For our final class of the semester, the fourth and fifth graders spent time caring for the school garden, reflecting on their hard work, and enjoying a hot cup of mulled cider in the outdoor classroom. We learned so much alongside our students over the past fourteen weeks and hope they continue to do what they can to fight climate change and use their voices to raise awareness about a sustainable food system.
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Grade 3 Edible Social Studies: Week 14
For our final class, the third graders discussed the unique role San Francisco has played in the history of LGBTQ+ organizing and activism, from the Gold Rush to Allen Ginsberg and the Beat Generation to the creation of the pride flag to the fight for marriage equality in their own lifetime. We started our opening circle by helping each other define the words that make up the acronym LGBTQ+. We then watched a short film made by local high school students called Gay by the Bay: A Short History of San Francisco’s LGBTQ Culture. Something from the film that seemed to resonate with everyone was the call by the LGBTQ+ community in the 1970s to have its own symbol (what became Gilbert Baker’s flag) to replace the pink triangle used by the Nazis.
We learned that the six-striped pride flag commonly used today represents life (red), healing (orange), sunlight (yellow), nature (green), serenity (indigo), and spirit (violet). In the kitchen, we paid tribute to these six colors, what the pride flag represents, the Castro District, and of course, our school’s namesake, Harvey Milk, by making a parfait featuring seasonal fruit: pomegranate (red), Fuyu persimmon (orange), Keitt mango (yellow), kiwi (green), blueberries (indigo), and black currant jam (violet). We topped the parfaits with coconut yogurt and fresh mint.
We will miss the third graders, but can’t wait to work with them again next school year!
Breakfast Around the World Week 10: Sweden
This week our chefs made Harvey Milk parent Anna’s recipe for svenska pannkakor! Anna is originally from Sweden, and her pancakes include grated carrot. Working with large cast-iron skillets and the thin batter made flipping the pancakes while they were cooking a serious challenge, but we rose to the occasion.
Served with fresh whipped cream and lingonberry jam, the Swedish pancakes were a delightful, sweet ending to our fall semester. See you all back in the kitchen in 2020!
Grades 4/5 Edible Social Studies: Week 13
The posters Rooms 201, 202, and 205 made adorned the walls all around school this week—they looked amazing! You can really see how much work went into them. In addition to the poster campaign, students visited the kindergarten-through-third-grade classrooms and presented their own work (skits, raps, PowerPoint presentations) with the educational message of reducing food waste. The fourth and fifth graders led a Q&A session after their presentations, fielding questions like “What bin does a pizza box go into?” and “What do I do with plastic bags?” In our closing circle, students shared how it felt to make a connection with younger students and share what they’ve learned about how the food system and climate change intersect.
Grade 3 Edible Social Studies: Week 13
This week, we started where we left off last week during World War II and talked about the Second Great Migration, when millions of African Americans left the South and moved to urban areas around the country, including the Bay Area. In San Francisco, many found work at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. 2019 marks the 400th anniversary of the first ships carrying enslaved people from Africa landing in Colonial America, and our discussion in large part centered around the legacy of slavery and how its effects are alive in and relevant to our city and nation today.
In our opening circle, students reflected on the terms “African American” and “Black,” sharing what they know and questions they have. We introduced the linguistic term “skunked,” which refers to a word that falls out of favor due to negative connotations that begin to be associated with it. This came up because we looked at the labels (e.g. “Negro,” “Mulatto,” “Quadroon,” “Octoroon”) used on the US census over the past century to categorize people of African descent.
We watched an excerpt from a short film called Point of Pride: The People’s View of Bayview/Hunters Point that tells the story of five Black women leaders and activists who successfully lobbied for millions of dollars in federal funding for safe housing in the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood in the 1960s and 70s. The film includes a brief interview with HMCRA’s very own Keith Perry (Coach K), who was a beloved member of our school community before he passed away in 2017.
In the kitchen, students made a vegan version of a quintessentially African-American dish, collard greens. The tradition of eating leafy greens with their cooking juices originated in African countries, and collards were brought to North America by Europeans. In the plantation kitchens of the American South, enslaved cooks would serve their White masters the greens and reserve the nutrient-dense potlikker for their children. When we prepare collard greens, we remember the painful, complicated, truly American story they tell.
