WHAT THE WORLD EATS

A FRESHFARM FOODPRINTS LESSON PLAN

Theme: Food Culture and Family Traditions

5TH GRADE / LESSON 4 / WINTER /JANUARY

LESSON SUMMARY
The purpose of this lesson is for students to observe the diversity of food cultures and
traditions around the world. Using the book What the World Eats by Faith D’Aluisio and Peter
Menzel as an anchor, students will analyze the weekly groceries of one family and compare
their findings with their own diets and with families from different parts of the world.
Objective: At the end of the lesson, students will be able to give examples of similarities and
differences in diets around the world and reflect on the diversity of the foods they notice in
the photographs.

We can celebrate and learn from

the rich variety of food cultures
around the world.

GUIDING QUESTIONS TIME

What can we learn about different cultures This lesson can be taught in a 90-120 minute block
through their diets? or divided into multiple shorter lessons using small
How does globalization affect diets around the group activities from the Explore section.
world?

NATIONAL STANDARDS
Common Core ELA
R.I. 5. 7 Draw on information from multiple print or digital
sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a
question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.
W.5.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the
development and organization are appropriate to task,
purpose, and audience.
SL.5.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative
discussions (one on one, in groups, and teacher-led) with
diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on
others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
National Food Education Standards (FES)
Standard 1: Food connects us to each other.
Standard 4: Food behaviors are influenced by external and
internal factors.
Standard 6: We can make positive and informed food
choices.
Standard 7: We can advocate for food choices and changes
that impact ourselves, our communities and our world.

5th GRADE | Lesson 4 | What the World Eats 1

MATERIALS LIST
1. Copy of the book What the
World Eats
2. Family photographs and data
sheets from book (attached)
3. Poster size map of the world or
globe
4. What the World Eats Image
Analysis worksheet (attached)
5. Journals or writing paper and
pencils
6. Recipe ingredients and
materials
CONNECTED TEXTS
What the World Eats
Photographed by Peter Menzel
Written by Faith D’Aluisio
(Ten Speed Press, 2008)
http://menzelphoto.com/books/
WASHINGTON, DC STANDARDS AND UNITS
DC Health Standards
3-5.5.8.13 Encourage and promote
healthy eating opportunities at home,
in school, and in the community.
3-5.5.7.12 Plan or prepare a nutritious
snack and justify its nutritional value.
RECIPES VOCABULARY
Aloo Palak life expectancy: the average
number of years that a person is
Biryani expected to live
staple food: a main, or important,
Moroccan Carrot Salad
element of a diet
Colcannon globalization: the process of
ideas, products, and people
All FoodPrints recipes available here: moving around the planet with
freshfarm.org/foodprints greater ease and efficiency
refugee camp: a shelter for
persons displaced by war or
political oppression or for
religious beliefs
To learn more about the
FoodPrints program and
access the full curriculum, visit
freshfarm.org/foodprints
Note: There are pictures of 4 families from the book, What the
World Eats, included in the lesson. See page 4 for more ideas on
how to fully utilize the book and images.
DC Environmental Literacy Framework
Web of Life: We are what we eat; How
does energy cycle through the food web?
How do the four spheres of the Earth’s
systems interact?
5th GRADE | Lesson 4 | What the World Eats 2
ENGAGE

The goal of this portion of the lesson is to engage students in learning by tapping into prior knowledge and
experiences, piquing their interest, and building curiosity. Use this time to guide students through thinking
about the Big Idea and Guiding Questions.
This is adapted from the introduction in the book, What the World Eats by Faith D’Aluisio and Peter
Menzel.

§ Welcome students to the FoodPrints classroom. Share that in

today’s class they are going to do some virtual traveling. They
are going to leave the safety of their familiar school, classroom,
and garden, and travel to learn how families in other parts of
the world eat. On a globe or world map, show students the
different locations they will visit during the lesson.

§ Ask students to share what their typical breakfast is or what

they think is a typical breakfast in the United States. Students
might say boxed cereal with milk, bacon and eggs, breakfast
bars or toaster pastries, and juice. While some students might
have breakfast at school, many will eat what their parents
bought for them by going to the supermarket. In most of our
communities, we can buy almost all the food we need with one
trip to the grocery store.
Ask students where their food comes from.
How much of their food do they grow or cook?

§ Explain to students that in many parts of the world people

don’t buy food in a grocery store. Instead, they grow and raise
almost everything they eat.

§ Show students the continent of Africa and then the country

Chad on the world map or globe. Explain that while in cities in
Chad and throughout Africa many people shop in
supermarkets (and may find many of the same products that
we have), children who live in small villages often do not have
boxes of cereal, cartons of milk, or even a supermarket. Their
meals primarily consist of a pudding like porridge called aiysh
and an okra soup and maybe a bit of dried goat meat for
flavor.

5th GRADE | Lesson 4 | What the World Eats 3

ENGAGE, continued

§ Since the food is all grown rather than bought, there are many more tasks involved in preparing
meals. Although the mother might do the cooking, the children do much of the work to prepare
for cooking. The sorghum or millet for the porridge is ground by hand, the water pulled from a
well that might be far away, and the vegetables either picked or gathered from a drying shed.
Children also collect wood or dried cattle dung for the cooking fire. The family eats together
before the children go to the fields to do their chores.
Ask students how their lives compare to children in Chad.
How much time do they spend contributing to family meals each week?

§ Then, share with students some pages from the book What the World Eats (see note below). You
can either show the physical book or use a document camera to highlight different
families. Point out that there are families whose weekly groceries might look very familiar
(maybe bought in supermarkets) while others will have produce and products that are new to us.

