Urban Harvest
“Slow” Class Resource Guide
Draft 10.29.14
Slow Food NYC is the local chapter of Slow Food USA, a national, non-profit organization. SFNYC has more than 500 members and a following of nearly 20,000. We support food and farming that is good, clean, and fair. We believe that everyone, every
day, must have access to sustainably and humanely produced, culturally meaningful
food that is good for their health and well-being and the health of their communities and
that food production must be good for the planet and good for those putting food on our
tables. We defend and advocate for policies that promote better alternatives to an often
inequitable and increasingly industrial food system. We preserve and share local foods
and food cultures. Conviviality is central to our beliefs. Through meals prepared and
shared with family and friends, we are catalysts for change, making good, clean, fair
food and farming priorities for living.
Urban Harvest supports hands-on, educational programs that give children an understanding of what good food is: where it comes from; how it is produced and distributed;
how healthy it is; and, of course, how good it tastes. Through structured learning experiences, it is our belief that children will become educated eaters, inspired to share what
they have learned about good, clean, and fair food and farming with their families,
friends, and communities.
This Urban Harvest “Slow” Class Resource Guide is divided into four sections; Good
Food, Clean Food, and Fair Food, corresponding to the Slow Food belief framework of
good, clean, and fair food and farming, and Sharing Good, Clean, Fair Food, containing food ideas and recipes, featuring local and seasonal ingredients, that can supplement Good, Clean, and Fair units. The units are noted as to suggested grade level; elementary school (ES), middle school (MS), and high school (HS), however, you may
use them at levels as appropriate to your school situation, based on students’ prior subject matter exposure and knowledge. While units are related, each can stand alone too
and mixing and matching is possible, and encouraged. Feel free to improvise; suggested activities and resources are meant to support lesson planning flexibility. Many Urban
Harvest schools have edible gardens that can support the units in hands-on ways, but, if
there is no garden at your school, that’s okay because classroom planters, window boxes, and food from the farmers market or a CSA can do too.
Following is a list of Urban Harvest “Slow” Class Resource Guide units.
1. GOOD FOOD
1.1. It’s All About the Plants
1.1.1. The Essential Role of Plants (Level: ES, MS)
1.1.2. Different Parts of Plants (Level: ES, MS)
1.1.3. What Plants DO/DON’T Need (Level: ES, MS)
1.1.4. Seed Saving (Level: ES, MS)
1.1.5. The Fifth R, Composting (Level: ES, MS, HS)
1.2. Plants, Farm Animals, and Humans
1.2.1. Plants and People (Level: MS, HS)
1.2.2. Livestock and People (Level: MS, HS)
1.3 Be an Educated Eater
1.3.1. Eating Close to Nature (Level: ES, MS, HS)
1.3.2. Fresh Food in its Season and its Place (Level: ES, MS, HS)
1.3.3. Educated Eating (Level: ES, MS, HS)
2. CLEAN FOOD
2.1. What Is Clean Food?
2.1.1. Biodiversity (Level: MS, HS)
2.1.2. Sustainability (Level: MS, HS)
2.2. Sustainable Food Production
2.2.1. Farms in Our Future (Level: MS, HS)
2.2.2. Good Agricultural Stewardship (Level: MS, HS)
2.2.3. Healthy Meat Production (Level: MS, HS)
2.2.4. Healthy Fisheries (Level: MS, HS)
2.3. Getting Food to Your Table
2.3.1. Food Systems (Level: ES, MS, HS)
2.3.2. Food Miles (Level: MS, HS)
2.3.3. The True Cost of Food (Level: MS, HS)
3. FAIR FOOD
3.1. Politics of Food
3.1.1. Food and Politics (Level: MS, HS)
3.1.2. Hunger and Nutrition in the U.S. and YOUR Community (Level: MS, HS)
3.1.3. Food Here and There, Global Perspective (Level: MS, HS)
3.2. Food, a Matter of Rights
3.2.1. Eaters’ Right to Good, Clean Food (Level: MS, HS)
3.2.2. Farmers’ Rights (Level: MS, HS)
3.2.3. Farmworkers’ Rights (Level: MS, HS)
3.2.4 Foodchain Workers’ Rights (Level: MS, HS)
4. SHARING GOOD, CLEAN, FAIR FOOD
4.1. Preparing and Sharing Good, Clean Food
4.1.1. Times for Tea and Taste (Level: ES, MS)
4.1.2. Make Food, Make a Point (Level: ES, MS, HS)
4.1.3. Good, Clean Recipes (Level: MS, HS)
4.2. Learning, and Teaching, More
4.2.1. Farmers Market and Local Food Market Trip (Level: ES, MS, HS)
4.2.2. Neighborhood Posters (Level: ES, MS, HS)
4.2.3. Good Cooking Books
1. GOOD FOOD
Good Food: is nutritious, wholesome, and delicious; is devoid of artificial ingredients
(growth hormones and sub-therapeutic antibiotics); is bio-diverse; and reflects authenticity, quality, season, place, and cultural tradition. This will introduce the concepts of
good food, starting with plants, and cover food culture, season and place, and “educated” eating (“safe” food market aisles, labels, nutrition information, serving size).
1.1 It’s All About the Plants
1.1.1. The Essential Role of Plants (Level: ES, MS)
 Introduction:
Plants are the only source of energy for people and animals (even if a particular creature eats no plants directly). The health of plants in our environment is of critical importance to our food supply.
 Activities and Discussion:
List animals that eat plants only (herbivores), animals that eat meat only
(carnivores), and animals that eat plants and animals (omnivores, including humans). How do carnivores and omnivores benefit from plants?
Refer to Living Sunlight, a beautifully illustrated book that explains how
plants make each of us an example of living sunlight, with discussion
guide and extended activities.
 Outcome:
Students will understand the importance of the primal role of plants in the
food chain, of which they are beneficiaries, directly, when they eat their
vegetables, and indirectly, when they eat hamburgers.
 Resources:
Living Sunlight, Molly Bang
http://www.mollybang.com/pdfs/living_sunlight_teachers_guide_3_5.pdf
1.1.2. Different Parts of Plants (Level: ES, MS)
 Introduction:
Plant parts are versatile and have specialized functions - roots and leaves
for their nourishment and roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds
for ours.
 Activities and Discussion:
Investigate different food plants, identifying the different parts of plants
and their uses (we eat the stem of the asparagus plant, the flower of the
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broccoli plant, the seeds of the corn (maize) plant, the leaves of the lettuce
plant, etc.)
Refer to Plant Secrets by Emily Goodman, with illustrations by Emily
Limbacher Tildes, a picture book that shows the major phases of plant f
growth; seed, plant, flower, and fruit.
In pairs or trios, visit a farmers market and buy/identify an edible stem,
flower, root, leaf, fruit, and seed. Ask the farmer questions about one that
you chose to buy. Take notes. Share back at school.
Outcome:
Students will understand the diversity of plants and the complex relationship between them, as eaters, and the world of food plants.
Resources:
Plant Secrets, Emily Goodman, Emily Limbacher Tildes (illustrator).
1.1.3. What Plants DO/DON’T Need (Level: ES, MS)
 Introduction:
- To grow, plants need soil (nutrients, aeration – yup, roots need air!), water, sunlight, and care (weeding, stakes, and protection). Plants don’t
need weeds, “bad” insects (as opposed to “good” insects, like bees.), and
chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. How can we address
plants’ needs in the most environmentally sustainable way?
 Activities and Discussion:
- Read Grow with Me: Ladybug by Kate Riggs.
- Talk about weeds and pests, focusing on integrated pest management
(IPM). (Refer to Integrated Pest Management.)
- Make (and use) some solutions or engage in sustainable practices that
protect plants from pests e.g., cabbage moth spray with garlic and dish
detergent. (Refer to Natural Garden Pest Control.)
- In the school edible garden, plant the “three sisters,” Native American
squash, corn, and climbing beans, demonstrating a culturally-rooted, symbiotic, sustainable growing method, where corn provides structure for the
beans to climb, beans provide nitrogen for the corn to grow, and squash
blocks weeds and deters pests.
 Outcome:
Students will appreciate the challenges of growing food and the sustainable and unsustainable choices one can make in the process.
