Science Leadership Academy

Science and Society

Food Benchmark Project

2010-2011

Part 1:  SLA Cookbook

(This part can be done individually or with a partner)

a)  Prepare a healthy and nutritious dish to share with your class.  Try to make the dish with natural ingredients and a minimum of processed foods.  It would be awesome if this food reflected your culture or had some kind of tie to family traditions.  Make enough for 8-10 people.  When thinking about what to make, try to follow some of Michael Pollan’s “food rules” from In Defense of Food (see some of the rules at the bottom of this page).

b)  ^[a]Write a recipe for the above dish for publication in our Science and Society cookbook.  List all ingredients and the quantities of each.  Then give step by step directions on how to make the dish.^[b]

c)  Research the ingredients used in your dish and write up an analysis of this meal.  The analysis should be approximately 250 words.^[c]   Make sure you comment on each of the following 5 points, although you don’t have to answer every question suggested for each one.

•Approximately what percent of the meal is processed vs. whole food?

•Health/nutrition:  Use the nutritional info on the label to estimate the caloric content, sugar content, fat content, etc.  How will your body deal with what you ate?  How are the various parts of the meal processed by your body?  What are some possible health issues that could arise if you ate nothing but this meal every day?

•Environmental:  What state/country do you think your ingredients came from?  Which food traveled the farthest?  How many total miles did your meal travel?  Was it organically grown (not as much fertilizer/pesticide/fossil fuel) or commercially grown?  If it’s processed, how does the processing affect the environment?

•Political/economic^[d]:  How are these food items regulated?  Who made money off your meal?  What small and/or large corporations/businesses are involved?

•Social:  What are some of the social ramifications of your meal choice?  Trace a few parts of your dish from the farm to the plate, including all intermediate steps on the way.  Where were these food items purchased?  Pick 2-3 ingredients and compare a commercial production process vs. a self-sufficient process.  (For example, how does the commercial tomato growing and delivery system compare to growing tomatoes yourself?)

Part 2: Self-Reflection^[e]

(Do this individually. Hence the term self reflection ;-)

Write a short reflection on what you’ve learned in this unit.  Look back at your work in moodle to refresh your memory.  Consider some of the following questions to get you started:  What is your role in the larger food system?  What do you see as the biggest problems with our food system, and why?  What are some changes you could make to your food choices?  What would be the impact of these changes?  Are you willing to make these changes?

Your reflection should be approximately 200-300 words, and should refer specifically to some of the resources we’ve used during this unit.

Part 3: Food Rules

(do this individually)

In a blog post for the New York Times, Michael Pollan wrote “I’d like your help gathering some rules for eating well. My premise is that culture has a lot to teach us about how to choose, prepare and eat food, and that this wisdom is worth collecting and preserving before it disappears.”

Integrate all you've learned during our food project along with the food knowledge of your family, friends, culture, etc. to develop your own food rules. If possible, talk to your parents, grandparents, aunt/uncles, etc., and find out what food rules they live by and where they learned these rules.  Select your favorite food rule and create a well designed slide^[f] to illustrate that rule.  (See some examples here)

Once all three parts are complete, we will compile our recipes, recipe analyses, reflections, and food rules into a well-designed spread for inclusion in our Science and Society cookbook!

Timeline

Rubric^[g]:

Design^[h]:  Food rules slide^[i] reflects good design principles.  Recipe is easy to follow.  Pages of cookbook reflect good design principles and include all necessary items:  recipe, analysis, food rules slide(s), refection(s)

Application:  Reflection shows evidence of deep reflection about food choices, student’s role in the food system, possible changes that could be made, and what impacts those changes might have.

Knowledge:  Recipe submitted for part 1 contains all ingredients and directions needed to prepare the dish.  Ingredients in the dish are thoroughly researched.  Explanation of ingredients contains information about nutrition/health, the environment, social, and political/economical impacts of the dish.

Presentation:  Food Rules slide, recipe, and blog post all follow the principals of standard written English and are free from mechanical errors.

Process^[j]:  All parts of the project are turned in on time and in the appropriate manner.  Cookbook pages follow the correct standard format.

A selection of “Food Rules” from In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

(try to use some of these when deciding on what to cook)

•Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.

•Avoid food products containing ingredients that are A) unfamiliar, B) unpronounceable, C) more than 5 in number, or that include D) high-fructose corn syrup.

•Avoid food products that make health claims.

•Shop the peripherals of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.

•Get out of the supermarket whenever possible.

•Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.

•You are what you eat eats too.

•Eat well-grown food from healthy soils.

•Eat wild food when you can.

•Eat more like the French.  Or the Italians.  Or the Japanese.  Or the Indians.  Or the Greeks.

•Regard nontraditional foods with skepticism.