Healthy Eating
Global Food Quest
Take the children around the world on a culinary voyage of discovery. Load your ship with exciting foods from different countries.
Teaching the activity
The voyage is a circumnavigation of the globe with three stops en route.
The children can choose between two fixed routes or come up with extra stops themselves. At each stop the ship has to be loaded with varied and healthy foods that can last the whole journey without the ship running out of provisions. It takes ten days to sail between each stop.
The children are divided into groups of three to six pupils. The groups have to buy provisions in the first country and debate their choices. They should write down their arguments and results. Afterwards the journey continues to the next country, where the children have to buy more provisions. At each stop the children are allocated a sum of money that they can spend on provisions.
When the journey’s destination is reached, the groups present their arguments and decisions. This leads to a discussion of the groups’ choices. Among other things, the discussion could be based on the diet recommendations of the WHO:
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Eat a varied diet
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Eat bread, grain, pasta, rice or potatoes every day
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Eat fruit and vegetables every day
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Exercise and watch your weight
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Cut down on fat
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Replace fatty meat with lean meat, fish, poultry, beans and lentils
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Choose low-fat dairy products
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Choose low-sugar foods
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Cut down on salt
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Be aware of kitchen hygiene
Optionally the activity can include a competitive element, where points are awarded to the group that is best at putting together provisions of healthy and varied foods and/or best at working together. The activity takes place indoors.
Other activity suggestions
The class can start with an introduction to foods in different countries. If more than two hours are available, the activity can start with the children filling out Healthy Food Scorecards. The activity lasts a couple of hours, but can also be used as part of a themed course on food or foreign cultures that ends with an event for parents where the children present stories and serve dishes from selected countries.
Educational goals
The children learn to work together and gain an insight into the diets of other cultures. The children are encouraged to debate their choices and relate to the consequences of these choices.
The activity also includes a mathematical element, because part of the challenge is to get the group the best possible provisions for the money that is allocated for the trip.
References
Recipes for foods worldwide:
