1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 7

In the classroom this week we read Jacqueline Jules’ and Kathryn Mitter’s Duck for Turkey Day about how different families celebrate a “traditional” American holiday.

In the kitchen the first grade chefs made fresh spring rolls inspired by Vietnamese gỏi cuốn. First we cut all our ingredients into long, thin strips: cucumber, tofu, carrot, lettuce, purple cabbage, cilantro, Thai basil, and mint. We learned how to fill and roll with a base of rice vermicelli. Some of us decorated the tops of our edible rice paper with edible flower petals so that when rolled, their bright colors were showcased on top. Some students opted for a sprinkling of minced jalepeño and then we all enjoyed a vegan dipping sauce featuring load of freshly squeezed lime juice with our rolls. It was fun to explore how rice can be made into paper and noodles that people can eat!

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 9

It’s an interesting time to be studying the farmworkers movement with increased support for unions around the country after decades of declining membership, including at the United Farm Workers. This week we looked at other ways farms are trying to raise awareness of and support their farmworkers and focused on community supported agriculture (or CSA), a system that allows farms to connect directly with customer-members via weekly deliveries of produce to their neighborhoods and homes.

In the classroom we watched a short profile of Eatwell Farm in Dixon, California, a farm I happen to have been a member of since 2007. We learned about the farm from Lorraine Walker, who took over Eatwell after her husband died of cancer. Eatwell has about 1000 members throughout the Bay Area who get CSA boxes every week. Members can donate to a share care fund that translates to boxes Eatwell then delivers for free to people who are battling cancer. Members receive a weekly newsletter with updates about the farm crew and what the farm’s challenges are (for example, how the extremely wet winter weather this year has prevented the crew from getting plant starts into the ground, which will delay production and harvest of many crops like strawberries later in the spring). We’ve spent time in earlier weeks discussing the government supports and benefits that are out of reach for many of California’s farmworkers; at Eatwell, members have the opportunity to donate to a special fund that goes directly to the crew to thank them for their hard work in feeding the community.

In the classroom, the second graders made a stir-fry from everything in the Eatwell CSA box for the week, which included mizuna, cabbage, kale, turnips, chives, arugula, and mandarin oranges. This is a recipe that can easily accommodate whatever produce you have on hand, and is a satisfying meal served over a bed of warm rice. The best part of being a part of a CSA is that direct connection to our food producers! We sent Lorraine a text and photo of our class enjoying the stir-fry and it was fun for students to see her respond with words of encouragement.

Kindergarten Edible Social Studies: Week 2

This week we started a conversation about Indigenous traditions and wisdom, a theme we will continue to explore in subsequent Edible Social Studies lessons in every grade at Harvey Milk. In the classroom, we read The Popcorn Book by Tomie dePaola and learned that Native peoples of the Americas have been eating and decorating with popcorn for thousands of years. Students shared different ways they have made popcorn in the microwave or with special machines at home.

In the classroom, we used a simple stove-top method to pop rainbow popcorn. We used a mortar and pestle, an ancient tool humans designed for food preparation, to make a spice blend featuring the flavors of Peru (a country with more than 50 varieties of corn!). We enjoyed our snack with glasses of iced chicha morada, a Peruvian drink made from purple corn that’s cooked with spices and garnished with fresh fruit.

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 6

This week we explored flavors from the Middle East and South Asia. In the classroom we read Leila in Saffron by Rukhsanna Guidroz and illustrated by Dinara Mirtalipova about a Pakistani American family who share a multi-generational dinner every Friday. We learned that saffron is one of the most expensive spices in the world, that it is harvested from crocus flowers, and that the word also refers to a deep golden yellow color.

In the kitchen, the first graders made havij polo, a Persian carrot rice dish. We got to work with fresh turmeric, which is bright orange just like a carrot, candied citrus peel, raisins, rose petals, and, of course, saffron. The dish has both savory and sweet qualities and is quite stunning to look at as well as to taste.