 Resources:
- Grow with Me: Ladybug, Kate Riggs
- EPA, Integrated Pest Management (IPM),
http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/factsheets/ipm.htm
Eartheasy, Natural Garden Pest Control,
http://eartheasy.com/grow_nat_pest_cntrl.htm
1.1.4. Seed Saving (Level: ES, MS)
 Introduction:
- It takes a lot of time and effort for a plant to go from seed to harvest. But,
it all starts with that seed. Saving seeds is as natural, and essential, as
eating. That's how we are able to produce crops: by gathering seeds, or
other plant parts, like tubers (potatoes), from mature plants and planting
them to grow into new plants..
 Activities and Discussion:
- Look at Seeds, Ken Robbins’ beautiful compilation of photographs and
short descriptions of a variety of seeds, and A Seed is Sleepy, Dianna
Hutts Aston’s beautiful, evocative picture book about the characteristics of
seeds.
- Save seeds from something growing in the school garden or class window
box and plant them, where students can monitor growth.
- Learn about Rooftop Ready Seeds, a Brooklyn-based company that
saves and sells seeds bred to survive and thrive on New York City rooftops.
- Read and discuss The Life of Rice: From Seedling to Supper
- View Lexicon of Sustainability, Seeds.
- Choose an activity from Seedswap: The Gardener’s Guide to Saving
and Swapping Seeds.
 Outcome:
- Students will learn about the nature and importance of seeds and seed
saving.
 Resources:
Rooftop Ready Seeds, http://www.rooftopready.com/index/about/,
Seedswap, The Gardener’s Guide to Saving and Swapping Seeds,
Josie Jeffrey
Lexicon of Sustainability (Locavore, True Cost Accounting, Local vs.
Organic, Food Waste, Economies of Community, Wheat or White,
Seeds, Unconventional Agriculture),
http://www.lexiconofsustainability.com/short-films/#
Seeds, Ken Robbins,
A Seed is Sleepy, Dianna Hutts Aston
The Life of Rice: From Seedling to Supper, Richard Sobol
1.1.5. The Fifth R, Composting (Level: ES, MS, HS)
 Introduction:
- Five “Rs” of sustainability are; Re-purpose, Re-use, Re-claim, Re-store,
and Re-cycle. Composting, at school and at home, is the natural form of
nutrient recycling; left-over people food becomes food for plants..
 Activities and Discussion:
What are examples of the five Rs? Re-purposing is using something in a
new way, like milk cartons as seed planters. Re-using is using something
disposable more than once, like plastic shopping bags to store vegetables
in the refrigerator. Re-claiming is using again something discarded, like
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
used wood and bricks to build a new raised planting bed. Re-cycling is
turning something old and not useful into something new and useful, like
leftover human nutrition (food scraps) becoming new plant nutrition
(through composting).
View Lexicon of Sustainability, Food Waste
- Read and discuss Rotten Pumpkin by David Schwartz, Re-Cycles by
Michael Elsohn Ross, Pass the Energy, Please! by Barbara Shaw
McKinney, Squirmy Wormy Composters, by Bobbie Kalman, and Composting Nature’s Recyclers by Robin Koontz. Read Aloud: Compost!:
Growing Gardens from Your Garbage by Linda Glaser.
- Visit a composting system.
- Find out if your school composts. Is your school a Recycling Champions
Program (RCP) school? Should it be? (Refer to Office of Recycling
Outreach and Education and Recycling Champions.)
- Start a composting system.
- Discuss the stages of composting, New Stew (Left Side of the composting
bin for new compostable organic food scrap additions) and Old Gold
(Right side of the composting bin for garden-ready compost, review “Yes”
and “No” compostable items. Discuss decomposers: worms, pillbugs, etc.
- Provide classrooms with labeled compost buckets. Students deliver classroom organic scraps to central school composting bins. Additionally, a
compost monitor collect “compost-ables” in the school cafeteria.
- Students tend to the compost piles; sifting and searching through compost
to discover the various decomposers that live there, stirring and watering
compost heaps, transferring New Stew to right side of bin periodically and
Spreading Old Gold compost in the garden.
Outcome:
- Students will learn that composting is an important part of a larger range
of sustainable possibilities, and one that they can do every day, at home
and at school.
Resources:
Lexicon of Sustainability (Locavore, True Cost Accounting, Local vs.
Organic, Food Waste, Economies of Community, Wheat or White,
Seeds, Unconventional Agriculture)
http://www.lexiconofsustainability.com/short-films/#
- GrowNYC, Office of Recycling Outreach and Education,
http://www.grownyc.org/oroe
- GrowNYC, Recycling Champions (school recycling),
http://www.grownyc.org/recyclingchampions
- Rotten Pumpkin David M. Schwartz
- Pass the Energy, Please! by Barbara Shaw McKinney
- Squirmy Wormy Composters by Bobbie Kalman
- Composting Nature’s Recyclers by Robin Koontz with illustrations by
Matthew Harrad
- Compost!: Growing Gardens from Your Garbage by Linda Glaser.
1.2. Plants, Farm Animals, and Humans
1.2.1. Plants and People (Level: MS, HS)
 Introduction:
Humans have always relied on plants to survive, from the time we gathered them to the time we started to cultivate them, thousands of years
ago. We have developed many uses for plants and have many cultural
connections with them.
 Activities and Discussion:
Discuss ways in which we rely on plants; food for humans and our livestock, resources; and cultural connection, through traditional plant-based
foods, symbols, and activities. (Refer to Traditional Foodways Program
and Plants and People.)
- Ask students to name plants and plant-based foods that they associate with their
families’ customs. (Talk about Christmas trees and mistletoe, Sukkot branches
of citron, date palm, myrtle, and willow, the traditional dishes of Eid ul-Fitr, and
the Mazao of Kwanzaa. (Refer to Four Species, Eid Cuisine, and
Kwanzaa.) Ask students where the plants are grown, nearby or far away, and


the reasons for their importance?
Outcome:
- Students will appreciate the traditional, practical, symbolic, and symbiotic,
relationship between humans and plants.
Resources:
People and Plants International, Traditional Foodways Program,
http://peopleandplants.org/traditional-foodways/
Sacred Earth, Plants and People, Kat Morgenstern,
http://www.sacredearth.com/ethnobotany/plantsnpeople.php
- Wikipedia, Four Species, (Sokkot),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_species
- Wikipedia, Eid Cuisine (end of Ramadan),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_cuisine
- Infoplease, Kwanzaa, http://www.infoplease.com/spot/kwanzaa1.html
1.2.2. Livestock and People (Level: MS, HS)
 Introduction:
Humans and farm animals (livestock) have had a symbiotic relationship for
thousands of years. Why? We rely on them for food and clothing and,
without that reliance, many of them would not exist.
 Activities and Discussion:
Talk about the purpose of domesticated animals; work (oxen for farming
and sled dogs for transporting); resources (sheep for wool for clothing);
and food (poultry for fried chicken).
The truth is, we would not have hamburgers if steers were not killed. Can
it be humane to raise an animal to eat it? (Refer to Slow Meat, The EcoHalal Revolution, and Eco-Kosher and the Evolution of Tradition.)
Discuss livestock biodiversity and environmental sustainability. Would
certain animals exist if we didn’t use them for food? (Refer to The Livestock Conservancy and Heritage Turkey Foundation.)
Inhumane treatment of animals for food is bad for the animals, bad for the
environment, and bad for eaters. What would be the impact on the environment and food animals, like beef cattle, if we ate more meat or less
meat? (Refer to Slow Meat, The Eco-Halal Revolution, and EcoKosher and the Evolution of Tradition.)
In pairs or trios, visit a sustainable butcher (Harlem Shambles in Harlem,
Meat Hook in Brooklyn, or Honest Chops (Halal) on the Lower East Side)
or a meat producer at a farmers market. Ask questions about the meat or
poultry. How were the animals raised? How were they slaughtered?
Take notes. Share back at school.
Cook up a taste comparison between supermarket meat and sustainably
and humanely raised, “farmer,” meat. Is there a difference?
