Name _________________________________

Date__________

Period _______ FACS 6

Main Idea

Food and Culture Project

"You are what you eat, you eat what you are

Supporting Details

French politician and epicure (lover of good food) Anthelme Brillat Savarin once said,
tell me what you eat, and Ill tell you what you are. In this project, we will use
the iPads to explore the link between what people eat and the history, geography, and
culture of that place. What are the dietary recommendations and food guides in
different countries? We will see how different food guides reflect what people eat
across the globe, and how their food guides and dietary choices compare and contrast
to ours here in the United States.

Part 1: International Food Guides

1. Scan this code to load the Symbaloo for this project.
2. This page has all the links you need to complete your research.
3. Click on the first pink box on the bottom of the Symbaloo- Food Republic-World
Guides.
4. Scroll through the gallery to view some of the different dietary guides/food
pyramids from around the World.
5. Pick one of these countries. Write your choice here: _______________________
6. Complete the questions below based on the food guide for the country you
chose. If you need additional information, click on the Symbaloo tile with the
country name to visit that countrys dietary guidelines website.
a. Does this countrys food guide have a particular name? What is it?
____________________________________________________________
b. Describe the basic shape of this food guide (pyramid, plate, or other
shape). _____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
c. How many sections does this food guide have? _____________________
d. Based on the pictures on the food guide, what are the different sections
of this food guide (fruits, etc.) ___________________________________
____________________________________________________________
e. Draw, as best as you can, the basic format of the food pyramid for this
country. Instead of drawing individual foods, label the sections (next
page).

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E. Teixeira- November 2013

Food Guide Name _________________________________

The Food Guide for __________________________ (Country)

Part 2: Cultural Food Choices

The next part of the project will help you learn more about the foods eaten in the
country you have chosen. Click the second pink Symbaloo tile Food in Every Country.
Find your country on this page, and use the information to help you answer the boxes
and bullets in the next two sections. The textbook You Eat What You Are may also help.
Main Idea: Unique foods are eaten in ____________________________________ (country)
Supporting Details:
1. Who (List a common dish in this country) __________________________________
2. What is in this dish? ___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
3. Where (Geography) ___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
4. Why (Reasons the culture eats the foods they do- History, Colonization, Religion,
Climate, Economics) ___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
5. How (Major holidays and/or traditions involving food) _________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
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Part 3: How Real People Eat

Now lets look at what a real family in your country eats. The photo journal Hungry
Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel and Faith DAluisio contains photos of
families from all over the world and the food they typically consume in one week. How
well are these families meeting the dietary guidelines from their country?
Directions: Click on the third pink Symbaloo tile to access the Hungry Planet photo
site. Find the family for your country (or a geographically/culturally similar country) by
searching through the continent sections. Using this photo and your knowledge of this
countrys food guide, write a well-formed paragraph that answers the question below.
Your paragraph must have a main idea and at least 3 supporting details. Use the boxes
and bullets below to form your argument.

Helpful Terms
Main Idea- a primary topic within an idea (a.k.a thesis, central idea, the point)
Supporting Detail- used to explain, describe, or give an example that proves the main idea is
true. (a.k.a. fact, evidence, example, reason)
Compare- Use evidence to explain how two things are the same
Contrast- Use evidence to explain how two things are different

Main Idea

Supporting Details

Compare and contrast the foods actually eaten in your country (as seen in Hungry

Planet) to the foods recommended by this countrys food guide. State your main idea
(how does what the family depicted in Hungry Planet compare and/or contrast to the
diet recommendations for that country). Ex. A typical American family does not seem to

meet the MyPlate guidelines based on the food they eat in a week in Hungry Planet.
Main Idea:

Supporting Details: Provide evidence from your research that proves that
your main idea is true (This is because)

1. _________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
3. _________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
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Turn your main idea and supporting details to write a PACTS perfect paragraph below:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

Part 4: PicCollage
The final part of this project is to use the iPad app PicCollage to compile what you have
learned.
Your PicCollage must contain:
A Title (ex: Food in Indian Culture)
A photo of the countrys dietary guide
A photo of the cultural dish you researched
A photo of the family for your country from Hungry Planet
Text that includes your main idea about the comparison between this
countrys food guide and the family in Hungry Planet
Add words and stickers that represent the country and its food- DO NOT
BUY ANY NEW STICKER PACKAGES. USE THE FREE PACKAGES ONLY.
Background and text colors should relate to the national colors of this
country
You may also want to include:
A map of the country you researched
A photo of the countrys flag
Text to describe why this culture eats the foods/ingredients that they do
(use your box on page 2 for ideas)
Photos of other common ingredients in this culture
Photos of traditions or cultural celebrations involving food in this culture
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