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Bring food issues to life with the What’s On Your

Plate Curriculum, a companion to the film that


explores where our food comes from and why it
matters to your community, environment and body!

About this Resource:


Welcome to a curriculum companion to Just as Sadie and Safiyah embark ecology, health, and community. Inside
What’s On Your Plate? Film, a witty and on a journey to discover the origins you’ll find three modules exploring
provocative documentary produced and and impacts of their food, What’s On issues related to school food, health
directed by award-winning filmmaker Your Plate? Curriculum invites you to and access to food and local food. The
Catherine Gund about kids and food
politics. Filmed over the course of one
learn alongside them with hands-on
activities, easy to read information
curriculum also works together with the
What’s On Your Plate? Film providing a
A Curriculum Guide
year, the film follows two eleven-year- and investigatory projects to get crucial media learning tool for cultivating
old African-American city kids as they your students thinking creatively and discussion and a deeper understanding
explore their place in the food chain. critically about what food means to their of the complex and hidden world of
Sadie and Safiyah take a close look at community and beyond. Presented as food politics through unique narratives,
food systems in New York City and its an adaptable resource for both teachers interviews and more.
surrounding areas. With the camera as and non-formal educators the objective
their companion, the girl guides talk to is to use systems thinking and project-
each other, food activists, farmers, new based learning to spark a dialogue and Visit www.whatsonyourplateproject.org
friends, storekeepers, their families, and relationship with your students about for games, resources and the latest
the viewer, in their quest to understand the interconnections of food, local news on food politics and upcoming
what’s on all of our plates.
screenings!

What’s Inside?
Module 1 Module 2 Module 3

School Food Health+Access Local Food

This first Module looks at the The Health and Access Module In the third Module, the theme
kinds of food found in schools, looks at how the foods we of local food is addressed,
encouraging students to investi- eat affects our bodies and connecting international and
gate their own lunchrooms and the many issues preventing national food systems to local
develop ways to bring healthy access to healthy foods in communities.
and sustainable foods into their communities nationwide.
schools.

ISBN - 978-0-9822869-6-8

The What’s On Your Plate? Curriculum was developed by The What’s On Your Plate? Film and Outreach Cam-
Solar One, NYC’s Green Energy, Arts and Education Center. paign focuses attention and action on improving the
Solar One inspires and enables people of all ages with health of all children and the planet through Developed by:
the vision, knowledge and resources to attain a more sustainable food production and eating habits.
environmentally sound and sustainable future. www.solar1.org

© 2009 Solar One


Intro + How to Use

Welcome!
from Chris Collins, the Executive Director of Solar One
and Catherine Gund, the Producer/Director of the Film What’s On Your Plate?

As NYC’s first Green Energy, Arts and Education Center, Solar One inspires New Yorkers to
become environmentally responsible residents through a variety of education, outreach and
arts programs. Solar One’s commitment to engaging all New Yorkers has led to the creation
of an innovative training program and curriculum to accompany What’s On Your Plate?, the
documentary film about kids and food politics.

What’s On Your Plate? Film follows two eleven-year-old African-American city kids over the
course of one year as they explore their place in the food chain. Sadie and Safiyah talk to food
activists, farmers, and storekeepers, as they address questions regarding the origin of the food
they eat, how it’s cultivated, and how many miles it travels from farm to fork. They ask about
what’s in the food they eat and why it’s making so many people sick.

Sadie and Safiyah visit supermarkets, fast food chains, and school lunchrooms. They also
check out innovative sustainable food system practices by going to farms, greenmarkets, and
community supported agriculture (CSA) programs. They discover that these options have a
number of positive effects: they are good for the environment, help struggling farmers survive,
and provide healthy, affordable, locally grown food to communities, especially lower-income
urban families. The film culminates with a delicious meal, with many local ingredients, cooked
by the girls with friends they have made along the way. In the film, Sadie and Safiyah formulate
sophisticated and compassionate opinions about urban sustainability, and by doing so inspire
hope and active engagement in others.

Solar One and the makers of What’s On Your Plate? Film view our partnership as ongoing and
mutually supportive. Much like the subject that is covered, this curriculum and the attendant
outreach to educators countrywide, functions on a systemic level. Together we engage the
food life cycle – from the initial seeds in the ground, to how what we eat gets on our plates and
what happens to the packaging and leftovers at the end of the meal. Together we engage in
a journey to transform how we use the earth’s natural resources. As we learn to de-carbonize
the earth’s atmosphere, we are required to re-think how we use all of our resources because of
the carbon impacts of the products and services we use. Thinking about the food we eat every
day is a great place for individuals, families and whole communities to start exploring the larger
terrain of environmental sustainability. All of the pieces are interconnected, and that’s exactly
how we view our work.

Chris and Catherine


September 2009
Credits
© Solar One 2009 - New York, NY
ISBN - 978-0-9822869-6-8
First Edition

Content and Research: Fronsy Thurman, Christopher Kennedy


Editors: Catherine Gund, Pauline Augustine, Christopher Collins and Genna Robbins
Layout and Design: Christopher Kennedy, Amy Franceschini
Special Thanks: Diane Hatz, Mary Jeys, Nell Marantz, and Tanya Selvaratnam

Photographs © Catherine Gund (unless otherwise noted)


What’s On Your Plate? the Film © Aubin Pictures 2009
Director/Producer: Catherine Gund Producer: Tanya Selvaratnam Associate Producer: Nell Marantz

All rights reserved. Except for Activity Worksheets, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or any other information story and retrieval system, without
written permission from Solar One. Reproduction of Activity Worksheets is for educational purposes only.

Publisher: Solar One


Solar One: Green Energy Arts and Education Center
24-20 FDR Drive, Service Road East
New York, NY 10010
Tel: (212) 505-6050
www.solar1.org

For More Information and to Order Online:


www.whatsonyourplateproject.org or www.solar1.org

Front Cover Photo © Catherine Gund

V1

Printed on recycled paper

Solar One inspires and enables people of all ages with the vision, knowledge and
resources to attain a more environmentally sound and sustainable future.
To order another copy visit www.solar1.org for more information!

The What’s On Your Plate? Film and Outreach Campaign focuses attention and
action on improving the health of all children and the planet through sustainable
food production and eating habits. www.whatsonyourplateproject.org
Intro + How to Use

An Introduction
Welcome to a curriculum standing of the complex and hidden problems related to this food crisis.
world of food politics through unique What’s On Your Plate? Curriculum
companion to What’s On narratives, interviews and more. takes the lead on this issue, provid-
Your Plate?, a witty and ing a solutions-oriented approach to
The complete film is 76 minutes long, learning, through investigatory and
provocative documentary but for easiest use in the classroom, creative thinking tools that will spark
produced and directed by the filmmakers have edited three student’s imagination and hopefully
- 20-minute segments, approximately catalyze real change in communities
award-winning filmmaker 20 minutes each, which include most locally and globally.
Catherine Gund about kids scenes from the film. This curriculum
works with those three segments, or Visit www.whatsonyourplateproject.org
and food politics! modules: School Food, Local Food for information about screenings and
and Health and Access. news about emerging food issues
Filmed over the course of one year,
the film follows two eleven-year-old and politics. Here you will be able to
A perfect compliment to any subject share how you’ve brought food issues
African-American city kids as they area or setting, the issue of food
explore their place in the food chain. into your classroom by posting lesson
provides students and teachers alike plans, activity ideas, photographs and
Sadie and Safiyah take a close look at an interdisciplinary interface in which
food systems in New York City and its contribute to a collective recipe book
to contextualize relevant issues of of students all over the country! Also
surrounding areas. With the camera health and the environment affect-
as their companion, the girl guides on the site, students can play games
ing every community in the country. about healthy food options, post their
talk to each other, food activists, Concepts related to sustainability and
farmers, new friends, storekeepers, thoughts and photos about the food
the environment, often tied to com- they eat, and contribute to the ongo-
their families, and the viewer, in their plex and abstract systems, can be
quest to understand what’s on all of ing conversation about being healthy.
very difficult to present and discuss For additional copies of the curricu-
our plates. in a classroom setting. Food provides lum guide please visit
us with creative opportunities to avoid www.solar1.org.
Just as Sadie and Safiyah embark on this abstraction, instead allowing stu-
a journey to discover the origins and dents to participate in hands-on and
impacts of their food, the What’s On sense-based learning opportunities
Your Plate? Curriculum invites you to that are intimately tied to their family
learn alongside them with hands-on life, schools and local community.
activities, readers’ and investigatory
projects to allow your students to Our nation is facing a crisis of expo-
think creatively and critically about nential proportions, a crisis in many
what food means to their bodies their ways rooted in how we grow and
school and their community. Pre- produce food. From explosive obesity
sented as an adaptable resource for rates and rampant cases of diabetes
both teachers and non-formal educa- to environmental challenges near and
tors, the objective is to use systems far, the need to better understand
thinking and project-based learning to where our food comes from, and
spark a dialogue and relationship with the implications for our local com-
your students about the interconnec- munities and individual health, is of
tions of food, local ecology, health, vital importance now more than ever.
and community. The curriculum also Naturally, education on these issues
works together with the What’s On is therefore of immense concern;
Your Plate? Film and provides a education that provides students a
crucial media learning tool for cultivat- balanced perspective on emergent
ing discussion and a deeper under-

1 © 2009 Solar One


Intro + How to Use

Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................1
Standards................................................................................................................3
Learning Objectives..................................................................................................4
How to Use...........................................................................................................5-6
Selected Reading......................................................................................................7

Module 1 School Food .................................................9


Film Connect..........................................10 Let’s Take a Closer Look!...................16
Standards + Objectives..........................10 Student Reader...........................................16-17
Keywords...............................................11 Investigation: Cafeteria Snoops.......................18
Activity: Let’s Map It Out!.................................19
What’s The Story...................................11 Activity: Let’s Weigh It Out!..............................20
Student Reader...............................................11-13
Activity: Class Cookbook.................................13,14 Let’s Re-Think....................................21
Investigation: School Lunch Through the Ages...15 Student Reader..........................................21-24
Analysis: School Food Re-Design...................25
Activity: Reduce your Waste............................26

Module 2 Health + Access .........................................27


Film Connect..........................................28 Let’s Take a Closer Look!...................35
Standards + Objectives..........................28 Student Reader...........................................35-38
Keywords...............................................29 Investigation: Supermarket Snoops.................39

What’s The Story...................................29 Let’s Re-Think.....................................40


Student Reader..............................................29-31 Student Reader...........................................40-42
Activity: Ingredients and Labels.....................32-34 Activity: Food Diary...........................................43
Analysis: Health and AccessRe-Design...........44

Module 3 Local Food ...................................................45


Film Connect..........................................46 Let’s Take a Closer Look!..................53
Standards + Objectives..........................46 Student Reader..........................................53-56
Keywords...............................................47 Activity: Food Systems!..............................57-58
Investigation: Your Food, Your Community.....59
What’s The Story...................................47
Student Reader..............................................47-50 Let’s Re-Think....................................60
Activity: Long Distance Mapping....................51-52 Student Reader..........................................60-62
Analysis: Local Food Re-Design.....................63

© 2009 Solar One


2
Intro + How to Use

Standards
About
These standards are a composite of education guidelines set on the national level by the National Council of Teachers
of Mathematics, National Council of Teachers of English, National Geographic Society, National Council on Economic
Education, Center for Civic Education, Consortium of National Arts Education Associations, National Center for History
in the Schools, and National Academies of Science among others! These standards apply for grades 5 – 8. The content,
activities and media learning tools meet these standards throughout each Module.

Science Economics Language Arts


NS.1 Science as Inquiry EC.1 Productive Resources LA.1 Reading for Perspective
a. Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry a. As consumers, people use resources in differ- a. Students read a wide range of print and non-
b. Understandings about scientific inquiry ent ways to satisfy different wants. Productive re- print texts to build an understanding of texts,
sources can be used in different ways to produce of themselves, and of the cultures of the United
NS.2 Physical Science different goods and services. States...
a. Properties of objects and materials
EC.2 Allocating Goods and Services LA.2 Evaluation Strategies
NS.3 Life Science a. People in all economies must address three a. Students apply a wide range of strategies to
b. The characteristics of organisms questions: What goods and services will be comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate
c. Life cycles of organisms produced? How will these goods and services be texts...
d. Organisms and environments produced? Who will consume them?
LA.3 Communication Strategies
NS.4 Earth and Space Science EC.8 Role of Price in a Market System a. Students employ a wide range of strategies
a. Properties of earth materials a. An increase in the price of a good or service as they write and use different writing process
encourages people to look for substitutes, caus- elements appropriately to communicate with dif-
NS.5 Science and Technology ing the quantity demanded to decrease, and vice ferent audiences for a variety of purposes.
b. Understandings about science and technology versa. This relationship between price and quan-
tity demanded, known as the law of demand, ex- LA.4 Evaluating Data
NS.6 Science in Personal and Social Perspectives ists as long as other factors influencing demand a. Students conduct research on issues and
c. Personal health do not change. interests by generating ideas and questions, and
d. Types of resources by posing problems...
e. Changes in environments
f. Science and technology in local challenges LA.5 Developing Research Skills
Geography a. Students use a variety of technological and
information resources
G.1 Places and Regions
a. Understand the physical and human character- LA.6 Multicultural Understanding
Technology istics of places. a. Students develop an understanding of and
b. Understand that people create regions to respect for diversity
T.1 Social, Ethical, and Human Issues interpret Earth’s complexity.
a. Students understand the ethical, cultural, and c. Understand how culture and experience influ- LA.7 Participating in Society
societal issues related to technology. ence people’s perceptions of places and regions. a. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflec-
tive, creative, and critical members of a variety of
T.2 Technology Research Tools G.2 Physical Systems literacy communities.
b. Students use technology to locate, evaluate, a. Understand the characteristics and spatial
and collect information from a variety of sources. distribution of ecosystems on Earth’s surface.
c. Students use technology tools to process data
and report results. G.3 Human Systems
d. Students evaluate and select new information a. Understand the characteristics, distribution,
resources and technological innovations based and migration of human populations on Earth’s
on the appropriateness for specific tasks. surface.
b. Understand the characteristics, distribution,
NT.3 Technology Problem-Solving and Decision- and complexity of Earth’s cultural mosaics.
Making Tools c. Understand the patterns and networks of eco-
a. Students use technology resources for solving nomic interdependence on Earth’s surface.
problems and making informed decisions. d Understand the processes, patterns, and func-
b. Students employ technology in the develop- tions of human settlement.
ment of strategies for solving problems in the real e. Understand how the forces of cooperation and
world. conflict among people influence the division and
control of Earth’s surface.

G.4 Environment and Society


a. Understand how human actions modify the
physical environment.
b. Understand how physical systems affect hu-
man systems.
c. Understand the changes that occur in the
meaning, use, distribution, and importance of
resources.

3 © 2009 Solar One


Intro + How to Use

Objectives
Welcome!
The What’s On Your Plate? Curriculum is a comprehensive guide to understanding the importance of food
systems and the relationship food has to our communities, schools and our own bodies. The objective is to fa-
cilitate an exploration of how food affects our local communities and to empower students to re-imagine where
their food comes from and how it affects our local ecology. Divided into three Modules, this resource facilitates
a dialogue with your students through an exploration of local food, school food and health issues related to the
food we eat.

Systems Thinking creativity, teachers and students alike are


and Relationships encouraged to learn practical skills when Expected Outcomes
engaged in each section, from growing
food, to starting a composting operation, Design Applications
One of the main goals of this guide is to cooking healthy. These tools encourage
to provide a framework for students to Students will learn practical skills that
students to incorporate critical thinking can be used to help them explore
understand and think about the systems into their problem solving processes, and
behind many of the food items we eat ev- projects, ideas and questions they may
allow them to create better homes, com- have about sustainability.
eryday. Where does our food come from? munities and bodies for themselves.
Where is our food grown? How does
this affect our health? By thinking about Local Knowledge
the systems and relationships between The Outdoors is the Students will gain local knowledge of
our built and natural environment, stu- Design Lab their community and local ecology.
dents gain a greater understanding of the
problems and possible solutions that affect The activities provided in this resource en- Systems Thinking
local and global sustainability. courage you to take your students outside Students will be able to understand
to more intimately understand your local the relationships between the natural
environment and the community around and built environment.
A Real World the school. Stewardship arises from a
Design Lab deep appreciation for our home and the Local Solutions
spaces that define that place. The best Students will gain knowledge of many
The What’s On Your Plate? Curriculum way to gain this appreciation is by forming ecological solutions and technologies
frames your school and neighborhood as memories in and through interaction with that exist right now and are being used
an interactive, real-world design lab. From these spaces. by engineers, architects, farmers, and
re-imagining your lunchroom to the poten- chefs worldwide.
tials for gardens, composting and com- Provide Context
munity supported agriculture – what better + Examples
way to address sustainability than through
the immediate spaces students interact The What’s On Your Plate? Curriculum uses
with! Relevance is often times a missing el- local context and real world examples to
ement in understanding sustainability and help students visualize the potential for
its relationship to food; the What’s On Your their community and school to take the
Plate? Curriculum encourages teachers lead on issues related to food and sustain-
and students to take local and immediate ability. When we provide examples, we
action in their situated community. allow students to make abstract notions
real. Look online, talk to your community
Creative members and integrate as many examples
Problem Solving of organizations, individuals and other
proponents of a more sustainable food
Ecological sustainability is inherently tied system for your community.
to creative problem solving. The What’s On
Your Plate? Curriculum provides a strategy
for students to think creatively about their
local food system and the affect it has on
their very own classrooms and neighbor-
hoods. Using design, hands-on activities
and media learning as a tool to cultivate

© 2009 Solar One


4
Intro + How to Use

How to Use
Format and Delivery
This resource guide is adaptable so that it can be integrated into any
Recommended Grade Levels: 5 - 8 number of lesson plans across disciplines for grades 5 - 8. The best use
Time: 1-2 Weeks for Each Module of this Curriculum Guide will combine the use of the What’s On Your
Each Session: 45 minutes - 1 hour Plate? Film, hands-on activities, critical discussions and projects that
bring students outside into the community. The Curriculum is divided
Subject Area: Interdisciplinary into three major sections or themes that can be used interchangeably
according to your preference including School Food, Health and Access
and Local Food. Within each of these sections, the module is broken
down into a format that allows students to first be introduced to a major topic, then encouraged to investigate this issue
and finally re-think and develop solutions in relationship to their bodies, school or community.