Breakfast Around the World Week 9: Jamaica
With grey, drizzly mornings all week, it was nice to get away to the Caribbean with our breakfast crew! Students made cornmeal porridge, a traditional breakfast from Jamaica, cooking it with coconut milk, cinnamon sticks, freshly grated nutmeg, and vanilla. We topped the porridge with tropical fruits both new and familiar. Most of our chefs had never worked with kiwano (horned melon) and feijoa (pineapple guava) before. Many were shocked that the spiky, bright orange horned melon revealed a mess of slimy green seeds that taste like cucumber inside.
Students also worked with banana, tropikiwi, and dried mango, papaya, pineapple, and coconut. A drizzle of condensed milk finished their presentation, and we listened to some Bob Marley while we ate. I hadn’t remembered he sings about cornmeal porridge in “No Woman, No Cry” until we were sitting around the table eating the porridge together and the song came on - it was a special moment.
Grade 3 Edible Social Studies: Week 12
When it comes to integrating an exploration of the history of San Francisco, food education, and a civil rights curriculum, the possibilities are endless. We only have 14 weeks together with the third graders, split between the garden and kitchen classrooms. Each topic we choose to focus on means there are hundreds of other stories we don’t get to tell. Last week we learned that the Gold Rush brought people from all over the world to California. I wish we could spend an entire year cooking and eating our way through the food traditions each immigrant and refugee group contributed to the culinary fabric of our city!
Sometimes a powerful chapter in history pairs nicely with a cooking activity we know kids will enjoy, which is why this week we learned about the role the Presidio of San Francisco played in Japanese incarceration during World War II while making our own sushi. The Presidio simultaneously housed the office of the general who signed the executive order that would exclude persons of enemy ancestry across the West Coast and a secret language school where Japanese-American soldiers were trained as military linguists. In our opening circle, students and educators shared their own experiences of feeling excluded and we all agreed exclusion has a powerful and lasting effect.
We made temaki (literally “hand-roll” in Japanese) with sheets of nori and many colorful plant-based fillings: braised tofu, oshinko (pickled daikon), sunflower sprouts, Japanese cucumber, carrots, furikake (a Japanese rice seasoning), green onion, and pickled ginger. The chefs seemed to most enjoy learning the secret of sealing the final flap of nori with a single grain of sushi rice, which makes an excellent edible glue.
Breakfast Around the World Week 8: Egypt
This week we made our own falafel, Egyptian style! Egyptian ta’ameya are made with fava beans instead of the Israeli chick pea-based falafel more commonly found in the US. Working with the dough is a tactile experience that some students loved and others did not enjoy. We all agreed, however, that coating the ta’ameya in sesame seeds; frying them; pairing them with hummus and cucumber; and smooshing them inside warm pita to reveal their bright, herby insides was delightful, tasty, and filling.
Grade 3 Edible Social Studies: Week 11
We started class last week with a circle where students had a chance to share their favorite noodle. We discussed how people from China (the birthplace of the noodle) first came to the San Francisco Bay Area to work in the mines, in agriculture, and to help build the first transcontinental railroad. We watched a short film about current efforts to make visible the role Chinese workers played in building the railroad, and learned about the Chinese Exclusion Act, the nation’s first immigration law that excluded an entire ethnic group.
As our school hones its civil rights curriculum, our students are beginning to draw meaningful connections across time and space. While we examined how Chinese laborers were portrayed on posters in the late 1880s as rat-like beasts, a student asked, “Why didn’t Black people and Chinese people work together to fight back?”
In the kitchen, our young chefs chopped and snipped their way through a truly enormous pile of seasonal vegetables at each table. They then stir-fried garlic, ginger, and green onions in a wok, added the other vegetables, the noodles, and finally a soy and sesame oil sauce. Unlike chow mein, where the noodles are fried until crispy, lo mein noodles are first boiled, then tossed in the sauce briefly just before serving.
Breakfast Around the World Week 7: Argentina
This week we attempted to make tortilla de papas without a non-stick pan, which forced us all to embrace the spirit of adventure! (Some released beautifully, some stuck to the pan, and one partially ended up on the floor.) We started class by discussing the colonial history of Argentina and the lasting Spanish influence on Argentinian culture. Commonly called tortilla española in Spain, the omelette features thin layers of onion and potatoes and a dramatic flipping of the pan mid-cooking process.
