Sunday, November 22, 2009

Yum! That smells wonderful!

Walking into Grandma’s house on Thanksgiving day, do you smell turkey in the oven, the warm pumpkin pie, hot bread, and apple cider on the stove? Does your family have other traditions that speak about your own customs and history?

What if we invited our students to make historical meals that would travel them back in time to the customs, traditions, and scents of meals from the past? In a unique way, we would engage a learning style that could be coupled with research on not only finding the recipes but why the people we study used those ingredients. Some possibilities include asking students to research on the web the appropriate recipes for the period the class is studying, how and why those ingredients were chosen, and report about their experience cooking, smelling, and tasting the food. Students might also research their own family’s unique recipes, where they came from, and how they are still important to their family’s customs and experiences.

Below are a few web sites with historical recipes.
http://www.historyforkids.org/crafts/index.htm
http://www.shootingstarhistory.com/kidshistory/crafts.htm
http://www.foodtimeline.org/
http://www.foodbooks.com/recipes.htm
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/ethnic/historical/
http://www.reciperewards.com/Historical.html

As you celebrate Thanksgiving, take a moment to experience some of your family's unique traditions and customs and consider some shared meal traditions you may have with other families. Students in the future might research these very meals and traditions to learn about you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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