Module 1
School Food
This first Module looks at the kinds of food found in
Inside each Module:
schools, encouraging students to investigate their What’s the Story?: An introductory section providing
own lunchrooms and develop ways to bring healthy background information and context on each thematic
and sustainable foods into their schools. Many being explored from local food to health and access.
students across the country rely on school food as
their major source of nutrition, eating three meals a Let’s Take a Closer Look!: This is a hands-on
day at their local school. In this section we will look at section empowering students to investigate their own
challenges that schools are facing across the country schools, homes and communities in relationship to food
in relationship to the food they provide to our youth and its ecological and social impacts.
and the affects it has on their bodies and communities,
and possible solutions. Let’s Rethink!: Let’s Re-Think! provides an
opportunity for students to re-imagine the way we buy,
eat and discuss food issues drawing from case studies
and examples of sustainable agriculture and food
Module 2
Health+Access systems from around the country

The Health and Access Module will look at how the


foods we eat affects our bodies and the many issues
preventing access to healthy foods in communities
nationwide. With obesity rates, diabetes and other o Hands-On Activities
health concerns on the rise, the need to understand
how food fits into this emerging national challenge is
Activity Procedure: Worksheets:
more important than ever. This section will provide Activity
opportunities for discussion and dialogue about these
issues, providing solutions and activities to spark What’s Your Score-Card worksheet

Food Footprint? Long-Distance Mapping


action. Everyone will receive a worksheet and calculate their
Name How far did your food travel? Add up
the miles!
Food Footprint. How did you do? Are you a Big Foot? NO. 1 NO. 2

As a class, let’s brainstorm other ways we can reduce What Food? What Food?

our food footprint. Try to come up with at least three

Local Food
From Where? From Where?

Module 3
How Far did How Far did
it travel? (miles) it travel? (miles)

Activity Types: NO. 3

What Food?
NO. 4

What Food?

From Where? From Where?

In this last Module, the theme of local food is 1. Investigation Students How Far did
it travel? (miles)
How Far did
it travel? (miles)

addressed, connecting international and national will investigate a problem in their NO. 5 NO.

food systems to local communities. Local food school or neighborhood. Activities What Food? What Food?

and worksheets are provided.


From Where? From Where?

movements are on the rise, but how does that fit into How Far did
it travel? (miles)
How Far did
it travel? (miles)

your school or neighborhood? This section provides 2. Analysis/Re-Design Grand


Mileage:

some background information on the importance of Students will think about solutions
Total

local food socially and ecologically, while allowing to the problems they have identi-
© 2009 Solar One

for a critical discussion on possible solutions and fied and think of ways to “re-de- See Page 52 to see the full Long
applications for your school or community. Distance Mapping Activity
sign” their relationship to food in Worksheet
school, at home and community.

5 © 2009 Solar One


Intro + How to Use

How to Use
Media Learning! Film Adapted Just for
your classroom!
This Curriculum is intended to be Inquiry-Based
used alongside the Film What’s Discussions:
On Your Plate?, which will provide School Food Segment
a unique media experience and Inquiry-based discussions are en-
reference for students and teachers couraged at the end of each movie
alike. clip viewed. To help spark discussion, Health+Access Segment
each module provides a series of
Movie Clips: thematic questions. Local Food Segment
Each Module is tied to a particular
movie clip that provides a relevant The Curriculum provides suggested
narrative for students to get a bet- stopping points for you to ask ques- Choose from three thematic seg-
ter understanding of each concept tions and begin a discussion. The ments adapted from the What’s on
being discussed. Teachers are best learning happens organically, Your Plate? Film especially for your
encouraged to use the movie in however, so we encourage you to classroom. Each segment has
conjunction with this curriculum to stop where you need to stop, ask three chapters which align with the
provide a robust learning experi- questions where you feel questions three sections found in each mod-
ence for their students. Instructions are needed and to use this as a visual ule: What’s the Story, Let’s Take a
found at the beginning of each tool to explain the ways food affects Closer Look and Let’s Re-Think!
Module! us every day.

Suggested Uses Field Trips Service Learning


Opportunities
What’s On Your Plate? Curriculum pro-
Interdisciplinary vides a great opportunity to organize a Use this Curriculum as an opportunity
Connections field trip to visit a local farmer. Plan a har- to match your students with a non-profit
vest or planting field trip or visit a farmers that is helping to bring healthy and local
The best learning experience is an inter- market in your area. food to your community. At
disciplinary one. We encourage you to www.whatsonyourplateproject.org you
talk with other teachers in different dis- After School can find a national Network of Friends,
ciplines like social studies, art, science,
and math and find ways to bring the
Programs which are organizations is every state
working on food systems.
issues of food and ecology into multiple Looking for after-school program ideas?
lesson plans. Food is a perfect fit, providing an end-
Lesson Plan Tie-In less number of activities and projects to Suggested Materials
engage your students.
This resource is intended to
There are many ways in which to inte- Project-Based encourage low-cost and adapt-
grate the issue of food into any learning
standard or lesson plan. For instance,
Learning able activities. The best materials
if your covering the Roman Empire in come from your school, your
Project-based learning encourages
World History, take some time to discuss longer activities that engage multiple stu-
neighborhood and your commu-
farming in ancient Rome and make com- dents and community-members in the nity. Below is a list of suggested
parisons to contemporary agricultural process. Start by organizing a project materials:
issues. If you’re a math teacher, you can around a specific issue related to your
grow food crops and measure growth • Poster paper
neighborhood, community or school.
over time or have students use geometry Ask students to help you design a proj-
• Calculators
to design a vegetable garden for their ect that will address this issue, begin to • Compost Bin
school. The possibilities are endless and plan and then implement! For instance if • Red Worms
only get better the more creative and your school is surrounded by vacant lots, • Soil & Seeds
collaborative you are! ask local officials if you can convert one • Clipboards
lot into a garden. • TV/Computer for Flim viewing

© 2009 Solar One


6
Intro + How to Use

Selected Further Reading


Brownell, Kelly D., and Katherine Battle Point Press, 2002. A Kids Guide to Food and Nutrition.
Horgen. Food Fight: The Inside Story Scholastic.
of the Food Industry, America’s Obesity Nestle, Marion. Food Politics: How the
Crisis, and What We Can Do About It. Food Industry Influences Nutrition, and Rogers, Elizabeth and Kostigen,
New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. Health, Revisedand Expanded Edition Thoman. The Green Book, The Everyday
(California Studies in Food and Culture). Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple
Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Minneap- University of California Press, 2007. Step at at Time. New York: Three Rivers
olis: Sagebrush, 2002. Original publica- Press, 2007.
tion date: 1962. Nestle, Marion. What to Eat. New York:
North Point Press, 2007. Willett, Walter, and P.J. Skerrett. Eat,
Cooper, Ann, and Lisa M. Holmes. Bitter Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard
Harvest: A Chef’s Perspective on the Peterson, Farmer John. Farmer John’s Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating.
Hidden Danger in the Foods We Eat and Cookbook, The Real Dirt On Vegetables. New York: The Free Press, 2002.
What We Can Do About It. New York: Layton, UT: Gibbs Smiths Publishers,
Routledge, 2000. 2006.

Ettlinger, Steve. Twinkie, Deconstruct- Pollan, Michael. The Botany of Desire: A


ed: My Journey to Discover How the Plant’s-Eye View of the World. New York:
For more resources visit:
Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Random House, 2002. www.whatsonyourplateproject.org
Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and
Manipulated into What America Pollan, Michael. In Defense of Food: An
Eats. New York: Plume, 2008. Eater’s Manifesto. New York: Penguin,
2009.
Hannemann, Monika and Patricia Hulse, Organizations To
Brian Johnson, Barbara Kurland, Tracey Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore’s Di- Check Out!
Patterson, illustrated by Sam Tomasello, lemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.
edited by Sigrun Wolff Saphire. Garden- Penguin, 2007. Active Citizen Project
ing With Children, Brooklyn: Brooklyn The Alliance for a Healthier
Botanic Garden, 2007. Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore’s Dilem- Generation
ma, Young Readers’ Edition. adapted Children’s Aid Society
Imhoff, Daniel. Paper or Plastic, Search- by Richie Chevat. New York: Dial Books.
ing for Solutions in an Overpackaged 2009. Children & Nature Network
World. San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Cuyahoga Valley Countryside
Books, 2005. Royte, Elizabeth. Garbage Land, On the The Fair Food Network
Secret Trail of Trash. Back Bay Books. The Garden Project
Katz, Sandor Ellix. The Revolution Will 2005. Harvest Home
Not Be Microwaved, Inside America’s
Underground Food Movements. White Salatin, Joel. Holy Cows and Hog Heav- The James Beard Foundation
River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, en: The Food Buyer’s Guide to Farm Just Food
2006. Friendly Food. White River Junction, VT: Lower East Side Girls Club
Chelsea Green, 2004. Lunch Lessons
Kingsolver, Barbara, with Steve L. Hopp Solar One
and Camille Kingsolver. Animal, Veg- Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation, The
etable, Miracle, A Year of Food Life. New Dark Side of the All-American Meal. New National Farm to School Network
York: Harper Perennial, 2008. York: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. The Nelson Institute for
Environmental Studies
Landrigan, Philip, J., Herbert Needle- Stringer, Scott, ed. Manhattan Borough New York Coalition for Healthy
man, and Mary Landrigan. Raising President. The Go Green East Harlem School Food
Healthy Children in a Toxic World: 101 Cookbook. Madison, WI: Jones Books,
Smart Solutions for Every Family. Em- 2008. Plow to Plate
maus, PA: Rodale Press, 2002. Slow Food USA
Stringer, Scott, Food in the Public Inter- Small Planet Institute
Lappe, Frances Moore, and Anna est: How New York City’s Food Policy Solar One
Lappe. Hope’s Edge: The Next Diet for Holds the Key to Hunger, Health, Jobs Stone Barns Center for Food and
a Small Planet. New York: Jeremy P. and the Environment. New York: Office
Tarcher/Putnam, 2002. of the Manhattan Borough President Agriculture
Scott Stringer, Released February 7, The Sustainable Table
McDonough, William and Braungart, 2009. The Sylvia Center
Michael. Cradle to Cradle, ReMaking the
Way We Make Things. New York: North Rockwell, Lizzy. Good Enough to Eat,

7 © 2009 Solar One


Ideas + Notes:

8
Module One

School Food
Overview:
In this section we will explore issues related to food, how it gets to your school and the
environmental impacts of this process. Students will be encouraged to investigate the source of
their food and consider alternative ways of creating a more sustainable and local food system
for their school.

9 © 2009 Solar One


Module One: School Food

Introduction
Film Connection School Food Segment on the DVD

Chapter 1: Chapter 2: Chapter 3:


What’s The Story Let’s Take a Closer Look Let’s Re-Think
This section covers an in-class nutri- In this section, the girls interview students This part of the film includes café owners
tion experiment, Anna Lappé dis- in the cafeteria about their lunches. They talking about how to improve school food,
cusses food packaging, processing, then visit Jorge Collazo, the executive the girls reflecting on the various perspec-
and HFCS, and finally, Idris Goodwin chef for New York City’s SchoolFood, a tives they have heard on the topic, and a
performs poetry at an elementary school tries to come up with an alterna- visit to Schoharie Farms, a small farm in
school and has lunch with Sadie and tive to current school food system, and New York state, which wants to provide
Safiyah. we meet a school dietician and dis- carrots to New York City public schools.
cover the difficulties of producing healthy
Discussion Questions school lunches. Discussion Questions
1. What are some potential problems 1. The Schoharie Farms carrot was one
with school food?
Discussion Questions example of how people have managed
2. How does the food in school differ 1. What are the three things you would to get fresh, local food into schools.
from food you eat at home? Why? most like to change about your school 2. What are some other ways to improve
3. How do you think school food relates food system? or change school food?
to the discussion in the film about 2. How would you go about changing 3. In the film, the café owners discuss
processed food? these things? what they would serve if they catered a
3. Do you think there would be any chal- school’s lunch. What would you serve
lenges or difficulties in making these if you had the opportunity to provide
Investigate: Interview several adults changes?
(i.e. teachers, parents, and even lunch at your school? What do you think
grandparents) about school lunch Investigate: Where does your school it would be important to consider if you
when they were children. How are their food waste go? Find out from people had to provide food for 500 students?
stories different from your experiences working in the school (cafeteria, custo-
in your school? dian) what happens to the trash, food Investigate: Poll your friends and other
waste, and recycling (if there is any) students in your school. First, find out who
after lunch. How much waste does your eats fast food. Ask them if fast food disap-
school produce each week? peared, what food would they eat instead?

Objectives: Standards
l Students will better understand the historical Science
Technology
context of school food in the United States and NS.1 Science as Inquiry a, b
T.1 Social, Ethical, and
the contemporary framework in which it is now NS.3 Life Science a, b, c
Human Issues a
organized. NS.6 Science in Personal and Social Per-
spectives c, d, e, f
Language Arts
l Students will better understand where their school Economics
LA.1 Reading for Perspective a
food comes from and the hidden impacts this food LA.2 Evaluation Strategies a
EC.1 Productive Resources a
may have on their personal health, local commu- LA.3 Communication Strategies a
EC.2 Allocating Goods and Services a
nity and environment. LA.4 Evaluating Data a
EC.8 Role of Price in a Market System a
LA.5 Developing Research Skills a
LA.7 Participating in Society a
l Students will think critically about ways to investi- Geography
gate where their school food comes from. G.3 Human Systems a, c, d
G.4 Environment and Society a, b, c
l Students will be empowered to develop strategies
to improve the nutritional content of their school’s
food and ways in which their school receives food.

© 2009 Solar One


10
Module One: School Food

What’s the Story?


Is it lunchtime yet?
Did you ever think about where your Often the food came from local Keywords
school food comes from? How did farms and women would even
it get to you? Whether you bring spend the summer months canning Cash Crop: A crop grown specifically for
lunch from home or eat food served fruits and vegetables to be used selling, not for directly feeding humans or
in the lunchroom, eating at school is during the school year. There was animals.
something you do almost everyday, no money for kitchens or cooking Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act:
but you might not think a lot about equipment, so the food was either This legislation controls all the Federal child
how your food got there. What did prepared at people’s houses and nutrition programs, including the School
Breakfast and the National School Lunch
your school serve for lunch today? brought to the school or cooked in a
Programs, the Summer Food Service
Are there vending machines in your tiny kitchen at the school. Program (SFSP), the Child and Adult Care
school? Did you ever think about its When World War I began, many Food Program (CACFP), and the Special
ingredients or how it was prepared? of the farm crops formerly given to Supplemental Nutrition Program for
Are any restaurants located near schools went to supply US military Women, Infants and Children (WIC).
your school? Because so many forces in Europe. Schools were Compost: The broken down remains of
students in the United States eat encouraged to plant vegetable organic matter that has rotted into a natural
school food, it has a big impact gardens to supplement their food fertilizer for plants and food crops.
on our communities, health, and supply. School gardens became Farm to School: A national program to
environment. popular, and this practice continued bring food from local farms into schools.
through World War II. Fossil Fuel: A fuel (such as coal, oil, or
So how did schools end up natural gas) that is formed in the earth from
In 1946, the government passed the plant or animal remains.
serving lunch anyway? National School Lunch Act, which Plant Hardiness Zone: A map of the
provided permanent funding for country designated by expected range of
Believe it or not, American schools schools to receive food, buy kitchen low temperature. This map shows when
have not always had cafeterias. In equipment, and build cafeterias. It and where certain plants can be planted.
the late 1800s and early 1900s, was believed that providing students Seitan: A high-protein “wheat meat” made
schools were small and usually with healthy meals would help them from wheat gluten, found in wheat dough.
near student’s houses, so everyone do well in school, and in addition,
A replacement for meat.
went home for lunch. Sometimes would educate students and their Tempeh: A protein source made from split
students would bring pails of food families about the benefits of good
soybeans, water, and special bacteria,
for lunch. During the Depression which are allowed to ferment for several
nutrition. hours. A replacement for meat.
of the1930s many people were
unemployed, farmers could not Tofu: A protein source made from bean
curds, commonly soybeans. A replacement
sell their crops (prices were too
for meat.
low), and American children were
undernourished.
United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA): The federal
department that administers many farm
As a solution to these issues, the
and food-related programs, including
government created a school lunch various farmer services and the National
system. School Lunch Program.
Vermicomposting – Method of
1. Unemployed women got jobs
decomposing in which earthworms are
as lunch cooks. used, in addition to microbes, to break
2. The government purchased down organic waste into nutrient-rich soil.
farm crops to be used in pre-
paring school food, supporting
US farmers.
3. Children were fed healthy
Photo: USDA
meals.