As an accompaniment to the tortilla, students made chimichurri, a fresh parsley-based sauce traditionally served in Argentina alongside grilled meat. The bright, herbal flavor of the chimichurri paired really well with the earthy egg and potatoes. We definitely recommend eating them together this way.
Grade 3 Edible Social Studies: Week 10
This week’s lesson was all about corn, which was domesticated by indigenous peoples in what is now Mexico thousands of years ago. We watched two short films from Eater: Why Corn is the Most Sacred Crop and The Dark and Terrible History of Corn. The content provoked lively discussion of Mexican Independence, the Mexican-American War, the California Gold Rush, and the lasting influence Mexican food culture has had on the Bay Area.
The third graders were the first students to use our beautiful new handmade tortilla presses and had a lot of fun rolling, pressing, and cooking together. They ate the warm corn tortillas with pico de gallo, queso fresco, and a squeeze of lime. ¡Viva la tortilla!
Breakfast Around the World Week 6: India
Ms. Stuti taught us how to make upma, a savory semolina porridge, from her home country of India this week. We started by pounding ginger and green chilis in a mortar and pestle, then tempered a variety of spices, including fresh curry leaves, in homemade ghee. Students added semolina, then water, and made a fluffy and rich porridge. Then we made a crunchy salad dressed with lots of lime and cilantro to top the porridge.
The whole meal came together quickly and the resulting breakfast was so delicious, Mr. Swick came back as a special guest two days in a row! The best part of this program is watching kids discover something simple, healthy, and tasty they can cook themselves with ingredients and flavor profiles they might not have encountered before. Thank you, Ms. Stuti, for introducing us to upma!
Grades 4/5 Edible Social Studies: Weeks 10 and 11
Last week the fourth and fifth graders played a game in the garden using the black bin, blue bin, green bin, and common items found around school and at home. We learned that film plastic, which is used to cover quite a bit of the food packaging served through Student Nutrition Services, can be recycled when placed together in a clear bag. You can also recycle soft-ball-size clumps of foil and used clothing that can’t be donated and reworn. And, students learned that used masking tape and stickers you can easily tear with your hands can be composted together with food scraps in the green bin!
This week we focused on making posters that will be put up around the school to aid in our campaign to reduce waste at Harvey Milk. We love to facilitate more ways for our upper-grade students to connect with younger kids in the school community.
Grade 3 Edible Social Studies: Week 9
We started class this week by discussing the year 1776, when the thirteen colonies signed the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution came to an end. In what is now known as San Francisco, however, 1776 marked the arrival of the Spanish, who changed the landscape of our region forever. Students watched a short film featuring native voices discussing the idea of civilized vs. savage that accompanied the European colonialists. We introduced the idea of how food was used as a way to divide people (i.e. the European diet of bread, olives, and wine was deemed superior, while the indigenous diet, seen as coming from the dirt, was deemed inferior). We then showed a short video of olive oil production in Spain and talked about how many of the agricultural products California is now known for (e.g. olives and citrus) were originally brought here by the Spanish.
In the kitchen, the third graders made a wheatberry salad showcasing ingredients introduced to the Bay Area in the late 18th century. Many noted the strong flavor of the olives. (Like colonialism, they leave a lasting impression.)
Breakfast Around the World: Week 5 - El Salvador
We made bean and cheese pupusas this week and served them with curtido featuring purple cabbage. Students always love classes where they get to make and eat their own individual serving of breakfast, and I think something ancient and profound gets triggered in our brains when we prepare food with just our hands. The kids were in the zone!
Few of us mastered the art of keeping the filling encased inside the masa dough (we’ll have to bring this recipe back soon so we can keep practicing), yet all the pupusas were eaten with gusto.
Grades 4/5 Edible Social Studies: Week 8
For the rest of the fall semester, the fourth and fifth graders will be implementing a social change campaign at Harvey Milk with the goal of reducing food waste. This was a topic that really energized them during our cooking unit, and we’re excited to see what they come up with. With Ms. Stuti in the classroom, students watched a video featuring activists and political theorists sharing their experiences working on some of the biggest social change campaigns of the past 50 years. Together as a class, they brainstormed who their allies will be, what tactics they can use, what anticipated obstacles they might find, and how they will measure their success.
Class ended in the garden, where students watered plants, took care of the chickens, and explored the dig zone. See you next week!
