A Love of Recipes

As a child, I used to love looking through my mom’s cookbooks, fantasizing about the types of meals I could make. I can still remember a picture of small round cookies with frosting in various shades of pink. Oh, how I wanted to taste those cookies. I still feel a thrill when I look through cookbooks or at recipes online. You'll find that your students share this type of fascination. A love of food is a part of our natural makeup. You can tap into this attraction to food by having students learn about a variety of other topics connected to classroom curriculum, including reading, writing, math, and nutrition.

Get Familiar with Cookbooks

When beginning lessons involving recipes and cookbooks, the first thing you should have students do is look through a variety of examples. Bring in cookbooks and recipes found on the Internet and give students time to look through them and share their favorites. Make sure to bring in your favorite cookbooks and explain why you like each one. One of my favorite cookbooks is Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I can read that book like it was a novel, and I can still taste the beef bourguignon that I made one night. The story behind Child’s cookbook is even more interesting than the recipes themselves. You might find that a cookbook can be a way to discuss an author’s background, the society at the time the cookbook was written, or how nutritional norms change over time.

Now Delve Into the Recipes

Once students have learned a little about recipes and have begun to get an idea of how diverse and unique each cookbook can be, students should bring in a recipe or cookbook from home to share. They should be able to tell the rest of the class a little about the book, and they can identify some of their favorite recipes. A great way to get parents involved is to ask them to follow a recipe at home with their child. You should give parents ample time to complete the assignment and send home an explanation. It is important to tell the parents that students should read the recipe, lead their parents through each step of the process, and measure the amounts necessary. While parents can do the cutting, frying, and baking that can be dangerous for children, the idea is to get students practicing important reading and math skills. You can have each student write about the experience as part of a homework assignment.

Another way to make recipe lessons educational is to have students discuss nutritional topics. As students share their favorite recipes. they can identify food groups, discuss ways to make meals healthier, and talk about the ways to create balanced meals.

Become a Food Network Star

A fun way to end a series of lessons involving recipes is to have students put on their own segment of a cooking show. You can have students work by themselves or with partners to write a script for a television episode about cooking. Before you begin the assignment, you might want to show them an example. They could make a list of some of the things that they noticed about the show to help them when they are creating content for their own episode. What follows are more ways to turn a love of recipes into an educational experience.

Fractions and Recipes

Students use recipes found on the Internet to practice adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions. They take recipes and cut them in half, double them, etc. This is a way to connect real life experiences to classroom learning.

Feel Good Recipes

Students learn about recipes, bring in one of their favorites, and prepare food. During the lesson students can practice skills involving reading, measurement, and following directions.

Benne Cakes and Other Holiday Recipes

In this lesson students learn about foods prepared during different celebrations. They talk about Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Christmas, and other celebrations.

Recipe Planning, Meal Preparation  and Service

This lesson has students learn about food preparation and nutrition. Students discuss the food pyramid and the components of a well-balanced meal. This is a good way to help students identify how to prepare healthy meals.