This week, we are learning all about food systems. What is a food system? It’s the journey that food takes from being planted as a seed all the way to being eaten by you.
We’ve got two simple creative writing activities to help get kids thinking about where their food comes from and how their food choices have an impact.
In some cases, like the beans and peas from your windowsill vegetable garden, that journey is very short. You plant the seed, care for the seedling, transplant to a bigger pot if needed, harvest it once it’s full grown, wash it, cook it, compost any scraps, and eat it.
In other cases, the journey can be quite long with a number of different steps, including growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, selling, eating, and composting. Some foods travel really far before they’re eaten. Now that many fruits and vegetables are grown on big farms all year round in warm climates, we get them at any time of year here too, even if they’re not “in season”—meaning growing naturally that time of year.
Think of something that you like to eat that doesn’t grow nearby. For example, here in Vancouver, lemons don’t grow well. It’s not warm enough. So the lemons we see at the grocery store are likely grown somewhere much warmer and far away, like India, Brazil, California, and Mexico.
We’re going to do a fun creative writing project to think about the different journeys that food can take to get to your plate. First, you’ll make a pros and cons list and second you’ll write a biography for two different vegetables.
Activity One: Pros/Cons
What’s a pro/con list? This is a list where you think up all the positive or good things about something--these are the pros--and all the negative or bad things--these are the cons. For example--let’s make a pro/con list about peanut butter. The pros I can think of are:
it’s delicious
for some people, it’s healthy
The cons are that:
it sticks to the roof of your mouth
some people are very allergic to it
Let’s make a list of the pros and cons about food that comes from far away. Can you think about all the positive things about food that comes from far away? Can you think about all the negative things?
Can’t think of anything? Click here for some sample answers.
Activity Two: Vegetable Biographies
Now that we’ve thought of all the pros and cons of food that is grown far away, let’s come up with a story about two different fruits or vegetables and the story of how they ended up on your plate.
What’s a biography? It’s the story of someone's life written by someone else. In this case, it’s the story of the life of two vegetables written by you.
For the first story, think about a fruit or vegetable that grows locally. For the second story, think of one that grows far away. You can choose whatever kind of fruit or vegetable you like.
With your grown-up, you can research:
How it’s grown
How it’s picked or harvested
Where it grows
How to cook with it
To create your stories, you can:
Draw a picture of the two different journeys.
Say the story out loud to your grown up and ask them to write it down on the worksheet.
Write it down yourself on your worksheet.
The Vegetable Biography worksheets have some questions to get you started on your story.
1. What country do I grow in?
2. What’s the weather like?
3. How am I harvested?
4. How do I get from the farm to the table?
5. Who are the people that your fruit or vegetable meet? Do they meet any of the people described from this week’s earlier lessons about food systems?
We’ve included two examples of a biographies of local habanero peppers and biographies of one that grows from far away.
By Greta, Age 9, Austin, Texas
Food Biography - Local
Once upon a time a habanero chile was growing in Texas. It is a very hot chile if you eat it, and it likes to grow in hot weather like we have in Texas. Because its seeds are so hot most animals don’t eat them but birds can’t feel the burn.
Food Biography - Far Away
One spring day, a sandhill crane ate a habanero and began its annual migration and flew to Vancouver. There, it pooped. And the poop, which contained a few undigested habanero seeds, landed in a pot of dirt on a balcony in False Creek. Then, as usual in Vancouver, it rained. And the seeds sprouted. Fortunately, the pot (and balcony) belonged to a family with relatives in Texas who knew what it was, and how deliciously spicy it could be.
DA END
By Nico, age 4, Vancouver, BC
Food Biography - Local (Habanero)
His name is Hot Dog. He lives in our garden. He lives in Vancouver
Food Biography - Far Away (Habanero)
This is Lemon. He grows next to the lettuce. He lives on Mars.
Drawings by Nico’s mom
We hope you enjoy this activity about food systems! We can’t wait to see or read your vegetable biographies. We hope you share them with us.
For our full Where Food Comes From: Food Systems Lesson and more activities click here to explore all of Lesson 9 of Growing Chefs! at Home.