Fifth graders to learn cultures, show cooking skills in Junior Top Chef project

By Daniel Bernstein, A&E Editor

FIFTH GRADE CLASSROOMS — The Colonial fifth graders are going to be teaching each other about cultural diversity by cooking amazing foods from any country in the Western Hemisphere or a food from their culture or religion. The results of the Junior Top Chef project will be presented to parents on April 4 in the gym.

In social studies this year, Mr. Alex Ventura has been teaching the fifth graders about cultural diversity by letting them ponder this question: Who is really an American? They’ve watched videos, they’ve read passages, and they’ve answered questions. After that, Mr. Ventura gave students a project. Decide on a food recipe from a country in the Western Hemisphere or a country from their culture or religion that they want to create and show off to their parents.

Foods from all over the world will be on display, including pizzelles, rugala, Irish soda bread, bagels, English toffy and much more. Students are required to take a tri-fold poster board, put their name and the food at the top, pictures of all the steps to make it, a recipe sheet and a recipe card on one side, and the history of the recipe on the other side. The cards will also be photocopied and put into a booklet for everyone to look at and copy.

Make sure you watch out on April 4 to snag a leftover off someone. Because they will taste good. At least most of them. I said it before, and I’ll say it again, yum.

This story also appears on the Colonial Times website.