11 © 2009 Solar One


Module One: School Food

What’s the Story?


Things are different now, but how?
In the 1980s and 1990s, student which are high in fat and cholesterol, just needed something to warm up
populations got bigger and schools are then distributed to schools the food.
lost funding. They could not afford to across the country. The commodities
buy new cooking equipment or to pay program allows agribusiness to make Problem solved, right?
people to cook the food. money from products that are not
How did they solve this problem? No necessarily in the best interest of Not exactly, outsourcing still
more cooks in the school. In fact, no children’s health. In 2001, the USDA costs money and with student
more cooking in the school. Schools spent $350 million on high-fat beef populations growing, schools
hired companies outside of the school and cheese for schools while it spent were still low on cash. Fast food
to produce cheap lunches. To make $161 million on fruits and vegetables. restaurants, especially pizza,
lunch for less money, however, these Do you think this is a balanced had been trying for a long time
companies had to cut corners, which distribution? to get into schools, but fast food
meant no more food from small farms. pizzas and tacos did not meet
These companies get their ingredients Now that you know a little bit about government nutrition standards,
from giant agricultural corporations, where our school food comes from and could not be served as school
not small farms, and most of it is historically, the next section is all lunch in the lunchroom. The fast
processed. about finding out specifics in your food chains came up with a way
school! Where does the food come to get around this: offer to pay the
Schools signed contracts with Coca from in your school lunchroom, schools in exchange for allowing
Cola and other soft drink companies how do you find out and why is it them to operate a cart or stand on
agreeing to sell only that brand of important? Get ready, cause we’re campus. It worked. Schools made
soda on campus in exchange for about to find out… money and fewer students ate in
commissions and a yearly bonus. If the lunchroom, choosing instead
schools agreed to make the beverage to eat fast food. Fast food finally
So what does this made it into schools, could soda
available to students at all times
and place soda advertisements on mean to me? be far behind? (keep reading...)
campus, they would receive other
bonuses such as money and new This means that school lunch became
equipment for the school. Students less healthy and less tasty. Corn
began consuming soda in the place and soybeans are two of the largest
of milk, juice, or water at lunch and cash crops (crops grown for selling)
recess. The same sorts of agreements in the United States. Because these
were struck between schools and two crops are grown in such large
snack food companies. quantities, they cost very little. This
low price tag has made corn and
soybeans the basic ingredients in
One more problem!… most processed foods. They make
up a lot of school lunches. For
The National School Lunch Program example, it is much cheaper to serve
serves over 28 million students each chicken nuggets, which contain a lot
day! School lunchrooms receive a of soybeans and a little chicken than
large portion of their food from the it is to serve a piece of real chicken.
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Here’s how it works: the meal is made
commodities program. Every year, in a processing plant, frozen, and
The USDA buys millions of pounds of then delivered to the school cafeteria,
surplus meat and animals products where it is reheated in a microwave
from agricultural corporations to give – sort of like a TV dinner. No more
a boost to falling prices. These foods, cooks, no more cooking – schools

© 2009 Solar One


12
Module One: School Food

What’s the Story?


Soda + Fast Food in School?
Not long after fast food was introduced into schools, contracts
A Profile: Sodexo
were signed with Coca Cola and other soft drink companies Do you ever wonder where the
agreeing to sell only that brand of soda on campus in exchange big delivery trucks outside of the
for commissions and a yearly bonus. If schools agreed to make school lunchroom come from?
the beverage available to students at all times and place soda They might be from Sodexo.
advertisements on campus, they would receive other bonuses Sodexo is one of the largest food-
such as money and new equipment for the school. Students service companies in the world.
began consuming soda in the place of milk, juice, or water at lunch They provide food to schools,
and recess. The same sorts of agreements were struck between prisons, hospitals, and military
schools and snack food companies. bases in over 80 countries. Sodexo
What are some of the the foods you find on your menu? buys much of the food it serves
List them here and guess where they were grown! from companies that make frozen
foods, like chicken nuggets and
corn dogs, then packages it for
What’s On Your Menu? cafeterias.

Food Where’s it grown?

Activity Investigation
Class Cookbook School Lunches
As a class, students will design a community cookbook by through the Ages
collecting recipes from their families or other community Students will analyze school lunch
members. The recipes can reflect region, culture, or menus from various eras, comparing
community. The idea is for the cookbook to form a them to their own school’s menu.
composite of the students – identity through food history.
Students may bear healthy recipes in mind, or they may (See Worksheet on page 14)
alter recipes if they appear to be unhealthy (i.e. substitute
olive oil for bacon fat). (See Worksheet on page 15)

13 © 2009 Solar One


School Lunches through the Ages Analysis worksheet
1917 1948 1953 1966 1971 Today
Monday (1) Baked beans and roll Escalloped tomatoes Orange Juice Apple juice Barbecue on sandwich bun
(2) Cocoa or milk; crack- Cheese sandwich Enchiladas Ravioli with meat sauce Fried potatoes
ers or ice cream. Cucumber pickle Chile Gravy Cinnamon apples Applesauce
Cookie Pinto Beans Hot corn bread Bread Milk
Milk Cole Slaw with peanut butter Brownie
Half Peach Tapioca pudding Soup
Bread Beef stew
Milk

Tuesday (1) Vegetable soup and Spaghetti with meat Beef and Brown Gravy Baked macaroni with Vegetable beef
roll balls Whipped Potatoes tomato and hamburger Peanut butter or ham salad
(2) Cocoa or milk; crack- Butter sandwich English Peas Corn sandwich
ers or ice cream. Carrot stick Hot Rolls Ripe olives Biscuit and butter
Bread pudding Butter and Honey Bread with jelly Cole slaw
Vanilla sauce Milk Whipped orange jello Milk
Milk with topping Ice cream

Wednesday 1) Creamed beef on toast Escalloped potatoes Hamburger on a Bun Potato chips Pizza
and roll, Harvard beets Potato Chips Frankfurts Green beans and butter
(2) Cocoa or milk; crack- Jelly sandwich Lettuce Leaf Cut green beans Tossed salad (spinach,
ers or ice cream. Sauce Tomato Slice Bread and butter lettuce and tomato with oil
Dates Milk Prune Cake Apricot halves dressing)
Milk Applesauce
Brownie
Milk

Thursday (1) Macaroni with tomato Mashed potatoes Chicken a la King Chicken and gravy on Hot roast beef sandwich
sauce and roll Beef gravy Buttered Rice Cup baking powder biscuit with gravy
(2) Cocoa or milk; crack- Carrot stick Carrot strips Cranberry sauce Whipped potatoes
ers or ice cream. Butter sandwich Pineapple, Grated Cheese Celery sticks Buttered cabbage
Jam sandwich Apple Salad Bread with peanut butter Milk
Milk Peanut Butter Mixed fruit Cherry cobbler
Graham Crackers
Half and Half Bread
Milk

Friday (1) Creamed salmon and Escalloped corn Salmon Salad on Bun Blended juice Grilled cheese sandwich
roll. Peanut butter sandwich Lettuce and Tomato Salad Mashed potato Buttered corn
(2) Cocoa or milk; crack- Pea salad Ice Cream Cup Fish sticks with tartar Lettuce with cream dressing
ers or ice cream Cookie Milk sauce Milk
Milk Beet relish Peanut butter cookie
Bread and butter Jello cubes
Apple pie

Questions
1. Are there any similarities between your school’s menu and other years? Circle some of the things that are the same.
2. What year seems to be the most similar to your school?Which year seems most different? Why?
3. Which meals seem the healthiest? Why? Which seem the least healthy?
4. What would you change about these menus and why?
worksheet
Class Cookbook
Let’s make a cookbook! But first we need some recipes!
Directions: Talk with one family member or friend and ask them to share some recipes that reflect your
family’s history or culture. Ask them to help you write down a recipe in the “Family Recipe” box below and then
add your own spin to it in the “Your Recipe” section!

Family Recipe Directions

Ingredients

Your School

Your Recipe Directions

Ingredients
Module One: School Food

Let’s Take a Closer LOok


So you don’t like sloppy Other Issues
joes what else is wrong Industrial agriculture makes school lunch
with school lunch?
This is a very big issue. You will learn about industrial agriculture in
You can probably already guess what Module Three. Much of school lunch food is produced using industrial
some of the issues with school food are, agriculture and can have negative impacts on health and the environ-
but let’s talk about it. From waste issues ment (soils erosion, water depletion, chemical fertilizers, hormones in
to issues related to the way we farm, meat and dairy, etc.)
there are many things to consider. Let’s
look at a couple of issues below: Fossil Fuel use Chances are, your school food is not made anywhere
near your school, maybe not even in your state! The lunch your school
is serving today was probably trucked in from somewhere far away,
Environmental Issues using a lot of gas to get there.

the school cafeteria Health Issues Obesity and type II diabetes are two major health prob-
makes a lot of trash. lems facing children and teens today. We will examine this in-depth in
Module Two.
Packaging waste: Many cafeterias
serve meals on plastic or Styrofoam
disposable trays with plastic forks What about your school?
and spoons, and many food items are
packages in their own wrappers. Not So now you understand some of the impacts the food at your school may
only does this produce a large amount have on the environment and your health, but what about your school?
of garbage that cannot be recycled, Your school may be purchasing food from industrial farming operations and
it took a lot of fossil fuel and water to creating a lot of waste. Begin to think about how this specifically relates to
make the trays and utensils. your community and your health. Well there are number of environmental
impacts that we should look at:
Food Waste: All students are given the
same kind of food- whether they want
Land/Water/Air – How does the lution from the use of gasoline for
food you purchase affect local land, instance. How does poor air quality
it or not. In order to receive money
water and air quality? Landfills can affect your body?
from the government, many schools
harm local habitats where animals
also have a milk requirement (although
and plants live. Dangerous chemi- Carbon Footprint – How many
this can vary), in which students in
cals and gases collecting from the greenhouse gases are produced in
younger grades must accept a con-
waste can contaminate the water the production and transportation of
tainer of milk as part of their lunch. For
near a landfill. What other impacts your food? (ie. CO2, carbon diox-
many reasons, students don’t always
can you think of that may relate to ide) These greenhouse gases can
eat or drink everything that is served,
your community’s local water, air or contribute to a phenomena known
and as a result, a lot of food ends up in
land resources? as climate change, affecting global
the garbage can, producing even more
waste. temperatures because the green-
Resource Use – What kinds and house gases create a think blanket
Both packaging and food waste can how many resources are being around the earth, trapping too much
also apply to lunch brought from home, used to produce and transport your heat around the earth’s surface.
and certainly apply to food purchased food? We need to transport food to How does climate change, or global
from fast food restaurants. Individual the factory for packaging, then to warming affect your community?
bags of chips, food wrappers, and the school for reheating and eating,
drink boxes produce extra garbage. and then that waste is transported
Cool Idea! - Watch a cool
to landfills sometimes hundreds of
movie - The Story of Stuff for free
miles away, which causes air pol-
online: www.storyofstuff.com

© 2009 Solar One


16
Module One: School Food

Let’s Take a Closer LOok


Investigation
Map it Out!
As a class or in groups, students should investigate
the campus and/or surrounding neighborhood, noting
locations and proximity of fast food restaurants and
vending machines to the school. (Studies have linked
child obesity and the proximity of fast food restaurants
to schools). Coming back to class, students will create
a map of the school and/or neighborhood.

Using the map, students may poll their class,


their grade, or other students in the school on
how frequently students eat from nearby fast food
restaurants or the school’s vending machines.

Information can include: Photo: Matt Carpenter


1. Do students frequent vending machines or fast
food restaurants either for lunch, recess, or after Activity
school?
2. Are students allowed to leave campus for lunch? Let’s Weigh it Out!
If not, is fast food available on campus? The goal of the activity is to re-imagine the materials
3. Vending machines: are students allowed soda used for packaging for a school lunch. This activity
and/or snacks at any time during the day? has students think about the “disposability” of
products they use everyday and to design solutions
The collected information will be utilized in Module Two. to make school lunch more sustainable.
(See Worksheet on page 19) (See Worksheet on page 20)

Investigation
Cafeteria Snoops (See Worksheet on page 18)
Now it’s time to investigate your school lunchroom. Work with your local school lunchroom staff and figure out just
where your food comes from and how they choose what they choose. Conduct interviews with your lunchroom staff.
Ask them about their purchasing process and how they prepare their foods, where they are stored and if they know
where the food is processed and transported from. Make sure to be polite and thankful for your lunchroom staff!
Remember that they also want what’s best for you but often have many obstacles in the way of serving better food.
Some sample questions include:
Add your questions here:
1. How many meals are prepared each day?
2. What are the common items ordered?
3. How are the meals prepared?
4. How do you decide how much food and
what foods to purchase?
5. Where does the food come from?

Next, with classmates create an archive of the products found in your schools freezer and pantry. Look closely at
the labels and write down ingredients for common food items, noting where they were distributed from, information
usually found below the nutritional facts. Observe, ask questions and write down everything you find!

17 © 2009 Solar One


worksheet
Cafeteria Snoops
Directions: Now it’s time to investigate your school lunchroom. Work with your
local school lunchroom staff and figure out just where your food comes from
and how they choose what they choose.

Interview Observations
Step One: First, you need to develop a list of interview Step Four: Next find out if you can “tour” the lunchroom.
questions, so you can get the information you want. Some Keep good notes on what you observe.
sample questions could include:
What kind of kitchen equipment does the lunch
1. How many meals are prepared each day? room have? Microwaves? Stoves? Ovens?
2. What are the common items ordered? What are some common foods in the cafeteria freezer?
3. How are the meals prepared? Make note of the ingredients, nutritional facts, and the com-
4. How do you decide how much food and what pany that sent the food.
foods to purchase?
5. Where does the food come from? Observe, ask questions and write down everything you find!

Step Two: Come up with a few questions of your own!


What did you find out?
Step Three: Conduct interviews with your cafeteria staff. Ask
them about their purchasing process and how they prepare
their foods, where they are stored and if they know where
the food is processed and transported from. Make sure to
be polite and thankful to your cafeteria staff! Remember
that they also want what’s best for you but often have many
obstacles in the way of serving better food.

Questions:
worksheet
Map it Out! Name

Directions: Create a map of your neighborhood and the inside of your school.
Identify things like where the fast food restaurants are located
Mark where the vending machines are
Identify other things that influence what kind of food you eat

Your Neighborhood N

Key

Your School
Your School N

Key
worksheet
Let’s Weigh it Out
Let’s find out how much waste your lunch creates each month!
Directions: Follow the steps below to calculate the amount of waste created by your lunch each month.

Weigh it How Much?


Take everything you have in your lunch - from home or from To figure out how much waste is actually created, we have
school. Weigh it on a scale in grams (g). to know how many people we are talking about and over
what time period:
1. Total Weight of your lunch
4. Time and People
grams
No. of Students in your class =
Now let’s weigh each kind of material separately. Sort out No. of lunches each month (average) =
the paper, metal, plastic, organic (leftover foods), styrofoam Total = No. of Students x No. of lunches =
waste and other materials. Now weigh only things made of
that material. Record your answers below: Now we can figure out the total amount of waste (in grams)
created each month by the number of students in your
2. Material Weight Unit class!
5. Total Waste
paper g
Total Weight x (Students x lunches) =
metal

plastic

organic Now lets figure out how much waste we’re talking about
here! Take the answer from the above calculation and use it
to find out which kind of material creates the most waste!
styrofoam
6. Total Material Waste
other
Total Waste x (% of material)
ie. 500 grams/student/lunch x 0.12 = 60 grams/paper
Now let’s figure out what percentage of each material is in
Unit
your waste:
paper g
3. Percentages Material Weight
= % metal
Total Weight

plastic
paper %
organic
metal
styrofoam
plastic
other
organic

styrofoam What material created the most waste?


Final
other
Answer
Module One: School Food

Let’s Re-Think
We’re Just Getting Started!
Wow, we’ve learned a lot so far. We found out about the history of school food,
what kinds of foods are in your lunchroom and where they come from. Now its
time to think about solutions to some of the problems we’ve found. It’s time to
start thinking about your school and some amazing things we can do together as
a community to address some of these problems. So it looks like we have a lot of
problems with our how some of our food is produced. But wait, there’s good news!
People are changing the way think about their food and the ways that they get it.
Whether you live in the country or the city, there are many, many alternatives to
industrially produced food.

Idea # 1 A School Garden!


