4th/5th Grade Edible Social Studies

It felt so good to be back in the kitchen classroom with our fourth and fifth graders this fall after a long delay! We will spend the semester exploring Indigenous foodways, and our first class was all about the acorn, an important food staple for many Native peoples on the land we now call California.

In the classroom, we passed out a variety of acorns that were gathered on a recent hike in the East Bay so students could examine them with their hands. Some were big and the color of coffee; others were slender and pale green; most of them had caps that easily fell off, indicating their ripeness. September and October is acorn season; it’s a wonderful time to forage for them all over the Bay Area if you find yourself in the presence of oak trees. We watched a North Fork Mono cultural educator named Lois Conner Bohna share about the importance of acorn to her people and illustrate the labor-intensive process Indigenous people use to transform the hard, tannic fruit into a source of sustenance and nourishment.

In the kitchen, we made strawberry acorn pancakes using local, handmade acorn flour. Everyone got right to work slicing strawberries and mixing the batter as a team. The chefs were excellent at flipping the pancakes at just the right moment when one side was nicely browned. When both sides of each pancake were golden and cooked, we stacked them up and served them warm and topped with maple syrup. The acorn has a deep, nutty flavor most of us had never tasted before. It is truly an ancient, special treat.

3rd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 1

This fall, the third graders will be exploring the history of San Francisco in 10 meals. We started at the very beginning, with the Ohlone, the Indigenous people who have thrived off this land since time immemorial. In the classroom, students watched a short film about two Ohlone cultural leaders and chefs, Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino, and their project, Cafe Ohlone, in the East Bay. We learned that Ohlone foodways involve foraging from the abundance of edible plants, fish, waterfowl, and land animals that make what we now call the Bay Area one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots.

In the kitchen, we made an Ohlone salad—not a recreation of the Ohlone diet as most of our ingredients were sourced from Northern California farms, but rather an attempt to honor native plants and the spirit of eating locally and seasonally. We washed and dried watercress, chopped blackberries, picked edible flower petals, diced hard-boiled duck egg, and made a simple dressing featuring elderberry juice. Everyone worked as a team and it was a great way to introduce our new third grade teaching team to our program as the third grade chefs showed off their accumulated knowledge and how to prepare food and enjoy it together in community.

Kindergarten Edible Social Studies: Week 8

Our final class of the year was all about the power of food and how food can change the world. In the classroom, we read Pies from Nowhere: How Georgia Gilmore Sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott written by Dee Romito and illustrated by Laura Freeman.

In the kitchen, we made our own no-bake pies celebrating first-of-the-season cherries! The kindergarten chefs made a simple pie crust with crushed graham crackers, butter, salt, and sugar; filled mini pie tins; filled the crusts with a mixture of cream cheese and whipped cream and marinated cherries; and added a final topping of whipped cream, edible flowers, and sprigs of peppermint from our school kitchen garden.

Because the pies need time to chill in the fridge, Ms. Vashti’s class ate pies started by Ms. Joyce, Ms. Vee’s class ate pies made by Ms. Vashti’s class, and Ms. Vee’s class made pies that were then shared with the Harvey Milk staff. You can take this recipe and use whatever fruit you have on hand. It was a sweet end to our time together this year, and a reminder that all of us can make a difference in the world. We can’t wait for more culinary adventures next year!

Kindergarten Edible Social Studies: Week 7

Our theme this week was foodways - what people eat and how they eat. In the classroom, we read the book My Food, Your Food, Our Food written by Emma Carlson Berne and illustrated by Sharon Sordo, which explores how our food traditions are alike and how they are different. The more exposure we have to foods from around the world, the more we discover new tastes and textures we love, the more we notice there isn’t only one way to be healthy. You can listen to or download the song version of the book here.

In the kitchen, the kindergarten chefs worked with fonio, an ancient grain from West Africa. Students cooked the fonio with onions, ginger, greens, curry, and tomato paste in coconut oil, then added the fonio and vegetable stock, brought the mixture to a boil, and let the grains cook by simply steaming in the hot pot with the lid on and the heat turned off for five minutes. Chopped tomatoes, yams, black-eyed peas, and peppers topped off our brightly colored grain bowls. Most of us tried a new food today, and liked it!

Kindergarten Edible Social Studies: Week 6

Hooray, it’s May! This week the kindergarteners talked about the seasons. In the classroom, we read our first non-fiction book of the unit, The Reason for the Seasons by Ellie Peterson, and learned that we have seasons because of the tilt of the Earth.

