Teachers’ guide
Know your food
Food commodities
Consumer/Socio-economic aspects of food choice
Phase 2
(age 8-11 years)
© CommNet 2014
Contents
This Teachers’ guide provides teaching notes and suggests resources to help children
learn about:
 Food commodities
(tradition, Europe and supply chains)
 Consumer/socio-economic aspects of food choice
(e.g. ethics, food labelling)
Frameworks and lesson notes
There are two frameworks in this document, one for Food commodities and one for
Consumer/socio-economic aspects of food choice.
Each framework outlines what children will learn and the teaching resources available.
Lesson notes are also provided.
© CommNet 2014
Food commodities
Question
Learning
Resources
What do people eat
around the world?
Be aware that around the world
people choose different foods to
make up their diet.
When do we eat
different food?
Understand that diets around the
world will vary according to cultural
preference, food availability, religion
and resources.
Know that some foods are only
available at certain times of the year.
European food investigation
European food investigation answer
sheet
World diets PowerPoint
Breads around the world
Breads around the world answer sheet
European traditional soup recipes
Traditional European food PowerPoint
Religion and food choice PowerPoint
Food and religious occasion matching
Seasonality PowerPoint
Seasonal food cards
Seasonal food calendar
When are different
foods available?
© CommNet 2014
What do people eat around the world?
Learning
Be aware that
around the world
people choose
different foods to
make up their diet.
Teaching notes
Give the children the European food investigation sheet. You may wish to
assign a small group of children to research each food and ask them to
present their findings to the rest of the class. Answers can be found in the
European food investigation answer sheet.
Use the World diets PowerPoint to help you discuss different foods around
the world. Ask children which of the foods they have tried and what they
thought.
Provide the children with Breads around the world to complete and explain
that people can use similar ingredients to make different foods around the
world. Answers can be found on the Breads around the world answer
sheet.
As an extension, either:
 organise a tasting session, allowing children to try different breads
from different EU countries;
 set-up a bread making session.
When do we eat different food?
Learning
Understand that
diets around the
world will vary
according to
cultural

preference, food
availability, religion
and resources.
Teaching notes
Arrange a practical cooking session with your class to cook different
traditional foods from across Europe. Use the Traditional European soup
recipes or research European recipes of your own with the children.
Using the Traditional European food PowerPoint, discuss the
variation in diets around Europe due to cultural preference. You could choose
a dish and use its ingredients to demonstrate the food chain. Ask the class:
 Where does each ingredient start?
 What happens to the ingredient before it reaches us in the shops?
 What processes has it been through?
Ask the children if they think religion can affect food choices people make. Do
they know any examples? Show the children the Religion and food choice
PowerPoint to discuss further. Give the children Food and religious
occasion matching to complete. They may need to use books, the internet
or be provided with help if they are unfamiliar with some of the foods.
Ask the children to research the foods people in other European countries eat
on popular religious occasions (e.g. Christmas and Easter). The children
could produce individual or class posters to display this information. This can
be used to highlight that different countries have different cultures and
© CommNet 2014
traditions.
When are different foods available?
Learning
Know that some
foods are only
available at certain
times of the year
Teaching notes
Use the Seasonality PowerPoint presentation to explain why certain food is
only available at certain times of the year.
Using the Seasonal food cards, carry out the following tasks:
 Which of the foods shown grow in your country?
 For the foods which grow in your country, in which months of the year
do they grow? Draw the food on the Seasonal food calendar when it
is in season.
 For the foods that do not grow in your country, find out where they
grow.
 What is different about the climate/soil conditions in that country
compared to your local climate/soil conditions?
 Research what months other locally grown foods are in season and
draw these on the calendar.
If you have time why not try:
 creating and making a meal using seasonal, local foods (e.g.
vegetable soup, fruit crumble);
 visiting a local farm to see what fruit and vegetables are in season;
 visiting a supermarket to find out what foods are imported from
different countries.
© CommNet 2014
Consumer/socio-economic aspects of food choice
Question
Learning
Resources
What factors are
involved in choosing
food and drink?
Understand the factors involved in food
and drink choice.
What portion size shall
I choose?
Be aware that it is important to choose
an appropriate portion size for their
needs.
Why do some food and
drinks cost more than
others?
How can I use the
information on food
and drink packaging?
