The culinary industry wouldn’t be what it is today without the ideas and inspirations of the vast array of chefs who have created edible masterpieces and experiences. This research task will help students discover the lives and inspirations behind these influencers and show their understanding in an oral and written presentation style format. Great as a filler lesson towards the end of the term, an introduction for a term of multicultural foods or set the research component for when the regular teacher is absent and the oral component for later. This task provides lots of examples of chefs students can choose to research, a range of questions they need to answer within their research, a score/marking form as well as an example written project that can be displayed to assist with student understanding. This is one of my go to lessons to keep students engaged!

It’s important to stay abreast of things happening in the Hospitality industry in order to meet Vocational criteria such as Source & Use Information on the Hospitality Industry. It also helps students to show their understanding of the industry to potential employers and in exams. This comprehension task is on the current trend of video resumes (AKA the Visume!). Students are given an article to read through and in conjunction with their knowledge of how the industry works, respond to the questions in as much detail as they can. Then they get the opportunity to put knowledge into practice by developing their own visume!

Herbs and spices are used to add colour, variety and unique flavours to food. Herbs and spices also come from different components of plants. This task utilises student fine motor skills of cutting and pasting with digital research to track down which part of the plant each herb and spice comes from. There is a classification table that should be printed A3 size for each student and 4 (printed on A4) pages (a total of 28 herbs and spices) flash cards for students to cut out. Answers are included. This activity is a great one for giving to Life Skills or Support students while the remainder of the class is working through the more in depth Herbs & Spices Research Task

An important aspect of working in a kitchen is the ability to plan and organise tasks in a time efficient manner. Poor workflow can impact not only the running and morale of the kitchen but also customers who become dissatisfied with long wait times and low quality meals. This often leads to loss of profits and potentially closure of the kitchen/business. This worksheet explains the importance of a smooth running workflow, common mise en place tasks and the four important areas to consider when writing a workflow plan. There are two templates students have access to - one which has them allocate tasks to group members for team meals and one for tasks that require them to work individually on a recipe/meal. To really get students understanding the importance of incorporating a logical order of steps and complete a couple recipes at the same time, students are provided with two recipes - Japanese Dumplings and Arancini. Each step has been separated for a cut and paste style activity. Once students have laid out the order they think the steps should go in, run through it as a class before writing it fully into the workflow plan template, making note of required equipment. If there is the time and budget, cook the recipes over a practical lesson or two while students follow their workflow to determine whether they really placed each step in the correct order!

Knowing how to eat healthy is a vital aspect to having a healthy mind and body. Our bodies can’t make nutrients so knowing the foods that are high in essential nutrients helps us make informed choices about the foods we eat. This research task asks students to select one of the 6 important nutrients, outline its importance for the body, identify the minimum and maximum daily requirements, explain what happens if we are deficient in it as well as locating a short recipe that provides the body with a good amount of the nutrient. Task includes marking criteria.