1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 9

In the classroom this week we read Daniel Yaccariono’s account of his family’s immigration to the United States, All the Way to America: The Story of a Big Italian Family and a Little Shovel. The book opened up a discussion about the many ways immigrants arrive in America and pass down their traditions over the generations.

In the kitchen, we made a dish that orginated in Venice, Italy that truly showcases spring produce called risi e bisi (“rice and peas”). The first grade chefs shelled pounds and pounds of fresh peas, then worked with a special rice grown only in Italy called Vialone Nano. The finished dish was bright green, savory, and truly outstanding with a grating of Parmigiano-Reggiano on top.

Kindergarten Edible Social Studies: Week 4

Our theme for this lesson was cook together and eat together! In the classroom we read Marcia Brown’s retelling of the old European folktale Stone Soup. Students thought the story was about sharing, and making something bigger from lots of small parts.

In the kitchen we made our own version of stone soup, using a potato as our stone, and filled the pot with lots of fruits and vegetables and barley, which was one of the ingredients the villagers added in the book we read. The kindergarten chefs are getting super comfortable using all the tools and equipment in the outdoor classroom and it’s great to see their confidence grow.

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 8

In the classroom this week we read Oge Mora’s book Thank You, Omu! about a grandmother who generously shares her thick red stew with all the people in her community. We learned that in West African cuisine, a base of tomatoes, onions, and peppers is frequently paired with spices and herbs like ginger and thyme.

In the kitchen we made a vegan, Nigerian-style version of Jollof rice by making a thick red stew of our own. We did not use the traditional Scotch bonnet pepper, but the dish is still piquant with the help of African curry powder. To complement the savory heat of the Jollof rice, the first grade chefs made a simple slaw that is commonly served as a side dish in Nigeria with shredded cabbage, grated carrots, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and a dollop of mayonnaise. Some of us at the rice and the salad separately, while others mixed the rice and the salad all together!

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 10

For our final lesson of the unit, the second graders watched a short video from Foodwise Kids called What’s Cool About Farmers Markets? We talked about the many markets there are around the city of San Francisco and how what’s available changes with the seasons.

In the kitchen, we made our own California version of trifle, a traditional English dessert. Everyone got busy zesting Cara Cara oranges, blood oranges, and Tango tangerines. We mixed the freshly grated zest with California orange blossom honey and yogurt from Bellwether Farms in Petaluma. The chefs juiced some of the citrus and made a citrus salad with the rest. They also made whipped cream by hand. Each student got to assemble their own trifle, starting with a base of homemade olive oil cake, then fresh citrus juice and California extra-virgin olive oil, then the yogurt, then fruit, then more layers and a final topping of whipped cream and an edible flower garnish.

This was a super fun project to do on a beautiful, sunny day, and it really showcased the best of what California farmers and food producers have to offer. The grand finale of our time together this year was a field trip to the Thursday Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. We can’t wait to see this group again in third grade!

Kindergarten Edible Social Studies: Week 3

This week we talked about the importance of making art and being creative, both for our own health and for the health of our community. In the classroom we read a book by Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell called Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood.

In the kitchen, the kindergarten chefs made their own edible art. Their prompt was to make the likeness of a person using salad ingredients, but they were also free to create something different and inspiring. Students spent the first part of class prepping their medium, including sugar snap peas, Castelvetrano olives, Pink Lady apples, purple cabbage, lunchbox peppers, golden beets, carrots, cherry tomatoes, watermelon radish, cheddar cheese, and chives.

Everyone got to make their own salad art on a cutting board. We especially loved students’ use of edible flower petals, chickpea pasta, and raisins to add detail. At the end of class, we seasoned our art with salt, pepper, and extra-virgin olive oil, then enjoyed not only how the art we made looked, but also how it tasted!

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 7

In the classroom this week we read Jacqueline Jules’ and Kathryn Mitter’s Duck for Turkey Day about how different families celebrate a “traditional” American holiday.

In the kitchen the first grade chefs made fresh spring rolls inspired by Vietnamese gỏi cuốn. First we cut all our ingredients into long, thin strips: cucumber, tofu, carrot, lettuce, purple cabbage, cilantro, Thai basil, and mint. We learned how to fill and roll with a base of rice vermicelli. Some of us decorated the tops of our edible rice paper with edible flower petals so that when rolled, their bright colors were showcased on top. Some students opted for a sprinkling of minced jalepeño and then we all enjoyed a vegan dipping sauce featuring load of freshly squeezed lime juice with our rolls. It was fun to explore how rice can be made into paper and noodles that people can eat!