§ Students will have more time to closely analyze two images in the Explore section. At this point,
ask them a few questions to focus their viewing:
Do they see packaged food or fresh food?
What are the beverages?
Do you see foods that are familiar? Is that surprising to you?
§ In closing, share that in today’s class they will work in pairs to study two families and learn what
kinds of food they eat.

How to Use the Book What the World Eats

There are pictures of 4 different families from the book, What the World Eats, included in the lesson. The
book contains many more beautiful photographs.
1. We encourage you to purchase one or more copies of the book for your classroom in order to have a
more robust experience with the lesson.
2. Alternatively, you can use view images at http://menzelphoto.com/books/.
3. Another option is to purchase an additional copy of the book to take apart. If you laminate each
individual page, you will be able to use them multiple times, and many more students will be able to
work with them closely for extended periods of time.

5th GRADE | Lesson 4 | What the World Eats 4

EXPLORE

In this section, students work as a class or in small groups to explore the Guiding Questions through hands-
on and minds-on investigations, along with experiences in the garden and kitchen. The adult leading each
small group acts as a facilitator to assist students in coming to their own understanding. For this lesson, we
suggest that students work on the activities in the same group, so they have more time to focus on the family
or families they are studying. Leave time at the end of the class for groups to share what they have learned.

1. Classroom - Literacy/Social
Studies/Nutrition: Image Analysis.
Students work in pairs to complete the
attached image analysis worksheet on two
different families.
§ First, ask students to locate the country where
the family lives on a world map.
§ Then, introduce the See, Think, Wonder strategy
to study and analyze the image.
§ Finally, students will compare two families and
make connections to their own diet.

2. Classroom - Literacy/Social Studies: Journal

Writing. In this investigation, students reflect
on what they have learned by responding to one
of these prompts in their journals:
§ Imagine that you visit the family in the
photograph, and they ask you what you
would like for dinner. Plan the menu you
think they might serve, based on what you
see in the photograph. Keep in mind how
many people they would be cooking for.
§ Which of the families is the most different
from your own? Compare and contrast your
own diet, kitchen, and method of preparing
food with that family.
§ Describe at least four things you have
learned by examining the two photographs.

3. Classroom - Cooking: Prepare a Recipe. Choose

an international dish to prepare with your
students. As you cook, discuss which
ingredients might be found in different places
throughout the world, and which are purchased
from a store or more likely to be grown. There
are suggested recipes on page 2.

5th GRADE | Lesson 4 | What the World Eats 5

EVALUATE AND CLOSE

The closing of the lesson is a time for students to

reflect and synthesize what they learned, and to BIG IDEA
share the food you have prepared together. Below are We can celebrate and learn
two ways to help students share and evaluate their
learning at the end of each session. from the rich variety of food
cultures around the world.
1. Reflect and Share: As a group, revisit the Big
Idea and Guiding Questions introduced at the
GUIDING QUESTIONS
beginning of the lesson. Help students
articulate how their understanding of these What can we learn about different
concepts has grown or changed, what cultures through their diets?
questions they still have, and how they could
How does globalization affect diets
continue to learn more. around the world?
Suggested ways to reflect and share:
• Students can share something they learned
about one of the families.
• Brainstorm further questions and possible
answers about the diversity of products
and produce in these photographs.

2. Eat and Appreciate: Eating the food you have prepared together and taking time to appreciate
the food is an important part of the FoodPrints experience.
Suggested ways to eat and appreciate:
• Assure students who are hesitant to taste new foods that they are not required to eat.
• At the same time, explain that tasting new foods is the only way to find out if your taste buds
are maturing and beginning to welcome new flavors!
• Ask that everyone takes the first bite together and remind them that it is okay if their taste
buds aren’t ready for these flavors yet.
• Take time to appreciate and recognize all the different people and natural resources involved
in growing, harvesting, transporting, buying, and preparing the ingredients you are eating.
• Ask students to thank their classmates for helping to prepare the food and work as a team.
• Encourage students who are enjoying the taste of the food to express what they like and why.

5th GRADE | Lesson 4 | What the World Eats 6

What the World Eats, p.38
http://menzelphoto.com/books/

Food Expenditure for one week: 10,200 CFA Francs or $18.33

Chad: The Mustafa Family 1

5th GRADE | Lesson 4 | What the World Eats 7

 What the World Eats, p.42
http://menzelphoto.com/books/

China: The Dong family of Beijing

Food expenditure for the week: 1, 233.76 YUAN or $155.06
Favorite Foods: fried shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce

5th GRADE | Lesson 4 | What the World Eats

8
 What the World Eats, p.114
http://menzelphoto.com/books/

Mexico: The Casales Family of Cuernavaca

Food Expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09
Favorite foods: pizza, crab, pasta, chicken

5th GRADE | Lesson 4 | What the World Eats

9
 What the World Eats, p.144
http://menzelphoto.com/books/

United States: The Revis Family of North Carolina

Food Expenditure for one week: $341.98
Favorite foods: spaghetti, potatoes, sesame chicken

5th GRADE | Lesson 4 | What the World Eats 10

 IMAGE ANALYSIS - What the World Eats

Family Name:

Location:

Complete the I See, I Think, I Wonder Strategy

- First, silently observe the image and write down just what you see.
- Then, write about what you think about what you see.
- Finally, write down questions you have, or what you wonder about in the image.

I See: What do you see in the photograph?

I Think: What do you think is happening based on what you see in the photograph?

I Wonder: What questions do you have about the family in the photograph?

5th GRADE | Lesson 4 | What the World Eats 11

IMAGE ANALYSIS, continued

Compare and Contrast Two Families

Work with a partner to compare the information you have collected on each family. Be sure to include the
amount of food and beverages, and the types of foods that are most common. You can draw a Venn
Diagram or use another format to organize your information.

5th GRADE | Lesson 4 | What the World Eats 12