Kindergarten Edible Social Studies: Week 1

The kindergarteners will spend the next 10 weeks exploring how to keep our bodies and our communities healthy and thriving. For our first class, we learned that eating the rainbow keeps our bodies strong! Red fruits and vegetables protect our heart, lungs, and gut from disease; orange and yellow fruits and vegetables are good for our immune system and our vision; green fruits and vegetables rebuild our energy; blue and purple fruits and vegetables boost our memory and support healthy skin; and brown and white fruits and vegetables build healthy bones.

In the classroom we read Cathryn Falwell’s book Rainbow Stew about a family that harvests in their grandfather’s garden and cooks a colorful feast together. We talked about how in addition to keeping our diet diverse and colorful, the more diverse and colorful our community is, the stronger it will be.

In the kitchen we made a rainbow fruit salad with red strawberries, orange Tango tangerines, yellow pineapple, green kiwi, blue blueberries, purple and black blackberries, and white bananas. We had a lot of hands-on fun and many students had multiple helpings of the beautiful salad they made as a community.

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 9

The second grade social studies standards ask students to explore people who made a difference, and I can think of no better example of a historical person to spend time learning more about than César Chávez. In the classroom, we watched an excerpt from a short film documenting a descendent of Chávez’s, Genesis Butler, herself an activist, interviewing important people who worked with him in the farmworkers movement and visiting important places from his life. We spent a long time discussing his 36-day-long fast in 1988, as the second graders had many questions about his motivations, intentions, and ability to survive.

In the kitchen, we made a vegan tortilla soup - vegan in honor of Chávez’s lifelong activism around animal welfare and a dish with Mexican origins like Chávez’s family. We learned that César Chávez was, in addition to being the face of the farm labor movement, a champion of gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights. And, his dog was named Boycott!

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 5

We celebrated Latin foodways and Latin culture this week! In the classroom we read two books: Where Are You From? by Yamile Saied Méndez and illustrated by Jaime Kim about a child of Argentine heritage in conversation with her abuelo and Green is a Chile Pepper: A Book of Colors by Roseanne Greenfield Thong and illustrated by John Parra about how colorful Mexican culture is through food, dance, holidays, and crafts.

In the kitchen, we made arroz chaufa, a Peruvian fried rice dish that riffs on a Chinese classic. Our vegetarian version featured cumin and ají panca, a wonderfully fruity Peruvian pepper that isn’t hot, and loads of garlic and ginger. The first grade chefs practiced cracking eggs and cooking in a wok. We learned that using cold, pre-cooked rice for fried rice works the best because the grains stay firm and contain less moisture so they’re better able to stay separate during the cooking process while still absorbing flavor and sauce without getting mushy.

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 7

We celebrated Black history, Black farmers, and the second grade poetry unit this week. In the classroom, we learned that the number of Black farmers in America has fallen from nearly 1 million in 1920 to fewer than 50,000 today. In response, a few U.S. Senators have recently introduced the Justice for Black Farmers Act, which focuses on ending race-based discrimination at the USDA, protecting Black landowners from losing their land, and granting land to new Black farmers and Black farmers who have lost their land as part of the renewal of the Farm Bill in 2023. We then listened to two poems read by their authors, “Conflict” by Jordan Chaney and “A Love Letter to Future Generations” by Naima Penniman.

In the kitchen, we made a vegan version of hot tamales, a dish historians believe arose out of friendships between migrant Mexican farmworkers and African American sharecroppers in the American South during the early 20th century. Hot tamales are made with cornmeal instead of masa harina and are cooked in a spicy, tomato-based sauce. Traditionally made with pork, our recipe includes nutritional yeast and seasoned tofu for extra umami. This is a labor-intensive recipe that is well worth the effort and a perfect activity to do together with friends!

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 4

In the classroom this week we read Maurice Sendak’s classic book Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months. The first graders wiggled their fingers and raised their hands when we arrived at the chapter of their birth month.