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 9

It’s an interesting time to be studying the farmworkers movement with increased support for unions around the country after decades of declining membership, including at the United Farm Workers. This week we looked at other ways farms are trying to raise awareness of and support their farmworkers and focused on community supported agriculture (or CSA), a system that allows farms to connect directly with customer-members via weekly deliveries of produce to their neighborhoods and homes.

In the classroom we watched a short profile of Eatwell Farm in Dixon, California, a farm I happen to have been a member of since 2007. We learned about the farm from Lorraine Walker, who took over Eatwell after her husband died of cancer. Eatwell has about 1000 members throughout the Bay Area who get CSA boxes every week. Members can donate to a share care fund that translates to boxes Eatwell then delivers for free to people who are battling cancer. Members receive a weekly newsletter with updates about the farm crew and what the farm’s challenges are (for example, how the extremely wet winter weather this year has prevented the crew from getting plant starts into the ground, which will delay production and harvest of many crops like strawberries later in the spring). We’ve spent time in earlier weeks discussing the government supports and benefits that are out of reach for many of California’s farmworkers; at Eatwell, members have the opportunity to donate to a special fund that goes directly to the crew to thank them for their hard work in feeding the community.

In the classroom, the second graders made a stir-fry from everything in the Eatwell CSA box for the week, which included mizuna, cabbage, kale, turnips, chives, arugula, and mandarin oranges. This is a recipe that can easily accommodate whatever produce you have on hand, and is a satisfying meal served over a bed of warm rice. The best part of being a part of a CSA is that direct connection to our food producers! We sent Lorraine a text and photo of our class enjoying the stir-fry and it was fun for students to see her respond with words of encouragement.

Kindergarten Edible Social Studies: Week 2

This week we started a conversation about Indigenous traditions and wisdom, a theme we will continue to explore in subsequent Edible Social Studies lessons in every grade at Harvey Milk. In the classroom, we read The Popcorn Book by Tomie dePaola and learned that Native peoples of the Americas have been eating and decorating with popcorn for thousands of years. Students shared different ways they have made popcorn in the microwave or with special machines at home.

In the classroom, we used a simple stove-top method to pop rainbow popcorn. We used a mortar and pestle, an ancient tool humans designed for food preparation, to make a spice blend featuring the flavors of Peru (a country with more than 50 varieties of corn!). We enjoyed our snack with glasses of iced chicha morada, a Peruvian drink made from purple corn that’s cooked with spices and garnished with fresh fruit.

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 6

This week we explored flavors from the Middle East and South Asia. In the classroom we read Leila in Saffron by Rukhsanna Guidroz and illustrated by Dinara Mirtalipova about a Pakistani American family who share a multi-generational dinner every Friday. We learned that saffron is one of the most expensive spices in the world, that it is harvested from crocus flowers, and that the word also refers to a deep golden yellow color.

In the kitchen, the first graders made havij polo, a Persian carrot rice dish. We got to work with fresh turmeric, which is bright orange just like a carrot, candied citrus peel, raisins, rose petals, and, of course, saffron. The dish has both savory and sweet qualities and is quite stunning to look at as well as to taste.

Kindergarten Edible Social Studies: Week 1

The kindergarteners will spend the next 10 weeks exploring how to keep our bodies and our communities healthy and thriving. For our first class, we learned that eating the rainbow keeps our bodies strong! Red fruits and vegetables protect our heart, lungs, and gut from disease; orange and yellow fruits and vegetables are good for our immune system and our vision; green fruits and vegetables rebuild our energy; blue and purple fruits and vegetables boost our memory and support healthy skin; and brown and white fruits and vegetables build healthy bones.

In the classroom we read Cathryn Falwell’s book Rainbow Stew about a family that harvests in their grandfather’s garden and cooks a colorful feast together. We talked about how in addition to keeping our diet diverse and colorful, the more diverse and colorful our community is, the stronger it will be.

In the kitchen we made a rainbow fruit salad with red strawberries, orange Tango tangerines, yellow pineapple, green kiwi, blue blueberries, purple and black blackberries, and white bananas. We had a lot of hands-on fun and many students had multiple helpings of the beautiful salad they made as a community.

