UNIT 1 : Food
After learning this lesson, students will be able to
- • differentiate between raw and cooked food items
- • understands the different methods of cooking
- • describe the different types of cooking utensils
- • identify hygienic food and food to be consumed during illness
- • explain the importance of not wasting food
Introduction
Food is one of the basic needs of life. We get energy for all our activities from food. Food obtained from the nature provides all the nutrients to our body. But seeing the advertisement, we are attracted towards junk food. In this lesson, we will study about food items that are good for our health, cooking methods and the importance of not wasting food.
I. Food
Classify the following food items.
(Carrot, Egg, Coconut oil, Milk, Radish, Meat, Potato, Curd, Brinjal, Lady’s finger, Fish, Drumstick, Butter, Onion, Buttermilk, Cucumber, Ghee)
Task: Separate them into Food items from plants and Food items from animals.
Food items from plants : Carrot, Coconut oil, Radish, Potato, Brinjal, Lady's finger, Drumstick, Onion, Cucumber
Food items from animals : Egg, Milk, Meat, Curd, Fish, Butter, Buttermilk, Ghee
In our daily life, we depend on plants and animals for our food. Some can be eaten raw but most of them need to be cooked. Let’s see what food can be eaten raw and which one needs cooking.
1. Raw Food (Uncooked Food)
Food that we eat directly without cooking is called raw food.
We eat fruits, some vegetables, tubers and nuts in the raw form. Some pulses and cereals are also eaten as raw food. All raw food must be washed with clean water before eating. Some of the raw food items are given below.
Which food do you eat without cooking?
Arrange some fruits, vegetables, nuts and tubers on the table and ask each student to pick one food item. Based on what food item they choose, divide them into four groups.
Shall we make some salad?
Collect some raw food items available in your locality. Clean them with fresh water, cut them into small pieces (keep the nuts whole), put them in a bowl then add salt, spices and mix it well. Enjoy your tasty salad!
2. Cooked Food
We cannot eat all the food items in raw form. Food that needs to be processed using heat before it can be eaten is called cooked food.
Why should we cook food?
- • Cooked food is digested easily.
- • Cooking softens the food materials.
- • Cooking kills germs.
- • Cooking adds taste and flavour to food.
Honey is the only food that does not spoil
Write any five raw and cooked food.
b. Cooked food: fish, idly, chicken, pizza, poori and biriyani.
II. Cooking methods and Habits
Children, look at the menu card given here. Do you see food items on this menu? Do you think all these items are cooked the same way?
Some of the commonly used cooking methods are given below.
Boiling: It is a method of cooking food by immersing it in boiling water. So that the food becomes soft. Example: Rice, Egg.
Steaming: It is a method of cooking food in steam by immersing the vessel in a container with boiling water. Example: Idli, Idiyappam.
Pressure cooking: It is a method of cooking food in a pressure cooker. Example: Rice, Dhal.
Roasting: It is a method of cooking food by heating on a tawa or frying pan without covering it. Example: Groundnuts, Cashewnut.
Frying: It is a method of cooking food in hot oil. Example: Chips, Poori.
Cooking Habits
- • Wash your hands with soap before cooking.
- • Wash vegetables and fruits before cutting.
- • Wash cooking vessels and knives.
- • Don’t cook food for a long time because it destroys the nutrients present in the food.
- • Don’t use the same oil for cooking food many times.
- • Using the food items after their expiry date is not good for health.
Tabulate the given food items according to the cooking methods.
(Rice, Poori, Murukku, Pop-corn, Idli, Milk, Fish, Puttu, Dhal, Idiyappam, Groundnut)
Boiling: Rice, Milk, Dhal
Steaming: Idli, Puttu, Idiyappam
Roasting: Pop-corn
Frying: Poori, Murukku, Fish
1. Write any two cooking methods that your mother follows:
2. Say True or False.
a. You should wash your hands before cooking.
b. Vegetables and fruits should be washed after cutting.
III. Cooking Utensils
Utensils are in different shapes and sizes. We use specific utensils for each cooking method. Clay pots were used earlier. Stainless steel and aluminum vessels are now generally used for cooking.
