An interest in food can start in the classroom

I have recently been working with a local school in my area providing cooking lessons as part of their personal learning activity. I was trying to think of activities to do to fill up time while their creations were cooking and came up with the idea of doing food tastings that tied in with the recipe being cooked that day. 

What a success it has been!  The children have really engaged in this and, with very few exceptions, have tried all the different foods on offer despite there being many cries of “I don’t like that” at the beginning.  I think it is something to do with being in a non-pressurised environment – they were told they didn’t have to try anything they didn’t want to – and also the fact that all their other friends and peers were giving it a go. 

The first week I tried it we were making pizza so our food tasting was centred on pizza toppings.  The children tried red pepper, olives, artichokes and pepperoni.  Some interesting faces when olives were tried!  This week we were making fruit salad so our food tasting revolved around different fruits.  Next week we will be tasting different types of cheese which will tie in with cooking cheese scone twists very nicely!

The food tasting charts I have developed are simple to use but also provide a good learning outcome by asking the children to describe the look, texture and taste of the food they are trying.  As some of the children I have been working with are in Key Stage 1, the tasting charts offer suggestions on texture and taste but as you move into Key Stage 2, the children themselves could be asked to come up with the appropriate adjectives. 

Examples of tasting charts (click on the links to download):

Cheese tasting chart

Pizza topping tasting chart

Fruit tasting chart

katrina is a self-taught cook who is passionate about passing on an interest in food and basic cooking skills to families and children. She owns a small business called Kitchen Fairy Godmother in Norwich which provides cooking lessons, children’s cooking parties and a variety of cookery workshops.