Chapter 1

Food: Where Does It Come From?

1. Do you find that all living beings need the same kind of
food?
Ans: No, the food requirements of all living organisms vary.
On the basis of food requirements, living organisms are
grouped into three categories:
(i) Herbivores: Animals which eat only plants and plant products
are called herbivores. For example: Cow, elephant, rabbit,
horse, etc.
(ii) Carnivores: Animals which eat other animals are called
carnivores. For example: Lion, tiger, lizard, etc.
(iii) Omnivores: These animals eat both plants and animals. For
example: Dog, cat, crow, etc.

Q2. Name five plants and their parts that we eat.

Ans:
Q3. Match the items given in Column A that in Column B

Column A Column B
Milk, curd, paneer, ghee. eat other animals
Spinach, cauliflower, carrot eat plants and plant products
Lions and tigers are vegetables
Herbivores are all animal products

Ans:
Column A Column B
Milk, curd, paneer, ghee. are all animal products
Spinach, cauliflower, carrot are vegetables
Lions and tigers eat other animals
Herbivores eat plants and plant products

Q4. Fill in the blanks with the words given:

Herbivore, plant, milk, sugarcane, carnivore
(a) Tiger is a __________ because it eats only meat.
(b) Deer eats only plant products and so, is called____.
(c) Parrot eats only ___________ products.
(d) The____________ that we drink, which comes from
cows, buffaloes and goats is an animal product.
(e) We get sugar from ____________ .
Ans:
(a) Carnivore
(b) Herbivore.
(c) Plant.
(d) Milk.
(e) Sugarcane.
Q5. Define the term food.
Ans: Eatables taken by human beings and animals which
provide them energy for various activities, for growth and good
health, are called food.

Q6. What do you mean by food habit?

Ans: The habit of an individual owing to which it takes a
particular type of food depending on its taste and availability is
called food habit.

Q7. Define the term ingredients.

Ans: The materials that are needed to prepare a particular type
of dish are called ingredients.

Q8. Explain the importance of food for living organisms.

Ans: Food is needed by all living organisms for the following
reasons:

• It provides us energy to do various activities.

• It helps in growth.
• It helps in repair and replacement of damaged parts of the
body.
• It protects us from infections and diseases.
Q9. Whether plants or animals give us more varieties of
food? Explain.
Ans: We know that animals give us meat, eggs, milk, honey
and few other varieties of food only. On the other hand, plants
provide us a large variety of food. For example, cereals, pulses,
fruits, oil, fats, vegetables, sugar and a large number of other
products. Thus, we can conclude that plants give us more
varieties of food.

Q10. Why should we eat cooked food?

Ans: Cooked food is easily digested by our body. It also kills
harmful germs. Cooking increases the taste of the food. That is
why we should prefer cooked food.

Q11.What are the two main sources of food?

Ans: The two main sources of food are:

(a) Plants: We get fruits, vegetables, pulses, etc.,

from plants.

(b) Animals: We get milk, eggs, meat, etc., from animals.

Q12. Write the names of the plants that provide us:

 1. Vegetables
2. Fruits
3. Cereals or grains
4. Pulses
5. Oil or fat.

Ans: Various types of food given by plants are as follows:

1. Vegetables: Tomato, cabbage, spinach, potato, etc.

2. Fruits: Banana, grapes, apple, etc.
3. Cereals or grains: Rice, wheat, barley, ragi, etc.
4. Pulses: Gram, pea, beans, etc.
5. Oil or fat: Mustard, groundnut, sunflower, etc.

Q13. Which part of the plants do we eat generally? Write

the names of some more edible parts of the plants.

Ans:

1. Generally we eat fruits of many plants.

2. Besides fruits, we also eat flowers, leaves, roots, rhizomes
and stem of some plants. Various edible parts of plants
with some examples are listed below:

Edible part of Examples

1. Roots
plants Beet, Carrot, Sweet potato,

2. Stem Onion, Potato,

Radish, etc. Ginger,

Sugarcane, etc.
3. Leaves Spinach, methi, etc.

4. Flowers Cauliflower

5. Seeds Mustard, Sweet pea, Lotus,

6. Fruits Banana, Mango, Apple, etc.

Groundnut

Q14. Name some plants which have two or more edible parts.
Ans: Examples of plants having two edible parts, and the food obtained are given
below:

Name of First edible part Second edible part

plant Part Food type Part Food type

Seeds Spices, oil Leaves Vegetables

2.Lotus Seeds
1.Mustard Dry fruit Stem Vegetables

3.Radish Root Vegetable Leaves Vegetables

4.Methi Seeds Spices Leaves Vegetables

5.Drum Fruit Vegetable Flowers Vegetables

6.Gram
stick Seeds Pulse Leaves Vegetables

Q15. What is honey? What is its importance?

Ans: A sweet substance (liquid) prepared by bees from the
nectar, i.e., sweet juice collected from flowers, is called honey.
Honey consists of water, sugar, minerals and enzymes. It is
easily digestible, and used in medicines as an antiseptic (which
destroys the growth of microorganisms).
Q16. From where does honey come? How is it produced
and collected?
Ans: We get honey from honey bees.
Production of honey: Honey bees develop their nests called
hives on tall trees and buildings. (Fig. 1.2). Bee workers collect
nectar from flowers and store in container. The honey bees are
also reared in artificial hives.
Extraction of honey: Honey is extracted from bee hives either
manually or with the of an artificial help extractor.

Q17. Define sprouted seeds.

Ans: The germinating seeds at the initial stage when a white
structure grows out from the seed (radicle) are called sprouted
seeds.
Q18. Explain the terms: Herbivores, Carnivores and
Omnivores.

1. Herbivores: Animals which eat only the plants or the plant

products like fruits, flowers, seeds, nectar, etc., are called
herbivores. For example, deer, cow, rat, etc.

2. Carnivores: Animals which eat other animals are called

carnivores. For example, tiger, lion, etc.

3. Omnivores: Animals which eat both plants and their

products as well as other animals are called omnivores. For
example, human beings, cat, crow, etc.

Q19. What do you know about vegetarian and non-

vegetarian habits?
Ans: Man is omnivorous, i.e., he can feed on both plants and
animals. But due to some religious or traditional reasons some
people strictly avoid the food containing meat, fish, egg, etc.,
while some have no hesitation to have such food stuffs. On this
basis, there are two types of food habits found in our society:

• Vegetarian – people who do not eat meat, fish, egg, etc.

• Non-vegetarian – people who eat meat, fish, egg, etc.

Q20. Define Scavengers, Parasites with examples.

Ans: Scavengers: Some carnivores and omnivores eat dead
animals. They help in cleaning our surroundings. For example:
crow, jackal, hyena, etc.

Parasites: These are some very small animals which live on or

inside other animals and get their food from them. For example:
fleas, leeches, mosquitoes, bed-bugs, etc.

Q21. What are known as ‘energy rich food’?

Ans:
Cereals are known as ‘energy rich food’. For example: rice,
wheat, jowar, maize, etc.

Q22. One day you were busy from morning to evening. You
couldn’t have your lunch. How did you feel? Elaborate
your experience.
Ans: One day because of heavy load of work during the day, I
could not have my lunch and at the end of the day, I felt very
tired, and exhausted. I was too weak to do work. The hunger
was in alarming condition.

22. Differentiate between taproot and fibrous root.

Taproot Fibrous root

1)Tap root has only one and long root. 1) Fibrous roots do not have the main
The smaller that grow from the main root. All roots seem similar.
root is called the lateral root.

2) They go deep into the soil. 2) They do not go deep into the soil.
 3) Tap roots are found in plants which 3) These are found in plants which
have reticulate venation in their leaves. have parallel venation in their leaves.

Q24. Draw a neat and labelled diagram of Plant and its

parts.

Ans:

Textual Activities:

Activity 1.
Ask your friends in the school about the items they would
be eating during a day. See if you can also get this
information from friends staying in different states of India.
List all the items in your notebook as given in Table 1.1, for
as many friends as possible.

Name of the
Food item eaten in a day
student/friend

1.T.S. Sri Kumar

Idli, dosa, curd, rice, sambar, etc.
(Kerala)

2.Sarthak Sharma
Vegetable, dal, chapati, curd, rice,
etc.
(Uttar Pradesh)

3.Sachin Bose
Fish curry, rice, vegetable, etc.
(W. Bengal)
 Makki roti, rajma, sarson saag, curd,
4.Rohan Singh (Punjab)
ghee, etc.

5.P. Prasad Rao

Rice, tuar dal, rasam, kunduru, ghee,
pickle, etc.
(Andhra Pradesh)

Activity 2.
Choose some of the items you listed in Table 1.1 and try to
find out what ingredients are used to prepare these, by
discussing with your friends and elders at home. List them
in Table 1.2. Some examples are given here. Add some
more items to this list.

Food item Ingredients

Roti/chapati Atta, water

Dal Pulses, water, salt, oil/ghee, spices

Idli Rice, urad dal, salt, water

Fish curry Fish, spices, oil/ghee, salt, water

Activity 3.
Let us take the food items listed earlier and try to find out
where they come from— the ingredients and their sources.
Some examples are shown in Table 1.3. Fill in the blanks in
Table 1.3 and add more examples to this list.

Table 1.3: Ingredients used to prepare food items and their

sources
Activity 4.
From all the food items you have listed in Table 1.3,
choose those items whose ingredients are obtained from
plants. Which part of a plant? Identify these and list the
food items and plant parts as shown in

Table 1.4. Plant parts as food

Activity 5: Sprouting of moong.

Activity 5 asks us to put water into moong and chana seeds
and see what happens after 10 to 12 hours.

Ans: Moong and chana seeds live in a dormant state (sleeping

stage). When we put water to it, they absorb water and swells
in 10-12 hour, and after 2-3 days it develops into small plants.
We call this process sprouting or germination. These sprouted
seeds are a good source of vitamins, minerals and fibres. We
should eat them regularly. If we eat them often, we will remain
healthy and active.

Activity 6: Food of various animals.

Answer: We see various animals and bird in our daily life or in
the forest. These animals eat different types of food. Below
table summarises the type of food they eat.
Activity 7: Animal Classification.
Procedure: Activity 7 asks us to look at the above table and
classify the animals into a herbivore, carnivore or omnivore.

Ans: Based on the type of food, we classify animals into three

categories. Herbivore includes animals which eat only plant and
their parts, while carnivore eats animals. Omnivores are the
animals who eat both types of food.

Below table classify the various animals on this basis of

classification.