In the kitchen, we celebrated all things spring by making a salad with baby spinach, spring onion, asparagus, English peas, strawberries, and a cider-pumpkin seed dressing. We couldn’t find any flax seed oil at our local grocery stores in time for class, so we had a good conversation about how to substitute what you have on hand when you’re working with recipes.

Nowadays it’s easy to forget that many edible plants have seasons. Our global supply chain ensures that produce is available all year round at the store. But eating with the seasons can often help support local farmers; allows us to maximize on ripeness, taste, and even nutrients; and can often be better for the environment because the food doesn’t have to travel as far to get to our plates. If you compare a strawberry from Mexico you eat in December versus a strawberry from Davis you eat in May, you can definitely tell the difference!

In addition to eating with the seasons, human beings have long created rituals and celebrations related to the specific time of year. We discussed some of our favorite holidays and how they’re connected to what’s growing (for example, pumpkins at Halloween, or evergreens for the winter solstice). In short, the seasons are awesome, and we want to learn more!

Kindergarten Edible Social Studies: Week 5

Our theme this week was all about the power of coming together as a community to create something larger than ourselves. In the classroom, we read Marcia Brown’s retelling of the European folktale Stone Soup. In the kitchen, we made our own version of the soup (using potatoes to represent the stones)!

There was a LOT of chopping of vegetables and mincing of herbs, as well as some waiting involved while the ingredients cooked. Without the hard work of everyone at our tables, we would never have been able to finish the recipe within the confines of the class time. Not only is cooking together a healthy act, but also sitting down together to eat. The kindergarteners will hear many, often confusing, messages as they grow up about what constitutes a healthy diet. In this lesson our intent is to celebrate the magic of sharing a meal—any meal—with people you love, just like we have the privilege of doing every day at our school.

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 9

For the final week of our unit, we read Meenal Patel’s book Priya Dreams of Marigolds and Masala about an American child who keeps her family’s cultural traditions alive across geography and generations. In the kitchen, we made rice kheer, a sweet pudding popular in the Indian subcontinent.

The first graders crushed spices in a mortar and pestle, then cooked them with basmati rice in ghee before adding soymilk and allowing the mixture to simmer and thicken. While we waited, we made mandalas using all sorts of colorful and interesting grains of rice glued to round pieces of wood.

The kheer was finished off with golden raisins, sugar, rose water, saffron, and rose petals. We’ve used some of these ingredients before in a dish originally from Iran, but they were transformed into something entirely new in a rice pudding. Check out the works of art below. We can’t wait to see everyone next year in second grade!

Kindergarten Edible Social Studies: Week 4

This week was all about celebrating creativity and art in both our food and in our communities. In the classroom we read the book Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood. In the kitchen, we made salad people, working with different colors, textures, and tastes. Some chefs chose to go the abstract route; others made salad cats. Some of the most popular materials were the kalamata olives and the chick pea pasta. Everyone’s work of art was singular and delicious. You can try this at home with whatever you have on hand, drizzled with a little olive oil or your favorite dressing!

Kindergarten Edible Social Studies: Week 3

Earth Day is coming soon, and this week the kindergarteners discussed what we can do to help keep the planet healthy. In the classroom we read Todd Parr’s book I Love the Earth and Melanie Walsh’s book 10 Things I Can Do to Help My World. In addition to turning off the lights when we’re not using them and doing our best to conserve water, what we eat also has a huge impact on the environment. We will explore diet and climate change more with our fifth grade Edible Social Studies unit, but this year our focus is simple. It takes less energy and water to produce plant protein like beans than animal protein like beef, and there’s no more stunning sign of spring than the fava bean. Fava beans are not only fun to work with in the kitchen when there are many friends around to pitch in, but also planting them nourishes the soil.

With the backdrop of the tall fava plants the second graders started growing from seeds only in February, the kindergarteners got to work shelling the beans from their velvety pods. A big two-pound stack yielded a small bowlful of raw fava beans, which we then blanched in salted boiling water for about a minute. After shocking the cooked beans in cold water, we peeled them again, removing the outer layer of the seed coat to reveal the bright green beans underneath.

The peeled and cooked beans went into a food processor with tahini, lemon juice, garlic, dill, and olive oil. We enjoyed our homemade fava bean hummus with crackers and slices of rainbow carrot and cucumber. Room 111’s class was interrupted by rain (hooray!), but everyone cheerfully moved indoors for a special treat at their desks. We love the earth and we love fava bean hummus!