A great idea to bring local and more sustainable food to your school is to start a garden, a garden not just for flowers
but for food crops as well! Starting a garden is a big project so expect some hurdles along the way. Start by talking
to your principal and other teachers and start investigating possibilities. Think big, but start small. Follow some of
these steps to get a garden started and remember the more you know about your local bioregion, its climate, soil and
hydrology (the study of water movement, distribution and quality) the better!

Step One: Planning 2. What and When – what you decide to grow depends
1. Make sure that starting a garden is even allowed in on where you live. Use the National Gardening Associa-
your school. tion’s Plant Hardiness Zone Map to help you determine
2. If you are facing opposition host a meeting with your when and what to plant: http://www.garden.org/zipzone/
teachers, parents, and other students.
Step Four: Start Your Garden!
Step Two: Choose a Site 1. Prepare the soil – once you have your site selected
1. Choose a site that will be good for a garden. Consider you will need to till the soil and add in compost. Depend-
your regional characteristics. ing on the kind of soil you have you may have to add
2. Consider important parameters like sun, soil and rain. some other elements like sand or clay to balance the soil.
Some areas of the country have lots of sun and rain and 2. Irrigation – Consider a simple irrigation system that will
others have very little. help keep you garden watered.
3. Garden Type – there are many ways to grow your 3. Fencing – If your garden is near a forest or wildlife
garden: raised bed (using boxes that are 2-3 feet off the habitat, put up some fencing to keep out animals that
ground) or simply in the soil near your school. may eat your plants!
4. Planting: Once you have decided what you want to
Step Three: Choose What to Grow grow, how do you plant it? Some seeds must be started
1. Choose what will be easy to grow and maintain. Some indoors during the winter, while others can be planted
suggestions for a simple and easy garden include: directly in the soil during spring or summer.
5. Harvesting: Harvest time is when your hard work pays
The Three Sisters – a traditional Native American tech- off, and in a big way. Be sure your class has a plan for
nique of growing beans, squash and corn together. your harvest.
Step Five: Maintenance
Hot Head, Cold Feet – Plant cucumbers and peppers Develop a maintenance and care plan. Remember gar-
together. Good companion planting is an excellent dens need lots of care, water and sun. Depending on the
way to control pests. plants you grow, you may need to weed, mulch, fertil-
ize, or prune. Develop a plan to make sure someone is
Pizza Garden – Plant basil, tomatoes and peppers always taking care of the garden; create a class chart in
together. which students rotate garden duties and find someone to
take care of it in the summer months.

21 © 2009 Solar One


Module One: School Food

Let’s Re-Think
Idea # 2 Farm to School www.farmtoschool.org
A garden may not be enough to bring local and sustainable food into your school. Consider a “Farm to School”
program sponsored by the USDA. Farm-to-school is an initiative that encourages small farmers to sell fresh fruits and
vegetables to schools and schools to buy this wholesome produce from small farmers. If one isn’t available in your
community, think about starting your own version of the program with local community members, farmers and your
school community. To develop your own farm to school program start with some of the following steps:
Needs Assessment Organize a Planning Meeting
Determine where school food is currently being sourced. Organize a planning meeting at your school, invite repre-
How far is food being shipped? What foods could locally sentatives from the State Department of Agriculture and
grown crops could replace? State Department of Education.

Preliminary Planning Develop a Budget and Operations Procedure


Find farmers and select a city and site to meet that are Develop a budget and operations procedure for the pro-
centrally located, convenient to the farmers in the area. gram outline roles, responsibilities and ways to continually
Select a time of year and date when farmers and school work with local farmers.
food service staff will be available.
Pilot Program
Determine Goals and Objectives Launch a small pilot-program in your cafeteria, maybe
What is the goal/objective of the program? To replace all starting with something like local lettuces for salads or
foods, a certain percentage? local apples.
Outline a very clear plan and list of objectives for 1, 5 and
10 years. Develop a Long-Term Plan
After your pilot program develop, a long-term plan and
Identify Partners discuss possible contracts with local farmers.
Identify local environmental, health and food organizations
that can help you in establishing relationships with farmers
and providing educational programs to your school com-
Finally: Time to Get Started!
munity (http://www.farmtoschool.org/links.php).

Idea # 3 Zero Waste Lunch


Whether you bring your lunch from home or eat meals served in the lunchroom, food waste and package waste at
school can be reduced. Here are some tips to get you thinking in the right direction:
If you bring your lunch: If you get lunch from the lunchroom:
1. Drinks can go in a thermos or reusable water bottle. 1. Talk to your school cafeteria about getting reusable
2. Instead of using paper or plastic bags, pack a reusable trays, napkins, and silverware.
lunch bag. There is no waste and you buy it only once. 2. If this is not possible, find out about placing napkin
3. Try to pack all food items in reusable containers. One dispensers on tables instead of the serving line. This way,
way to do this is to buy in bulk instead of buying individual students will take only what they need.
containers. This way you can pack the desired amount 3. Be sure your school has a recycling program in place,
each day and create less waste. so that paper milk cartons, bottles, etc., are recycled.
4. If you do bring disposable food containers, try to make
sure you rinse and recycle them. What other ideas do you think would help reduce
5. Bring reusable silverware from home instead of using waste in the lunchroom?
disposable spoons and forks.

© 2009 Solar One


22
Module One: School Food

Let’s Re-Think
Idea # 4 Compost!
Composting is a great way to reduce school food
waste, and can be great for your garden too! Compost
is a mixture of decaying food scraps and other organic
materials like leaves used to provide plants with
nutrients. Here are some tips on starting a compost
operation at your school!

1. Compost bins Compost bins are often made of


wood or wire mesh and measure about 4’x4’x’4. This
is an optimal size for decomposition in a compost pile.
You can build one or several. It is best to build the bins
in a shaded area out of direct sunlight.

2. Plant material (ie. dried leaves, twigs, grass


clipping, newsprint, and wood chips) The microbes
that will be doing the decomposing in your compost
pile need a balanced diet. The food from your lunches
provides nitrogen and plant material are rich in carbon,
and should be mixed in the pile regularly.

3. Collection barrel for the lunchroom Food


waste to be taken to the compost pile should be
placed in the collection barrel. Do not place meat,
dairy, chicken bones, or any other animal products in
the compost. These foods tend to smell, attracting
unwanted animals to the compost area. Also the fats
in these animal based foods do not break down very
easily.

4. Compost Pile Helpers The barrel should be


Idea # 5 Reduce Meat
An easy way to reduce your carbon footprint is to re-
taken to the compost pile regularly, and the compost
duce the amount of meat you eat each week. Replace
requires watering in hot weather, and turning, or aerat-
red meat, poultry and other meats with tempeh, tofu
ing to keep the decomposition going strong. You can
and seitan, which offer better kinds of proteins for your
create a rotating list of students or recruit volunteers
body.
to help. Like the garden, compost requires care to
produce good humus.
Meat production creates some of the worst pollution in
the country, responsible for up to 60% of water pollution
5. Tools The primary tools needed for composting coming mainly from animal waste like manure and urine.
are gloves, a pitchfork for turning compost, wheelbar- Does eating stuff like tofu sounds disgusting? Well start
row, bucket, and a screen to sift the compost. with peanut butter and jelly, a cheese sandwich or salad
and work your way up! Beans and rice are another ex-
6. Schoolwide Participation In order for this proj- cellent source of protein. Try dishes like chili, beans and
ect to be successful, everyone needs to participate, so rice, or bean/veggie burgers. By doing less, like eating
again, educate students and teachers on the projects less meat, you are doing more for the environment!
and its importance.

23 © 2009 Solar One


Module One: School Food

Let’s Re-Think
Idea # 6 Vermi-Compost
There is another method of composting called vermi-
coposting. This is a type of decomposition in which
earthworms do all the work. You just need plastic bins
with lids and air holes (the worms need to breathe). Put
in the same kind of food waste (no animal products) as
in other compost piles and let the worms chew away.
Worms love apple cores, vegetable scraps, and egg-
shells! Remember, a balanced diet is as important for
them as it is for you.

If you don’t have a school garden or space for on-site


composting, that’s OK. Some school districts have pro-
fessional composting services pick up the food waste.
Check with your local parks and recreation department
or waste management for possible options. No garden,
but room to compost? There are lots of people that will
use or buy good compost.
Photo: Matt Carpenter

Activity A Profile: The Edible


Schoolyard New Orleans
Reduce Your Waste!
Students monitor how much waste their class pro- The Edible Schoolyard New Orleans serves students in
duces for one month. Create a class chart in which grades K-8 from two charter schools. Now in its third
students record the weight of class garbage either daily year, the Edible Schoolyard has integrated organic
or weekly. After the first week, discuss strategies for gardening and cooking into school curriculum. Students
reducing waste like reusing paper, creating less waste participate in all aspects of farming as well as preparing,
at lunch, recycling, etc. Set reduction goals for each cooking, and serving fresh, seasonal food. The cultural
subsequent week. (see worksheet on page 26) and social importance of food is taught in history and
social studies classes, where students learn about the
role of Creole cooking in the New Orleans area, and
participate in a hands-on Creole cooking class. The two
Analysis schools are using the garden to transform the meals
and snacks prepared at school. They have designed
School Food Re-Design! an open kitchen, so students may see how their food
Help students apply some of the ideas and concepts is prepared. Leftovers are composted and students
learned in this section through a quick excersize called eat from reusable dishes, reducing waste. Two days a
“Re-Design”. In this activity, pose some of the ques- month, the entire community is invited to visit and help
tions covered in this module. Prompt students to think maintain the garden.
critically about a reponse to some of these questions
or explore ideas on how one could design some solu- For more information go to www.esynola.org/
tions to these problems. (see worksheet on page 25)

© 2009 Solar One


24
School Food worksheet
Re-Design! Name

Let’s think about how to re-design your school’s relationship to food!


How can we grow food at your school?
How can we reduce waste?
How can we get healthy and local food into your school?

Step One: Brainstorm Brainstorm some answers to the questions above. Think of 2 ideas and
describe each idea with 2 sentences below:

Idea 1:

Idea 2:

Step Two: Sketch Draw some diagrams or sketch out some of your ideas below:

Title:

Description:
worksheet
Reduce Your Waste
Let’s monitor how much waste your class produces in just 1 month!
Directions: Collect data on how much waste you and your classmates produce in one month. Set a goal each week
to reduce your waste and finally make some recommendations on how to reduce waste in your school or classroom.

Weigh it Measure the waste created by you and your classmates each week:

Time Weight Time Weight


Week No. ____ lbs. or kg Week No. ____ lbs. or kg

Reduction Goals Recommendations


Record your reduction goals for each week: What are some of your long and short term
recommendations for reducing waste in your classroom or
Week No. % school? List 2 here:

# 1:

# 2:
Module Two

Health + Access
Overview:
In this module we will explore the impacts of food on health and our bodies. Students will
investigate conventional packaged foods and will learn how to decipher nutrition labels. Students
will explore availability of healthy food in their community and examine their own eating
patterns.

27 © 2009 Solar One


Module Two: Health + Access

Introduction
Film Connection Health + Acess Segment on the DVD

Chapter 1: Chapter 2: Chapter 3:


What’s The Story Let’ s Take a Closer Look Let’ s Re-Think
We are introduced to the topic of This section begins with national statis- In this section, the focus is turned to
health through Sadie’s visit to the tics on obesity and diabetes followed by availability of healthy food. We meet Caleb
doctor. The girls then poll people on personal accounts of diabetes by two and his family, who live in a neighborhood
the street about why they eat fast food people who have the disease. During an with little access to fresh food. Sadie and
followed by a talk with Sadie’s doctor, animation, the girls reflect on the costs of Safiyah talk to Manhattan Borough Presi-
who mentions a rising trend of obesity bad food and ill health. Sadie talks with dent, Scott Stringer, about the locations of
in children, and its related health is- her doctor and the girls receive instru- farmers markets and fresh produce in New
sues. ments for measuring physical activity York City. They then visit a farmers market
Discussion Questions from scientists who study the health of in East Harlem and finally, Sadie gets her
communities. cholesterol test results from the doctor.
1. What are different factors in our Discussion Questions
current food system that could Discussion Questions
be contributing to the increasing 1. After watching the film, how does ac-
health problems of children and 1. What is one way you would get kids cess to fresh or fast food affect you?
teens, like diabetes and obesity? in your school to exercise more? 2. Think about what food is available near
2. How do these problems relate 2. What are some things you can do to your home or school and what you eat.
to things like high fructose corn prevent health problems in the future What changes would you make to the
syrup? for yourself? food availability in your area?
3. How would you help prevent health If a neighborhood has little or no
problems in family members and 3. healthy food nearby, how do you think
Investigate: Interview adults to find friends? this affects the community members
out how their lives as children differed and the food choices they make?
Investigate: Turn off the TV. Can you
from yours. What kinds of health prob- Sadie managed to lower her cholester-
stop watching television for one week?
lems were common to children during ol through eating healthy and exercise.
Challenge some of your friends to do the
that time? What foods did they eat? 4. What are some healthy changes you
same. What did you do differently during
How much food did they eat? Did they could make to your diet?
that week? Do you think it would be help-
spend more time inside or outside?
ful to watch less TV? If you can’t turn off
Why do they think kids spent more Investigate: Find out what food is avail-
the TV, limit how much time you spend
time outside? How much TV did they able in your neighborhood. How easy is
watching it. Keep a TV diary and write
watch? And remember they didn’t it for you and your family to get healthy
down what time you started and what
have computers! Think of other ques- food? Is fresh food available nearby or do
time you finished each day. Try to keep it
tions that might relate to health. you have to travel a long way? Is there a
less than 1 hour. Instead of watching TV,
try helping to cook dinner. Good luck! farmers market or CSA? etc.

Objectives: Standards
l Students will understand the connections between their
Science Technology
health and the foods they eat.
NS.1 Science as Inquiry a, b T.1 Social, Ethical, and Human
NS.6 Science in Personal and Issues
l Students will think critically about the foods they eat in
Social Perspectives c, d, e, f
school, at home and on the go, their nutritional content, Language Arts
and environmental impacts. Economics LA.1 Reading for Perspective a
EC.1 Productive Resources LA.2 Evaluation Strategies a
l Students will understand processed foods, how they are EC.2 Allocating Goods and Ser- LA.4 Evaluating Data a
made and their impacts on health and diet. vices LA.5 Developing Research Skills a
EC.8 Role of Price in a Market LA.7 Participating in Society a
l Students will develop ways to improve their health and lo- System
cal environment by changing their diet and eating habits.

© 2009 Solar One


28
Module Two: Health + Access

What’s the Story?


There’s more than one way
to skin a potato! Keywords
What is processed food? Food processing is a set of techniques used to Carbohydrates: Sugar, starch, or cellu-
change raw ingredients (like corn) into other types of food (like Coca Cola). lose that is a food source of energy for an
Some methods include canning, freezing, dehydrating, and sterilizing. Chem- animal or plant (Saccharide).
icals and other difficult-to-pronounce ingredients are added to processed Fats: A wide group of compounds like
foods for many reasons. Here are a few: “oils”, “fats”, and “lipids” occurring in
organic tissue.
High Fructose Corn Syrup: A group of
Color – These additives bring Mountain Hide Odors - Do you really want to corn syrups that has undergone process-
Dew its neon glow and the orange to smell all the weird stuff that is put into ing to convert its glucose (sugar) into fruc-
macaroni and cheese in a box. your food? One more additive covers up tose (fruit based sugar) and has then been
the smells. mixed with pure corn syrup (100% glucose)
Bleach - Let’s disinfect and deodorize… Insulin: A hormone that takes the glucose
White bread is white because the flour is Flavor – Processing food removes a lot to the cells. If a body does not produce
bleached. of the taste, so it has to be put back into enough insulin or the cells ignore the insu-
the food using artificial flavors. Chemical lin, glucose builds up in the blood stream.
flavorings are in almost every kind of pro- This can cause diabetes among other
Texturize – Makes cereal and po- cessed food from bubble gum to salad
tato chips crunchy and, cheese spread health concerns.
dressing to frozen pizza. Often these
creamy, and candy chewy. Legumes: Fruits of plants in the family
flavorings are used in place of the real
thing because they are cheaper. Fabaceae. Well known legumes include
Soften – Ice cream is soft, margarine is beans, lentils, mesquite, peanuts, peas,
spreadable. and alfalfa.
Nutrients – Processing food destroys
vitamins and minerals. Some nutrients Minerals: Nutrients, such as iron and zinc
Preservatives- Added to food so it can are replaced, or added back into the that the body uses to perform necessary
travel a long way and sit on the grocery processed food, but overall, it still has life functions.
store shelf for a long time without going far less nutritional value than the original Obesity: A medical condition in which there
bad. Oh, and just in case you want to whole food. is excess body fat, which has a negative
save your Twinkie cupcake and eat it in
effect on a person’s health.
six months.
So, basically, if it has a list of Preservatives: A chemical compound that
five or more ingredients, and is in is added to processed foods to protect
Sweeten – High fructose corn syrup is a box, bag, jar, can, or wrapper against decay or decomposition.
six times sweeter than sugar, and is in
more foods than you think, even breads it’s a processed food. Processed Food: Food processing is a
and pasta sauces. method used to transform raw ingredi-
ents (whole foods) into other forms for
consumption by humans or animals. This
process typically reduces the nutritional
value or content of a food.
Proteins: Organic compounds made up of
amino acids. Proteins are one of the major
constituents of plant and animal cells.
Type 2 Diabetes: The most common
form of diabetes. It is a disease in which
the body either does not produce enough
insulin or the cells ignore the insulin.
Vitamins: Organic compounds required as
a nutrient source in most organisms.

