Heritage Cookbook Project Brings Grade 6 Community Together to Celebrate Food, Family and Culture

Middle School students in grade 6 had a day of service, community, connection and learning centered around the food they eat and the family heritage that shaped them. 

 

The heritage cookbook project is an annual interdisciplinary unit led by Middle School world history teacher Rian Otto and English teacher Owen Beitner, which explores family history and cultural traditions centered around food.

 

As part of the project, students interviewed family members about their cultural heritage and also learned more about a family recipe with cultural significance. 

 

It led up to a big day on Wednesday. It started with grade 6 students taking part in a service-learning activity at Second Harvest, where they dug, planted and nurtured small seedlings that will go directly to food banks when they’re harvested in a couple of months.

 

The students then returned to campus to a feast, with help from parents and loved ones who brought their family recipes to share with the rest of the grade 6 community. The festive potluck in the Middle School courtyard featured more 60 food, dessert and drink items representing cultures from around the world. There was birria, chicken curry with Thai basil, lumpia, meatballs and udon noodles, among many other delicious dishes. 

 

“Students filled their plates with items their classmates typically eat with their families on special occasions,” Mr. Beitner said. 

 

After the feast, six Middle School students and computer science teacher Nathan Valdez shared stories of their family heritage and their chosen dishes, as the rest of the grade 6 community listened in. 

 

“The day concluded with a moment of reflection and writing, during which students wrote letters of gratitude to the family members they interviewed or the family member that brought the dish in for the project,” Mr. Beitner said. 

 

The recipes from the feast will be compiled into a Heritage Cookbook which will be shared with the Middle School community. It’s become a cherished grade 6 tradition since Mrs. Otto and Mr. Beitner started the interdisciplinary project as a way to build community and for students to learn more about their family history and the stories of their fellow grade 6 peers.