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 8

In the classroom this week the first graders read Thank you, Omu! by Oge Mora. We could practically taste Omu’s thick red stew that she cooked all day long after looking at Mora’s beautiful collage illustrations, so of course we had to make our own stew in the kitchen classroom.

Jollof rice is made in several West African countries and is often served with meat. We made a vegan version with coconut oil, onions, and a vibrant mixture of tomatoes and bell peppers cooked down with garlic, ginger, thyme, and a mildly spicy African curry blend. The first graders made a quick Nigerian coleslaw with cabbage, carrots, and mayonnaise—the cool crunchiness of the slaw perfectly complemented the heat of the jollof rice. Several students had fourths. They have learned to work together so well this year, and we look forward to one final class, dessert, next week!

Kindergarten Edible Social Studies: Week 2

This week we explored the wisdom of Indigenous foodways and learned that popcorn has been enjoyed by Native peoples for thousands of years. In the classroom we read Tomie dePaola’s The Popcorn Book, in which we learned that one-thousand-year-old popcorn kernels were discovered in Peru and could still be popped!

In the kitchen classroom the kindergarteners made a Peruvian spice blend, popped fresh popcorn, and cut up fresh fruit for chicha morada, a refreshing Peruvian beverage made with purple corn and spices. We had so much fun grinding the spice blend in the mortar and pestle, chopping pineapple and green apple, squeezing limes, and customizing our own bowls of popcorn with our homemade spice mix, melted butter, nutritional yeast, and the Japanese rice seasoning furikake.

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 7

Our lesson this week was a great example of how ideas travel around the world. Arroz chaufa from Peru takes its inspiration from Chinese fried rice. The vegetarian version we made together featured ají panca, a mild Peruvian red pepper that gives the dish a bold, fruity flavor.

In the classroom the first graders read a Peruvian folktale, Un Lazo a la Luna (Moon Rope). In the kitchen, they got to work cracking and whisking eggs, chopping red bell peppers, snipping green onions, and measuring out soy sauce and sesame oil.

This is a simple yet satisfying dish that is a great way to turn cold leftover rice into something special. We can all continue in the make-it-your-own tradition by adding our favorite vegetables, protein, or seasoning.

Kindergarten Edible Social Studies: Week 1

We had great fun in our first Edible Social Studies classes together. In the classroom, the kindergarteners read Lois Ehlert’s colorful book Planting A Rainbow, which features some plants that Rooms 107 and 111 are already growing by the window! We discussed how colorful fruits and vegetables provide healthy phytonutrients to our growing bodies. Similarly, the diversity of our school community only makes us stronger.

In the kitchen, we made a rainbow fruit salad, cutting up first-of-the-season California strawberries, peeling and segmenting Golden Nugget mandarins, slicing mangoes, peeling kiwis, and combining them with blueberries and blackberries. In the process, we learned to use some new tools, got messy, worked together, and got to enjoy a sweet snack outside.

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 6

We continued our exploration of all the food cultures that make up America with Rashin Kheiriyeh’s picture book Saffron Ice Cream about an Iranian American child’s first visit to the beach in New York City. In the kitchen, the first graders worked with saffron, cinnamon, fresh turmeric, candied citrus peel, raisins, and dried rose petals and made havij polo, a Persian carrot rice dish. Everyone marveled at the vibrantly colored ingredients, especially the turmeric, which dyed our fingers and the worktables a brilliant yellow.

The sweetest thing about this week’s lesson was the fact that our recipe incorporated two ingredients made by other grade levels during their own Edible Social Studies units this year. The fourth and fifth graders were studying the intersection of the food system and climate change last semester, and during a lesson on food waste, they candied the peel of lemons, oranges, and limes - turning stuff that would normally be thrown away into something not only edible but considered a delicacy.

Just before serving the havij polo, the first grade chefs drizzled a simple syrup over the rice that was the byproduct of candied kumquats the second graders made last week for their final class on the farmworkers movement and the history of agricultural labor in California. We love intergenerational moments in the kitchen classroom almost as much as we love all the interesting flavors in this Persian rice!

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 5

In the classroom this week, the first graders read Maurice Sendak’s classic Chicken Soup with Rice and shared their birthdays as we went through each month of the year.

