The World In My Kitchen

Have you ever wondered what children in other countries eat? What do they have for breakfast? What does their dinner smell like? How does it taste? Do they sit at the table? Why not recreate some of the colourful, exciting and fun ways children eat around the world?

Some children may sit on the floor, others at a table. Some might buy their breakfast from a hot-food stall in the street outside their home and then munch it on the way to school. Some don’t speak while eating, and you might have to eat in silence in many parts of Africa – that could be a bit difficult. And in some other countries, like Venezuela, you are expected to be very chatty!

Why don’t you pick some recipes from one of the 14 countries and find out what people wear every day there – are their clothes the same as yours or different? Can you dress the same way? You might turn the heating up to make your house extra warm if you are eating Thai, or open all the windows for chilly Finland!

What does the table look like when they serve the dishes? In China, people eat with chopsticks instead of knives and forks, and sit on large cushions on the floor – can you? People might use both hands to eat, or a knife and fork. The Moroccans use their right hand and serve themselves from big shared dishes in the middle of the table. Think about the country the dishes you are cooking come from. What kind of serving and eating dishes do they use?

Ask an adult to help you look on the internet for information about the country you have chosen. You could also look for local music to play while you are eating.

Wherever you are in the world, you are sure to find that food is an important part of any celebration. Children just like you love the excitement of having a party. There are even parties about food!

In Italy there’s an orange festival in a town called Ivrea – can you find it on a map? They throw oranges at each other! The crowds throw tomatoes at La Tomatina festival in Buñol, Spain, and in Delhi, India, there’s a mango festival where they have mango-eating and mango-carving competitions, quizzes, and tastings of over 1,100 types of mango. In Russia there is a pancake week, called Maslenitsa, just before Easter, when they celebrate the end of winter and the beginning of spring by eating pancakes – lots of them! They all sound great fun.