Last month, from the 14th to the 20th of October 2013, it was la semaine du goût (week of taste) in France. Created in 1990, la semaine du goût’s main objective is to educate children and adults alike about food. It is as well an opportunity to showcase a diversity of tastes, to give clear information on food products (how they were made, where they come from …), to promote the food industry jobs and expertise, to encourage a healthy and balanced diet/lifestyle and to of course to enjoy tasting and eating! Yes it is really French, all about the pleasures of tasting/eating :-)
Photo from LeDauphine.fr
What I love during this week is that teachers and chefs work together to give little ones taste lessons, opportunities to discover new food or under a different light I guess. I have translated for you two ideas of games that have been done during this week in nurseries and (pre-)schools across France. I love these kind of games as it gives me inspiration for things to do with my own children at home.
- Sour/Bitter/Sweet/Salty- Can you sort food according to their dominant taste?
Use some of the food below and ask the children to sort them in the following categories: bitter, sour, sweet or salty.
Sour: rhubarb, lemon, vinegar…; Bitter: chicory, grapefruit, rocket salad…; Sweet: cake, strawberry, sugar…; Salty: cheese, parma ham, salt
- Le sac fourre-tout (holdall bag)- Can you recognise food without seeing it ?
Put some of the food below in a bag ahead of the lesson. Blindfold a student and ask him to take something in the bag, to describe what he feels when touching it, smelling it, biting it… and finally to guess what it is.
Apple, orange, carrot, tomato, peach…
My little ones are still too young for these games so at home we did celebrate by
- Buying some herbs (mint and sage), smelling them and integrating them in some of their weekly dishes
- Tasting some new variety of cheeses – The guy from the cheese counter thinks I’m nuts as I always take lots of different cheeses in very small quantities!
However to be fair at home at the moment I’d like to think that it is la semaine du goût more or less every week as I’m doing my best to make them try new food all the time, one of my weekly challenge!
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