29 © 2009 Solar One


Module Two: Health + Access

What’s the Story?


So why make A frozen chicken nugget More importantly, processed foods
processed food? tend to be very high in sugar, salt, and
never hurt anyone? saturated fat, and lower in nutrients
So what’s the story? Why do com- and fiber than foods that are unpro-
Ok, so now we know a little bit why cessed. This means that processed
panies all over the world make pro- processed foods are made, but what’s
cessed foods? Isn’t easier to just sell foods are mostly empty calories.
the big deal? I have soda and potato Calories are a measure of the amount
stuff directly from the farm? You prob- chips all the time. What are the prob-
ably know some of the answers to this of energy in a certain food. In many
lems with these processed foods? processed foods, you’ll find a lot of
question already, but lets look at some
primary reasons below: calories but not many nutrients – so
The first thing we should remember these are “empty calories”. These kind
is that processed food is not made to of foods are linked to increases in obe-
It’s cheap. Remember all the surplus keep your body healthy. It is made be-
corn and soybeans? Based on very sity (an excess of body fat), high blood
cause it is fast, cheap, and easy. It is pressure, and chronic diseases (heart
old policies, the government subsi- not fresh, it is not local and it contains
dizes the farming of a few specifics disease, cancer, diabetes, osteopo-
harmful chemicals that do not taste as rosis and dental disease) around the
crops, including corn and soybeans. good as real food.
Many farmers have switched to grow- world.
ing these crops to stay in business.
Now we have far more of these crops
than we could ever eat, Food com- What does this have to do with me?
panies have come up with so many
ingredients made up of these two To start, let’s think about where people like you and your family can
crops that it is now cheaper to make find and eat processed foods:
a processed snack than to grow a 1. Schools – Vending machines and processed food meals
tomato. Because of the low cost of
served in school lunchroom.
high fructose corn syrup, soda costs
2. Home – Much of the food from the grocery store is processed
less to produce than any drink except
tap water! (remember, that’s anything in a box, can, jar or plastic).
3. Neighborhood - Fast food restaurants and convenience stores
It can travel a long way. With all of (delis, gas stations, etc.).
the preservatives and other chemicals
in processed food, it can be transport- According to one study, almost one-third of U.S. children ages 4-19
ed all over the world and stay exactly eat fast food every day. We are not only eating processed food, but
the same. This is why a McDonald’s we are eating lots and lots of it! Over the years fast food restaurants
hamburger in Portland, Oregon tastes and other places that sell processed food (movie theaters, conve-
identical to a McDonald’s hamburger nience stores) have increased the portion sizes of food. For example,
in Miami, Florida, or in Paris, France a large French fries at McDonald’s in 1972 was smaller than a me-
for that matter. dium size fries in 2009.
It’s convenient. It is easier to heat a
Why make it so big? The food itself is so cheap that even if the serv-
frozen pancake in the microwave than
it is to make it from scratch. It is faster ing size is doubled, the cost of making it does not really go up, but
to pick up food at a drive-through than the restaurant can charge the customer .25 or .50 cents more. The
to cook a meal at home. It may be customer thinks she is getting a good deal and the restaurant makes
easier, but is it better for you? a much larger profit. The downside to this is that by selling half-gal-
lon sodas and two-hamburger meals, these places have trained us to
think that huge serving sizes are normal. So these days, people are
eating a lot more food that’s not so good for our bodies.

© 2009 Solar One


30
Module Two: Health + Access

What’s the Story?


A Profile: McDonald’s
Everybody has heard of McDonalds. Do
you know why? McDonalds is the world’s
largest chain of fast food restaurants,
serving over 47 million customers each
day. That’s a lot of French fries! With so
many hungry people, it comes as no sur-
Activity prise that McDonalds is also the world’s
Ingredients, Labels largest buyer of beef, pork, potatoes, and
apples. McDonalds began installing play-
and Serving Sizes grounds in restaurants during the 1980s
In this activity students will study food labels in three parts. in an effort to attract children and now
spends over one billion dollars per year
Part 1: Name That Ingredient in advertising, most of which is directed
Students will receive ingredient lists for three fast food at children and teens. In the 2004 docu-
items and must guess the identity of each food. mentary, Supersize Me, Morgan Spurlock
(see worksheet, pg. 32) investigates the health effects of fast food
(Answers: 1. Chicken Nuggest, 2. Cheetos ®, 3. Big Mac ®) by eating only McDonalds food for 30
days. The results were so negative that
Part 2: Looking at Labels after the film was released, McDonalds
Students will each bring in a label from a favorite snack. eliminated the supersize option from their
They will be presented with a list of hard-to-pronounce menu.
ingredients (see worksheet, pg. 33) and asked to circle
any of these that appear on their own wrappers. All of the
ingredients they circled are usually made from corn, which
should not be revealed to students until after they have
completed the activity and discussed results.

Part 3: Serving Sizes?


Materials: Boxes of cereal, 2-liter soda bottles filled with
water, Bowl, Large drinking cups, Measuring cups

Instructions:
Divide the class into 4 groups. Give three groups a drink-
ing cup and a bowl. Give the fourth group measuring
cups. Ask the first three groups to pour the amount of
cereal in the bowl that they would normally pour for them-
selves, and then do the same with the “soda”. The fourth
group should be instructed to read the serving sizes on
the cereal box and soda bottle and pour exactly that
amount using the measuring cups. Afterwards, the groups
will compare their serving sizes. Using the nutrition facts
labels, the class will calculate the actual calories of each
serving. (see worksheet on page 34)

31 © 2009 Solar One


Part 1 worksheet
Name that Food!
Below are three ingredient lists for three different processed food items. Can
you guess what they are?

1. Ingredients:
White boneless chicken, water, food starch-modified, salt, seasoning (autolyzed yeast extract, salt, wheat starch, natu-
ral flavoring (botanical source), safflower oil, dextrose, citric acid, rosemary), sodium phosphates, seasoning (canola
oil, mono- and diglycerides, extractives of rosemary). Battered and breaded with: water, enriched flour (bleached
wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yellow corn flour, food starch-modified, salt,
leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium
lactate), spices, wheat starch, whey, corn starch. Prepared in vegetable oil ((may contain one of the following: Canola
oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness), dimethyl-
polysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent).

What is it?

2. Ingredients:
Enriched Corn Meal (Corn Meal, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Thiamin Monoitrate, Riboflavin, and Folic Acid), Vegetable Oil
(Contains one or more of the following: corn, soybean, or sunflower oil), Whey, Salt, Cheddar Cheese, (Cultured Milk,
Salt, Enzymes). Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Maltodextrin, Disodium Phosphate, Sour Cream (Cultured Cream,
Nonfat Milk), Artificial Flavor, Monosodium Glutmate, Lactic Acid, Artificial Colors (Including Yellow 6), and Citric Acid.
Contains Milk

What is it?

3. Ingredients:
Sauce: Soybean oil, pickle relish [diced pickles, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, vinegar, corn syrup, salt, calcium chloride, xanthan
gum, potassium sorbate (preservative), spice extractives, polysorbate 80], distilled vinegar, water, egg yolks, high fructose corn
syrup, onion powder, mustard seed, salt, spices, propylene glycol alginate, sodium benzoate (preservative), mustard bran, sugar,
garlic powder, vegetable protein (hydrolyzed corn, soy and wheat), caramel color, extractives of paprika, soy lecithin, turmeric (color),
calcium disodium EDTA (protect flavor).
Bun: Enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid,
enzymes), water, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, soybean oil and/or partially hydrogenated soybean oil, contains 2% or less of
the following: salt, calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, wheat gluten, ammonium sulfate, ammonium chloride, dough conditioners
(sodium stearoyl lactylate, datem, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, mono- and diglycerides, ethoxylated monoglycerides, monocal-
cium phosphate, enzymes, guar gum, calcium peroxide, soy flour), calcium propionate and sodium propionate (preservatives), soy
lecithin, sesame seed.
Patties: 100% Angus beef. Prepared with Grill Seasoning (salt, black pepper) and Angus Burger Seasoning: Salt, sugar, dextrose,
onion powder, maltodextrin, natural butter flavor (dairy source), autolyzed yeast extract, spices, garlic powder, vegetable protein
(hydrolyzed corn, soy and wheat), natural (animal, plant and botanical source) and artificial flavors, dried beef broth, sunflower oil,
caramel color, partially hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean oil, gum arabic, soy sauce solids (wheat, soybean, salt, maltodextrin,
caramel color), palm oil, worcestershire sauce powder [distilled vinegar, molasses, corn syrup, salt, caramel color, garlic powder,
sugar, spices, tamarind, natural flavor (fruit source)], beef fat, annatto and turmeric (color), calcium silicate and soybean oil (prevent
caking).
Pasteurized Process American Cheese: Milk, water, milkfat, cheese culture, sodium citrate, salt, citric acid, sorbic acid (preservative),
sodium phosphate, artificial color, lactic acid, acetic acid, enzymes, soy lecithin (added for slice separation).
Lettuce, Pickle Slices, Onions

What is it?
Part 2 worksheet
Looking at Labels
Name

Circle all of the ingredients that appear on your snack label and answer the
questions below.

Ascorbic Acid Dextrin Modified Food Starch or starch


Caramel Color Dextrose Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
Citric Acid Fructose Maltodextrin
Corn Starch High Fructose Corn Syrup Maltose
Corn Syrup Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein Xanthan Gum

Questions
1. What do you think these ingredients have in common?

2. How many of these ingredients appeared on your snack label

3. Poll the class or classmate:

a. How many people had none of these ingredients on their labels?

b. How many people had only one of these ingredients on their labels?

c. How many people had five or more of these ingredients on their labels?

4. Are you surprised by the results? Why or why not?


Part 3 worksheet
Serving Sizes Name

In this activity let’s figure out just how much a serving size actually is!
Follow the directions and answer the questions below:

Group 1 Serving Size Calories


1. Pour a cup of Pepsi into your cup.
2. Pour yourself a bowl of cereal.
3. Measure how much soda and how
Soda
much cereal you poured using some
measuring cups. Cereal
4. Calculate the calories in each.

Group 2 Serving Size Calories


1. Pour a cup of Pepsi into your cup.
2. Pour yourself a bowl of cereal.
3. Measure how much soda and how
Soda
much cereal you poured using some
measuring cups. Cereal
4. Calculate the calories in each.

Group 3 Serving Size Calories


1. Pour a cup of Pepsi into your cup.
2. Pour yourself a bowl of cereal.
3. Measure how much soda and how
Soda
much cereal you poured using some
measuring cups. Cereal
4. Calculate the calories in each.

Group 4 Serving Size Calories


1. Look at the serving size on the
soda and cereal.
2. Measure out each serving size
Soda
3. Pour into your cup and bowl
4. Calculate calories. Cereal

Questions
1. Was your group’s portion size larger or smaller than the portion size on the Calories per gram of:
label?
Water = 0kJ (0 Cal)
Protein = 17kJ (4 Cal)
2. What did you find most surprising about the class results? Dietary fiber = 13kJ (3 Cal)
Fat = 37kJ (9 Cal)
Alcohol = 29kJ (7 Cal)
3. Do you think it is important to read ingredient and nutrition labels on food? Carbohydrates = 16kJ (4 Cal)
Why or why not?
(kJ stands for kilojoules a measure of energy)
Module Two: Health + Access

Let’s Take a Closer LOok


Obesity and Diabetes
Now that you understand what processed foods
are, let’s take a look at how food affects our
health.

Obesity
Childhood obesity has become a very serious
issue. Today, in the United States, 17.3% of Type II Diabetes
children ages 6-19 are obese. Doesn’t sound
Type II diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. It is a
like a high number? Compare it to 1980,
disease in which the body either does not produce enough
when only a little more than 6% of U.S. chil-
insulin or the cells ignore the insulin.
dren were considered obese. That’s a pretty
big jump.
What is insulin?
What is obesity When the body digests food, it breaks the food down into
and why is it serious? glucose (sugar). Glucose is the basic form of energy for your
cells. Insulin, made in the pancreas, is a hormone that takes the
Good question. Obesity is a medical
glucose to the cells. If a body does not produce enough insulin
condition in which there is excess body or the cells ignore the insulin, glucose builds up in the blood
fat which has a negative effect on a stream. This can cause two major problems:
person’s health. There are specific for- 1. Your cells will be immediately starved for energy.
mulas used to determine obesity using 2. Over a longer period of time, high glucose levels in the
BMI (Body Mass Index), height, and blood can cause damage to eyes, kidneys, blood vessels,
weight, but, generally, a person is con- nerves, and heart. Also, high blood sugar increases the
sidered obese if he or she has a BMI of chances of getting infections or diseases.
30 or higher. This can vary somewhat for
children because people grow at different Why is this important for kids?
rates. Obesity is associated with a num- For several reasons:
ber of serious diseases including heart 1. Type II diabetes was once called “adult onset diabetes”
disease, Type II diabetes, certain types of because it was rarely found in children. In the early 90s,
cancer, and breathing difficulties during most pediatric doctors reported only 2% to 4% of their
sleep. Now do you see why this is impor- diabetic patients had type II. Today, the reported cases of
children with type II have increased tenfold.
tant? No one wants to be sick!
2. The longer a person has diabetes, the greater the
chance she has of developing serious complications due to
the disease.
3. Obesity may not always cause diabetes but is the most
Scary stuff right? significant risk factor.

Health issues are serious and it is important to be Causes of Type II Diabetes


aware of how they can affect us so that we can While we do not know exactly what causes type II diabetes,
make informed decisions in order to live a long there are major risk factors associated with it.
and healthy life. The positive side of awareness 1. Obesity is the most significant risk factor for type II
is that, although genetics do play a part, obesity diabetes in children. Roughly 85% of youth diagnosed with
and type II diabetes can be prevented and con- type II diabetes are obese.
trolled through our food and lifestyle choices. 2. Lack of physical activity.
3. Family history of diabetes.

35 © 2009 Solar One


Module Two: Health + Access

Let’s Take a Closer LOok


Let’s Talk Nutrition: What’s in food?
Before we start talking about what we can do to make sure you have a healthy diet and what food choices to
make, let’s review how food affects our bodies. Your body gets energy from three different sources that are
found in the foods we eat. These are carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Each energy source has a different job
to perform in the body. Let’s look at some of the major components:

Carbohydrates body can make many of them itself, contributes to other heart problems.
but there are 8 “essential” amino Saturated fat is found mostly in
Carbohydrates provide the body with acids the body cannot produce on its foods from animals and some plants.
a source of fuel and energy required own, and must get from food. Foods from animals include beef,
to carry out daily activities and exer- beef fat, veal, lamb, pork, lard, poul-
cise. Any extra energy is stored in the Complete Protein is a food source that try fat, butter, cream, milk, cheeses
body until it is needed. provides all eight essential amino and other dairy products made from
All carbohydrates are broken down acids. Animal-based foods like meat, whole and 2 percent milk.
into glucose (sugar) for the body’s poultry, fish, milk, eggs, and cheese
energy. are complete protein sources. Trans fat is a type of saturated fat,
found mostly in processed foods. It
Simple Carbohydrates are quickly Incomplete Proteins are sources that was created by scientists to extend
broken down into glucose to be used are missing one or more of the es- the shelf life of foods, and is found in
as energy. Simple carbohydrates sential amino acids, such as beans, fast foods, many snack foods, and
are found naturally in foods such peas, seeds, nuts, grains, and some fried foods. If you see the word “hy-
as fruits, milk, and milk products. vegetables. Incomplete proteins drogenated” on the ingredient label,
They are also found in processed can be combined to form complete then the food contains trans fats.
and refined sugars such as candy, proteins. Examples include corn and Trans fats increase the risk of heart
table sugar, syrups, white bread, and beans, rice and beans, or peanut disease and other problems. They
soda, which provide energy, but lack butter and whole wheat bread. are not necessary to any bodily func-
vitamins, minerals, and fiber. If the tion and should be avoided. Many
glucose is not used, it gets stored as Fats school districts have outlawed trans
fat. fats in school lunches, and some
Fats are important for brain develop- places, like New York City, have
Complex Carbohydrates take much ment and storing the body’s extra banned them from restaurants.
longer to break down and supply the calories. During heavy exercise, the
body with a steady source of en- body uses most of its carbohydrates Vitamins and Minerals
ergy. Examples of complex carbo- within 20 minutes, and then it begins
hydrates are whole grains, oatmeal, burning the stored fat. Another way Unlike protein, carbohydrates and
and brown rice. More than half of to simplify things is that the main fats, vitamins and minerals do not
your diet should be carbohydrates function of carbohydrates is to sup- provide energy, but are needed to
and most of that should be complex ply energy, while the primary jobs of make the body function properly. For
carbohydrates. fats and proteins pertain to structure example, Vitamin D helps the body
and building.
absorb enough calcium to make
Proteins strong teeth and bones. If someone
Unsaturated Fats are the fats that
The most important function of are good for brain development and has a vitamin D deficiency, they can
protein is to build, maintain, and good for your heart. Sources include develop a disease called rickets,
replace the tissues in your body. Your fish, nuts, seeds, vegetable oils (olive, which is a softening of the bones.
muscles and organs, including your corn, sunflower, etc.), avocados and Even though we only need small
heart, are made up mostly of protein. olives. amounts of vitamins and minerals,
All proteins are made of little build- they are essential to good health.
ing blocks called amino acids. There Saturated fat is the main dietary
are 20 kinds of amino acids and your cause of high cholesterol and also

© 2009 Solar One


36
Module Two: Health + Access

Let’s Take a Closer LOok


Let’s Talk Nutrition: Where is your food coming from?
The last page was all about what what your body needs to run; now let’s think about where we get this food from. Think
about your neighborhood. Where can you buy food? A convenience store, grocery store, gas station? What kinds of
foods do they sell? Take 2 minutes now to make a list of the places where you or your family buys food, and include a list
of common foods that you eat on a regular basis. Try to guess if these foods are processed or whole foods. Share your
answers with a friend or classmate and compare notes!