In the kitchen, we made a soup called avgolemono, which comes from the ancient foodways of Sephardic Jews. The soup is thickened with rice and egg and features tangy lemon juice and lots of fresh herbs. It was a lovely meal on a very cold day in the outdoor kitchen classroom!

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 6

In honor of social justice icon Dolores Huerta, this week the second graders deepened their understanding of her life and work. In the classroom, we watched an interview Huerta gave to ABC News in 2021, where we learned that she was a schoolteacher who witnessed the plight of farmworkers firsthand, that she coined the phrase “¡Sí, se puede!,” that she identifies as Chicana, and that even in her 90s she is still fighting for justice.

In the kitchen we made huevos rancheros, a traditional breakfast from rural Mexican farm culture. Students made a simple salsa fresca with tomatoes, onion, garlic, cilantro, and lime. We learned how to fry eggs and toast tortillas and assembled our meal with refried beans (the recipe for which comes from a fifth grade Edible Social Studies lesson on the food system and climate change!). Fresh avocado, some cilantro for garnish, and a final squeeze of fresh lime juice really made the flavors pop.

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 3

This week the first graders learned about manoomin, a sacred food of the Indigenous Anishinaabe peoples. In the classroom, we read The Story of Manoomin, a book produced by the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The book has illustrations of Native children participating in the wild rice harvesting, drying, parching, dancing, and winnowing processes. We learned some Ojibwe words like waabigwan (flower), jiimaan (canoe), aamoo (bee), and miigwech (thank you).

In the classroom, we worked with wild rice we sourced directly from the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and made a salad featuring other ingredients native to present-day North America like squash, cranberries, and pumpkin seeds. There were a lot of fun jobs in this lesson, including making our own salad dressing using a mortar and pestle - a tool humans have used for cooking for tens of thousands of years!

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 5

This week the second graders learned about the labor leader Larry Itliong and the role he played in the creation of the United Farm Workers. In the classroom, we watched an excerpt from the film Delano Manongs about the Delano Grape Strike, which lasted from 1965 to 1970. Itliong and his fellow Filipino farmworkers are often left out of the narrative around California’s agricultural labor movement, but it was Itliong who approached César Chávez asking him and his fellow Mexican farmworkers to join together and work in solidarity with the Filipinos. They achieved something together they would never have accomplished had they continued to protest and strike alone.

In the kitchen, we made lumpia, a fried spring roll common in Filipino food culture. Lumpia are traditionally made with ground pork, but our vegetarian version featured cabbage, celery root, bell pepper, carrot, and Japanese sweet potato. Everyone got a chance to practice rolling the lumpia tightly and brushing with an egg wash to ensure a good seal once they went into the hot oil. We enjoyed them with a sweet and sour dipping sauce, and had time at the end of class to plant the fava beans we started in small paper cups a few weeks back! We look forward to all those fava plants being taller than all the second graders’ heads by the time the school year ends.

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 2

This week we read the book Rice & Rocks written by Sandra L. Richards and illustrated by Megan Kayleigh Sullivan. Giovanni, the protagonist, is having friends over for Sunday dinner and is mortified his grandmother is making her traditional Jamaican rice and beans (or, as he calls it, “rice and rocks”). He ends up going on a magic flight around the world with his pet parrot, Jasper, and discovers that people all over enjoy rice and beans, including his friends’ families. Closer to home, Ms. Francis told us all about the Jamaican recipes she’s learned from her mother-in-law.

In the kitchen, the first graders made Jamaican rice and peas, seasoning the rice and kidney beans with garlic, freshly grated ginger, green onions, allspice berries, and bay leaves and fresh thyme from our school garden. The rice is cooked in coconut milk and traditionally prepared with a Scotch bonnet pepper, but we used the much milder Cherry Bomb pepper instead as a garnish for anyone who craved a little heat! The resulting dish was fragrant, faintly tropical, and deeply satisfying. We enjoyed the rice and peas with a refreshing iced sorrel (the Jamaican name for hibiscus) tea sweetened with agave syrup. Everyone loved the deep magenta color and we had a few tea converts in the class.