Outcome:
Students will appreciate that meat at the market, neatly packaged and
displayed, came from a living creature that was killed to provide it, and
that, as we enjoy meat in our diets, we should ensure that the animals
were treated humanely and that raising them had as little negative impact
on the environment as possible.
Resources:
Slow Food USA, Slow Meat; In Search of a Way to Ensure All Meat is
Good, Clean, and Fair http://www.slowfoodusa.org/blog-post/slow-meatin-search-of-a-way-to-ensure-all-meat-is-good-clean-and-fair
Slow Food USA, Let’s Talk Turkey,
http://donate.slowfoodusa.org/site/PageNavigator/Thanksgiving/Turkeys.ht
ml
- Culinate, The Eco-Halal Revolution, Clean Food for Muslims (about
Greenmarket farmer Zaid Kurdieh of Norwich Meadows Farm),
http://www.culinate.com/articles/features/the_eco-halal_revolution
Grace Communication, Eco-centric, Eco-Kosher and the Evolution of
Tradition,
http://www.culinate.com/articles/features/the_eco-halal_revolution
Meatless Monday, http://www.meatlessmonday.com/ (The Movement)
The Livestock Conservancy, http://www.livestockconservancy.org/
Heritage Turkey Foundation,
http://www.heritageturkeyfoundation.org/
- Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan
-


1.3.
Be an Educated Eater
1.3.1. Eating Close to Nature (Level: ES, MS, HS)
 Introduction:
- The supermarket has “safe aisles” and “dangerous aisles.” The perimeter,
the safe aisles, usually have fresh food (fruits, vegetables, meats, and


dairy) while the interior, the dangerous aisles, usually have processed
food (salty snacks and sugary drinks), high in calories and full of mysterious and unpronounceable ingredients. Why do we process food, changing it from one form to another? Traditionally, before refrigeration, foods
were processed for preservation, like cheese, jam, and pickles. Now, in
addition to preservation, food is processed for variety, and to create an
ever-greater variety of more expensive products for us to buy (like potato
chips vs. potatoes and corn chips vs. sweet corn). Do we need so much
expensive, processed food?
Activities and Discussion:
- Referring to the Food Day Curriculum, use food change cards to contrast
whole and processed foods. Have actual foods to match. Bring examples
(corn oil, corn flour, corn syrup, canned corn, corn chips, and, in-season,
fresh sweet corn); compare levels of processing, ingredients, taste, price,
nutrient content, packaging, and distance traveled from their source.
- Bring in pictures of processed food packages for which the primary source
is not obvious, for example, ketchup (tomatoes), spaghetti and noodles
(wheat), or French fries (potatoes). Have students try to pronounce all ingredients and explain what they are and do for food.
- Look up the nutrient content of each processed food and compare it with
that of its source (Refer to Big Ideas, Center for Ecoliteracy). Make a
recipe with fresh corn (and/or simply eat uncooked fresh corn).
- Buy Twinkies, read the ingredients and refer to Gulp! Take a Gander at
a Twinkie’s 37 or so Ingredients.
- Follow the path an apple takes as it becomes applesauce From Field to
Store: Apples to Applesauce (Choice, Control, Change, p. 76).
- Read and discuss What’s in Your Macaroni and Cheese?, Jaclyn Sullivan, or other books in the series: What’s in Your Chicken Nugget;
What’s in Your Hamburger; What’s in Your Hotdog; What’s in Your
Soda; What’s in Your Pizza.
- In terms of our health, why should we eat more “whole” or “real” food and
less processed food? (Refer to Lexicon of Sustainability, Wheat or
White and 9 Ways That Processed Foods Are Slowly Killing People.)
In twos and trios, visit a neighborhood supermarket. Investigate and map
the safe and danger zones. Make a list of unpronounceable ingredients
and look them up back at school to find out what they are and what they
do. (Make sure to include soy lecithin and high fructose corn syrup and
count how many times you see them on labels. (Refer to The 7 Most
Common Soy Lecithin Side Effects and High Fructose Corn Syrup.)
Outcome:
- Students will understand that unprocessed, and minimally processed,
foods, are healthy parts of their diets, and that the more processing food
undergoes (fresh sweet corn vs. BBQ corn chips), the less healthy and the
more expensive it is.

Resources:
- From Field to Store: Apples to Applesauce (Choice, Control, Change,
p. 76),
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ve
d=0CDEQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.tc.columbia.edu%2Fcfe%2Ffil
es%2F2010%2F10%2FLesson-5.pdf&ei=dssVPyWGviLsQTr8oHIAg&usg=AFQjCNFjJLI9b6raAZxA32OoQihRWdj0nw&bv
m=bv.77648437,d.cWc
Center
for Ecoliteracy, Big Ideas, http://www.ecoliteracy.org/books/bigideas-linking-food-culture-health-and-environment
- What’s in Your Macaroni and Cheese?, Jaclyn Sullivan, or other books
in the series: What’s in Your Chicken Nugget; What’s in Your Hamburger; What’s in Your Hotdog; What’s in Your Soda; What’s in Your
Pizza,
- Food Day Curriculum
http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/foodday/pages/24/attachments/origi
nal/1373291130/FoodDay2013_SchoolCurriculum_FINAL.pdf?137329113
0, p. 17)
- Grow with Me: Tomato, Kate Riggs
Today Food, Gulp! Take a Gander at a Twinkie’s 37 or so Ingredients,
http://www.today.com/id/38869408/ns/today-today_food/t/gulp-takegander-twinkies-or-so-ingredients/#.VBc46GOKU08
Vitguide, The 7 Most Common Soy Lecithin Side Effects (And How to
Avoid Them), http://vitguide.com/soy-lecithin-side-effects/
Grace Communication, High Fructose Corn Syrup, If This Doesn’t
Convince You, Nothing Will,
http://www.sustainabletable.org/704/high-fructose-corn-syrup-if-thisdoesn-t-convince-you-nothing-wil
Lexicon of Sustainability (Locavore, True Cost Accounting, Local vs.
Organic, Food Waste, Economies of Community, Wheat or White,
Seeds, Unconventional Agriculture)
http://www.lexiconofsustainability.com/short-films/#
Authority Nutrition, 9 Ways That Processed Foods Are Slowly Killing
People,
http://authoritynutrition.com/9-ways-that-processed-foods-arekilling-people/
1.3.2. Fresh Food in its Season and its Place (Level: ES, MS, HS)
 Introduction:
- Fresh food, in its season and its place, is good for you and for the environment. Fresh food that travelled less distance from the farm to your
plate tastes better and has more nutrients, while being less bad for the
environment. But, how do we decide what fresh food is best?
 Activities and Discussion:
- Discuss the hierarchy of eating healthfully and sustainably
First - short distance, seasonal, organic


Second - short distance, seasonal, sustainable (e.g.; IPM)
Third - short distance, seasonal, conventional
Fourth - long distance, seasonal, organic
Fifth - long distance, seasonal, sustainable (e.g.; IPM)
Sixth - long distance, seasonal, conventional
Last - everything else
View Lexicon of Sustainability, Local vs. Organic.
Review and discuss the Greenmarket seasonal availability chart, talking
about planning meals and eating food in its season. (Refer to What’s
Available (seasonally, at Greenmarket)?)
- Identify the benefits of the fruits and vegetables growing locally and seasonally available. (Refer to the Cornell Northeast Regional Food Guide
and take the quiz, Are You a Regional and Seasonal Eater?)
- Create a recipe collection based on those plants and include dishes from
a variety of cultures (e.g., African, Asian, European/Mediterranean, Latin
American, and Middle Eastern/Indian). (Refer to 4.1.3. Good, Clean
Recipes.)
Outcome:
- Students will gain an understanding that eating locally and seasonally,
whenever possible, is better for them and the environment.
Resources:
Lexicon of Sustainability (Locavore, True Cost Accounting, Local vs.