Now that we’ve narrowed down where your food is coming from, let’s look
What and Where?
Can you guess where these foods
at an example – potato chips! What could possibly be wrong with a potato come from and what they are typically
chip? As you now know, many processed foods contain only empty calo- made into?
ries, but what does that mean exactly? Let’s look at comparison:

Carrots vs. Potato Chips


1 medium sized carrot (61 grams) has 25 calories
1 pack of Pringles chips (18 grams) has 100 calories

So how do we know which one is healthier and why? Let’s talk about it:
1. First off… Pringles have more calories in a smaller amount of food. 18
grams of Pringles versus 61 grams of carrots. What
2. You would have to eat 4 carrots to get 100 calories - the same
Where
amount as in the can of Pringles.
3. If you ate 61 grams of Pringles, however (which people are likely to
do, as they tend to eat a lot of potato chips at one time), you would be
eating 337 calories!

But that’s not the whole story -


it’s not just about the calories.

Think about what else you get with these snacks. With the carrot, not only
do you get carbohydrates, you also get big amounts of beta carotene
(which your body converts to vitamin A), plus smaller amounts of potas- What
sium, vitamin C, vitamin K, and vitamin B6. Pringles give you carbohydrates Where
too, plus saturated fat, sodium, and all of those chemical additives we just
talked about.

Let’s think about one more factor influencing our health, diet and food
choices. We often think that processed foods are cheaper than whole
foods, but the problem is we aren’t looking at the right scales to really
understand just how much money we are spending. Eating processed
foods like Pringles over a longer period of time can cost more than their
ninety-nine cents price tag. If we eat enough processed foods, our health
can begin to decline and we may suffer from some of the illnesses we
discussed earlier. Being sick from eating unhealthy foods means spending What
more money on doctor visits and medicine. Eating carrots and other healthy
food gives you good health and you can’t put a price on that. Where

37 © 2009 Solar One


Module Two: Health + Access

Let’s Take a Closer LOok


Investigation
Supermarket
Snoops
In this activity, students will go as a class, or on
their own, to a supermarket or convenience store
and examine the labels of several items in the
store (see worksheet on page 39) discerning the
positive and negative aspects of each item. Stu-
dents will try to find foods in the store that have
the positive benefits in comparison to foods that
are not healthy.

Discussion Questions
1. Did you find a lot of bad foods in the store?
What about healthy foods? What were they? A Profile: Watauga County,
2. Did you notice any price differences be-
tween foods that were not so healthy vs.
North Carolina
ones that were? This county, nestled deep in the Appalachian
3. How did the store display the foods that Mountains of western North Carolina, just
were unhealthy? completed its first year of a countywide child-
hood obesity prevention program. Appalachian
State University provided training to prepare
students in K-12 for fitness tests. In addition,
schools across the county began farm-to-
school programs and school gardening projects.
After-school programs offered healthy cook-
ing classes and outdoor activities. The town of
Boone, North Carolina, has initiated an expan-
sion of walking and biking trail systems to con-
nect neighborhoods and encourage people to
increase their physical activity.

More info visit http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/

© 2009 Solar One


38
worksheet
Supermarket Snoops
Name

Let’s check out the supermarket and see out what kinds of foods you can find!
Directions: 1. Pick out one food item that you might eat at each meal plus one snack food. (For example, for a
breakfast food you might pick out a type of cereal.)
2. Write down the food below.
3. Read the ingredients and label, then answer the questions. What are the good things about this
food? What are the bad things? You can choose any foods you like, but it will probably be more help-
ful to use foods you actually eat.

Your Selections:
Serving Calories What do you think What do you Can you find a
Size are the bad things think are the good food to
about this food? good things replace the bad
about this food? ones you found?
Breakfast food
item:

Lunch food
item:

Dinner food
item:

Snack food
item:
Module Two: Health + Access

Let’s Re-Think
Let’s Get Healthy!
There’s a lot involved with eating these days. It isn’t just about fish sticks being bad for you or broccoli being
good for you. It is about learning to think about our food and how we eat. Is it good for us? Is it good for our families,
schools, and communities? Is it good for the environment? So where do I start to improve my diet, the foods I eat
and how I consider the environment and community all in the same equation? It’s all about thinking big and starting
small …let’s look at some ideas below:

Some Ideas...
Even small changes in the way you meal. Ask them for their favorite reci-
eat can have big effects. Changing pes, and find recipes for your favorite
the way you eat may seem like a big dishes.
task but it’s easier than it looks. Take
the first step and after a while, you’ll If you can,
wonder how you ever lived without grow some food!
food adventures. Here are some tips
to get you started: After putting a lot of care into a plant
or garden, you will be more willing to
Eat a wide eat fresh fruits and veggies that you
grew yourself. Plus it’s a fun way to
variety of foods learn about food.
Don’t be afraid to try something new.
Get moving
In fact you can make a game of it and
try one new food each week. If you
There are lots and lots of ways to fit
don’t like it at least you will have tried
it, and you may even discover a new physical activity into your day. Ride a
favorite food! bike or walk instead of taking buses or
cars. Take stairs instead of elevators.
Eat lots of whole grains,
fruits, vegetables, and legumes Bring your own snacks
If possible, try to get food that is fresh When you go to school or go places
and local. It’s high in complex carbo- with friends, plan ahead and bring
hydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, healthy snacks. Fruits, vegetables,
low in fat, and cholesterol free. nuts, dried fruit, peanut butter, or gra-
nola are just a few possibilities.
If you don’t already
know how, learn to cook
Add your idea here:
Cooking at home is half the battle to
healthy eating for you and the planet.
You know exactly what is going into
your food, plus it’s fun. Once you
know the basics, you can get creative
in the kitchen. Help your parents, fam-
ily members, or friends to prepare a

© 2009 Solar One


40
Module Two: Health + Access

Let’s Re-Think
Even more ideas
Even small changes in the way you eat can drink water instead.
have big effects. Changing the way you eat
may seem like a big task but it’s easier than Get fit with
it looks. Take the first step and after a while, friends and family
you’ll wonder how you ever lived without
food adventures. Here are some tips to get It’s a lot more fun to be active with friends
you started: or family. Plan a group activity once a
week. Dancing, swimming, running, hiking,
Listen to your body basketball, and biking are just a few pos-
sibilities.
Often, we will keep eating if there is food
in front of us, even if we are not hungry. If Join in physical
your body is telling you it is full, try to listen activities at school
and stop eating. If you are eating out, don’t
order a large size of anything and if the por- If your school offers sports, sign up. Other-
tions are big, split a dish with someone. wise, you could try to start a club yourself.
Or join the empowerME2B network of kids
Pay attention to your food being healthy, staying active and creating
solutions to the obesity epidemic to get lots
When we do other things while we are eat- of ideas and motivation: www.empower-
ing, we don’t pay attention to what we are me2b.org
putting into our bodies. Try not to eat while
watching television, sitting at a computer,
or when you are on the go. Make time
Balance
for your food. Try to eat your meals sit-
This means a couple of things:
ting down at a table. If possible, try to eat
Don’t eat too much of one thing. One of
with family or friends. Eating a meal is a
the best ways to make sure your body is
great way to enjoy your food as well as the
getting everything it needs is to eat a wide
people in your family and community.
variety of foods.

Drink lots of water Balance calories in with calories out. In


other words try not to eat more food than
This is an important part of any diet. Water your body will use. Make sure you do
flushes our systems of waste and keeps physical activity every day.
us hydrated. Next time you go for a soda,

And Finally...
One step at a time – Changing your eating habits and lifestyle is a lot to do. It is easier to make new habits long last-
ing if you keep it simple and work on one thing at a time. You could start off by choosing one unhealthy food in your
diet and replace it with a healthier option. Then work your way up from there. Remember – eating should be enjoy-
able!

For more fun activities, games, and information on health and good eating, check out the Kids! Learn More! page on
the What’s on Your Plate? website: http://www.whatsonyourplateproject.org/links

41 © 2009 Solar One


Module Two: Health + Access

Let’s Re-Think
Activity Analysis
Food Diary Re-Design!
Students will keep a food diary for several days to Help students apply some of the ideas and concepts
a week, depending on what works best for the age learned in this section through a quick excersize called
group. As a class, students will develop a simple chart “Re-Design”. In this activity, pose some of the ques-
of Stoplight Foods. tions covered in this module. Prompt students to think
critically about a reponse to some of these questions
1. Red Foods – foods the class thinks it would be
or explore ideas on how one could design some solu-
best to avoid.
tions to these problems. (see worksheet on page 44)
2. Yellow Foods – foods the class thinks are OK to
eat occasionally or in small quantities.
3. Green Foods – foods the class thinks are healthy
and should be eaten daily.

As a reflection, students should study their food diaries A Profile: Wisconsin


using the Stoplight Foods chart. They may color the
diary using the stoplight colors to illustrate the propor-
Homegrown Lunch
tions. How much of their food in their diary is red?
Green? Yellow? The Wisconsin Homegrown Lunch Project works to
introduce healthy, locally grown foods to Wisconsin
If you think your eating habits should be changed, what school children. Not only do students receive free lo-
are some ways you could change some of the red cally grown fruits and vegetables for snacks, they also
foods to green ones? (see worksheet on page 43) study each food item, its history, and its characteristics.
Best of all, students get to taste test different varieties.
This program encourages students to learn where their
food comes from and to understand the impact that
good nutrition can have on their lives. In addition to this,
Wisconsin seventh graders learn through experience
that healthy food can be delicious. Two Madison-based
chefs come into the classroom twice a week and pres-
ent an assortment of foods and recipes, which students
utilize in hands-on “lab” work.

Learn more at: www.reapfoodgroup.org/farmtoschool/

Activity
Games and More Ideas!
For games about healthy foods vs. unhealthy foods,
check out the Games page on the What’s On Your
Plate? website at:

www.whatsonyourplateproject.org/games
Photo: Matt Carpenter

© 2009 Solar One


42
worksheet
Food Diary Name

Keep a diary of the foods you eat! Rate how healthy each food is below
Directions: 1. Keep a diary of the foods you eat throughout the day.
2. Use the rating system below and decide whether you think something is health and should be eaten
everyday or the food is bad for you and shouldn’t be eaten often.

Green Foods The food is healthy and can be eaten every day!
Yellow Foods This food is OK and can be eaten occasionally.
Red Foods This food is bad and shouldn’t be eaten very often.

Your Diary:
Red Foods Yellow Foods Green Foods
Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

Day Five
Health+Access worksheet
Re-Design! Name

Let’s think about how you can make healthier food choices!
How can your community or school get involved with healthier food choices?
What are some ideas on getting you and your friends more active, playing
outside and eating right?
What are some healthy alternatives to the food you eat at home and school?

Step One: Brainstorm Brainstorm some answers to the questions above. Think of 2 ideas and
describe each idea with 2 sentences below:

Idea 1:

Idea 2:

Step Two: Sketch Draw some diagrams or sketch out some of your ideas below:

Title:

Description:
Module Three

Local Food
Overview:
In this module, students are introduced to industrial farming and the human health and environ-
mental impacts of global food production. Students will explore various farming techniques and
make connections between the food they eat and where it’s grown. Students will analyze the
current food system in their community and will be encouraged to find positive solutions to the
ecological and social challenges of the modern food system.

45 © 2009 Solar One


Module Three: Local Food

Introduction
Film Connection Local Food Segment on the DVD

Chapter 1: Chapter 2: Chapter 3:


What’s The Story Let’s Take a Closer Look Let’s Re-Think
Sadie and Safiyah explore the distances In this section, the girls visit Angel Family In this section, Sadie and Safiyah visit their
food travels and associated issues in Farms, where they help in planting and local CSA (Community Supported Agricul-
a global mapping activity. As the kids weeding, and we hear from the Angels ture) drop off point, and interview the CSA
share their window box garden, we about the benefits and challenges of be- founders and members. We meet Bryant
are presented with the issues faced in ing a small farmer. We revisit the window Terry, an eco chef from Oakland, CA, who
urban areas, where people do not have box garden during harvest time, and in goes with the girls to the CSA to pick up
space to grow their own food. Through an animation, Sadie and Safiyah reflect ingredients for a fresh, local community
a montage of NYC urban farms and an on the current state of food. meal. With Bryant and several other cooks,
introduction to the Brooklyn-based An- the kids prepare and cook the meal. They
gel family, who farm upstate, we begin Discussion Questions eat with family and many new friends
to see potential solutions. Finally, Anna 1. How does the kind of small farm the whom they met while making the movie.
Lappé discusses corporations, food 2. Angels have differ from large-scale
production, and the plight of the small industrial farming? Discussion Questions
American farmer. 3. What are the differences in the ways 1. Sadie and Safiyah live in New York
these two types of farming impact 2. City, where there are a lot of people in
Discussion Questions the environment? Human health? a small amount of space. The lack of
4. The girls in the Girls Club stepped space makes it difficult for people to
1. Where does our food come from? out of their everyday lives in a big city
2. Why do you think it travels such grow all of their own food. What are
to help out on Angel Farms. They some issues in your area that affect
great distances when the same food learned about how food grows and
is often grown nearby, or at least in how you get food?
how much work it requires. What 3. Farmers markets and CSAs are two
the same country? could you do to learn more about
3. What are the effects of food traveling ways to get fresh, healthy food, which
your food? Do you think growing your were explored in the film. What are
long distances? Can you think of own food or volunteering at a farm
some ways this impacts you? some other ways you can think of to
would change how you see it? get good food?
4. In your area, is it possible for a family
to grow its own food? Why or why Investigate: Write down a meal or Investigate:Research what fruits and
not? snack you ate. Check all of the foods to vegetables are available in your area and
see how many contained high fructose at what times of year. As a class project,
Investigate: What kinds of foods are corn syrup. Be sure to check everything design a card or chart of seasonal produce
grown near you? (example: if you ate a sandwich with that people can take with them when they
mayonnaise, be sure to check the ingre- are grocery shopping, and distribute it in
dients of mayonnaise.) your school and community.

Objectives: Standards
l Students will understand the connections between Science G.2 Physical Systems a
NS.1 Science as Inquiry a, b G.3 Human Systems b, c, d, e
location, food consumption and production.
NS.2 Physical Science a G.4 Environment and Society a, b, c
NS.3 Life Science b, c, d
l Students will gain a better understanding of the envi- NS.4 Earth and Space Science a Technology
ronmental and social impacts of conventional farming NS.5 Science and Technology b T.1 Social, Ethical, and Human Issues a
techniques. NS.6 Science in Personal and Social T.2 Technology Research Tools a
Perspectives c, d, e, f
l Students will better understand the historical context Economics Language Arts
EC.1 Productive Resources a LA.1 Reading for Perspective a
and emergence of industrial farming.
EC.2 Allocating Goods and Services a LA.2 Evaluation Strategies a
EC.8 Role of Price in a Market System a LA.4 Evaluating Data a
l Students will think critically about potential solutions LA.5 Developing Research Skills a
and applications to address environmental and social Geography LA.6 Multicultural Understanding a
issues related to local food in their community. G.1 Places and Regions a, b, c LA.7 Participating in Society a

© 2009 Solar One


46
Module Three: Local Food

What’s the Story?


