What do we eat today?
People living in modern society are largely disconnected from the food they consume in terms of what plants and parts of a plant they are eating (or using for tea, etc.), what the plant looks like, its species/family, its geographical region of origin, and where it was grown.
What is rather striking is how unaware we are about what we are consuming.
As most of us do not gather or harvest our daily food by ourselves, we often don‘t know which species we are eating and, if we know them, many of us would in lots of cases not even know what the plants in question look like.
Is the relationship between plants and people shifting fundamentally?
Assignment – What do we eat today?
Draw up a complete list of all the plants and plant parts that you eat, drink or otherwise consume during the course of one week, i.e. over seven consecutive days. Your teacher may adapt this time span according to your school program. Include everything – breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, inhalations and all major and minor ingredients. Leave nothing out.
Step 1 First data collection via web app (Photo of food; name of food, e.g. bread; plant part used, e.g. seed or nut, oil from seed, fruit or berry, leaf, stem, tuber or root, bulb, other....; place where it was produced, e.g. Switzerland)
Only record each plant once, even if you eat it several times!
Special case: For example, if your sandwich includes cheese or meat, you can calculate the plant equivalent [via the app]. This means that everything you eat is - or was originally - plant material! E.g. cheese => cow's milk => grass, hay
Step 2 Research your plant using this platform or the internet (note link and date of access)
- common name & photo of plant => scientific name and plant family. A plant's scientific name is given as its genus and species in Latin; it is written in italics. e.g. the potato is Solanum tuberosum.
- ancient region of origin (i.e. where did the plant grow naturally)
- Add an estimate of your ‘food kilometers’ for each plant product and for the week in total: how far in total did all the elements of your weekly food travel to reach you?
For example: potato / stem tuber / Solanum tuberosum / family Solanaceae (nightshades) / Switzerland / Andes / 50km.
Step 3
Project work in teams on the various topics (production, transport, energy, etc.) using your results, research and analyses. See: Intro - topics
Step 4
Reflection - e.g. Is the relationship between plants and people shifting fundamentally? Discussion, comparisons and dialogue across borders and project's conclusion.