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In this project, students put together a collection of sustainable recipes that hold personal meaning and cultural value, sharing them with the Nogales community to inspire a more conscious way of cooking and eating. Along the way, they explored the journey of ingredients from soil to plate, uncovering the often hidden realities behind food production.
Taking on the roles of researchers, community members, chefs, and cookbook authors, they investigated the historical roots of their dishes and the environmental, social, and economic impact each one carries, producing narrative and explanatory texts to convey that information. Guided by scientific thinking, they used experimental design methods to test and propose creative but realistic ways to make their traditional recipes more sustainable. Through this hands-on experience, students not only deepened their understanding of food systems but also became advocates for a more mindful and responsible approach to cooking.
Skills: Purposeful writing and communication, argument construction, expanding vocabulary, writing with adequate English conventions, planning inquiries, research and information gathering, and applying disciplinary concepts to construct explanations.
Content: Sustainability, Linear vs System Thinking, Food System (stages), Environmental, social, and economic impacts of food systems, Greenhouse gases produced by the food system (names, atomic structure, chemical formula), Global Warming (causes and effects) and Climate Change, Solutions, as consumers, to the problems caused by food systems, Figurative Language (metaphors, analogies, and similies), Adjectives and Adverbs, Historical Events and Historical Processes.
Assessment: Personal Connection With Recipe (narrative text), History Of My Dish (narrative text) Ingredient's Journey, Impacts & Solutions (cause-effect essay), My Dish's Sustainability (explanatory text) Sustainable Alternative Proposal (experiment design), NoRedInk, reading checks (Book: The Omnivor's Dilemma), written assessment (individual), cookbook design and presentation.
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Sixth Grade: How can we create and publish a collection of sustainable recipes that are meaningful to us and that reveal our food’s journey from farm to table to inspire mindful eating?
Sixth Grade: How can we create and publish a collection of sustainable recipes that are meaningful to us and that reveal our food’s journey from farm to table to inspire mindful eating?
Students participated in the Cooking for a Sustainable World project. Taking on the roles of researchers, community members, chefs, and cookbook authors, students used a “Systems Thinking” lens to investigate the environmental, social, and economic impacts of the ingredients in their chosen recipes. They examined the full journey of food—from production to consumption and waste management—and, using scientific methods for experimental design, proposed realistic strategies to make traditional recipes more sustainable. The project culminated in a community cookbook, where students shared their modified recipes and thoughtful reflections to inspire more mindful eating as a way for us, as consumers, to help reduce the negative impacts of our food system.
Reading: The Omnivor's Dilemma
Reading: The Omnivor's Dilemma
Provocation / Challenge
Provocation / Challenge
As students cooked cassava bread, they were introduced to the descriptive writing process they would develop throughout the project. They described the dish’s appearance, texture, and smell, as well as the memories it evoked. They also reflected on the origins of their chosen dish's ingredients and their journey to our tables.
Success criteria
Success criteria
Students revised different cookbooks to identify the elements that make a great collection of recipes and define success criteria. They also identified questions they needed to answer in order to accomplish the challenge. Students selected their cookbook recipe and decided on how to publish their collection of recipes.
Research and Content/
Research and Content/
Students read the introduction of The Omnivore's Dilemma to identify the author's purpose and style. They gathered information from the book as they read along further chapters. Students learned about the different components of the definition of sustainability and the principles of "systems thinking" prior to investigating about environmental, social, and economic impacts across "food systems". They also delved into learning about how to cook sustainably at school and at home by reading about the reasons why sustainable recipes reduce negative impacts. Students also read cookbook excerpts to get familiar with descriptive and figurative language commonly used in culinary.
Cause-Effect Essay/Narrative text
Cause-Effect Essay/Narrative text
Students wrote an outline to draft their cookbook essay using researched material. They also wrote a narrative text to describe their connection to their chosen recipe using learned culinary vocabulary and figurative language.
Cooking Experiment Plan
Cooking Experiment Plan
Students planned their recipe modification using a scientific approach to test different traits of both, a normal and an adapted version of their dish.
Editing, Revising
Editing, Revising
Working cooperatively and with checklists and rubrics students self-assessed and peer-assessed their pieces of writing and recieved the teachers feedback in multiple opportunities.
Final Product
Final Product
Students chose roles to collaborate in the design and production of their collection of recipes. They received advice ,and help from the Arts Department.
Fifth Grade: Design and publish a collection of family recipes that tell the stories of our culture, history, and the sustainability behind the food we eat in order to develop a more mindful approach to cooking.
Fifth Grade: Design and publish a collection of family recipes that tell the stories of our culture, history, and the sustainability behind the food we eat in order to develop a more mindful approach to cooking.
This challenge required students to explore key questions about food history and sustainability while taking on roles as researchers, community members, chefs, and cookbook designers. Through these roles, they examined how food shapes culture, is influenced by history, and impacts sustainability, all while developing their collaboration, engineering, and creativity skills. Their journey was further enriched by reading excerpts from The Omnivore's Dilemma, which deepened their comprehension and enhanced their descriptive writing.
Reading: The Omnivor's Dilemma
Reading: The Omnivor's Dilemma
Provocation / Challenge
Provocation / Challenge
As students cooked cassava bread, they were introduced to the descriptive writing process they would develop throughout the project. They identified the different parts of the recipe text, including its history, and the descriptive language used culinary. They described the dish’s appearance, texture, and smell, as well as the memories it evoked. They also reflected on the origins of their chosen dish's ingredients and their journey to our tables.
Success Criteria
Success Criteria
Students revised different cookbooks to identify the elements that make a great collection of recipes and defined success criteria. They also identified questions they needed to answer in order to accomplish the challenge. Students selected their cookbook recipe and decided on how to publish their collection of recipes.
Research and Content
Research and Content
Students explored the cultural significance of food and learned descriptive writing to express how chosen recipes reflect their identities. They studied maize and The Omnivore’s Dilemma to understand global food production. Building on this, they analyzed sustainability and adapted recipes accordingly, with insights from a sustainability expert parent. With support from the library team, they conducted research, gaining a deeper understanding of the environmental and social impacts of modern food systems.
Narrative/Explanatory Writing
Narrative/Explanatory Writing
Following guidelines, students wrote a draft of a narrative text to describe their connection to their chosen recipe using culinary adjectives and adverbs. They also wrote two explanatory texts: one about the historical events and processes that influenced their recipes and another one about their recipe´s sustainability.
Cooking Experiment Plan
Cooking Experiment Plan
Students planned their recipe modification using a scientific approach to test different traits of both a normal and an adapted version of their dish. They learned how to identify different elements of the experiment design, such as kinds of variables.
Editing, Revising
Editing, Revising
Working cooperatively and with checklists and rubrics, students self-assessed and peer-assessed their pieces of writing and received the teachers' feedback in multiple opportunities.
Final Product
Final Product
Students chose roles to collaborate in the design and production of their collection of recipes.
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