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 4

It was the 100th day of school mid-week, so we went back over 100 years ago and learned about the Oxnard Beet Strike of 1903. In the classroom, the second graders looked at a couple of issues of the San Francisco Call newspaper that described the strike and its violent aftermath. We noticed that the paper was in black and white, with no photographs, only drawings, and that the text was super small!

Japanese and Mexican farmworkers in Oxnard came together to form the Japanese Mexican Labor Association, one of the first multiracial labor unions in the United States. They went on strike for fairer working conditions and eventually won, though the story also has a darker conclusion. When the JMLA sought recognition under the American Federation of Labor after its victory in Oxnard, the AFL refused to accept Asian members.

In the kitchen, we made a roasted beet salad with blanched beet greens, orange, miso from Japanese food culture, and pepitas from Mexican food culture in honor of the beet farmworkers who united across cultural differences to make the world more just. 120 years later, the work they started continues.

1st Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 1

We kicked off our Everybody Cooks Rice unit in the classroom with the book Danbi Leads the School Parade by Anna Kim. It’s the story of a young child who moves from South Korea to the United States and forges new friendships through the beautiful food she brings for lunch.

In the kitchen, the first grade chefs each made their own kimbap. We learned that kimbap is different than Japanese sushi in that the rice is seasoned with sesame oil and sesame seeds instead of vinegar and that the filling is usually cooked. Students had a variety of fillings to choose from: omelet, carrots, danmuji (pickled daikon), spinach, cucumber, and ueong jorim (braised burdock root).

Everyone had a great time rolling kimbap with bamboo mats and enjoying all the vibrant colors of our meal.

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 3

This week we learned about some of California’s first farmworkers, Chinese immigrants, who helped build the state’s agricultural infrastructure in the mid-19th century. In the classroom, we watched a film teaser for a documentary called Invisible Assets: The Chinese Contribution to California Wines. The film explores the history of the many unnamed Chinese people who built the vineyards for which the town of Sonoma is now famous. We heard Sonoma’s mayor Jack Ding, a Chinese immigrant, talk about his dream of installing a Chinese ting honoring the labor of Chinese people in the middle of a public park in his city.

In the kitchen, we celebrated the Lunar New Year, an important culinary holiday for many Asian cultures, including the Chinese, by making dumplings. Our were filled with carrots, cabbage, garlic chives, shiitake mushrooms, tofu, ginger, shallots, and cilantro. We steamed the dumplings in bamboo steamers and one lucky chef at each table found the shiny coin hidden inside, which represents good fortune in the new year. Happy Year of the Rabbit to all!

4th/5th Grade Edible Social Studies: cafe ohlone field trip

We were so fortunate to have a bright, sunny day in the midst of a few winter storms to head to the land now called Berkeley. All our fourth and fifth grade classrooms got to visit the only Ohlone restaurant in the world. At Cafe Ohlone’s latest space, called ‘oṭṭoy (which means “to mend” or “repair” in Chochenyo), students had the opportunity to learn from Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino, the Ohlone founders of mak-’amham (Chochenyo for “our food”), a cultural institution focused on empowering the Ohlone community and teaching the public about Ohlone culture through taste.

Inside the restaurant, we observed native plants, listened to the voices of both elder and youth members of the local Ohlone community play over speakers, and learned a few Ohlone words. “Horše tuuxi” means hello. The land now known as San Francisco is “Yelamu.” The land around Mission Dolores, Dolores Park, and near Harvey Milk is “Chutchui.” Mr. Louis showed us several beautiful baskets used in preparing acorn. Mr. Vincent talked about abalone and taught us the Chochenyo lyrics to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star that his younger brother wrote.

