Utah Agriculture in the Classroom 1 utah.agclassroom.org

Who Grew My Soup? Geography and the Story of Food

Background When asked where their food comes from, many students will say that it comes from a grocery store or restaurant. Young children don’t always make the connection between agriculture and the food they consume every day. One US farmer produces enough food to feed 155 people worldwide, but farmers are not the only workers involved in making food available to the consumer. Agriculture employs more than 24 million American workers. These jobs include harvesting, storing, transporting, processing, packaging, and selling the food we eat. Farms are the source of almost all the food we consume. It is important for students to understand that grocery stores are food distribution centers, not the source of food. Some of the foods we eat everyday are grown right here in Utah, but not all of the food we consume is grown locally. While most states produce their own milk, eggs, fruits, vegetables, and grains, the availability of certain foods depends upon season. The climate and soil of a particular region determines the types of foods that can be grown. Consumer demands influence the items that stores and restaurants offer. Many people want to be able to eat fresh fruits and vegetables in the middle of the winter or out of season. Exotic foods, such as star fruit, kiwi, and guava that are not typically grown in Utah are also desired. Grocery stores meet these demands by having food transported from other regions of the United States and even from other countries. The activities in this lesson will help provide students with an understanding about where their food comes from and what it takes to produce their food. It will also promote a natural curiosity about how food affects their health while reinforcing food and agriculture as their connection to a better quality of life. Understanding what it takes to produce food will help students make the association between the land, farmers and ranchers, and the grocery store.

Activity ProceduresActivity 1: Food/Farm Connection1. Read the book Who Grew My Soup? by Tom Darbyshire.

2. Ask the students to create a list recalling the ingredients in Phin’s soup (carrots, tomatoes, green beans, celery, corn, barley, spinach, peas, onions, potatoes).

3. Cut out and assemble the Fact Wheel (located at the end of the lesson). Each student can make their own Fact Wheel or it be can assembled prior to the lesson (one for each group).

4. Divide the class into 10 groups. Assign each group a food from the list. Give the groups enough time to match their food with the picture and information on the fact wheel. Provide a few samples of the ingredients for students to taste or observe while each group shares the facts about their food.

5. Ask the students if they think all of the ingredients in Phin’s soup can be grown in Utah. The answer is yes. Ask the students if they think they can buy these ingredients locally grown all year long. Discuss what factors would affect the availability of locally grown food.

PurposeStudents will identify the source of the food they eat and investigate the processes and people involved in getting food from the farm to their spoon.

Time: Three, 45 minute activities

Grade Level: Elementary

Materials

Activity 1 � Who Grew My Soup? by Tom Darbyshire

� Fact wheel (make sure that the “Shrink oversized pages to paper size” setting is not checked when printing)

� Food samples � Food/Farm Connection matching cards

Activity 2 � Food item with product of origin label

� “Where Does My Food Come From?” activity sheets

Activity 3 � Examples of a fruit or vegetable in fresh, canned, frozen, and dried forms (enough for each student to sample)

� Sticky notes

Assembled Fact Wheel, used in Activity 1.

Utah Agriculture in the Classroom 2 utah.agclassroom.org

6. Pass one Food/Farm Connection card (located at the end of the lesson) to each student. Allow students to walk around the classroom and find the student who has their matching card. Students should match the food item with its farm source. (ex. Oatmeal—oats, French fries—potatoes, eggs—chicken, applesauce—apples) Discuss the connections as a class.

Activity 2: Where Does Your Food Come From?1. Prior to the activity, ask students to find a food item with a product of

origin label at home. (Be prepared with extra food and a computer at school for students who are unable to complete this assignment at home.)

2. Have each child complete the “Where Does My Food Come From?” activity sheet by using National Geographic’s Mapmaker Interactive, available online (simply type the title into a search engine), to find the distance between their food’s country of origin and the town in which they live. Instructions are found on the activity sheet. This can be completed as a homework assignment or in school depending on computer access.

3. As a class, locate the origin of each child’s food on a world map. Students can label each location on the activity sheet world map. Compare the distances and determine whose food traveled the farthest and shortest distances.

4. Discuss the different ways the food could have travelled to a local grocery store (truck, airplane, train, boat). What steps need to be taken to ensure that the food doesn’t spoil before arriving at the market?

5. What are some possible reasons the food travelled so far? Discuss how the climate of a particular location affects what foods can be grown there.

6. Identify the different jobs involved in getting food from the farm to the table (i.e. grower, harvester, truck driver, packagers, processors, warehouse operators, grocers etc.).

Activity 3: Graphing Activity1. Bring examples of fruits and vegetables packaged in different ways (fresh,

canned, frozen, dried).

