The Story of My Snack – Worksheet Version

Educational Objectives:

1) To raise awareness about the origins of our food

2) To learn about environmental inputs and human activity necessary to produce, transport and prepare food.

3) To understand the many environmental and social implications of our food, and learn how to make good food choices

Duration: 15 – 25 minutes

Materials: Food, costumes (optional)

Program Description:

To be conducted after a snack or meal:

1) In pairs, have the students choose one item from what they just ate.

2) Ask groups to discuss the life history of that food item from planting to their mouth. Encourage them to be as creative as possible and to think of all of the factors in the history of the food item (planting, fertilizing, people picking the fruit, transport, sale, preparation). The more detail the better.

3) Distribute the Worksheet and ask the pairs to fill them out.

4) Discussion (see below for sample discussion questions)

5) Share answers to final question on worksheet "What are some things we can do to help people and the Earth when we choose how and what to eat?"

Sample Discussion: Where does our food come from?

1. Where do you shop for food?

Answer: Supermarket, farmers market, CSA/direct from the farmer.

2. How many miles do you think each product traveled to get to your plate?

Answer: average 1000 miles.

3. What is the problem with food traveling far?

Answer: Carbon emission/climate change, not as fresh, etc

4. What other factors in the production of this food have an effect on the environment?

Answer: Pesticide use, chemical fertilizer use,What other factors in the production of this food have an effect on people?

Answer: salary, legal vs illegal workers, Pesticide use, chemical fertilizer use,

5. How might your answers be different at different times of the year?

Answer: More local food in the summer and fall

6. There is a saying, “Think globally, act locally.” How does this relate to this activity? Our garden?

Materials developed by Noam Dolgin, www.noamdolgin.com.

All content is subject to the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. (Ie. Tell other where you got it from and don't sell it)

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