We enjoyed hot elderberry tea and brownies. Unfortunately, it was the first day the Cafe Ohlone team was training the UC Berkeley dining staff on how to make their recipes and too much oil was incorporated into the acorn brownies that morning so they were unavailable. Instead, everyone was served brownies from the UC Berkeley dining hall. They were delicious and a huge hit, but we’ll have to come back another time to taste the real thing. (And we’re lucky to have worked with acorn flour already (in our strawberry acorn pancakes recipe) at school. )

Mr. Vincent gave a powerful example for students of not only how it would feel to be colonized and have your land and culture taken away but also how the very existence of the restaurant is a testament to how strong the Ohlone people have been in the face of adversity and that their beautiful culture continues to thrive. He asked us to help spread the message that the Ohlone have always been here and will always be here. We’re so grateful for the experience and hope our connection with the work of ‘mak-amham can only continue to grow.

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 2

Last week, the second graders learned that California is a major producer of fruits and vegetables. This week, we learned that a majority of California’s farmworkers are Mexican, men, undocumented, and range in age from teenagers to people in their 60s. We also learned that there are an estimated 400,000 children who work in American fields. In the classroom, we read the book Before We Eat: From Farm to Table and discussed all the many people who contribute to our food system and allow us to eat. They are essential workers and heroes, but most of them aren’t named in our history books or raised in our daily consciousness.

In the classroom, we celebrated the close relationship between Californian and Mexican food cultures and made guacamole with Haas and Bacon (named for their first cultivator, not their flavor!) avocados. There was great teamwork as students mashed avocado, snipped onions, squeezed limes, and minced cilantro. We enjoyed the guacamole with local tortilla chips from Sabor Mexicano.

At the end of class, each student planted a fava bean into a small cup of soil. Over the next few weeks, the second graders will watch their fava starts emerge indoors and we will then transfer the baby plants to the planters by the lunch picnic tables and hope to be able to harvest fresh fava beans together before school gets out in the spring!

2nd Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 1

The second graders kicked off our farmworkers unit with a celebration of California’s agricultural bounty. In the classroom, we learned that California produces much of the fruit, vegetables, and nuts for the rest of the country and even the world.

In the kitchen, we made a California-grown winter salad featuring butter lettuce from Pescadero, fennel from Aromas, yellow carrots from the Santa Rita Hills, watermelon radish from San Juan Bautista, Moro blood orange and Marisol clementine and Meyer lemons from Orosi, Medjool dates from the Coachella Valley, shallots from San Martin, and, of course, 100% California extra-virgin olive oil. Students used a mortar and pestle to make a simple salad dressing to flavor all the beautiful colors of the local produce. It was fun to reconnect with each other and have the opportunity to use many different culinary tools in the outdoor classroom.

4th/5th Grade Edible Social Studies: Week 9

In the classroom this week we finished watching the episode of Tending the Wild called Decolonizing the Diet: How Native Peoples are Reclaiming Traditional Foods that we started in our first week of the unit. We learned about the Chia Café Collective, a group in Southern California working to preserve Indigenous foodways, including native chia, which is no longer accessible in large enough quantities for people to eat.

In the kitchen we made a Cafe Ohlone recipe for chia porridge, a simple and energizing way to start your day. We garnished the porridge with a wild huckleberry sauce, bee pollen, pumpkin seeds, and the edible flowers of a pineapple sage we are growing in the school garden.

While we waited for the porridge to set, we played an Ohlone game that is traditionally played with elderberry or willow sticks. One side of each stick is decorated. Each player throws the sticks down and points are awarded depending on how the sticks land (all blank or all decorated = 2 points; half blank/half decorated = 1 point; all other configurations = 0 points). The first player to get to 5 points is the game of staves champion.

In our closing circle, we each shared our favorite recipe from the unit this semester and an appreciation. It’s been a wonderful nine weeks and we look forward to our field trip in January and one last class in the spring!