Organic, Food Waste, Economies of Community, Wheat or White,
Seeds, Unconventional Agriculture)
http://www.lexiconofsustainability.com/short-films/#
Center for Ecoliteracy, Big Ideas, Linking Food, Culture, Health, and
the Environment, http://www.ecoliteracy.org/books/big-ideas-linking-foodculture-health-and-environment
Greenmarket, What’s Available (seasonally, at Greenmarket)?,
http://www.grownyc.org/greenmarket/whatsavailable
Cornell University, Northeast Regional Food Guide,
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ve
d=0CCUQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.human.cornell.edu%2Fdns%2
Fextension%2Fupload%2FNortheast-20Regional-20Food20Guide.pdf&ei=As8VKTcCbePsQTMgYLAAg&usg=AFQjCNEJU6W5nggjxQDwmGJECDYOXLEm8A
1.3.3. Educated Eating (Level: ES, MS, HS)
 Introduction:
- Food labels can tell a lot, some meaningful facts and some meaningless
claims. None-the-less, reading and understanding labels are important for
healthy and sustainable eating.
 Activities and Discussion:
- For every meal/snack/tasting, practice reading nutrition facts labels.
Compare serving sizes, servings per package, calories, fat, and nutrient


contents of various foods. What potentially valuable information is not
contained on food labels, like the presence of GMOs, hormones, and antibiotics, how animals were raised? How can people find that information?
Learn about Country of Origin labeling (Refer to COOL) and third party
certification (Refer to These labels are so Confusing and Making Sense
of Food Labels.)
- Read and discuss a section of Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual by Michael Pollan.
- In pairs or trios, visit a typical neighborhood food store and read meat,
poultry, egg, dairy, and fruit and vegetable packages. Take notes. Make
a list of all the things you can learn about food by reading labels. Share
back at school. Or, bring a few examples to school.
Outcome:
- Students will learn about the information that labels contain, what is important and what is not, what they can tell them about what they eat, and
how can they help them make healthy decisions.
Resources:
Center for Ecoliteracy, Big Ideas, Linking Food, Culture, Health, and
the Environment, http://www.ecoliteracy.org/books/big-ideas-linking-foodculture-health-and-environment
Grace, These labels are so Confusing,
http://www.sustainabletable.org/944/these-labels-are-so-confusing
- Time, Making Sense of Food Labels,
http://healthland.time.com/2012/10/29/making-sense-of-food-labels/,
Helpguide, Organic Foods
http://www.helpguide.org/life/organic_foods_pesticides_gmo.htm
- USDA, Country of Origin Labeling (COOL),
http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/COOL
- No Ordinary Apple: A Story About Eating Mindfully, Sara Marlowe (for
younger students),
- Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, Michael Pollan, illustrated by Maira
Kalman (Penguin edition)
2. CLEAN FOOD
Clean Food is characterized by: good environmental stewardship (conservation of our
agricultural land and water resources) and humane treatment of livestock. We will cover food systems and components, farm preservation and conservation, humane treatment of food animals, and food system biodiversity and sustainability.
2.1. What Is Clean Food?
2.1.1. Biodiversity (Level: MS, HS)
 Introduction:
Biodiversity is the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or
ecosystem. Why is it important? Biodiversity, achieved by nature and



classical breeding, means varieties of plants and breeds of animals suited
to habitats and human purposes (e.g. eating apples vs. cooking apples,
dairy cattle vs beef cattle, etc.). Necessity is the mother of variety, and variety tastes good!
Activities and Discussion:
Talk about how uninteresting eating would be if there was only one variety
of everything. (Discuss different apple varieties for different purposes, refer to Guide to Apples.) Biodiversity is necessary for a healthy, diverse
food supply (Discuss the case of the threatened Cavendish Banana, refer
to Fungus Threatens Banana Supply) and variety tastes good.
Talk about the importance of protecting the diversity of our agricultural
heritage to better cope with the effect of global climate change on our food
supply and global food security. (Refer to Reinvigorating Public Plant
Breeding and Lexicon of Sustainability, Seeds)
Do a side-by-side comparison of heirloom and hybrid varieties, including
taste, texture, color, nutritional value, and taste. Research the characteristics of types of tomato or corn.
- In pairs or trios, visit a neighborhood food market and count the varieties
of apples sold, then visit a farmers market and count the varieties of apples sold and determine who has more kinds of apples? Ask the farmers
questions, take notes, and share back at school. Buy apples at market including an apple good for munching out-of-hand, an apple good for baking, and an apple good for cider. Taste the apples, talk and write about
the differences. What makes each apple good for a purpose? Read
about New York City’s own Newtown Pippin apple. (Refer to Newtown
Pippin.)
Outcome:
- Students will learn that biodiversity is good for the world’s food supply and
that variety tastes good too.
Resources:
- Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity,
http://www.slowfoodfoundation.com/ (Ark of Taste and Presidia)
- Slow Food USA, Ark of Taste, Newtown Pippin Apple,
http://www.slowfoodusa.org/ark-item/newtown-pippin-apple
Epicurious, A Visual Guide to Apples,
http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/seasonalcooking/farmtotable/vis
ualguideapples
- NBC News, Fungus Threatens Banana Supply,
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/fungus-threatens-bananasupply-n85971
- RAFI USA, Reinvigorating Public Plant Breeding,
http://rafiusa.org/issues/reinvigorating-public-plant-and-animal-breeding/
Lexicon of Sustainability (Locavore, True Cost Accounting, Local vs.
Organic, Food Waste, Economies of Community, Wheat or White,
Seeds, Unconventional Agriculture)
http://www.lexiconofsustainability.com/short-films/#
2.1.2. Sustainability (Level: MS, HS)
 Introduction:
Sustainability is based on a simple principle: everything that we need for
our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our
natural environment. Sustainability creates and maintains the natural
conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the food needs of present and future generations.
Food production, from farm to plate, consumes much of the world’s resources (land and water) and contributes to global climate change. Industrial agriculture, relying on vast amounts of water, chemical fertilizers,
herbicides and insecticides, and fossil fuel is hard on the environment.
 Activities and Discussion:
Review Sustainable Table (Sustainable Agriculture, Industrial Agriculture, Impacts of Industrial Ag, Processing & Distribution).
Discuss organic and sustainable vs. conventional and industrial food production and humane treatment of livestock (e.g.; pastured animals) vs.
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). (Refer to Climate
Change Reports, Summary, Sources of (Agricultural) Greenhouse
Gas Emissions, Hormones, and Antibiotics and CAFO.)
Talk about the consequences of sustainable vs. industrial agriculture on
environmental and human health.
Is organic food better tasting, better for you, better for the environment?
(View Lexicon of Sustainability, Local vs. Organic and Unconventional Agriculture)
What would be the impact of eating less meat on the environment and the
welfare of food animals? (Refer to Nutrition and Healthy Eating – is organic food more nutritious and Meatless Monday.)
- In pairs or trios, visit a neighborhood food market and a farmers market
and find the same (apples to apples) organic food and conventional food.
Ask organic and non-organic farmers questions about their growing practices, take notes, and share back at school.
 Outcome:
- Students will learn that sustainably, and humanely, produced food is good
for them, and for the planet.
 Resources:
Grace Communication, Sustainable Table (Sustainable Agriculture, Industrial Agriculture, Impacts of Industrial Ag, Processing & Distribution), http://www.sustainabletable.org/940/food-issues
Environmental Health Perspectives, CAFOs and Environmental Justice:
The Case of North Carolina, http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/121-a182/
-
-
-
-
-
-
USDA, Office of the Chief Economist, Climate Change Reports, Summary (PDF), http://www.usda.gov/oce/climate_change/effects.htm
CAFO
(Concentrated
Animal
Feeding
Operation),
http://www.cafothebook.org/
EPA, Sources of (Agricultural) Greenhouse Gas Emissions,
http://epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/sources/agriculture.html
Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity,
http://www.slowfoodfoundation.com/ (Ark of Taste and Presidia)
Culinate, The Eco-Halal Revolution, Clean Food for Muslims (about
Greenmarket farmer Zaid Kurdieh of Norwich Meadows Farm),
http://www.culinate.com/articles/features/the_eco-halal_revolution
Grace Communication, Eco-centric, Eco-Kosher and the Evolution of
Tradition,
http://www.culinate.com/articles/features/the_eco-halal_revolution
Grace Communication, Hormones,
http://www.sustainabletable.org/258/hormones.
