Tasters’ Choice Author: Sharon Janulaw

Overview: Students taste foods, some of which are familiar foods and some of which are uncommon foods. They compare and contrast the tastes and graph their likes and dislikes.

Lesson Concepts:

• We learn about the natural world using our senses and extensions of our senses.

Grade Span: K–2

Materials:

• Familiar foods such as orange, apple, cheese, banana, pickle
• Uncommon foods such as papaya, fresh coconut, kiwi, pine nuts
• Knife for cutting
• Napkin for each student
• Plate for foods
• Squares of paper for each student
• Class “Foods We Like” graph
• Class “Foods We Dislike” graph OR
• Individual “Foods I Tasted” graphs

Advance Preparation:

— Purchase food.
— Prepare graphs for recording.
— Cut squares of paper for class graphs.

Time: 40 minutes

Grouping: Whole class and small groups

Teacher Background:

Our senses of taste and smell are related. The tongue can distinguish only four basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter. Other tastes are a combination of the four basic tastes or a combination of taste and smell. The flavor originates primarily from the food’s smell. Molecules of the food move up the back of the mouth to the smelling cells in the nose. Our sense of smell is important in helping us differentiate among the many foods we eat. For example, if you can’t use your sense of smell, your sense of taste may not tell you the difference between an apple and an onion. If you have a cold, food tastes bland and things taste much alike.

Explore this link for additional information on the topics covered in this lesson:

• Nature of Science

Teaching Tips:

NOTE—Before beginning tasting activities, check students’ health records to determine which, if any, students have food allergies. Decide whether you are going to make class graphs or individual graphs and prepare the necessary record sheets. You could have individuals make graphs and also make the class graphs.

Vocabulary: taste, names of any foods with which students are unfamiliar

Procedure:

1. Talk with students about tastes they like and tastes they dislike. Tell them about any foods you disliked as a child that you now like.
2. Tell students that you have brought foods that they may have already tasted and foods that they may not have tasted, but are safe to eat. Tell them that you would like them to try each of the foods that you have brought and they should think about how the food tastes.
3. Give each student as many squares of paper as foods they are going to taste. Tell students that they will taste a food and then draw a picture of the food they tasted. They will put the picture of the food in a stack for foods they like or a stack for foods they dislike.
4. If you are going to make class graphs, have students bring their stacks of likes and dislikes to the discussion circle. Place the two class graphs on the floor. Name a food and have all those who like that food place their picture of it in a square on the Foods We Like graph. Have all who disliked the food place their picture of the food in a square on the Foods We Dislike graph. Continue this procedure until all of the foods that were tasted have been named.
5. Discuss tastes and the likes and dislikes that students have for the same food. Use the graphs to compare likes and dislikes, numbers of students that liked or disliked a particular food, number of foods that everyone liked or disliked, etc.
6. If you are going to have students make individual graphs, give each student a “Foods I Tasted” graph. Have students draw the foods they like in squares in the “Liked” column and foods they don’t like in the “Disliked” column. Discuss tastes and the likes and dislikes that students have for the same food. Use the graphs to compare likes and dislikes, numbers of students that liked or disliked a particular food, number of foods that everyone liked or disliked, etc.

Extensions:

Send a letter home inviting parents to bring, or send to school with their child, a food that is unusual or that students would not usually have tasted. If the parents are willing to bring the food to class, they can tell about the food, its history or cultural significance or any other information they would like to share about the food. If the student is going to share the food, parents can send the information for the student to share.