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 9

The second grade social studies standards ask students to explore people who made a difference, and I can think of no better example of a historical person to spend time learning more about than César Chávez. In the classroom, we watched an excerpt from a short film documenting a descendent of Chávez’s, Genesis Butler, herself an activist, interviewing important people who worked with him in the farmworkers movement and visiting important places from his life. We spent a long time discussing his 36-day-long fast in 1988, as the second graders had many questions about his motivations, intentions, and ability to survive.

In the kitchen, we made a vegan tortilla soup - vegan in honor of Chávez’s lifelong activism around animal welfare and a dish with Mexican origins like Chávez’s family. We learned that César Chávez was, in addition to being the face of the farm labor movement, a champion of gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights. And, his dog was named Boycott!

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 5

We celebrated Latin foodways and Latin culture this week! In the classroom we read two books: Where Are You From? by Yamile Saied Méndez and illustrated by Jaime Kim about a child of Argentine heritage in conversation with her abuelo and Green is a Chile Pepper: A Book of Colors by Roseanne Greenfield Thong and illustrated by John Parra about how colorful Mexican culture is through food, dance, holidays, and crafts.

In the kitchen, we made arroz chaufa, a Peruvian fried rice dish that riffs on a Chinese classic. Our vegetarian version featured cumin and ají panca, a wonderfully fruity Peruvian pepper that isn’t hot, and loads of garlic and ginger. The first grade chefs practiced cracking eggs and cooking in a wok. We learned that using cold, pre-cooked rice for fried rice works the best because the grains stay firm and contain less moisture so they’re better able to stay separate during the cooking process while still absorbing flavor and sauce without getting mushy.

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 7

We celebrated Black history, Black farmers, and the second grade poetry unit this week. In the classroom, we learned that the number of Black farmers in America has fallen from nearly 1 million in 1920 to fewer than 50,000 today. In response, a few U.S. Senators have recently introduced the Justice for Black Farmers Act, which focuses on ending race-based discrimination at the USDA, protecting Black landowners from losing their land, and granting land to new Black farmers and Black farmers who have lost their land as part of the renewal of the Farm Bill in 2023. We then listened to two poems read by their authors, “Conflict” by Jordan Chaney and “A Love Letter to Future Generations” by Naima Penniman.

In the kitchen, we made a vegan version of hot tamales, a dish historians believe arose out of friendships between migrant Mexican farmworkers and African American sharecroppers in the American South during the early 20th century. Hot tamales are made with cornmeal instead of masa harina and are cooked in a spicy, tomato-based sauce. Traditionally made with pork, our recipe includes nutritional yeast and seasoned tofu for extra umami. This is a labor-intensive recipe that is well worth the effort and a perfect activity to do together with friends!

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 4

In the classroom this week we read Maurice Sendak’s classic book Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months. The first graders wiggled their fingers and raised their hands when we arrived at the chapter of their birth month.

In the kitchen, we made a soup called avgolemono, which comes from the ancient foodways of Sephardic Jews. The soup is thickened with rice and egg and features tangy lemon juice and lots of fresh herbs. It was a lovely meal on a very cold day in the outdoor kitchen classroom!

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 6

In honor of social justice icon Dolores Huerta, this week the second graders deepened their understanding of her life and work. In the classroom, we watched an interview Huerta gave to ABC News in 2021, where we learned that she was a schoolteacher who witnessed the plight of farmworkers firsthand, that she coined the phrase “¡Sí, se puede!,” that she identifies as Chicana, and that even in her 90s she is still fighting for justice.

In the kitchen we made huevos rancheros, a traditional breakfast from rural Mexican farm culture. Students made a simple salsa fresca with tomatoes, onion, garlic, cilantro, and lime. We learned how to fry eggs and toast tortillas and assembled our meal with refried beans (the recipe for which comes from a fifth grade Edible Social Studies lesson on the food system and climate change!). Fresh avocado, some cilantro for garnish, and a final squeeze of fresh lime juice really made the flavors pop.

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 3

This week the first graders learned about manoomin, a sacred food of the Indigenous Anishinaabe peoples. In the classroom, we read The Story of Manoomin, a book produced by the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The book has illustrations of Native children participating in the wild rice harvesting, drying, parching, dancing, and winnowing processes. We learned some Ojibwe words like waabigwan (flower), jiimaan (canoe), aamoo (bee), and miigwech (thank you).