In the kitchen we made a vegetarian avgolemono soup, a dish with roots in Spain, Turkey, Italy, and Greece. The chefs got busy prepping celery, carrots, garlic, lemon juice, and egg. The soup came together fairly quickly with cooked rice, Aneto vegetable broth, and a garnish of fresh dill, oregano, and parsley. We are so impressed with the first graders’ teamwork and their positive attitudes. The soup was deliciously creamy and savory and another wonderful example of how rice is enjoyed around the world and at home in the United States.

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 9

For our culminating class, the second graders learned a Spanish folk song called “De Colores,” which is the unofficial anthem of the United Farm Workers. We sang along in the classroom to a rendition by the group Las Cafeteras and friends.

In the kitchen, we again celebrated the agricultural bounty of California, this time with mini olive oil cakes made with California olive oil, eggs, and wheat. Students sliced first-of-the-season organic strawberries, made fresh whipped cream, picked edible flower petals, and candied kumquats for a beautiful, colorful dessert that was even more fun to eat together than it was to make.

Thank you to all the farmworkers who work tirelessly every day to feed us. Thank you to Ms. Reynolds and Ms. Butler and to all our incredible volunteers for their help with this unit: Arabella, Aurélie, Janette, Jodi, and Rebecca. See everyone in third grade!

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 4

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!”

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 8

We’ve spent many weeks learning about the problems within our farm labor system. This week, we celebrated a model, community supported agriculture (CSA), that connects consumers directly to the people who feed us. In the classroom, we watched Dixon farmer Lorraine Walker, a friend of our program, introduce Eatwell Farm, which is located about 70 miles north of Harvey Milk. CSA members of the farm get a weekly newsletter detailing what’s happening around the farm, a weekly box of produce with an option to purchase eggs, and seasonal opportunities to visit the farm to harvest strawberries or lavender, make tomato sauce, pick olives, or just hang out. Members can donate to a burrito fund to show appreciation for the farm crew, and can donate their farm boxes if they’re away to benefit community members who are living with cancer and others who need access to high-quality organic produce.

In the kitchen, the second graders made a stir-fry from everything in the Eatwell CSA box this week: green garlic, spring onion, arugula, cauliflower, bok choy, fennel, radishes, kale, and mandarins. We marinated firm Hodo tofu (made in Oakland!) in soy sauce, sesame oil, and the mandarin juice, added garlic and ginger to the aromatics in the wok, and stir-fried all the vegetables together until they were cooked and well coated with sauce, then enjoyed our work over a bed of warm brown rice. This is a great clean-out-the-fridge recipe, and we hope students will carry the basics of how to make a simple meal such as this one into adulthood and that access to CSA boxes from local farms continues to increase for everyone in our community.

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 3

This week we explored one of the great pairings in many food cultures around the world, rice and beans! In the kitchen, the first graders prepared aromatics for Jamaican rice and peas, mincing garlic and ginger, slicing green onions, and pulling leaves off of fresh thyme. Everything went into the pot with cooked kidney beans, white rice, and coconut milk. While we waited for the rice to cook, we had a chance to try Jamaican sorrel tea and read a wonderful book by Sandra L. Richards called Rice and Rocks, which took us on a journey to Puerto Rico, New Orleans (where Ms. Webb is originally from and where Louis Armstrong used to sign his name “Red Beans and Ricely Yours”), and to Japan (where Ms. Chie is originally from) to learn about sekihan, a red beans and rice dish from Japan.

It was special to be able to connect the curriculum to our incredible first grade teaching team, whose families have roots in New Orleans and Jamaica, respectively, and to get our chefs thinking about how what they eat might be the same as and different from other kids in their community.

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 7

In the classroom, we celebrated Black History Month by listening to two poems written and read by contemporary Black artists. The first, Jordan Chaney’s “Conflict,” is dedicated to America’s migrant workers. The second, “A Love Letter to Future Generations,” is by Naima Penniman of Soul Fire Farm in New York.

In the kitchen, the second graders made hot tamales, a speciality of the Mississippi Delta that some historians believe grew out of the meeting of migrant Mexican farm laborers and African Americans picking cotton side by side in the early twentieth century. Hot tamales are traditionally filled with pork, but our vegan version incorporated sweet corn and poblano peppers. Unlike Mexican tamales, the dough is made with cornmeal instead of masa harina. Everyone had a lot of fun working with the corn husks and the dough, but it was a messy endeavor with a reward at the end that was worth the wait! Black history is American history. Black food is American food.