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Overview:
This lesson encourages students to think about where the ingredients in their food come from and how they are produced. Students will investigate the origins of a variety of spices from around the world and map these locations. They will then research and create presentations describing the climate, terrain, and agricultural practices in the places they have mapped.
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography, agricultural science
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 11: "The patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's surface"
Standard 16: "The changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources"
Time:
Three to four hours
Materials Required:
Objectives:
Students will
- look at recipes from six continents, and list the spices used in the recipes;
- look up the spices in an online spice encyclopedia, and map the places where the spices originated;
- research and take notes on the climate, terrain, and agricultural practices of the places they have mapped;
- discuss the results of their research; and
- create posters, multimedia presentations, or written reports describing the agriculture in the countries they have mapped.
Geographic Skills:
Acquiring Geographic Information
Organizing Geographic Information
Answering Geographic Questions
Analyzing Geographic Information
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
Ask students what types of spices they enjoy in their foods. Do they know where these spices come from?
Development:
Have students find at least one recipe from each continent (except Antarctica, and they should find two from different parts of Asia) on the Web or in an international cookbook.
Ask students to list the spices used in the recipes. Provide some examples of spices: e.g., cinnamon, oregano, and ginger.
Have students look up these spices at Spice Advice's Spice Encyclopedia or McCormick's Enspicelopedia and map the places where the spices originated on blank Xpeditions outline maps of the world.
Have students research and take notes on the climate, terrain, and agricultural practices of some or all of the places they've mapped (depending on your time frame) to find out what it might be like to cultivate these spices.
Closing:
Discuss with the class what they have learned in this activity. Do they tend to think about where their food ingredients come from? Do they tend to think about who produces the food and who works on the farms? Why might it be a good idea to have this information about their food, and why is it uncommon to know these things?
Suggested Student Assessment:
Have students create posters, multimedia presentations, or written reports describing what agriculture is like in the countries and regions they have mapped. You might want to assign specific places so that each student has one place to investigate and all places are represented throughout the class.
Extending the Lesson:
Have students conduct research to learn about the development of the spice trade during the Age of Exploration. Which spices became popular in Europe, where did these spices come from, and what methods were used to extract the spices from their places of origin?
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