Delicioso: Teaching Kids About Cultures Through Food

I am a food freak. I am also a history freak. My oldest child is in elementary school, so he learns about the world during his Social Studies classes. To help him learn this, and give him a sense of the culture of whichever country he is learning about in school, I use food. I have a lot of fun with that. I go all out.

I research this country or that, and look at its history, and then I’ll make some dishes that are special to that country. For Instance, when he learned something about Great Britain, I made him a “food tour” of the United Kingdom. Fish and chips for England, Kidney pie for Wales, Cabbage and Bacon for Ireland, and Haggis for Scotland.

I did the same thing when he learned about Italy, but I went through the different regions of Italy. We all have learned a lot about different cultures and the people who live there through the food I make.

I don’t make all the different types of food all in one meal. I serve one meal from each area, sometimes cooking these things for a week at a time. It took us four days to “eat our way through” the United Kingdom. And every year I go through different regions of the United States when he learns about the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and so on.

A people’s history is linked inexorably to their food. There are foods which are indigenous to different regions of every country of the world, sometimes because the plants are wild there, sometimes as a holdover from times past, when the country was new, and was being settled by a certain group or ethnicity.

I have learned a lot about cooking in general, myself. I am proud to say that I can do things to save and preserve food that all my friends would never dream about. I can do things with leftovers that keep my kids guessing as to whether they are leftovers or not.

Another thing I find that is a fun way to help my kids learn about other cultures is to really go all out in the preparation of meals, and decorating the kitchen. I have the kids make a flag out of construction paper for each country, to be “flown” during the meal. Then they look up a dinnertime custom- such as when the Greeks break the dishes to show what a fabulous meal they just ate, and we will celebrate that custom. (I think the kids cleaned their plates that night, just so they could be allowed to break them.) We have a lot of fun with this practice. The children try new foods, and they learn about other places in the world.

My son learned in school that Marco Polo went to China, and he is the person who brought pasta to Italy. The Chinese had already invented pasta. The Italians made it their own, by adding all the different sauces and ingredients that they do, and now we think of pasta dishes as being strictly Italian. So one night, I made ” Chinese Spaghetti”.

This was simply spaghetti noodles with sesame-sauce from a jar and frozen stir-fry vegetables. I gave them chopsticks to eat with. The next night I made Italian Spaghetti with Garlic Bread, and gave them a fork to use to eat it. I asked the children which way they thought the spaghetti was better. They couldn’t decide. We decided that the great thing about pasta is that it is bland, and so not only is it extremely versatile, it can be very flavorful, as well, since it holds sauces and other ingredients so nicely.

The children also like the customs of the Near East; they think sitting on pillows on the floor to eat is a blast. I would probably like it better if I could stand afterward without help, but, anything for their education, right? I know that I could help him learn about the cultures of the world some other way, but for me, this is best. It helps me to get them to try different foods, as well as cementing in their heads what they’ve been told about in school.

If a person has some reference point or guidance they can easily identify, then learning isn’t so overwhelming. This is an enriching experience for them. It is an enriching experience for me, to know that I am helping enrich their academic education, and perhaps, foster some understanding between them and others. My hope is that they will find that people aren’t so different, even though they may have customs which are foreign to them.

The best way I can get my kids to try something different at the dinner table, is to show them first. Huh? No, I didn’t leave anything out of that sentence. I show the children what I am cooking, how I am cooking it, and why I am doing it this way. If the people in a certain region eat something cooked this way, I will cook it this way, and tell the children so. I also explain why I think they might eat it done this way. I tell about which ingredients are available easiest here, or are in season there right now. I let the children look up the eating customs of this region or that.

When they find a correlating custom that they find amusing, we celebrate it. We have burped at the table, broken dishes, eaten while sitting on the floor, served the men first, and done all kinds of neat and informative things at our dinner table.

Sometimes we have had headdresses on, sometimes kerchiefs, sometimes nothing. Sometimes we have had grand discussions at the table about this country or that. Sometimes we’ve bent over laughing because we disliked the taste of this dish or that so much, and it caused us to pull a face. The children are always involved, and always curious to see what comes out of the kitchen next.

Sometimes I really wish we could have a nice, plain meatloaf. Sometimes I’m not in the mood to make this food, that food, and shop all over town till I find the other food. It does take some effort, and it takes some energy. Some days, I don’t have nearly as much as I’d like. When report card time comes, I’m always glad I did this.

You see, there was a time when I thought there was no way I could help educate them about the world. I’m not a teacher, it isn’t what I do. I’ve never been taught to teach. One day, it did occur to me that they learned how to walk without a teacher; I taught them to walk and talk and how to be polite; so why couldn’t I teach them something else, just doing what I do? There was no reason I couldn’t. So I set about to give my kids the world tour, right in my own little kitchen.

That first night, I made New England Boiled Dinner, and I told the children what was in it, where it grew, and where it was, originally, most popular, which was New England. I showed them New England on the map. My son said he thought New Englanders who didn’t want to eat anymore boiled cabbage and corned beef won the Revolution. He was positive they ate it because they couldn’t find anything else. I told him it was, at one time, served often on Mondays, because Monday was wash day, and women boiled it on the stove, right next to the socks. He thought it explained a lot.

A few weeks after I made that first dinner, my son came home, talking about the Texas Revolution. So I made some Tex-Mex food for him, but the next night, I made Mexican food. Not just content with tacos, I made Enchiladas Verde, black beans and picante sauce. I didn’t know what the proper thing was to serve with enchiladas of any kind (still don’t), so I served what I thought I could get the kids to eat. If I’ve done this improperly, please forgive my ignorance. On the third night, we had big old steaks. It was Texas’ turn, after all.

Getting kids to eat is hard. Getting kids to pay attention in school is even harder. If you can find a way to get them to eat and do better in school, you’re on a roll. For once, I was on a roll, instead of getting rolled over.

Tonight’s supper is going to be a mish-mash of all our favorites. I’m going to fry plantains, make hamburgers, cabbage and bacon, and quesadillas. I’ll put some garlic bread on the side, and we’ll have a meal everybody can be happy with. For drinks, I guess I can’t do better than an American Classic- we’ll have Cokes. I normally make them drink milk, but occasionally, a little Coke won’t hurt. Crazy variety makes my kitchen Delicioso, how about yours?