Explain why some food and drinks cost
more than others.
What factors are involved in choosing
food and drink? PowerPoint
What factors are involved in choosing
food and drink? (male and female
versions available)
Special occasions
Menu matcher
Breakfast cereal investigation
Energy balance and portion size
PowerPoint
Energy needs and portion size
stimulus sheet
Food price cards
Food price PowerPoint
Make use of information on food and
drink packaging.
Food packaging
Food packaging cards
© CommNet 2014
What factors are involved in food and drink choice?
Learning
Understand the
factors involved in
food and drink
choice.
Teaching notes
As a class discuss some of the factors which may affect food choice (e.g.
vegetarianism, religion, money). Work with the students to suggest why these
factors may affect what people eat.
Show the What factors are involved in choosing food and drink?
PowerPoint to discuss the factors that the children have identified in further
depth. After showing this, give the children What factors are involved in
choosing food and drink? to complete.
Provide the children with Special occasions to complete. They may need to
use textbooks or the Internet to help them research special occasions. You
may also wish to make a collage of foods eaten on different special occasions
for a class display.
Give children Menu matcher to complete. You may wish to leave the What
factors are involved in choosing food and drink? PowerPoint playing in
the background to assist them.
As an extension activity, ask the children to design a menu for someone who
makes different food choices from them (e.g. vegetarians, vegans, different
religion, allergy).
What portion size shall I choose?
Learning
Be aware that it is
important to
choose an
appropriate portion
size for their
needs.
Teaching notes
In small groups (of at least five), ask children to complete the Breakfast
cereal investigation task, to introduce the idea of different portion sizes. For
this task, per group, provide a box of breakfast cereal, weighing scales and
small bowls. Children need a copy of the Breakfast cereal investigation
sheet each to record their answers.
Ask the children why they think it is important to choose an appropriate
portion size based on their needs. Use the Energy balance and portion size
PowerPoint to help you explain the importance.
Use the Energy needs and portion size stimulus sheet to discuss how the
needs of the people will affect their portion sizes and why.
© CommNet 2014
Why do some food and drinks cost more than others?
Learning
Explain why some
food and drinks
cost more than
others.
Teaching notes
Using the Food price cards, ask the children to order foods from the least to
the most expensive. The order of the foods was checked online in the UK on
the 8th October 2013 and is provided below as an example, however the order
may change based on your country.
 Can of sweetcorn (325g) - £0.35
 Carton of milk (2 pints) - £0.89
 Loaf of bread - £0.90
 Pack of butter - £1.49
 Bag of frozen berries - £1.99
 Punnet of fresh berries - £2.00
 Salmon fillet - £3.00
 0.5g Saffron - £3.00
 1l bottle of Olive oil - £3.50
 Beef fillet steak (0.25kg) - £8.50
After the children have carried out the activity, ask them to think of reasons
why some foods may be more expensive than others (e.g. type of food,
seasonality, whether it is fresh/ frozen/dried).
Show children the Food price PowerPoint to help you explain why some
foods cost more than others.
As an extension activity, ask the children to research the price of their
favourite food. As a class, present this information in a form of a graph or pie
chart (grouping the costs, e.g. favourite foods costing £/€0.01-£0.99). Discuss
with the class why some of their favourite foods may be more expensive than
others.
© CommNet 2014
How can I use the information on food and drink packaging
Learning
Make use of
information on
food and drink
packaging.
Teaching notes
Show the children the Food packaging PowerPoint presentation to discuss
why we need food packaging and some of the features of food packaging.
Give the children Food packaging to complete. Emphasise that information
such as product name, ingredients, place of origin, allergy information,
nutritional content and storage instructions can be found on most packaging.
Share examples of food packaging. Suggestions of suitable packaging can
include a bag of potatoes, loaf of bread, a box of breakfast cereal, a bag of
pasta/rice/couscous, a carton of juice, an unopened can of fruit, a bag of
dried fruit, an empty individual yogurt pot, a packet of lentils, an unopened
can of tuna, an empty box of eggs, the wrapper from butter and a packet of
biscuits. If this is not possible, cut out and use the Food packaging cards.
Ask the children to sort the packaging into:
 the highest to lowest weight;
 the highest to lowest energy;
 where the foods are stored;
 where the food comes from.
© CommNet 2014