Cooking in clay pot
Clay pots are well-suited for all types of cooking. Cooking in clay pots improves the quality and taste of food and also retains the nutrients. The natural insulation properties of clay cause heat and moisture to balance and circulate throughout the pot and keep the nutrients unharmed and prevent the dish from burning.
Benefits of claypot cooking are,
- • Easy to digest.
- • Preserves the nutrients.
- • Needs less oil for cooking.
- • Adds flavour to the dish.
- • Keeps the food warm for a long time.
- • Keeps the food from becoming stale soon.
- • Alkaline property in the pot neutralizes the acidic property in the food.
Solar cooker: It is an appliance which is used to cook food using sunlight. It saves fuel and reduces air pollution.
Write the cooking utensils used for preparing given food items.
(Pan, Pot, Rice cooker, Tawa, Idli cooker)
- 1. Rice : Pot, Rice cooker
- 2. Idiyappam, Puttu : Idli cooker
- 3. Vada : Pan
- 4. Sambar : Pot
- 5. Dosa : Tawa
Write True or False.
- Earlier people cooked their food in pressure cooker.
- Solar cooker reduces the use of fuel.
- Pressure cooker is not a cooking utensil.
IV. Meal-time Hygiene
Look at the pictures given below. Which one is good for health? Why?
Meal-time hygiene includes ways to make sure that we do not get sick because of the way we eat or make food. Some of the hygienic ways of taking food are given below:
- • Always cover food to protect them from dust and insects.
- • Eat fresh food always.
- • Avoid taking food that is too cold or too hot.
- • Avoid fast food and fried food.
- • Always wash your hands with soap before and after eating.
Tick (✓) the appropriate one.
Write Yes or No.
1. Junk food is good for health.
2. You should wash your hands before and after eating.
Here is Nandini’s lunch box.
a. Are all the items healthy?
b. Suggest her to remove one food which is not healthy and add one food which is healthy. Give reasons for change.
Reason: Chips is a junk food. Vegetable salad is good for health because it contains all nutrients.
V. Food During Illness
When you are sick, what kind of food your mother serves you?
When we are sick, we should avoid food items that are fried in oil. We should take energy-giving, easily digestible food. Some of them are given below:
- • Porridge of rice or cereals.
- • Fruit juice, tender coconut.
- • Steamed foods like idly.
Note to teacher: Make small paper rolls, each having a food item’s name. Put all of them on a table. Make two big circles on the floor. Name one circle ‘MUST AVOID DURING ILLNESS’ and another circle ‘MUST TAKE DURING ILLNESS’. Ask children to take one roll each and stand in the correct circle after reading the name on the roll.
Fill in the blanks.
1. ______________ is an easily digested food. (Idly / Biriyani)
2. We should avoid eating ______________ food. (junk/ fresh)
VI. Food Wastage
- • Do you usually eat your lunch without wasting anything? If you say no, why do you waste?
- Answer: No, sometimes I waste my lunch. Because at times, I am not hungry and the food is not tasty.
- • Can you suggest few ways to reduce food waste in your school and house?
-
Answer:
❖ Don't fill the plate with too much of food.
❖ Take a limited quantity of food only.
❖ If you need more, you can take it again.
❖ Bring enough food.
❖ Share the excess food with others.
We should not waste food. Food that is not eaten is called leftover food. That is discarded as waste. Following are the simple ways to avoid food wastage.
- • Take what you’ll eat and eat what you take.
- • Share the excess food.
- • Give the excess food to hungry animals.
One third of the food produced in the world is wasted. It is a total of 1.2 lakh crores tonnes per year. (1 ton = 1000kg)
Food Preservation
We can preserve the food for long time by using the following methods.
Pickling - Mixing fruits and vegetables with oil and salt. Example- Pickle
Refrigerating - Keeping food in the refrigerators (fridge) to preserve them for a short time. Example-Fruits, Vegetables
Drying - Removing the water content of the food. Example- Fish, Red chillies
Canning - Storing food in air tight containers. Example-Jam
World Hunger Day-May 28
Fill in the blanks.
1. World Hunger Day is observed on __________________
2. We can preserve pickle by __________________
Make students to list out all the food wasted in their home (thrown away) for one week. Make them discuss what they saw and what changes they can make to reduce waste.