Grace Communication, Antibiotics,
http://www.sustainabletable.org/257/antibiotics
Mayo Clinic, Nutrition and Healthy Eating – is organic food more nutritious,
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthyeating/in-depth/organic-food/art-20043880?pg=2
Lexicon of Sustainability (Locavore, True Cost Accounting, Local vs.
Organic, Food Waste, Economies of Community, Wheat or White,
Seeds, Unconventional Agriculture),
http://www.lexiconofsustainability.com/short-films/#
Meatless Monday, http://www.meatlessmonday.com/ (The Movement)
2.2. Sustainable Food Production
2.2.1. Farms In Our Future (Level: MS, HS)
 Introduction:
- Do you know that in 1860, 50% of Americans farmed, now, 1% farm, that
we lose farmland at the rate of one acre per minute, and that the average
age of principle farmers is 57. Why are preserving farms, agricultural soil
and water resources, farming, and farmers important? Because, “No
Farms, No Food.”
 Activities and Discussion:
- Ask students; how many have parents who farmed, how many have
grandparents who farm or farmed, how many have great-grandparents
who farm or farmed, and how many know a farmer. Do they know an urban farmer?
What happened to farms in the last 100 years, 50 years?
(Refer to American Experience, Timeline of Farming in the U.S., and
Farm School NYC.)
- Ask students what happens to farmland when it disappears. (Refer to
Threatened Farmland and Farmers on the Edge.)
-


Talk about what each of us can do to preserve small, family farms. (Refer
to Supporting Local Food and Farms and Keeping Farmers on the
Land.)
- Read and discuss Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table.
- Arrange to visit farmers (old farmers, new farmers, urban farmers) at a
farmers market or an urban farm or invite farmers to school and talk about
why they farm and the challenges they face.
Outcome:
- Students will learn to appreciate the complex mix of agricultural natural
and human resources that it takes to provide all of us with an ample and
secure food supply.
Resources:
American Farmland Trust, Threatened Farmland,
http://www.farmland.org/resources/fote/
American Farmland Trust, Supporting Local Food and Farms,
http://www.farmland.org/actioncenter/no-farms-no-food/local-food.asp
PBS, American Experience, Timeline of Farming in the U.S.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/trouble/timeline/index_2.html,
American Farmland Trust, Keeping Farmers on the Land,
http://www.farmland.org/programs/localfood/planningforagriculture/Sustain
ing-Farms- Farmland-Future.asp,
- GrowNYC,Greenmarket, Farmers on the Edge,
http://www.grownyc.org/files/gmkt/farmers_on_the_edge.pdf
- Just Food, Farm School NYC, http://www.justfood.org/farmschoolnyc
- Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table, Jacqueline Briggs Martin.
2.2.2. Good Agriculural Stewardship (Level: MS, HS)
 Introduction:
- Conservation of our agricultural land and water resources and protection
of air quality and wildlife habitat are hallmarks of the good agricultural
stewardship that is necessary to preserve sustainable food production into
an uncertain future of climate change and to minimize damage to the environment, including water and air quality.
 Activities and Discussion:
- Read Soil Health. The plants that we need to survive need soil to grow.
Soil is the resource that enables us to produce the food and forage that
feeds us and clothes us. Soil – as a living organism – with clean air and
water sustain us.
- Read Agriculture. In New York City, the high quality of the water we
drink is a product of Best Management Practices on the New York farms
that surround the reservoirs that provide our water.
 Outcome:
- Students will understand the importance of conserving healthy soil and the
relationship of sound farming practice to clean water, and a healthy environment, focusing on good, clean New York City drinking water.
 Resources:
-
American Farmland Trust, Soil Health,
http://www.farmland.org/programs/environment/Soil-Health.asp#farmers
- Watershed Agricultural Council, Agriculture (Whole Farm Planning),
http://www.nycwatershed.org/ag_planning.html
- Watershed Agricultural Council, Agriculture (Whole Farm Planning, Nutrient Management),
http://www.nycwatershed.org/ag_nutrient-management.html
2.2.3. Healthy Meat Production (Level: MS, HS)
 Introduction:
- All meat is not created equal; meat and poultry can be produced on family
farms and ranches or on factory farms (including Confined Animal Feeding
Operations, or CAFOs) and can come from animals that were treated humanely or inhumanely. What’s better for environmental and human
health?
 Activities and Discussion:
- Watch The Meatrix, about how most meat/poultry is “grown” in the U.S.
and talk about how inhumane treatment of livestock produces meat that is
bad for the animals, bad for the environment, bad for communities and
bad for eaters. (Refer to CAFO, Factory Farms, Hormones, and Antibiotics.)
- Find where factory farms are located. (Refer to Factory Farms.) Ask
students to trace the journey of meat and poultry backwards, from plate to
source.
- Talk about alternatives to factory farming. (Refer to Slow Meat, EcoKosher, and Eco-Halal.)
In pairs or trios, visit a meat producer at a farmers market or a sustainable
butcher (Harlem Shambles in Harlem, Meat Hook in Brooklyn, or Honest
Chops (Halal) on the Lower East Side). Ask questions about the meat or
poultry. How were the animals raised? How were they slaughtered?
Take notes. Share back at school.
 Outcome:
- Students will understand that decisions about eating meat can support a
sustainable and humane system or an unsustainable and inhumane system of production.
 Resources:
- The Meatrix, http://www.themeatrix.com/learn
- Slow Food USA, Slow Meat; In Search of a Way to Ensure All Meat is
Good, Clean, and Fair http://www.slowfoodusa.org/blog-post/slow-meatin-search-of-a-way-to-ensure-all-meat-is-good-clean-and-fair
- Factory Farms (Farms & Communities, Consumers, Food Safety,
Health, Animal Welfare), http://www.factoryfarmmap.org/
- CAFO
(Concentrated
Animal
Feeding
Operation),
http://www.cafothebook.org/
- Culinate, The Eco-Halal Revolution, Clean Food for Muslims (about
Greenmarket farmer Zaid Kurdieh of Norwich Meadows Farm),
http://www.culinate.com/articles/features/the_eco-halal_revolution
-
-
Grace Communication, Eco-centric, Eco-Kosher and the Evolution of
Tradition,
http://www.culinate.com/articles/features/the_eco-halal_revolution,
Grace Communication, Hormones,
http://www.sustainabletable.org/258/hormones.
Grace Communication, Antibiotics,
http://www.sustainabletable.org/257/antibiotics
2.2.4. Healthy Fisheries (Level: MS, HS)
 Introduction:
- A fishery is a fishing ground or area where fish are caught or a place
where fish are raised and includes the people who catch or raise the fish.
All fish are not created equal; there are wild vs. farmed fish, finned vs.
non-finned seafood (e.g.; mollusks), U.S. landed (from nearby) vs. foreign
landed (from far away) seafood, and U.S processed vs. foreign processed seafood. These parameters make a difference in the sustainability of our fisheries. Nutritionists tell us we should eat more fish because it
is good for us, yet many kinds of fish are endangered, much fish farming
is not good for the environment and for the people who do the farming,
and even U.S harvested seafood can be processed unsustainably far
away.
 Activities and Discussion:
- Ask students how many like seafood and what seafood they like best.
Check the health of the fishery their favorite seafood comes from at Sustainable Seafood Search.
Read Unsustainable Seafood: A New Crackdown on
Illegal Fishing about illegally caught fish imported into the U.S. How can
we eat seafood that is good for us, the environment, and the people who
produce fish? Discuss the hierarchy of sustainable seafood
First - U.S landed, unprocessed wild fish from healthy fisheries
Second - U.S. farmed, unprocessed seafood from sustainable aquaculture
(farms).
Third - U.S landed or farmed seafood from sustainable fisheries processed in the U.S.
Last - everything else.
(Refer to Slow Fish, Seafood Labels, and Fishwatch.)
- In pairs and trios, visit a farmers market fisher, a local seafood market, or
a supermarket fish department. Count the number of types of seafood offered and find out if it was farmed or caught wild, and, if wild, where it was
caught. Ask questions, take notes, share back at school.
 Outcome:
- Students will understand that decisions about eating fish can support a
sustainable or unsustainable system of fisheries.