Where does our food come from?
If asked where our food comes from, many of us would say the Keywords
supermarket or perhaps, name a restaurant, but how did it get there
and from where? In the busy modern world, we do not always make Agriculture: The production of food through farm-
ing, which has gone through many changes in the
the connection between the food we eat and the natural world that
past century.
produced it. Chances are if it is on your plate, it was once in the soil or
Biodiversity: The variety of plant and animal life in
ate things from the soil. a particular habitat.
Bovine Growth Hormone (rGBH): Also known as
One reason we don’t make that connection is because we don’t bovine somatatropin, a protein hormone secreted
actually see our food being grown. For example, what comes to mind by the pituitary gland that stimulates growth and
when someone mentions peanuts? Candy? Peanut butter? Or a small cell reproduction. Using DNA technology, this hor-
shrub-like plant with yellow flowers? A jar of spaghetti sauce is more mone is produced in large amounts in laboratories
familiar to us than the tomato plants it took to produce it. Let’s look at by agricultural companies like Monsanto, and is
the hidden history of how our food was grown in the past and how it’s used to increase yields of milk or other products
grown today: in cattle.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA): A
cooperative system where interested consumers
It wasn’t always this way. How did it happen? purchase a share (aka a “membership” or a “sub-
scription”) with a local farm. In return members
When we picture a farm, perhaps we imagine a red barn, cows and receive seasonal produce each week throughout
the farming season.
corn on rolling hills, and a farmer in a straw hat and overalls. Most
modern farms do not resemble this quaint image. Agriculture, which Factory Farming: The practice of raising large
numbers of farm animals like chickens, cattle, and
refers to the production of food through farming, has gone through pigs in small confined areas. This is a practice
many changes in the past century. Industrial farming is currently the used in industrial farming so that the farm may be
most prevalent form of agriculture in the United States. Most meat, run like a factory, to reduce costs.
poultry, dairy, eggs, vegetables, fruit, processed foods, and baked Fertilizer: Any substance such as manure or a
goods found in American supermarkets and restaurants are pro- mixture of nitrates used to make soil more fertile.
duced using methods of industrial agriculture. Fertilizers can be natural or use chemicals.
Genetically Modified Organism (GMO): An organism
Industrial agriculture began roughly around the same time as the whose genetic material has been altered using
Industrial Revolution. Farmers found they could increase the amount genetic engineering techniques like altering DNA
to make a crop more water tolerant, make fruits
of food they produced and thus, the efficiency of their farms by using
and vegetables grow bigger, or more colorful, with
machinery. As time went on, other scientific discoveries made it pos- less natural flaws, or keep when they are shipped
sible to farm even more intensively. Farms grew much, much larger long distances.
using technology to produce crops more cheaply and increase prof- Industrial farming: A modern farming technique
its, and small family farms began to disappear. The chart on the next that refers to large-scale industrialized production
couple of pages, lists common practices of modern industrial farming, of livestock, poultry, fish, and food crops.
why these practices are used, and some of the effects caused by Landfill: Also known as a dump, a landfill is a site
these practices. Follow along!.... for disposal of waste materials typically through
burial. Garbage, or waste is compacted at a
landfill and covered daily with layers of soil. It is the
oldest form of waste treatment.
Industrial Farm
Livestock: Farm animals that are used to produce
goods like meat, fibers (for clothing) or for labor
like plowing fields.
Monoculture: Monoculture is the agricultural prac-
tice of producing or growing one single crop over
a wide area
Polyculture: The planting of two or more crops in
the same place.

Photo: Tom Westbrook

47 © 2009 Solar One


Module Three: Local Food

What’s the Story?


Industrial agriculture: Practices and Effects Part 1

Practices Why? Effects


Large scale farming: fewer • Machines do work • Food travels long distances to reach
farms bigger farms, more • Cheaper consumer.
machines • Can grow more intensively • Food production and delivery require
• One company owns more land = larger a great deal
profits
• Easier transportation and refrigeration has
removed constraints on farm location

Use of man-made fertilizer • Cheaper and more convenient. • Soil, water, and air pollution. The Mis-
and chemical pesticides and • Can grow large monocultures (only one sissippi River often floods, spreading
herbicides (weed killer) on kind of crop) intensively. runoff to nearby communities.
• Produces large yields = more profit • Soil erosion and depletion.
crops • Elimination of beneficial microorgan-
isms in soil. Loss of wildlife on farm.
• Insects and bacteria develop resis-
tance to pesticides, creating “super
pests”.

Use of hormones, antibiotics • The use of antibiotics and vaccines prevent • Soil, air, and water contamination
and vaccines on livestock diseases caused by crowding animals to- from concentrated animal waste and
gether, so that many animals may be raised dead animals.
indoors or in a small area. • Harmful bacteria, resistant to anti-
• Hormones are used to increase size of biotics, spread disease quickly, and
animal and the speed of growth. possibly affect humans.
• Produce milk, eggs, and meat at lowest • Mistreatment of animals.
cost possible. • Negative health effects on humans
from consumption of hormones, antibi-
otics, etc, in animal products.

CAFOs (Concentrated • Large amounts of animals (cows, pigs, • A lot of animal manure is created and
Animal Feeding Operations) poultry) are raised in very small areas. placed into “lagoons”, which contami-
also known as factory • Cheaper – less land is used, they are fed nate soil, air, and water with methane,
corn, which is not their natural diet, but is nitrogen, and nitrous oxide.
farming very cheap. • Quick spread of disease
• Animals are given antibiotics to prevent ill- • Mistreatment of animals.
ness from spreading in crowded environment • Animals are fed cheap diets their
• Animals are given growth hormoes to bodies cannot digest
speed up growth process, so they may be • Discomfort, stress, injuries, and lack
slaughtered sooner (the bigger and faster of exercise for animals housed in close
you can raise and kill an animal, the more confinement
money you can make) • Restriction of daylight and natural
behaviors by crowded living conditions
• Monoculture. The species that grows
the biggest and fastest is raised, so
other breeds, with different traits,
become rare or die out. Also, loss of
nutrients in food.

© 2009 Solar One


48
Module Three: Local Food

What’s the Story?


Industrial agriculture: Practices and Effects Part 2

Practices Why? Effects


Genetic manipulation of plants • Most genetically modified crops • Studies have shown that genetically modified
and animals to produce are modified to be resistant to pes- plants do not produce higher yields.
desirable traits ticides, so that the pesticide will kill • Genetically modified plants could breed with
everything except the crop plant. surrounding wildlife and non-GM crops.
• One type of corn has been modi- • Health risks for humans, animals, and other
fied to produce its own pesticide. organisms.
• Many tomato varieties were modi- • Food grown for durability, not taste. Loss of
fied so that they would travel well quality.
and take longer to rot.
• Large yields, large profits

Monocultures: growing one • Uniform growing requirements, • Loss of plant and animal diversity. Diversity
single crop over a large increasing efficiency and mechani- is protection from pests and disease. If one
area. zation. It is easier to grow just corn species gets sick, there are many others around
than it is to grow seven crops with that are resistant. In 1904, over 7,000 variet-
different needs. ies of apple were grown on the U.S. Today 15
• Large yields varieties account for 90% of apple production.
• Large yields create surplus, or ex- • Disease and crop failure.
tra, crops. This promotes the cheap • The Irish Potato famine happened in many
production of processed foods. ways because most people in Ireland grew
only one type of potato. That potato became
susceptible to a type of mold, which destroyed
the entire country’s food supply.
• Increased dependence on pesticides.
• Depletion of soil nutrients.

Processing and packaging of • Companies can sell processed • Processed foods have less nutrition and more
many foods and packaged foods for more chemicals than whole foods, so people have
money than whole foods like fruits more food-related health problems from the
and vegetables. consumption of processed food.
• Excess packaging creates waste (plastic, etc.)

Wow that was a lot of Information!


Wow that’s a lot of stuff you may not have known about friend? Talk with your classmates and friends about farms
today’s farms. To sum it up, most Americans’ food travels and share stories. In the next section we are going to go
over 1,500 miles from the farm soils to the table. We have deeper into some of the problems with industrial farm-
changed our farming practices dramatically in the past ing and also look at some inspiring solutions being used
50 years and now problems associated with this type of around the world today!
farming are catching up! Think about the last time you
saw a farm, visited a farm stand or had anything to do
with growing food. What did it look like? Have you ever
seen a small farm on a drive to visit a family member or

49 © 2009 Solar One


Module Three: Local Food

What’s the Story?


Activity
Long Distance Mapping!
Materials: World Maps, US Maps, Rulers, Food Cards,
Score sheets
Time: ½ hour – 45 minutes

Instructions:
Divide the class into small groups of 4 or 5 students.
Each group receives a world map, a US map, a ruler,
one set of food cards, and one score sheet per stu-
dent. Students cut up cards, fold them, and put them
in a bowl or hat. Students take turns drawing cards
out of the hat. Using a ruler and the map legend,
they must locate the food’s origin and calculate the
mileage the food on their card traveled to reach their
town, writing the result on their score sheet. Stu-
dents continue to take turns in such a fashion for 5
or 6 rounds. Each student will add up her mileage to
A Profile: Monsanto
receive a final score. You probably haven’t thought about where
the seeds and herbicides for these industrial
Follow up questions: farms come from, but they have a story of their
own. Many seeds used by farmers worldwide,
1. Who in your group had the highest number of especially soybean, corn, and cottonseeds, are
miles? Who had the lowest? made by Monsanto, an international agricultural
2. What are some ways you could change your corporation that specializes in biotechnology.
meal to lower the miles it traveled. Biotechnology is the practice of using technol-
3. What does it mean when food has traveled ogy to change a living organism. Monsanto
long distances? What effects can this have on uses biotechnology, or genetic engineering, to
food or the environment? produce seeds, herbicides and growth hor-
(see worksheets on pages 51-52) mones for cattle. Huh? OK for example, Mon-
santo changed the DNA of a type of corn so
that the corn is resistant to pesticides. A farmer
can buy Monsanto’s genetically modified corn
seed and Monsanto’s herbicide, or weed killer.
Because the corn is programmed to resist the
herbicide, a farmer can spray the chemical
and kill every other plant except for the corn.
Sounds like science fiction, but if you have ever
eaten fast food, a bag of chips, or some other
packaged food, chances are you have eaten
this stuff. Over 70% of processed food in the
supermarket contains ingredients produced
from a Monsanto seed.

© 2009 Solar One


50
Long-Distance Mapping | Playing Cards worksheet

Eggs Tomatoes Butter Carrots


Small farm in your state New Jersey Small farm in your state Local Community Garden
150 miles 150 miles 0 Miles

Yogurt Cheese Asparagus Apples


Small farm in your state Small farm in your state Local Community Garden Small farm in your state
150 miles 150 miles 0 Miles 150 miles

Bread Chicken Garlic Peaches


Baked in your town Farmer’s Market Nearby farm in your Georgia
0 miles 100 miles state 150 miles

Peppers Lettuce Parsley Watermelon


Small farm in your state Local Garden Your window box Local Garden
150 miles 0 Miles 0 Miles 0 Miles

Berries Bread Potatoes Cookie


Small farm in your state Baked in your town Small farm in your state Baked in your town
150 miles 0 Miles 150 miles 0 Miles

Oatmeal (Oats) Onion Crab Ice Cream


Small farm in your state Washington State Maryland Small farm in your state
150 miles 150 miles

Eggs Tomatoes Butter Carrot


Florida Holland Minnesota South Africa

Yogurt Lettuce Garlic Oranges


Ohio California China Arizona

Bread Avocado Asparagus Peaches


Kentucky Egypt Peru Mexico

Chicken Hamburger Crab Watermelon


Louisiana New Zealand Thailand Texas

Bananas Cheese Pineapple Cookie


Ecuador Australia Hawaii Virginia

Box of Cereal Onion Potatoes Ice Cream


Tennessee Guatemala Idaho Wisconsin
Score-Card worksheet
Long-Distance Mapping
Name How far did your food travel? Add up the miles!

NO. 1 NO. 2

What Food? What Food?

From Where? From Where?

How Far did How Far did


it travel? (miles) it travel? (miles)

NO. 3 NO. 4

What Food? What Food?

From Where? From Where?

How Far did How Far did


it travel? (miles) it travel? (miles)

NO. 5 NO. 6

What Food? What Food?

From Where? From Where?

How Far did How Far did


it travel? (miles) it travel? (miles)

Mileage:
Grand
Total
Module Three: Local Food

Let’s Take a Closer LOok


Soil erosion, industrial farming
What does it all mean?
So what does all this stuff mean? What is soil erosion? Why is biodiversity important? ? Let’s look a little closer at some
of the effects of industrial farming: Industrial farms use tremendous amounts of water, energy, and chemicals with little
regard for the long-term effects on people and the environment. What does that mean exactly? Let’s look at some of the
specific impacts this kind of farming has on a community like yours and on the environment.

Environmental Impacts
Species Displacement:
To make a large-scale farm, trees must be cut down, animals
removed, grass pulled up, etc. Industrial farming is the leading Let’s Talk Soil...
cause of habitat destruction for terrestrial ecosystems like the
North American Prairie and the rainforest in Amazonia. All of the When you say soil nutrients, just what do you
plants and animals that lived there are displaced and are forced mean? Plants need three major nutrients to
to find new habitats as well as new sources of food and water. grow:
Often, they cannot.
Nitrogen (N)
Pollinators: Phosphorous (P)
Potassium or Potash (K)
Birds, insects and bats are a few of the animals that are critical
to food and seed production. Pollinators are disappearing at a Or NPK, for short. They are known as macro-
fast rate due to habitat loss, pesticide poisoning, and disease. nutrients, and without them, plants will grow
Pollinators are also necessary to the healthy functioning of poorly or not at all. In the soil, NPK are pro-
life on the planet. They help many plants to reproduce. Those duced through decaying plant matter. In the
plants, in turn, provide oxygen, habitats, and food for many case of nitrogen, the recycling of nitrogen from
other organisms. dead to living plants is often the only source of
nitrogen in the soil. NPK are produced in every
kind of synthetic fertilizer.
Soil erosion and depletion:
You may not know it, but huge ecosystems lie just under the So what is the difference?
ground’s surface. Millions of small creatures ranging from In the soil, there are many secondary and mi-
earthworms to microscopic bacteria call the soil their home, cronutrients (nutrients required in much smaller
and spend their lives turning dead plant and animal matter into amounts) necessary to good plant health,
nutrient-rich topsoil. Others aid in soil aeration and plant growth. which are often not supplied by chemical fertil-
Although they are small, these animals are an essential part of izers. Additionally, the relationships between
life on earth. Pesticides applied to crops, kill off huge numbers plants and beneficial microbes and bacteria
of these important creatures while the application of fertilizer are also necessary to good plant growth, and
destroys the rich topsoil. this is something that cannot be reproduced
chemically. Using organic fertilizers, like com-
post or manure, adds these valuable nutrients
and organisms to soil, improving soil conditions
and plant growth, while chemical fertilizers
have the opposite effect by depleting the soil of
many necessary nutrients and organisms.

53 © 2009 Solar One


Module Three: Local Food

Let’s Take a Closer LOok


Even More Environmental Impacts...
Synthetic fertilizers
Synthetic fertilizers (composed primarily of nitrogen and created by
fossil fuels) are used to replace the nutrients in the soil, which are
depleted by monocultures and pesticides. They also pollute the soil
and ground water sources. After a heavy rain or flooding, fertilizer
is drained away from the soil and carried to a body of water. When
fertilizers enter an aquatic ecosystem, such as a lake or pond, they
promote algae growth on the water, which prevents sunlight and oxy-
gen from reaching plants and fish below. For humans, nitrates in our
water supplies have been linked to low-oxygen levels in our bodies
and various forms of cancer.

Genetically modified crops


Genetically modified crops threaten the genetic diversity of our food
crops. Unpredictable ecological results can occur if GM plants breed
with nearby wild plants (i.e. creating “super weeds”, resistant to
herbicides, etc.) as well as unintended effect on beneficial insects The
same companies that produce GM seeds also produce most of the
world’s agricultural chemicals (pesticides, fertilizers, etc.). The health
effects of GM foods have not been tested and remain unknown, but
as consumers in the United States we do not know if we are eating
them or not as companies are not required to label foods that contain Photo: Matt Carpenter
GM ingredients. In Europe, all food items containing GM ingredients
must have a label stating this, so that consumers may decide to buy
it or not. To accept genetically modified seeds, promotes the continu-
ation of industrial agriculture.

Irrigation
Industrial farms use huge amounts of water, which is often taken from
large reservoirs. Large monocultures use water faster than it can be
replenished. After irrigating industrial crops, water contaminated by
chemicals, returns to rivers, aquifers, and other waterways, where it
adds to growing levels of water pollution.

Fossil Fuels
Large-scale agriculture uses fossil fuels at many points: to harvest
and run huge farm equipment, to produce and transport pesticides
and fertilizers, and to refrigerate and transport food around the
country and the world. The use of fossil fuels contributes to ozone
pollution and global warming, which increases violent weather events,
droughts and floods, and rising oceans.

