As the children have been showing a great interest in food and cooking during role play in home corner, we decided it was the perfect time to explore various cuisines. To begin, the children were provided with various images of culturally identifiable foods. Many of the children recognised in a simplistic way how multicultural Australia really is in terms of food consumption as many of the food items displayed were eaten by the children and their families.

The next step of our journey into cultural customs included exploring various dining and eating customs. The children were intrigued by watching how the cultures ate their foods. Through the exploration of video clips, we also watched traditional food cooking methods such as how Fijians cook food underground with a fire and banana leaves.

“We cook with pots and pans” – Cooper

“We use a barbecue at home to cook” – Florrie

With the huge variety of yummy meals prepared daily for us at school, we have been able to explore further different cultural traditions involving food. We have discussed the origin of the food prepared for us (Mexican, Italian, Asian, Indian to name a few) and have explored ways of eating other than with a fork. We have used corn chips to scoop up Nachos, chop sticks to eat beef stir fry and pappadums to scoop up curry. Needless to say, we have really enjoyed this whole experience of exploring cultural ways of being and have shown great delight in making new discoveries and trying new foods. Our biggest amazement was watching and learning how to use chopsticks, which are not used just to pick up food items, but also for rolling, cutting, peeling and mixing during the food preparation process!

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