 Resources:
- Slow Food, Slow Fish, http://www.slowfood.com/slowfish/
-
-
NOAA, Fishwatch (Seafood Profiles, Wild-caught Seafood, Farmed
Seafood, and Buying Seafood), http://www.fishwatch.gov/index.htm
Food & Water Watch, Seafood Labels,
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/commonresources/fish/seafood/labeling/
Yale Environment 360, Unsustainable Seafood: A New Crackdown on
Illegal Fishing,
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/unsustainable_seafood_a_new_crackdown_o
n_illegal_fishing/2758/
2.3. Getting Food to Your Table
2.3.1. Food Systems (Level: ES, MS, HS)
 Introduction:
- The modern food chain is complex and attenuated, Including people
(farmers and farmworkers), processes (growing and processing), transportation (from farm to processing plant to market) and facilities (processing
plants, distribution hubs, markets). It includes links that can be more sustainable or less sustainable.
 Activities and Discussion:
- For younger students use How Did That Get in My Lunchbox?, a book
about the journey of food from farm to lunchbox, assuming relatively unprocessed items in the lunchbox.
- Refer to the LiFE Series Curriculum (Growing Food, Farm to Table &
Beyond, and Choice, Control, & Change, p. 66) by Angela Calabrese
Barton and Isobel Contento Pamela Koch.
- Trace the journeys, back to their sources, of specific, non-local, nonseasonal, imported foods from farm to plate. How far did the food travel?
Talk about how many processes (harvesting, packing, shipping), facilities
(hubs, warehouses, stores) and transportation modes (boat, plane, train,
truck) the food went through? (Refer to the Food Miles Calculator.)
Have students map the local (neighborhood) food environment, what links
in the food chain can they identify - urban farm, food processor, food distribution hub, bodega, supermarket, other stores selling food, and farmers
markets. What are the differences in food sold in pharmacies, bodegas,
supermarkets, and farmers markets? What food outlet has the most fresh
food (vegetables and fruits)? What food outlet has the least fresh food?
What food travelled the least distance?
 Outcome:
- Students will understand the complexity of the systems that put food on
their tables, that there are sustainable and unsustainable choices, and that
not all food outlets provide healthy, fresh food.
 Resources:
Food Miles.com, Food Miles Calculator, http://www.foodmiles.com/
-
-
Center for Ecoliteracy, LiFE Series Curriculum (Growing Food, Farm to
Table & Beyond, and Choice, Control, & Change, p. 66), Angela Calabrese Barton and Isobel Contento Pamela Koch
Big Ideas, How Did That Get in My Lunchbox?, Chris Butterworth
2.3.2. Food Miles (Level: MS, HS)
 Introduction:
Food can come from here, nearby, or from there, far away, from 300 miles
away or 3,000 miles away. How does food from far away impact the environment and local farm and food economies? Food miles are a way of
measuring how far food has travelled before it reaches the eater. While
they account for only a percentage of the environmental cost of getting
food to our tables (the others including fossil fuel intensive cultivation and
storage), they are a good way of looking at the impact of long-distance
foods on the environment, as well as their impact on local farm and food
economies.
 Activities and Discussion:
Use Food Miles to engage students in tracing the steps that
a meal, sourced locally or non-locally, took to reach their plates. Students
will compile data and calculate the miles each meal traveled and conclude
the lesson with an activity where they expend their own energy to understand how far each meal has traveled from farm to plate, illustrating that
the farther food travels, the more it contributes to carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere and global climate change.
Use Eat Local Caledon to check what fruits and vegetables are available
seasonally and Our Markets to find neighborhood farmers markets. In
season, compare the taste of a locally grown fruit or vegetable, from a
farmers market, with one from a neighborhood bodega or supermarket,
imported from far away (Chile or California). Are there differences in
taste, in freshness?
Use the Food Miles Calculator to calculate the food miles associated
with non-local, non-seasonal, imported food (like raspberries from Chile in
the winter).
Consider the environmental, cultural, and economic benefits of local farm
and food economies. (View Lexicon of Sustainability, Economies of
Community and refer to Bringing the Food Economy Home.)
 Outcome:
Students will learn that food can come from nearby or far away and understand that by eating seasonally and locally, whenever possible, they
can have less negative impact on our environment and positive impact on
their local farm and food economies.
 Resources:
Center for Ecoliteracy, LiFE Series Curriculum (Growing Food, Farm to
Table & Beyond, and Choice, Control, & Change, p. 134), Angela Calabrese Barton and Isobel Contento Pamela Koch
-
-
Sustainable Schools Project, Food Miles, Where Does My Food Come
From?, Alice Froelich, adapted by Emiliy Hoyler,
http://sustainableschoolsproject.org/node/321
Eat Local Caledon, http://eatlocalcaledon.org/whats-in-season/
Food Miles.com, Food Miles Calculator, http://www.foodmiles.com/
GrowNYC, Greenmarket, Our Markets,
http://www.grownyc.org/greenmarket/search (Our Farmers)
Local Futures, Bringing the Food Economy Home, Helena NorbergHodge and Steven Gorelick,
-
http://www.localfutures.org/publications/online-articles/bringing-the-foodeconomy-home
PBS, Lexicon of Sustainability (Locavore, True Cost Accounting, Local vs. Organic, Food Waste, Economies of Community, Wheat or
White, Seeds, Unconventional Agriculture),
http://www.lexiconofsustainability.com/short-films/#
2.3.3. The True Cost of Food (Level: MS, HS)
 Introduction:
- Does healthy food cost more than unhealthy food? One of the obvious
questions is how some food can be sold so cheaply. Is there a relationship between cheap food and government policy?
 Activities and Discussion:
- Watch the True Cost of Food and Lexicon of Sustainability, True Cost
Accounting and discuss the true costs of food production and the cost of
cheap food to human health and the health of the environment.
- Review Farm Bill, Why Don’t Taxpayers Subsidize the Foods that are
Better for Us and discuss the impact of government policy on the cost of
food.
 Outcome:
- Students will understand that cheap food may not really be so cheap in
terms of being good for their health and the health of the environment.
 Resources:
- Sierra Club, True Cost of Food, http://content.sierraclub.org/creativearchive/video/2012/05/true-cost-food
- PBS, Food, True Cost Accounting: The Real Cost of Cheap Food,
http://www.pbs.org/food/features/lexicon-of-sustainability-true-costaccounting-the-real-cost-of-cheap-food/
- PBS, Lexicon of Sustainability (Locavore, True Cost Accounting, Local vs. Organic, Food Waste, Economies of Community, Wheat or
White, Seeds, Unconventional Agriculture),
http://www.lexiconofsustainability.com/short-films/#
- Washington Post, Farm Bill, Why Don’t Taxpayers Subsidize the
Foods that are Better for Us,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/farm-bill-why-donttaxpayers-subsidize-the-foods-that-are-better-forus/2014/02/14/d7642a3c-9434-11e3-84e1-27626c5ef5fb_story.html
3. FAIR FOOD
Fair Food is characterized by: a level “plowing” field for established, beginning, and
disadvantaged family farmers, ranchers, and fishers; vibrant regional farm and food
economies supporting good farm and food jobs that provide dignity and fair compensation; and eaters' right to good, clean food. We will cover eaters’, farmers’, farmworkers’,
and foodchain workers’ as partners in good, clean, and fair food and farming.
3.1. Politics of Food
3.1.1. Food and Politics (Level: MS, HS)
 Introduction:
Government food policies affect food production, distribution, and consumption and farmers, food workers, and, of course, eaters.
 Activities and Discussion:
- Read and discuss Back to the Land by Maira Kalman, Eat, Drink, Vote,
Chapter 1, The American Food System: From Farm to Table and
Chapter 5, What About Feeding the Kids?, by Marion Nestle.
- Review the Farm Bill (federal agriculture and nutrition policies and programs) and the Child Nutrition Act (federal school food and child nutrition
policies and programs) and how they affect what and how food is produced and available in the United States. (Refer to 2014 Farm Bill Highlights and Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act.)
 Outcome:
- Students will gain insight into the role of the federal government in what
and how the food is produced in the Untired States.
 Resources:
- Eat, Drink, Vote, Marion Nestle, Chapter 1 (The American Food System: From Farm to Table) and Chapter 5 (What About Feeding the
Kids?)