In the classroom, we worked with wild rice we sourced directly from the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and made a salad featuring other ingredients native to present-day North America like squash, cranberries, and pumpkin seeds. There were a lot of fun jobs in this lesson, including making our own salad dressing using a mortar and pestle - a tool humans have used for cooking for tens of thousands of years!

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 5

This week the second graders learned about the labor leader Larry Itliong and the role he played in the creation of the United Farm Workers. In the classroom, we watched an excerpt from the film Delano Manongs about the Delano Grape Strike, which lasted from 1965 to 1970. Itliong and his fellow Filipino farmworkers are often left out of the narrative around California’s agricultural labor movement, but it was Itliong who approached César Chávez asking him and his fellow Mexican farmworkers to join together and work in solidarity with the Filipinos. They achieved something together they would never have accomplished had they continued to protest and strike alone.

In the kitchen, we made lumpia, a fried spring roll common in Filipino food culture. Lumpia are traditionally made with ground pork, but our vegetarian version featured cabbage, celery root, bell pepper, carrot, and Japanese sweet potato. Everyone got a chance to practice rolling the lumpia tightly and brushing with an egg wash to ensure a good seal once they went into the hot oil. We enjoyed them with a sweet and sour dipping sauce, and had time at the end of class to plant the fava beans we started in small paper cups a few weeks back! We look forward to all those fava plants being taller than all the second graders’ heads by the time the school year ends.

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 2

This week we read the book Rice & Rocks written by Sandra L. Richards and illustrated by Megan Kayleigh Sullivan. Giovanni, the protagonist, is having friends over for Sunday dinner and is mortified his grandmother is making her traditional Jamaican rice and beans (or, as he calls it, “rice and rocks”). He ends up going on a magic flight around the world with his pet parrot, Jasper, and discovers that people all over enjoy rice and beans, including his friends’ families. Closer to home, Ms. Francis told us all about the Jamaican recipes she’s learned from her mother-in-law.

In the kitchen, the first graders made Jamaican rice and peas, seasoning the rice and kidney beans with garlic, freshly grated ginger, green onions, allspice berries, and bay leaves and fresh thyme from our school garden. The rice is cooked in coconut milk and traditionally prepared with a Scotch bonnet pepper, but we used the much milder Cherry Bomb pepper instead as a garnish for anyone who craved a little heat! The resulting dish was fragrant, faintly tropical, and deeply satisfying. We enjoyed the rice and peas with a refreshing iced sorrel (the Jamaican name for hibiscus) tea sweetened with agave syrup. Everyone loved the deep magenta color and we had a few tea converts in the class.

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 4

It was the 100th day of school mid-week, so we went back over 100 years ago and learned about the Oxnard Beet Strike of 1903. In the classroom, the second graders looked at a couple of issues of the San Francisco Call newspaper that described the strike and its violent aftermath. We noticed that the paper was in black and white, with no photographs, only drawings, and that the text was super small!

Japanese and Mexican farmworkers in Oxnard came together to form the Japanese Mexican Labor Association, one of the first multiracial labor unions in the United States. They went on strike for fairer working conditions and eventually won, though the story also has a darker conclusion. When the JMLA sought recognition under the American Federation of Labor after its victory in Oxnard, the AFL refused to accept Asian members.

In the kitchen, we made a roasted beet salad with blanched beet greens, orange, miso from Japanese food culture, and pepitas from Mexican food culture in honor of the beet farmworkers who united across cultural differences to make the world more just. 120 years later, the work they started continues.

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 1

We kicked off our Everybody Cooks Rice unit in the classroom with the book Danbi Leads the School Parade by Anna Kim. It’s the story of a young child who moves from South Korea to the United States and forges new friendships through the beautiful food she brings for lunch.

In the kitchen, the first grade chefs each made their own kimbap. We learned that kimbap is different than Japanese sushi in that the rice is seasoned with sesame oil and sesame seeds instead of vinegar and that the filling is usually cooked. Students had a variety of fillings to choose from: omelet, carrots, danmuji (pickled daikon), spinach, cucumber, and ueong jorim (braised burdock root).

Everyone had a great time rolling kimbap with bamboo mats and enjoying all the vibrant colors of our meal.