I was asked by Julie at Teaching Good Eaters to do a guest post. I actually turned her down very quickly as I received her request just after my daughter Jemma was diagnosed with Leukemia. Several days later I began to see a great improvement in my daughter's health and I wrote her back asking if I could still do it. Blogging is part of my normal routine. My daughter is improving, but is very sick and spends a lot of time sleeping. For me, anything I can do that makes me feel normal and keeps my mind from worry is helpful. So here is what I wrote for Julie.
Hi - My name is also Julie. I'm Julie from Highhill Homeschool. This is the first guest post I've ever done and I'm super excited that it is here on Julie's Teaching Good Eaters blog. I have tried many of her recipes with my family and they have all been "likes". In my house we have food adventures in three main ways. The kids select recipes and follow the directions to prepare different foods a few times per month. We live in Europe and like to try the local specialities when we travel. As part of a history co-op. we prepare and enjoyed cultural/historical feasts to match the historical group of people we are studying. I would like to share some of our historical feasts with you today.
So far we have studied the Celts, Vikings, Scythians and Ancient Chinese. For each group of people we have had food adventures.
When we studied the Celts we actually had food adventures two weeks in a row. The Celts ate apples, barley, millet, onions, fish, cheese, milk, garlic, wheat, deer and nuts among other foods. The first week we talked about their diet, tried grinding grain into flour and then made oat cakes and a drink with apples. The second week each family made-up a Celtic recipe from the list of foods the Celts ate. The kids loved trying all the new foods.
Next we studied the Vikings. For the Viking feast the kids made their own butter and worked together to create a pot of stew. Each child was responsible for adding one ingredient to the stew. There were onions, parsley, fish, carrots, spices and more. Since the Vikings liked to drink mead that was served too. (a kid version of course).
The Scythians were a group of horseman that lived on the plains of central Asia in countries now know as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and western China. They relyed on their horses for everything including food. For the Scythian feast we went out to a Himalayian restaurant as it was the closest we could come at the time. Then, when we were on vacation in Italy we actually had the chance to try horse meatballs. They tasted a lot like beef. We liked them and went back the next day for round two. Since studying the Scythians and visiting Italy I have learned that there is a horse butcher located near us in Germany, and they serve horse meatballs at a local beer hall.
In conjunction with the Ancient China history co-op we had a tea party and made sushi. We learned about the traditional tea ceremony and then tried our best to duplicate it.
My father used to own his own business. He once told me that the more senses you can involve in lessons, the more information will be retained. I think he's right. I know the kids remember those horse meatballs, the taste of their own butter and that delicious Viking stew. They have really enjoyed our historical food adventures while learning about cultures of the past.