- Pursuit of Happiness, Back to the Land, Maira Kalman,
http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/?s=food
- USDA, 2014 Farm Bill Highlights, http://www.usda.gov/documents/usda2014-farm-bill-highlights.pdf
- USDA, Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act, http://www.fns.usda.gov/schoolmeals/healthy-hunger-free-kids-act.
3.1.2. Hunger and Nutrition in the U.S. and YOUR Community (Level: MS, HS)
 Introduction:
- The American food dilemma is that many are hungry and many suffer food
related illness, like diabetes and obesity, as consequences of food they
eat. Many government programs address food and nutrition, including the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as



food stamps), school food, Special Nutrition Program for Women, Infants,
and Children (WIC), and Emergency Food.
Activities and Discussion:
- Compare food insecurity and food related illness rates in New York City,
overall, and in high-risk neighborhoods. Compare students’ neighborhoods to other neighborhoods. (Regarding food insecurity, refer to Profile
of Hunger, Poverty, and Federal Nutrition Programs - Demographics,
Poverty, and Food Insecurity - New York and NYC Food Stamp Participation 2006 – 2010 and, regarding food-related illness, EpiQuery,
Community Health Survey.) Discuss the relationships between food access, hunger, food insecurity, and food related illness.
- Learn about City of New York food and nutrition programs by reviewing
NYC Food and New York City Food Policy: 2013 Food Metrics Report,
focusing on issues including Nutrition Standards, Local Food Purchasing,
Healthy Food Access, Healthy Food Education, Food Security, Food System Sustainability, and Economic Development. Discuss how the City is
doing in Students’ neighborhoods and city-wide.
- View Food Policy 101: Expanding Healthy Food Access and discuss
what can be done about hunger and food-related illness in students’
neighborhoods and in New York City?
Outcome:
- Students will gain insight into the role of government (federal, state, and
NYC) in matters of hunger and food-related health in their communities
and the City in general, particularly understanding the food-related initiatives and programs of the City of New York and how policy action can influence city initiatives.
Resources:
- City of New York, NYC Food Stamp Participation 2006 - 2010,
http://www.nyc.gov/html/hra/downloads/pdf/facts/snap/nyc_estimated_foo
d_stamp_participation_rates_2006_2010.pdf
- FRAC, Profile of Hunger, Poverty, and Federal Nutrition Programs Demographics, Poverty, and Food Insecurity – New York,
http://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/ny.pdf
City of New York, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, EpiQuery,
Community Health Survey, (New York City) Chronic Conditions (Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol), Weight and Exercise
(Overweight and Obesity) and Nutrition (Healthy Diet, Sugary Drinks,
Fruits/Vegetables, Salt)
https://a816-healthsi.nyc.gov/SASStoredProcess/guest?_PROGRAM=%2FEpiQuery%2FCH
S%2Fchsindex&year=2012 (High-Risk Neighborhoods)
City of New York, NYC Food,
http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycfood/html/about/about.shtml
City of New York, New York City Food Policy: 2013 Food Metrics Report,
-
http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycfood/downloads/pdf/ll52-food-metrics-report2013.pdf.
PolicyLink Webinar, Food Policy 101: Expanding Healthy Food Access,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peN-8OeiWpM
3.1.3. Food Here and There, Global Perspective (Level: MS, HS)
 Introduction:
What are the similarities and differences between the food we enjoy here
and the food others in the world enjoy, with regard to different attributes,
such as type of food (animal vs. plant based), calories and nutritional value, relative cost of that food, and quantity of food available?



Activities and Discussion:
- Using What Do People Around the World Eat?, view and discuss images of families around the world and the food they eat in a week.
Compare food consumption in the United States to other countries selected by students. Discuss the food differences and the needs of different
people around the world. How are we doing compared to others around
the world?
(Refer to Global and Regional Food Consumption Patterns and
Trends and, to compare U.S. food consumption and hunger to other
countries’, use Food Security Portal, looking at Calories Supply Per
Capita from crops and livestock and the Global Hunger Index.) Do we
have enough food or too much food?
Outcome:
- Students will gain an appreciation of the effects of culture, politics, economy, and environment on food availability, choice, and consumption,
worldwide.
Resources:
- Hungry Planet, Learning to Give, What Do People Around the World
Eat?, Peter Menzel and Faith D’Alusio
http://learningtogive.org/lessons/unit358/lesson1.html
- World Health Organization, Global and Regional Food Consumption
Patterns and Trends,
http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/3_foodconsumption/en/
- About, Food Security Portal (Calorie Supply Per Capita, Crops; Calorie Supply Per Capita, Livestock; Children Undernourished %),
http://www.foodsecurityportal.org/api/about
3.2. Food, a Matter of Rights
3.2.1. Eaters’ Right to Good, Clean Food (Level: MS, HS)
 Introduction:
-



The United Nations considers food a basic human right; Slow Food believes that everyone, every day, has the right to enjoy good, clean food.
For that to happen, people must have financial and physical access to
good, clean food and the knowledge to make healthy food choices that are
good for them, good for the planet, and good for producers.
Activities and Discussion:
Read Who Says Food is a Human Right? If food is a human right, why
are so many hungry? Is food a human right in the U.S., in New York City?
Explore the challenges of having your rights and eating them too in New
York City. (Refer to NYC Food Stamp Participation 2006 – 2010 and
Profile of Hunger, Poverty, and Federal Nutrition Programs - Demographics, Poverty, and Food Insecurity – New York.)
Does New York City treat food as a human right? (Refer to NYC Food
and New York City Food Policy: 2013 Food Metrics Report.)
Outcome:
- Students will understand issues of access to ample, good, clean food as
matters of human right.
Resources:
- The Nation, Who Says Food is a Human Right?
http://www.thenation.com/article/163390/who-says-food-human-right
- City of New York, NYC Food Stamp Participation 2006 - 2010,
http://www.nyc.gov/html/hra/downloads/pdf/facts/snap/nyc_estimated_foo
d_stamp_participation_rates_2006_2010.pdf
- FRAC, Profile of Hunger, Poverty, and Federal Nutrition Programs Demographics, Poverty, and Food Insecurity – New York,
http://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/ny.pdf
- City of New York, NYC Food,
http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycfood/html/about/about.shtml
City of New York, New York City Food Policy: 2013 Food Metrics Report,
http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycfood/downloads/pdf/ll52-food-metrics-report2013.pdf.
3.2.2. Farmers’ Rights (Level: MS, HS)
 Introduction:
- From farm to plate, it takes a team of food workers to put food on our
plates, including farmers and ranchers, farmworkers, and foodchain workers. Small-scale, sustainable family farmers and ranchers are entitled to
dignity and fair compensation for their labors. Farmers are farmworkers
too, putting long hours in on a very dangerous job (farming is one of the
most dangerous occupations in the U.S.). Farmers face challenges of increasingly extreme weather, climate change, plant pests and livestock
disease, access to suitable farmland and credit, and an asymmetrical relationship with big agribusiness.
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Activities and Discussion:
- Talk about the challenges of being a small-scale, family farmer, including;
extreme weather and climate change, pests, disease, access to farmland
and credit, and an asymmetrical relationship with big agribusiness.
- Farms near big cities, like New York City, and the food they produce are
threatened by spreading urbanization and lack of affordable land to expand, rising cost of operation, lack of credit, and changing demographics,
the age of principal farmers and the transfer of farms to new farmers. (Refer to Farmers on the Edge.)
- The effects of climate change on U.S. agriculture will be significant, challenging farmers and ranchers to adapt to very different growing conditions.
(Refer to Climate Change and Agriculture.)
- Saving seeds is as natural and essential as eating. This historically ordinary agricultural act is becoming an exception and not the rule. Talk
about the right of farmers to save seeds. (View Lexicon of Sustainability, Seeds.)
Farmers’ rights to choose between raising GMO and non-GMO crops are
threatened. (Refer to The GMO Seed Monopoly, Fewer Choices, Higher Prices and Supreme Court Denies Family Farmers the Right to Self
Defense from Monsanto.)
