participated in our program when we were first piloting what has now become our K-5 Edible Social Studies curriculum. It was wonderful to be reminded of how far we’ve come and how special and wide-ranging our Harvey Milk family is!
