Adventures in Multicultural Cooking: Taste Bud Travel
| What is this unit about? |
This unit is about sharing the tastes of the world with the children in our care. Try making some simple multicultural recipes from easily available ingredients. Give the children the many benefits that cooking together can bring and, at the same time, teach them about the foods of different cultures. Have you ever wished you could travel to a foreign land? Many of us dream of travel to exotic locations. Perhaps those dreams will come true for some of the children in our care. In this world that is growing more and more multicultural, this new generation of children will benefit from understanding and accepting the differences among people in our country and people around the world. |
| The value of cooking |
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We might think that young children aren’t interested in cooking, but most are ready and eager to learn. They can do many things, from cutting apples to peeling the shell from a hard-boiled egg. Just make sure you give them plastic knives for safety. They often become deeply absorbed in these new and interesting tasks. |
| These experiences are valuable for children in many ways. They build stronger hand muscles and involve children in important real work. Working gives children a sense of their own abilities, and from this comes genuine self-confidence. Children also learn real-life math and science concepts from cooking. They learn that things change and transform with heat, mixing, and other cooking processes. The group gains socially as well. There is a special feeling that comes when you all sit down to eat together the food you have worked together to prepare. | |
| There is another reason why cooking is so important for children: Young children are often hesitant to try new foods, but when they are involved in making those foods, they’re much more willing to taste the finished product. Cooking can help kids adopt new foods and broaden the range of foods they regularly eat. |
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| Learn about the world through cooking |
When you try out international recipes, children experience new things and learn about the traditions of other countries and cultures. When we learn about other cultures, we often learn about how people traditionally ate and dressed hundreds of years ago. Of course, western clothes like blue jeans and western foods like hamburgers are now common in cities all over the world. Here in America, we are adopting a more diverse diet, drawing on traditions from around the world. |
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| The recipes here are some timeless recipes that are fun to cook with the children. These foods, which are staples in the part of the world where they were developed, are becoming more and more popular in America. | |
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Talk with the children about each food’s culture. How do people eat this food? With their fingers? With chopsticks? With knives and forks? The children will find this interesting since many of them are just learning to use knives and forks. Talk with the children about the cultures that eat these foods. |
| Follow these tips for successful group cooking experiences |
Have the children wash their hands first. Teach them how to interweave their fingers as they wash and to wash while they sing the alphabet song – thorough hand-washing takes that long. Look carefully at each recipe. Determine what steps you will do and what steps you will let the children do. Our recipes below are written to help you to plan your role and the role of the children. |
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Draw the recipe out on a piece of poster board, showing the different steps. Make a box for each step. Draw a knife to show cutting and draw a pot for cooking. Talk to the children about the ingredients you plan to use, and show them to the children, since some will be unfamiliar. Talk with children about the steps before you start. If it is a long recipe and the children are losing interest, simply stop the meeting and get on with the cooking. Give everybody a job and keep waiting to a minimum. For recipes with many ingredients you may need to prepare in advance (like the cooking shows do) so children don’t have to wait too long. Show them an unpeeled onion, but then pull out one that is already peeled so you don’t have to make everyone wait quite as long. |
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Remember: Safety first! Try out plastic knives first to see if they will work for the job at hand. Don’t let children use metal knives. Keep children away from sources of heat, and never leave children unattended while cooking. |
| Multicultural recipes for kids and their caregivers |
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Tacos: A festive Mexican meal (makes 8 tacos) |
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| Hummus: A delicious middle-eastern bean dip (serves 10) |
Ingredients: Garnish with 2 tablespoons olive oil and/or 2 tablespoons chopped parsley. Serve with raw vegetables, pita bread (a flat bread with a pocket, also at many grocery stores), or crackers. You can open the cans of garbanzo beans. Use a blender or food processor to turn the beans into a paste. Drain the beans beforehand, saving the liquid. When blending, add only enough of this liquid so that the beans can be pureed to a smooth paste. The tahini tends to separate in the jar and should be stirred before pouring off the amount you need. The children can help stir the tahini in the jar and then measure the amount required. The children can roll the lemon on a table to get it ready for juicing. After you cut it open, they can squeeze the juice out. The children can help peel the cloves of garlic. Add these ingredients to the beans. Mix until it becomes a smooth, thick paste. Spread individual serving sizes onto small plates and top with the garnishes. Have the children chop or tear vegetables into bite-size pieces, and cut pita into small triangles. Have the children serve themselves the vegetables, the pita, and the crackers and dip each into the hummus. Enjoy! |
| Egg fried rice: a simple Chinese dish (serves 8 ) |
Ingredients: |
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This is a great recipe for leftover rice. If the rice is not fresh-cooked, the children can help by breaking up the cold rice. Use wet hands so that the rice doesn’t stick. The children can break and beat the eggs. You can sauté the onions in the vegetable oil in a skillet or wok, and then add the rice and soy sauce. Create a well in the pan by pushing the rice mixture to the sides of the pan. Scramble the eggs in the center of the pan, and then mix everything together, adding the soy sauce and pepper. Serve warm in a bowl. Try eating it with chopsticks for extra fun! |
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| Summary |
Through cooking, children have fun building the muscles in their hands, increase their self-esteem by realizing they can make something, and explore math and science in the real world. Plus they can sample some delicious foods from other countries! Multicultural cooking is a great way for children to learn more about and appreciate other cultures. |
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