Unit 1 & 2

Unit 1: Food Origins

This unit focuses on food from historical and cultural perspectives. Students investigate the origins and roles of food through time and across the world. Students are assessed on both their theoretical knowledge and skills and ability to apply them to practical situations.

Area of Study 1: Food around the world -  students explore how humanity has historically sourced its food, examining the general progression from hunter-gatherer to rural-based agriculture, to today’s urban living and global trade in food. Students consider the origins and significance of food through inquiry into particular food-producing regions of the world. 

Area of Study 2: Food in Australia - students focus on Australia. They look at Australian indigenous food prior to European settlement and how food patterns have changed since, particularly through the influence of food production, processing and manufacturing industries and immigration. Students investigate cuisines that are part of Australia’s culinary identity today and reflect on the concept of an Australian cuisine. 

Unit 2: Food Makers

In this unit students investigate food systems in contemporary Australia. Students are assessed on both their theoretical knowledge and skills and ability to apply them to practical situations.

Area of Study 1: Australia's food systems - focuses on commercial food production industries.  Students respond to a design brief that produces a food product and demonstrates the application of commercial food production principles. 

Area of Study 2: Food in the home - food production in small-scale domestic settings, as both a comparison and complement to commercial production. 

Students gain insight into the significance of food industries to the Australian economy and investigate the capacity of industry to provide safe, high-quality food that meets the needs of consumers. 

Assessments

A range of practical tasks, reflections and a written task. An exam will be completed each semester.

Unit 3 & 4

Unit 3: Food in daily life

This unit investigates the many roles and everyday influences of food. Students are assessed on both their theoretical knowledge and skills and ability to apply them to practical situations.

Area of Study 1: The science of food - explores the science of food: our physical need for it and how it nourishes and sometimes harms our bodies. Students investigate the physiology of eating and appreciating food, and the microbiology of digestion. They also investigate the functional properties of food and the changes that occur during food preparation and cooking. They analyse the scientific rationale behind the Australian Dietary Guidelines and the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating and develop their understanding of diverse nutrient requirements. 

Area of Study 2: Food choice, health and wellbeing -  focuses on influences on food choice: how communities, families and individuals change their eating patterns over time and how our food values and behaviours develop within social environments. Students inquire into the role of food in shaping and expressing identity and connectedness and the ways in which food information can be filtered and manipulated. They investigate behavioural principles that assist in the establishment of lifelong, healthy dietary patterns. 

Unit 4: Food issues, challenges and futures 

In this unit students examine debates about global and Australian food systems. Students are assessed on both their theoretical knowledge and skills and ability to apply them to practical situations.

Area of Study 1: Navigating food information -  focuses on individual responses to food information and misinformation and the development of food knowledge, skills and habits to empower consumers to make discerning food choices. Students consider how to assess information and draw evidence-based conclusions. They apply this methodology to navigate contemporary food fads, trends and diets. They practice and improve their food selection skills by interpreting food labels and analysing the marketing terms used on food packaging. 

Area of Study 2: Environment and ethics -  focuses on issues about the environment, ecology, ethics, farming practices, the development and application of technologies, and the challenges of food security, food safety, food wastage, and the use and management of water and land. Students research a selected topic, seeking clarity on current situations and points of view, considering solutions and analysing work undertaken to solve problems and support sustainable futures.