Food Studies 2021

The obvious challenges for students learning Food Studies during 2021 continued over last year, given the significant time we have been in remote learning. However, as usual the students continued to demonstrate excellent skills and knowledge and growth in their understanding of Food Studies. It also encouraged teachers to find more unusual and creative ways to teach content when their students are on the other side of a screen.

Food studies is not just a study of 'how to cook' but looks at foods from the broadest sense possible. Food is a part of our everyday life. We celebrate through it, we commiserate with it. We demonstrate our cultural heritage through it and indeed Australia is itself beginning to embrace its own unique flavours and styles through the contributions made by the many different peoples that have arrived on our shores, but more importantly, from our First Nations peoples and their unique foods and flavours. "The food industry is integral to Australia's economic and social prosperity. It consistently accounts for around 20 per cent of domestic manufacturing sales and service income." (www.agriculture.gov.au). This subject is a study of food from paddock to plate and all the systems and processes it goes through before we can enjoy it. And of course in the process of learning, students learn to cook in a healthy, safe and hygienic manner, firstly at home then in a more "commercial" setting.

Year 7 students explored Food Studies (when possible) in a practical way. Learning centred around Food Safety and Hygiene in the kitchen in a theoretical way during lockdown, but also by completing posters that were a response to a design brief. They have also concentrated on upskilling in a practical situation since lockdown has ended, all in a covid safe manner.

Year 8 students learning was also demonstrated their skills and knowledge by undertaking packs in further skill development and recognition and use of equipment. They too demonstrated their skills and knowledge by responding to a design brief where they were to make a 5 minute video which would be used in an online blog showing how to bake delicious biscuits the students had designed.

Year 8 students learning was interrupted but only minimally as they had their semester of work in the first half of the year. They demonstrated their skills and knowledge by undertaking pracks in further skill development and recognition and use of equipment. Year 8's responded to a design brief in which they investigated, designed, produced and evaluated hamburgers.

Year 9 is where students first begin to explore foods beyond the home kitchen. They look at the ethical and environmental issues surrounding food production, processing and consumption by looking at food miles - the amount of carbon that is released into the atmosphere through the producing, manufacturing, transporting and preparing foods at all levels. Year 9's are also introduced to commercial cooking in a unit called Make, Bake and Decorate. As the name implies the respond to a design brief in which they investigate, design, produce then evaluate a celebration birthday cake for an 8-year-old child. They also explore our cultural heritage by completing a unit on international foods. First semester unfortunately saw this part of the course cut due to lockdown, and students are currently working on their international foods, exploring a country and its origins and making a dish from that country.

Year 10 learning is a gateway into VCE Food studies, but also a culmination of the work students have done throughout year 7-9. Students demonstrate their understanding of the functions and properties of food and utilise this to design and produce a brand-new food.

VCE Food studies is an interdisciplinary study exploring foods, building skills, and individual pathways to health and wellbeing. It is designed to help students make informed and confident food selections in a practical manner. Students learn through the medium of foods.

Year 7 students were required to demonstrate their understanding of Kitchen Safety and Hygiene by completing a poster in response to a design brief. The brief asked students to design a poster that is eye-catching and informative that could be used in a Food Studies classroom to outline Safety and Hygiene guidelines. Students were given the opportunity to explore an on-line poster making program or complete a poster by hand.

During lockdown, Year 7 students took to food extremely enthusiastically. For example, to demonstrate how to write an evaluation of a product, the teacher made scones then got students to imagine what they may taste like, smell like, feel like and look like. This helped them develop their sensory vocabulary so that they can describe foods when back in class. Many students then made scones themselves and practiced these skills. Each week some of our students treated their families to both meals and snacks that they had made.

As we have bitterly experienced, learning remotely can mean lots of time sitting in front of a computer listening. This is so different to the way students learn in the Food Studies classroom where learning by doing is key. To counteract this immobility with Year 7 students, each week they were asked to do something active. Here is a selection of some of these tasks..

Year 8 students continued to develop the practical skills that they need to go into the more complex requirements of Years 9 and 10 Food Studies. Because they had been interrupted in their practical skills development for quite a considerable time in 2020 due to the first round of lockdowns, learning was intensive.

The products students were still able to make were impressive. Scroll through these images of some gingerbread people and their original designs students made.

The way we are learning about food and cooking is changing significantly. Whereas once learning was through listening to family members, reading a recipe book or attending Home Economics classses at school (for the girls only of course). Nowadays there has been an explosion of information sources. Television shows have dominated the foodie scene. Online tutorials, blogs or youtube clips, online recipe websites and social influencers are now the most influential sources of our food information.

To explore this issue, this years Year 10 students completed a cooking tutorial video whilst in lockdown. They were to demonstrate a skill and understanding of the ingredients they were using, and show safe and hygienic food practices.

Here are some of the results.