© 2009 Solar One


54
Module Three: Local Food

Let’s Take a Closer LOok


What about me?
OK this stuff is bad, but my neighborhood
seems fine. How does this affect me? Let’s take
a look at human effects:

Human Impacts
Water: The runoff from chemical Antibiotics and Growth Hor- made from corn: high fructose corn
inputs and manure spills can con- mones: Antibiotics are given to syrup, citric acid, and even caramel
taminate water supplies. Addition- livestock so that many animals may color! A cheeseburger at McDonald’s
ally, because industrial agriculture be raised in a confined area without is made of approximately 56% corn!
cultivates such large crops, massive spreading disease. The antibiotics
amounts of water are used to irrigate leave a residue in both meat and What’s the problem with that?
them. Over two-thirds of the fresh dairy products. As farmers continue There are quite a few problems. This
water used by humans is used for to give their animals antibiotics, and type of food, called processed food,
crop irrigation. In California, over humans continue to eat them, over is very cheap to make (To make that
80% of the state’s water is used for time, both humans and animals bottle of Coca Cola? bottle + liquid
agriculture. Homes, institutions, and develop a resistance to the strong = 18 cents), and relatively cheap
businesses use only 20% of Califor- antibiotic drugs. to buy, but is extremely unhealthy
nia’s water. Growth hormones, given to livestock for several reasons. Firstly, the best
to increase their size (ex. Turkeys) or ways to be sure your body is get-
Residue on food: When food is their productivity (ex. Cows for milk). ting everything it needs is to eat a
grown and produced on such a large These hormones are linked to cancer lot of different things. If processed
scale, it is difficult to contain a patho- in humans. Organic dairy does not food is made primarily from corn and
gen or bacteria once it enters the contain bovine growth hormones soybeans, you can be certain you
farm system. Researches estimated (rBGH). aren’t getting everything you need.
that the number of food-related Secondly, to make processed food
illnesses per year have increased Cheap Food: The two main crops taste good, it usually contains a lot of
ten times since 1970. Recent food grown in the United States are corn salt, sugar or fat – three things that
scares, which resulted in several and soybeans. While about 80% of can cause health problems if eaten
deaths, include E. coli on spinach these two crops are used to feed in large quantities. Because people
and Salmonella-infected peanuts. livestock, there is still a lot of corn consume so many processed foods
Additionally, many of the pesti- and soybeans left for humans, but today, obesity and food-related ill-
cides used on crops are classified who wants to eat so much corn nesses like diabetes, heart disease
as cancer-causing agents. These and soybeans? You may not know and colon cancer have skyrocketed
pesticides often leave a residue on it, but you probably eat lots of corn in the past twenty years. In fact, the
food, increasing the occurrences of and soybeans every day. Because rise in the rates obesity and diabetes
cancer. If it can kill an insect, what industrial farms produce such large parallels the rise in the use of high
effect will it have on a human? For quantities of corn, it is very cheap. fructose corn syrup.
people who live or work near areas In order to make a larger profit from
where the pesticides are used, the corn, agricultural companies found Taste: If tomatoes are being geneti-
rate of cancer occurrences are much hundreds of ways to process corn so cally modified so that they can travel
higher than average. that it is worth more to the consum- across the country, and lettuce is
er. For example, most of the ingre- sprayed with lots of chemicals, the
dients in a bottle of Coca Cola are food just doesn’t taste as good.

55 © 2009 Solar One


Module Three: Local Food

Let’s Take a Closer LOok


Activity
What’s Your
Food Footprint?
Everyone will receive a worksheet and calculate their Food
Footprint. How did you do? Are you a Big Foot? As a
class, let’s brainstorm other ways we can reduce our food
footprint. Try to come up with at least three things that
everyone in the class can do. (see worksheet on page 59)

Analysis
Food Systems:
Your Food, Your Community
What issues does the food in my commu-
nity present?

Students will be presented with the basic


steps of a conventional food system, and
then given a worksheet in which they are
asked to use this information to create a
food system for a food of their choice (ex-
ample: peanuts to peanut butter).

Discussion Questions:
1. What are some other ways we can
visualize a food system?
2. How do we get the local community
involved in making things more local?
3. How would your food systems map
change if you lived in Canada, Europe,
Africa or another part of the world?
(see worksheets on pages 57-58)

© 2009 Solar One


56
worksheet
Food Systems!
What is a food system?
The connected parts of a system that provides food to a community. This includes farming, food processing,
food distribution, food marketing, food retailing, and consumption of a product. A food system may contain
some or all of these steps, and may vary in size from global to local. The food system covers everything from
planting a seed to the fate of your leftovers.

Step Five: Buying


Step One: Growing
At this point food producers and companies determine
The connected parts of a system that provides food to what consumers want or need. Sometimes the market-
a community. This includes farming, food processing, ers make you think you need something so you will buy
food distribution, food marketing, food retailing, and it. They decide how to make people want to buy a kind
consumption of a product. A food system may contain of food. (Example: the cartoon characters from cereal
some or all of these steps, and may vary in size from boxes were created to catch children’s’ eyes.) A big
global to local. The food system covers everything from portion of the money you pay for a product goes to the
planting a seed to the fate of your leftovers. marketing costs. Over $10 billion dollars a year is spent
advertising food and beverage items to children and
teens. The second aspect of “Buying” is where the con-
sumer gets the product. Food can be sold in a variety
Step Two: Transportation of places, from grocery stores or restaurants to farmers
markets and CSAs.
This is the point where food is divided up and delivered
to many places. Whole foods from a farm can be de-
livered to grocery stores, restaurants, farmers markets, Step Six: Cooking
and even factories. How it is transported can also vary
greatly – from a person on foot to a refrigerated truck, to Cooking can happen at home, restaurants, or in lunch-
a cargo ship, to a jet. Why would the food be delivered rooms like in a school or hospital. You can cook “from
to a factory? scratch” or you can buy a frozen meal and heat it in the
microwave. When we eat at a restaurant or lunchroom,
someone else does the cooking. Many times, buying
Step Three: Processing “heater meals” means there was more that happened to
food in the “Processing” step, than when a meal is made
to eat immediately.
Food is changed to make another product. Sometimes it
is changed alter the flavor or to make it last longer, or to
make new foods. Processing can be canning, freezing,
heating, drying, adding preservatives to food or remov-
Step Seven: Eating
ing fat (low-fat). There are a variety of ways food can be
changed. How are you eating the food? At home with family and
friends? While in a car? In front of the TV or computer?

Step Four: Packaging Step Eight: Recycling/Reusing


A way to protect food from spoilage on its way to mar-
kets and grocery stores. It divides up goods into equal Food scraps and food packaging left over after a meal
quantities, and provides a place for advertising. Some can have a couple of potential fates: Recycling: Left-
materials used for packaging are paper, plastic, card- over food can be used to make compost, a rich organic
board, glass, and aluminum. fertilizer to add to a garden or farm. The food ends up
where it started. Packaging such as paper, cardboard,
aluminum and glass can be recycled. Disposing: Throw-
ing away food scraps and/or packaging. Waste is taken
to a landfill, or dump where it is compacted and covered
with layers of soil.
worksheet
A Food System! Name

Make your own food system!


Directions: Choose one food item (like peanut butter, milk, orange juice) and map out the food system for
this item! Think about where the system starts and where it ends. For instance, a peanut gets turned into
peanut butter, but how....use the boxes below to illustrate a food system...

Food Item:

Step One: Growing Step Five: Buying

Step Two: Transportation Step Six: Cooking

Step Three: Changing/Processing Step Seven: Eating

Step Four: Packaging Step Eight: Recycling/Reusing


worksheet
What’s Your Food Footprint?
Directions: Answer the questions below and add up your score along the way. See how you did using the key below!

1. How often do you eat meat? (a.) 1


a. I’m vegan (I eat no animal products) (b.) 2
b. I’m a vegetarian (I don’t eat any meat) (c.) 4
c. I eat meat 1 to 4 days a week (d.) 5
d. I eat meat every day
2. If you eat meat, which type of meat do you eat most often? (a.) 1
a. Lamb (b.) 2
b. Turkey (c.) 3
c. Chicken (d.) 4
d. Pork
e. Beef (e.) 5

3. Of these drinks which type do you drink most often? (a.) 1


a. Water (b.) 2
b. Juice (c.) 3
c. Soda (d.) 4
d. Milk (e.) 5
e. Coffee
4. How often do you eat fast food? (a.) 1
a. I never eat fast food. (b.) 2
b. I eat fast food about 2-3 times a month. (c.) 3
c. I eat fast food a lot but if I had the choice of a healthier meal I would eat it. (d.) 5
d. I eat fast food 4-5 times a week, if I could eat it all the time I would.
5. How often do you buy food from local farmers markets? (a.) 1
a. I go to the farmers market every week to get all of my fruit and vegetables. (b.) 2
b. I occasionally go to the farmers market to buy my fruit and vegetables. (c.) 3
c. I don’t know of any farmers markets but if I did I would buy food there as often as I could. (d.) 5
d. I never get food from farmers markets and I am not really interested in starting.

6. How much of your own food do you grow? (a.) 0


a. I have a farm and grow all of my food. (b.) 1
b. I am a member of a community garden or have a small garden and grow some of my own food. (c.) 2
c. I do not have a farm or a garden but I would like to, and if I did I would grow my own food. (d.) 3
d.I never grow my own food.
7. Do you try to eat food that is in season? (a.) 1
a. Yes, I only eat food that is in season. (b.) 2
b. Sometimes if I remember. (c.) 3
c. I don’t know what food is in season when, but if I did I would try to buy food of that season. (d.) 4
d. No, I eat what I want when I want.
8. How often do you eat home cooked food? (a.) 1
a. I eat home cooked food every night. (b.) 2
b. I eat home cooked food 3-5 times a week. (c.) 3
c. I love home cooked food but I don’t think I eat it enough. I would eat it more often if I could. (d.) 5
d. I hate home cooked food and I never eat it.
9. Do you try to buy fruit and vegetables that were grown locally or in your state? (a.) 1
a. I always check to see where my food is grown and if it is not grown locally I don’t buy it. (b.) 2
b. If given the choice I would choose to buy locally grown fruits and vegetables. (c.) 3
c. I have never thought about where my food was grown, but now that I try to eat more local food. (d.) 4
d. I don’t care where my food comes from.
10. Circle the fruit or vegetable that you eat the most: (a.) 1 (e.) 2
a. Apples e. Strawberries (b.) 1 (f.) 3
b. Grapes f. Mangos (c.) 1 (g.) 3
c. Cabbage g. Kiwis (d.) 2 (h.) 3
d. Squash h. Bananas

Wow, wish everyone were like you! Congratulations, you have great food habits
8-15 Points that help the world to be more sustainable. 2-10 acres are used to support your
Score:
food habits.
Not too bad. Seems like you have some good habits and aspire to have even better ones. 10-24 acres are used to support
16-26 Points your food habits. Unfortunately we would still need at least one more planet to sustain your life style.

Yikes big foot! It seems some of your habits are damaging to the environment. 24-40 acres are used to support your food
27-44 Points habits. We would need 3-4 more planets to sustain your life style.
Module Three: Local Food

Let’s Re-Think
Let’s Talk Local! Idea #1 Farmer’s Markets
So it looks like we have a lot of problems with our how
our food is produced. But wait, there’s good news! Peo- Farmers markets are becoming more and more
ple are changing the way they think about their food and popular. The markets, usually held in an outdoor
the ways that they get it. Whether you live in the country space such as a park or a parking lot, are where
or the city, there are many, many alternatives to industri- small farmers sell their produce directly to the public.
ally produced food. Let’s consider some ideas below. These farmers are not industrial agriculture types.
Many of the small farmers who sell at markets use
sustainable and organic growing practices. Because
First, let’s talk local! The closer your food is of industrial agriculture, their numbers have shrunk
grown to your home, the easier it is to know how it was significantly over the past twenty years. Between
grown. Plus, your food takes less time to reach you, so it 2002 and 2007, almost 75% of U.S. agriculture was
is fresher and uses less fossil fuel. Depending on where produced by less than 5% of farms. The farmers
you live, “local” can have different meanings. It can mean market is a great way to find out how your food
next door, your county, or your state. Remember: on is grown and meet the people who grow it. The
average, our food travels 1,500 miles to reach us, so if produce is fresh and generally grown close to the
“local” means your food only travels 250 miles, that’s a market, so it uses little fossil fuel to reach shoppers.
big reduction! The more food we buy from farmers market, the
more we support small farmers.

Idea #2 Community Gardens


The organization of community gardens varies great- Idea #3 Grow Your Own FOod
ly from place to place, but in the simplest terms, a
community garden is a piece of land gardened by If you have a backyard or even just a little patch of
a group of people. Community gardens are found dirt, plant something. You would be surprised at
in urban areas, where neighborhoods have limited how good food tastes when you grow it yourself.
green spaces, as well as in smaller towns and sub- And if you don’t have any out door space? Use your
urbs. Abandoned lots are often the spaces on which windows! You may not be able to plant a field of po-
the gardens are planted, transforming an unused tatoes on your windowsill, but peppers, tomatoes,
space into a green community resource. Many com- lettuce, herbs, and other fruits and vegetables will
munity gardens are used for growing food, but some grow quite nicely in a window box or flowerpot.
are devoted to creating ecological habitats; spaces
which attract wildlife (like birds and insects which
pollinate plants or improve soil) by providing a place
in which they can live, eat and reproduce. Gardens
are as diverse as the people who use them. They
range from a cluster of small individual vegetable
plots, in which each member grows his/her own
vegetables, to one large garden, worked and shared
by all of the members. These gardens represent a
shared effort by a neighborhood to create a com-
munity food source. Virtually no fossil fuels are used
in the production or distribution of this food, as the
gardens are generally located near the gardeners’
homes.

© 2009 Solar One


60
Module Three: Local Food

Let’s Re-Think
Idea #4 Community Supported Agriculture
CSAs are another way of being involved in the productions of your food. A
CSA is a relationship between a farm and a community. Here’s how it works:
A farmer offers “shares” of her farm to a group of people in a neighborhood
or community. Each person pays a membership fee to the farm in the begin-
ning of the season, usually in the spring. Now the farmer has money to buy
seeds, machinery, and other things she needs for the farm. In return each
member receives a box or bag of vegetables every week. Depending on the
farm and what it produces, members can also receive eggs, fruit, meat, etc.
Once again, you have the opportunity to get to know who’s growing your
food, and often times, members get to actually visit or even work on the
farm. Also, because you only receive what is in season (for example, egg-
plants and tomatoes are only available in late summer, while peas and as-
paragus comes out in early spring), you get to try new fruits and vegetables
and new ways of cooking.

Other Options...
And what if none of these options are available to me?
Then you become a detective. There are many things you can look for in the grocery store to help identify the
origins of your food and what is in it.
1. When shopping for fruits and vegetables, check to see where they were grown. Usually a sticker on
the food item will tell you, and some grocery stores do buy from local farmers and will advertise it. This
can also apply to dairy products, eggs, and baked goods (bread, etc.).
2. Labels can be tough to figure out, but there are a few things you can look for that will help you in
figuring out how your food was grown:

Label Issues...
• If a label says “organic“, it means most synthetic • On meat products, look for “pastured“. On beef
(and petroleum derived) pesticides and fertilizers were products, look for “grass finished” or “grass fed“ as
prohibited in the growth of the product, and that no well as the “no hormones” labels.
genetically modified seeds were used to grow it. It
does not mean, however, that it was grown nearby.
• If the label says “natural“ or “all natural“ the
Fair Trade!
There are some things that would be very, very hard
product must not contain artificial ingredients or
to live without, (like chocolate, vanilla, tea, and sugar)
added colors, but there are no other requirements for
which cannot grow in the United States because of
this label. In order for a company to claim on the label
climate conditions, soil, etc. So what do you do?
that the food is organic, it must meet strict legal re-
When you buy things like coffee, tea, or chocolate,
quirements, but it does not have to meet any require-
look for a label on the package that says “Fair Trade.”
ments to claim “natural”.
This label means that the producer was paid well for
• On milk product labels, look for “no hormones, no her crop and that the food was produced in a way
antibiotics“.” that is not harmful to the environment.

61 © 2009 Solar One


Module Three: Local Food

Let’s Re-Think
Analysis
Re-Design!
Help students apply some of the ideas and concepts
learned in this section through a quick excersize called
“Re-Design”. In this activity, pose some of the ques-
tions covered in this module. Prompt students to think
critically about a reponse to some of these questions
or explore ideas on how one could design some solu-
tions to these problems. (see worksheet on page 63)

A East New York


Farms
East New York is a low-income neighborhood in
Brooklyn, New York. It has many fast food restaurants
and corner stores with a lot of processed food and
canned vegetables that are high in sodium, but the
nearest supermarket with fresh fruits and vegetables
is far away. And people in East New York have a lot of
health issues – 1 in 6 residents has diabetes and 1 in 3
is obese.
East New York Farms! is an organization that works
with people in the neighborhood who are interested in
urban agriculture (city farming). People receive training
and supplies and together the neighborhood growers
sell their produce each weekend at the local farmers
market. East New York has a large population of im-
migrants from the Caribbean. The East New York Farm
gardeners grow Caribbean specialty crops like callaloo
and karela for local residents. This gives the commu-
nity access to fresh and culturally appropriate food.

And as if all this were not enough, East New York


Farms trains 20 teens each year in agriculture and
community projects. Using their newly acquired skills,
the teens run their own half-acre farm.

Visit www.eastnewyorkfarms.org/ for more info!

© 2009 Solar One


62
Local Food worksheet
Re-Design! Name

Let’s think about how you can make your food choices local!
How can you encourage your community or school to eat local?
What can you change in your neighborhood?
What foods are grown in your region? How do they get here?
How can you develop a relationship with a local farmer?

Step One: Brainstorm Brainstorm some answers to the questions above. Think of 2 ideas and
describe each idea with 2 sentences below:

Idea 1:

Idea 2:

Step Two: Sketch Draw some diagrams or sketch out some of your ideas below:

Title:

Description:
Ideas + Notes:

64

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