2. Give the students a sticky note that they will write their name on. Have students sample the same fruit or vegetable fresh, canned, frozen, and dried.

3. Create a graph by writing fresh, canned, frozen, and dried on the bottom of the board. Explain that some foods may taste better cooked. Just because they don’t like a fresh raw green bean or tomato, does not mean they won’t like it cooked or prepared with other foods. The students will stack their sticky notes above their preference. Discuss the results.

4. Brainstorm reasons why foods are packaged in different ways. Reinforce that foods are seasonal and discuss how people’s choices are influenced by price. For example, apples are in season in Utah in the fall and during this time they are very inexpensive, so it makes sense for processors to dry them or can them as applesauce to be eaten at other times of the year.

Peas

Vocabularynutritious: having a large amount of vitamins, minerals, or other nutrients

preserve: to prepare (food) so that it can be kept for a long period of time

process: treated or changed by artificial means, as food

edible: safe to be eaten as food

Examples of Product of Origin Labels

Bananas, a product of Equador.

Ginger root, a product of China.

Coconut, a product of Dominican Republic.

Carrots

Tomatoes Green Beans

Celery

Corn

BarleySpinach

Peas

Oni

ons

Pota

toes

These long, skinny pods grow on a vine. They are

usually green, but can also be white, purple, yellow, or red. They are good sources of

Vitamins C and K, which help keep bones strong and

bodies healthy.

When you eat this

green vegetable, you are

eating the leaves of a

flowering plant. The

cartoon character,

Popeye, is famous

for eating this

vegetable. It is

full of Vitamin

A, which helps with

eyesight.

When you eat this

vegetable, you are eating

roots that farmers dug

out of the ground.

It can be yellow,

purple, red, or

white, but the

orange variety

is most

comm

on.

This crop can be either a

vegetable or a fruit

depending on how you

eat it. It is a fruit if you

are eating the pod and a vegetable if you are eating

the seeds found inside the

pod.

This is a fruit that grows

on a vine, but people eat

it as a vegetable. It is

typically red. It is

found in ketchup,

salsa, and pizza

sauce. It is high

in Vitamin C,

which helps

protect

us from

disease.

When you eat this vegetable, you are eating seeds. The varieties we

eat are typically yellow or white and come canned, frozen, and straight off

the cob!

When yo

u eat th

is

vegeta

ble, yo

u are eatin

g

a bulb that g

rows

underground but is

not a ro

ot. Cuttin

g

this vege

table

up may m

ake

you cr

y. This

vegeta

ble is h

igh in

Vitamin C.

Whe

n yo

u ea

t thi

s gr

ain

you

are

eatin

g se

eds

that

have

bee

n m

illed

to

prod

uce

flour

or

polis

hed

to re

mov

e

the

hull.

Thi

s gr

ain

grow

s in

a fi

eld

and

look

s lik

e

tall

gras

s.

Whe

n yo

u ea

t thi

s ve

geta

ble

you

are

eatin

g th

e pe

tiole

of th

e pl

ant t

hat a

ttach

es

the

leav

es to

the

stem

. Th

is ve

geta

ble

is lig

ht g

reen

. You

’ve

seen

it s

prea

d w

ith p

eanu

t bu

tter o

r di

pped

in

ranc

h.When

you ea

t this

vegeta

ble, yo

u are ea

ting

a tuber,

which is

the

swollen

end of a

n

underground ste

m.

French fri

es are

made out o

f

this vege

table.

This tuber

is

grown in

the

ground.

Where D

oes My Food C

ome From

?Find a food item

with a “C

ountry of Origin” label. T

hese labels can be found on most

produce items. G

o to education.nationalgeographic.com. C

lick on Students, Maps, and

then Mapm

aker Interactive. Locate your food’s country of origin and the town in w

hich you live. Find the distance betw

een the two locations by clicking the ruler icon on the toolbar.

Click the arrow

next to the ruler to show “m

iles.” Click som

ewhere w

ithin your food’s country of origin to start m

easuring. Double click your tow

n. A line w

ill appear on the map

and the distance between the tw

o locations will be displayed. R

ecord this distance to show

approximately how

many m

iles the food travelled.

Food______________________________________________

Country of O

rigin___________________________________

Miles Travelled_____________________________________

NO

RT

H

PA

CIF

IC

OC

EA

N

NORTH

AMERICA

SOUTH

AMERICA

AFRICA

EUROPE

ASIA

AUSTRALIA

and

Oceania

SO

UT

H

PA

CIF

IC

OC

EA

N

NO

RT

H

AT

LA

NT

IC

OC

EA

N

SO

UT

H

AT

LA

NT

IC

OC

EA

N

IN

DIA

N

OC

EA

N

AR

CT

IC

OC

EA

N

AN

TA

RC

TIC

A