- Small-scale, family farmers have an asymetrical relationship with big agribusiness, such as those that raise livestock to sell to large-scale, industrial
meat packers and processors. (Refer to What’s the “GIPSA Rider” and
Why is the (U.S.) House (of Representatives) Once Again Attacking
Farmers’ Rights?)
Outcome:
Students will understand the complexity of achieving an equitable food
system, where farmers, ranchers, farmworkers, and foodchain workers are
treated with dignity and respect and are compensated fairly for their contributions to the food chain.
Resources:
- GrowNYC,Greenmarket, Farmers on the Edge,
http://www.grownyc.org/files/gmkt/farmers_on_the_edge.pdf
Food Democracy Now!, The GMO Seed Monopoly, Fewer Choices,
Higher Prices,
http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/blog/2013/oct/4/the_gmo_seed_monop
oly_fewer_choices_higher_prices
Food Democracy Now!, Supreme Court Denies Family Farmers the
Right to Self Defense from Monsanto,
http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/blog/2014/jan/13/supreme_court_denie
s_farmers_protection_monsanto
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), What’s the “GIPSA
Rider” and Why is the (U.S.) House (of Representatives) Once Again
Attacking Farmers’ Rights?, http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/whatis-the-gipsa-rider/
-
-
USDA, Office of the Chief Economist, Climate Change and Agriculture:
Effects and Adaptation,
http://www.usda.gov/oce/climate_change/effects_2012/effects_agriculture.
htm
PBS, Lexicon of Sustainability (Locavore, True Cost Accounting, Local vs. Organic, Food Waste, Economies of Community, Wheat or
White, Seeds, Unconventional Agriculture),
http://www.lexiconofsustainability.com/short-films/#
3.2.3. Farmworkers’ Rights (Level: MS, HS)
 Introduction:
- From farm to plate, it takes a team of food workers to put food on our
plates, including farmers and ranchers, farmworkers, and foodchain workers. Farmworkers are entitled to dignity and fair compensation for their labors. Farmworkers put in long hours during growing season working in a
very dangerous job (farming is one of the most dangerous occupations in
the U.S.). About half of the farmworkers in the United States are undocumented immigrants, living in constant fear of being detained and deported.
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Activities and Discussion:
- Understand who hired farmworkers are, where they work (look at our
northeast region), what they do, and how important they are to the supply
of food we enjoy. (Refer to Farm Labor and Illegal immigrants.)
- Read Long Days in the Fields and Librada Paz and talk about the challenges of being a farmworker; difficult and dangerous working conditions,
and unreasonable immigration policies.
- Use the Injustice on our Plates lesson plans to explore the problems of
being an undocumented worker and to talk about how students can act locally.
Outcome:
- Students will understand the complexity of achieving an equitable food
system, where farmers, ranchers, farmworkers, and foodchain workers are
treated with dignity and respect and are compensated fairly for their contributions to the food chain.
Resources:
- USDA, Economic Research Service, Farm Labor,
http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farmlabor/background.aspx#Numbers
- The Hill, Illegal immigrants benefit the U.S. economy,
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/203984-illegalimmigrants-benefit-the-us-economy
- Speak Truth to Power, Librada Paz, The Continuing Struggle of Farmworkers in the United States,
http://curriculum.rfkcenter.org/curriculums/46?locale=en
-
-
Teaching for Tolerance, Injustice on our Plates (Recognizing the Undocumented, The Economics of Risk, Paying with their Health, Vital
Work, Acting Locally)
http://www.tolerance.org/publication/injustice-our-plates
New York Times, Long Days in the Fields, Without Earning Overtime,
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/nyregion/in-harvest-season-endlesshours-with-no-overtime-for-new-york-farmworkers.html
3.2.4 Foodchain Workers’ Rights (Level: MS, HS)
 Introduction:
- From farm to plate, it takes a team of food workers to put food on our
plates, including farmers and ranchers, farmworkers, and foodchain workers. Foodchain workers are entitled to dignity and fair compensation for
their labors. About half of the foodchain workers in the United States must
rely on public assistance, including SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly and food stamps, to help put food on the tables of their families.
 Activities and Discussion:
- Understand who foodchain workers are and the problems they face, including; low wages and wage theft, lack of benefits, and insecurity. (Refer
to Restaurant Opportunities Center.)
- Read Dignity, Working, and Starbucks and talk about the challenges of
being a foodchain worker, including job insecurity, low wages, and difficult
working conditions and what can be done to change their situations.
 Outcome:
- Students will understand the complexity of achieving an equitable food
system, where farmers, ranchers, farmworkers, and foodchain workers are
treated with dignity and respect and are compensated fairly for their contributions to the food chain.
 Resources:
- ROC-NY, Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York, For Workers, For Employers, For Consumers,
http://rocny.org/
- New York Times, Working Anything but 9 to 5, by Jodi Kantor,
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/starbucks-workersscheduling-hours.html
- New York Times, Starbucks to Revise Policies to End Irregular
Schedules for its 130,000 Baristas, by Jodi Kantor,
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/15/us/starbucks-to-revise-workscheduling-policies.html
New Yorker, Dignity, William Finnegan
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/15/dignity-4
4. Sharing Good, Clean, Fair Food
Sharing good, clean, fair food is central to Slow Food beliefs. Through meals enjoyed
convivially with family and friends, students become catalysts for change by sharing the
joy of “Slow” food and making good, clean, and fair food and farming priorities for living.
Students prepare and enjoy simple, affordable, local, seasonal, delicious, traditional,
and international recipes using food harvested from school gardens, local farmers markets, CSAs, and other sources of local, seasonal bounty.
4.1. Preparing and Sharing Good, Clean, and Fair Food
4.1.1. Times for Tea and Taste (Level: ES, MS)
 Enjoy different tastes by making a different tea each day, from the garden, if possible, to have the next day (You will need refrigeration.); lemon balm, lemon verbena, various mints, chamomile.
4.1.2. Make Food, Make a Point (Level: ES, MS, HS)
 Salad Dressing
- Buy/bring bottled dressings (or bring in photos of ingredients labels).
Make honey mustard and mustard vinaigrette (maybe even ranch) from
scratch. Compare store-bought and homemade in terms of ingredients,
taste, and sustainability. Eat dressings with greens from school garden,
farmers market, CSA, or another source of local, seasonal ingredients.

Dinner Poll
- Take a poll of favorite dinners, focusing on cultural, and culinary, diversity.
List ingredients (may require a trip to the store and or restaurant). Make
at least one healthy version of one of those dishes (get ingredients from
Farmers Market or the school garden). Compare taste, ingredients, farming practices, environmental impact.
4.1.3. Good, Clean Recipes (Level: MS, HS)
 Spring
- Recipes coming!
 Summer
- Recipes coming!
 Fall
- Recipes coming!
 Winter
- Recipes coming!
4.2. Learning, and Teaching, More
4.2.1. Farmers Market and Local Food Market Trip (Level: ES, MS, HS)
 In pairs or trios, visit a farmers market and a typical neighborhood food market,
compare what is available (variety, fresh vs. processed, seasonal vs. out-ofseason, foods produced nearby vs. far-away) and talk about the effect of different
foods on eaters’ health and about how different foods got there and the effect on

the environment and local food and farm economy. Take notes. Buy samples.
Share back at school.
To arrange a Greenmarket Tour, contact Greenmarket
(http://www.grownyc.org/markettour). Your school may not have to pay the tour
fee, or Slow Food NYC can cover the tour fee of Urban Harvest schools, and
your school may be eligible for Slow Food NYC sponsored Greenmarket Bucks,
coupons students can use to purchase fresh, Greenmarket produce, to share
back at school or take home.
4.2.2. Neighborhood Posters (Level: ES, MS, HS)
 Make DIY posters from the Lexicon of Sustainability
(http://www.lexiconofsustainability.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/DIYPosters_021114.pdf). Post in school and the neighborhood. Follow-up by collecting students’, teachers’, and neighbors’ reactions through interviews and
comment notebooks located by the posters.
4.2.3.
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Good Cooking Books
The Silver Spoon for Children
Honest Pretzels, Salad People, Mollie Katzen
Starting From Scratch, Sarah Elton
The New Greenmarket Cookbook, Gabrielle Langholtz