Grade 3 Edible Social Studies: Week 8
It was great fun welcoming the third graders to the kitchen classroom this week! We will be exploring change and continuity in our city over time and how conflict over who can claim ownership of the soil started hundreds of years ago and continues to this day. We started with a circle where students shared what they knew about the history of San Francisco (e.g. that the land used to be predominantly marshland, that the city was once called “Yerba Buena”) and questions they had about the history of San Francisco (e.g. Did Columbus land in the Bay Area? and How did the first people get here?).
Our first class focused on the indigenous people of San Francisco, broadly called the Ohlone, and what they ate and continue to eat. We talked about hunter-gatherer societies and native plants, and watched a video about two Ohlone chefs who are reviving native Bay Area food traditions at a cafe in Berkeley. In the kitchen, students tore sorrel, dandelion leaves, and watercress into bite-sized pieces, chopped edible roots and fruits, and plucked edible flower petals. They made a dressing in a mortar and pestle with the sorrel, onion, and local honey, and tea with the aforementioned yerba buena, rosehip, white sage, and California bay laurel.
The ingredient the third graders seemed most excited about were quail eggs, which Ms. Stuti and I had soft-boiled prior to class so students could peel and chop them and add them to the salad. Several students remarked that it would have been very exciting to discover quail eggs if you were hunting for food out in the wild! We expressed gratitude for all the people who’ve come before us who figured out what foods in nature are edible and nutritious and passed this important knowledge down to us through the generations. When I went to Cafe Ohlone recently, Vincent Medina asked the guests to spread the word that the Ohlone are here and thriving, that their culture is not in the past tense. I can think of no better way to do this than to work with the same plants people have been eating in San Francisco for thousands of years and to share a traditional tea together as a San Francisco public school community.
Breakfast Around the World: Week 4 - Ghana
We made the Ghanaian breakfast staple waakye this week featuring an ingredient neither Ms. Stuti nor I had ever cooked with before, millet leaves. When placed in boiling water, the leaves dyed black-eyed peas and rice a gorgeous burgundy color and imparted a deeply savory, grainy flavor to the dish. While the waakye was cooking, students prepared a cabbage and apple salad and made their own mayonnaise from our chicken eggs for the dressing. Paired together, the waakye and the salad were a perfect contrast of texture and flavor and allowed us to discuss the history of colonialism in West Africa and the resulting appearance of coleslaw, a traditionally Dutch food, alongside a dish cooked with millet, which has been eaten in Africa for thousands of years.
Thursday’s class got to cook and eat with our special guest Ms. Katie, who came back to Harvey Milk to visit, and everyone all week long enjoyed breakfast with homemade hot sauce, a condiment we learned is traditional to serve with waakye.
Grade 3 Edible Social Studies: Week 7
For our final garden class we taught the third graders a song called “Dirt Made My Lunch” to appreciate the soil’s relationship to everything we eat and to help make the transition to the culinary arts portion of our Edible Social Studies journey next week. Everyone picked up the tune quickly and both classes performed a rousing rendition for Mr. Swick and Ms. Grace, respectively, at the end of class.
In the garden, students applied a weatherproof seal to their tree stumps, which we hope will add beauty to the outdoor classroom for years to come. We then had some free time to play with the chickens, explore the dig zone, and enjoy a seasonal garden snack of Mutsu apples and Persian cucumbers. The cilantro seeds the kids planted earlier in the semester are growing well and we’re hoping we’ll be able to harvest the herb when we begin to explore how different groups of people have made San Francisco soil their home and how those groups have influenced the food culture of our city over time.
Grades 4/5 Edible Social Studies: Week 7
It was our final week in the kitchen together, and it did not disappoint! Our class started with a few short videos featuring local food heroes Michael Pollan and Bryant Terry talking about eating locally, cooking together, and youth making change—three practices that not only will fight climate change but also will strengthen our community. Our fourth and fifth grade chef superstars then headed to the kitchen and made a sorbet featuring local strawberries from Tomatero Farm in Watsonville with last week’s candied citrus peels mixed in. We hope many of you made it to the Family Potluck on Thursday night and got to try the sorbet. There’s nothing quite like the taste of minimally processed local produce made with love and lots of laughter.
We look forward to spending the next seven weeks with Rooms 201, 202, and 205 in the garden classroom, where we will continue to investigate the intersection of climate change and the food system but through a social change campaign students will design and implement on the Harvey Milk campus. See you next week!
