In Alberta, Grade Three students learn about life in four countries: Peru, Ukraine, Tunisia, and India. As part of the learning about the quality of life for children in these parts of the world, students are given the opportunity to try daily and celebration foods. My more-experienced colleagues shared ideas of a few types of offerings.
Some traditional foods of Peru include:
- over 4000 types of potatoes!
- the grain, quinoa, cooked in many different ways
- peppers and chilis used in a variety of dishes
- cuy, also known as guinea pig... (perhaps pretending they're rabbits will be more acceptable/less heart-clenching?)
- llama (not only appreciated for their wool)
- grilled or roasted chicken
- the tree fruit, lucuma
- pisco, brandy made from fresh grapes
Here is the menu I decided upon:- boiled red potatoes
- boiled purple potatoes
- yellow quinoa (added to the table later)
- tri-coloured quinoa
- roasted yellow potatoes
- pollo a la brasa (Peruvian grilled chicken, marinated in soy sauce, cumin, lime juice, paprika, oregano)
- red, yellow, and orange bell peppers
- green grapes
- fake lucuma, a fruit not readily available here but a reasonable facsimile suggested was to add maple syrup to mango
- green grape juice (as it was a school event and legal drinking age is greater than 8-years-old, real pisco wasn't an option; juice was served deskside)
The students were expectant and appreciative of the meal prepared for them. Due to F.O.I.P., I can't show you their smiling faces. Due to the rush I was in to set up the food while the students went out for recess- This Teacher Has 22 Minutes - I didn't take a picture of the buffet. However, I had invited my parents to join us and help with crafts. We tease my mom a lot about all of the pictures she needs to take, but I am really grateful she had her camera out that day!
My favorite comment, written in the daily agenda at the end of Peru Day, came from a boy who stuck to pretty much the same foods throughout the school year:
"I didn't even hate the quinoa!"
After we ate, the students commented on being excited about the next meals from the other three countries! I guess that was their stamp of approval...and a hint that I'd better getting researching more dishes to serve them in the upcoming months.
Note: I received a message a few days ago from my friend Linda's aunt, Eugie. It read,
"Hi Jennifer, How are you? All is good at this end.
Listen, I heard that you do a blog.
If yes, how do I connect with you?"
Within the last couple of months, I'd actually had a few people mention my three-year-neglected blog. I really enjoy writing things other than report cards, but had a hectic year and haven't chosen to do much with it, particularly after experiencing so much difficulty with formatting, such as how to size photos and control line spacing using html. Larry is the computer whiz in our home whereas stuff like that is SO frustrating to me!Thank you, Eugie, for your comment! I still had to do some research on the computer language and it took me quite a while to get the photos the right sizes and to stay in the right places, but I found pleasure in putting a post together again. It was satisfying to get back to my Island. :-)
Jennifer
Resources:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/peruvian-grilled-chicken-239923
(I used flattened chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken, marinated them for 1-2 hours, and barbecued them.)
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10/best-food-peru/
