Where do our favorite foods come from?

Our first annual EMPTY BOWLS DINNER & FUNDRAISER will be held on 
Friday, April 1, 2016, 6-9pm

in the HS Cafeteria

9/30 & 10/1 Clay Class Assignment-Library

Empty Bowls Project Research & Drawing Assignment

For this EMPTY BOWL project you will create at least one bowl using the slump/hump mold method, as well as a variety of surface decorations techniques (carving, relief, sculpting, stamping, piercing). The bowl design will be inspired by your favorite food or food dish. Below is a series of questions related to your food choice. Your knowledge and understanding of how your food is grown/created, transported, processed, sold, and prepared will help you to develop your bowl design ideas. Your bowl will hopefully serve as reminder of all those who struggle with food insecurity. On the back of this sheet are directions for sketching out your bowl design ideas. ANSWER QUESTIONS IN COMPLETE SENTENCES FOR FULL CREDIT.

1.    What is your favorite food or food dish and why did you choose this for your bowl design?

2.    List the basic ingredients for your favorite food/food dish. If your choice is a single food item then describe how you best like to eat it (grilled? In a salad? With hummus or dip? Etc.)

3.    All the food we eat, unless we grow it ourselves, goes through a complex process from seed to food on our plate. Answering the following questions will take some time to research. Be sure to write or type the website url or the title/author of the book or magazine from which you are sourcing your information.

a.    Where is your food item or the 2 basic ingredients of your food dish typically grown? What types of farms? What part of the country or world?

b.    How is your food item or 2 basic ingredients of your food dish typically transported from farm to processing center (factory) or store? Ship? Plane? Bus? Truck? Train? Other means?

c.     If your food item or the 2 basic ingredients of your food dish are processed in a factory before being sold, then what type of processing does it/do they go through? Canning? Freezing? Curing? Drying? Freeze-drying? Other?

d.    Does your food item or the 2 basic ingredients of your food dish require food additives to be added during the processing stage? If

so, what type of additives are typically used. Food additives such as those that: enhance flavor? Improving nutrition? Increase shelflife? Maintain texture? Help foods age properly? Other?

e.     If your food item or the 2 basic ingredients of your food dish are packaged before being sold, what type of packaging do it/do they typically require? Boxing? Styrofoam? Plastic wrap? Other?

f.      Where is your food item or the 2 basic ingredients of your food dish typically sold? What type of store? Where do you typically find it/them?

g.    What are some of the complications or controversies surrounding your food item or the 3 basic ingredients of your food dish? Are there issues with the use of pesticides or unsafe food additives? Organic versus non-organic farming? Treatment of farm animals? Factory farming versus small/local farms? Farming who grow the crops not being paid enough? Shortage of farmland to grow your food? Natural disasters that affect farmers’ ability to grow the food? Water shortage affecting crops? Large farms versus small farms? Waste and greenhouse emissions? Chemicals used to make food? Poor nutritional value? Other?

What is hunger? What is food insecurity? What is the Empty Bowls Project?

Our first annual EMPTY BOWLS DINNER & FUNDRAISER will be held on 
Friday, April 1, 2016, 6-9pm
in the HS Cafeteria

On 9/28 and 9/29 Ms. Held's Clay classes learned how the food they eat ends up on their plates. We watched a video (see below) and discussed the industrial agriculture food system, as well as brainstormed ways in which we can make better food choices, both for our own health and that of the planet. We learned how this industrial food system is contributing to the cycle of poverty, malnutrition and hunger in the world.

      Industrial Agriculture

We also discussed what "hunger," "food insecurity," and "malnutrition" really means. Using videos, a Kahoot trivia quiz (on global, national, and local hunger statistics), and class discussions, we learned that the main cause of food insecurity in the world was poverty. We watched stories of Americans who are struggling to put food on the table. See the links below to watch some of the videos we watched together in class:

What is Hunger? What is Food Insecurity?

American Hunger Stories Part 1

American Hunger Stories Part 2

  

Then Ms. Held showed her Clay classes a video made by students from a Canadian high school that highlights their annual Empty Bowls Dinner event. This video provided the Clay students with a general idea of what the 1st annual Washingtonville High School Empty Bowls Dinner Event might look like. The Empty Bowls Project is an international grassroots effort to raise both money and awareness in the fight to end hunger. This year's Clay students will participate in Washingtonville High School’s First Annual Empty Bowls Dinner Event by creating ceramic bowls inspired by their favorite foods. Students will be invited to sell their bowls at the dinner event on April 1st of 2016 to help raise money for the Hudson Valley Food Bank. 

Woodlands High School Empty Bowls Dinner Event

Empty Bowls Project

Our first annual EMPTY BOWLS DINNER & FUNDRAISER will be held on 

Friday, April 1, 2016, 6-9pm

in the HS Cafeteria

Food Sensory and Food & Art Lesson

Food Sensory Lesson, G2 Class

Students took part in a food sensory lesson on 9/24 and 9/25. Students were asked to move about the classroom and smell, touch, look at and/or taste the food samples that were on the tables (students were not required to taste anything they didn’t want to). This is a “sensory” experiment. The goal was for students to experience these food items with one or more of their senses and then to make notations about what they notice about each food sample. This lesson is part of the introduction to our first Unit, our Empty Bowls Project for which students will create clay bowls inspired by their favorite foods.

After our food sensory lesson, Ms. Held introduced a Brief History of Food & Art. This PowerPoint provided a historical overview of how humans have incorporated the theme of food into their works of art for thousands of years. 

A Brief History of Food and Art PowerPoint

The students were really amazed by the work of the contemporary Italian Artist, Roberto Bernardi, whose photorealistic paintings of candy (amongst other subject matter) were so lifelike the students simply did not believe they weren't photographs. For more information about Roberto Bernardi's work check out this link:

Roberto Bernardi's website

The students were particularly fascinated by the work of the contemporary British artist, Carl Warner, a photographer who creates "Foodscapes" out of real food and then photographs these bizarre scenes to create imaginary and sometimes "delicious" worlds. Warner uses his work to encourage people to eat healthy. The leftover food from his "Foodscapes" are fed to his staff and donated to homeless shelters. For more information about Carl Warner's work check out these two links:

Carl Warner's Foodscapes on CNN

Carl Warner's website