Taste Bud Challenge

• Food Cards*
• individual whiteboards/paper
• samples of different fruit, vegetables and starchy carbohydrates including some wholemeal (pasta, different types of bread, potatoes, cereals such as wholewheat bisks)
• worksheet – Smiley faces
• suitable knives, chopping boards, bowls for mixing and serving

*If your school does not have a set of Food Cards, please request them from us at resources@fss.scot.

• ensure that any allergies that your pupils have are known to you and take the appropriate steps to ensure the safety of those pupils
• prepare (washing, drying and cutting) samples of fruit, vegetables and starchy carbohydrates for tasting
• cut out smiley faces for recording likes/dislikes – put into envelopes, one for each face type, sticking a sample face on the front of each envelope
• prepare blank graph

• talk about how fruit, vegetables and starchy carbohydrates are important in a healthy diet and give some examples
• challenge each pupil to write/draw as many different kinds of fruit, vegetables or starchy carbohydrates as they can think of in 2 minutes
• from a large selection of food cards, pupils take turns to identify a fruit, vegetables or starchy carbohydrates crossing the food chosen off their list if they wrote the name of it down
• when all fruit, vegetables and starchy carbohydrates are taken from the pack, ask pupils if they have any other foods written down that have not been mentioned
• explain that we are going to taste different kinds of fruits, vegetables and starchy carbohydrates and demonstrate how to use smiley faces to record likes/dislikes (taking smiley face from appropriate envelope and placing it beside the food just tasted)
• remind pupils that people have different likes and dislikes, so there will be some of the foods that they like that their classmates might not like, and vice versa
• emphasise good hygiene by reminding pupils to wash hands thoroughly before touching the food
• encourage pupils to try as many different types of foods as possible
• once all pupils have had the opportunity to taste several different kinds of fruit, vegetables or starchy carbohydrates, come back together as a class and count up the smiley faces for each food, recording in the form of a tally chart
• the tally chart can then be used for pupils to produce a pictogram or bar graph on ‘Our favourite fruit, vegetables or starchy carbohydrates’ – this could be done as a whole class or pupils could be asked to make their own graphs
• following on from the tasting, pupils can be put into group and each group challenged to choose 3 different fruits, vegetables or starchy carbohydrates to make a dish
• remind pupils of hygiene and safety rules:
  • wash hands before beginning to prepare food and after touching other parts of the body
  • turn away and cover mouth to cough or sneeze then wash hands
  • tie back long hair
• Close adult supervision is required for pupils cutting up the fruit to prevent accidents – the British Nutrition Foundation has videos of how to cut food safely

Each group can then present their dish to the rest of the class and enjoy tasting the fruits of their labours!

• have a positive attitude towards trying new foods
• talk about likes and dislikes in the context of fruit

SAY – What language do pupils use to talk about trying new foods?

DO – Do pupils apply knowledge of hygiene?

Consider CfE Bencharks, for example:

• eats socially with others
• prepares and tastes a range of familiar and unfamiliar foods
• recognises and respects that others' food choices may be different from their own
• identifies, prepares and tastes and range of foods for example, fruit and vegetables

Literacy – Writing – recipes

Numeracy – Information handling – Data and analysis

Support

Fruit, vegetables and starchy carbohydrates can be ready cut for pupils with motor difficulties.

Challenge

Pupils could investigate countries of origin of fruit, vegetables or starchy carbohydrates.