Majid lives in Beirut, Lebanon. He and his classmates are spending the day away from school and outdoors. As Majid gets to his school he sees all of his classmates who are very eager to get going with their trip. With his classmates are dozens and dozens of stone pine saplings. Majid and his class will spend the day planting all of these trees. He has never planted a tree before. Even though they are small now these stone pine trees will grow large with billowy leaves. These trees also make pine nuts which are a part of many of the foods that Majid likes to eat. In the morning, Majid eats lahm bi ajeen which is made of flatbread, beef and vegetables; including pine nuts. As Majid spends his day planting new trees he hopes other people will be able to get pine nuts from them for many, many years.
Leena lives in Helsinki, Finland. She is spending the day with her grandparents in a forest. Together they are foraging for food. Foraging means searching for food that is growing naturally. Leena enjoys spending this time with her grandparents because they teach her what foods of the forest are good for cooking. She also learns from them what foods they should leave alone. Leena’s grandmother and grandfather were surprised and happy when they found a big bunch of nutritious mushrooms. They picked the mushrooms and carried them back in their baskets. Once they got home Leena’s grandparents used those mushrooms in a creamy mushroom salad. Leena was happy to know that she helped to find a healthy dinner for her family.
Oliver lives in Canberra, Australia. He is visiting the Floriade festival with his older sister. The Floriade festival is one of the city’s most popular events and is one of the largest flower festivals in the world! Not only does the festival have many beautiful flowers but also, they have classes on how to help the environment by reducing waste. Oliver and his sister learned that all forms of waste can hurt the environment, even food waste. They learned a helpful trick. Instead of throwing away small amounts of remaining foods they could instead try to create a new dish with those leftover ingredients combined together. That evening Oliver surprised his sister by making a dinner dish called tofu stir fry. The vegetables he used in the stir fry were combined from leftover vegetables Oliver had in their refrigerator.
Mia lives in New York City, USA. She was asked by her mom to pick up some food for dinner. But Mia does not live near a grocery store. Where should she go? Mia decides to visit the local community garden to try to buy some food. Even though she lives in the middle of a very busy city she can find fresh fruits and vegetables in the community garden. The garden sells food that it grows to the local area and also donates food to people who cannot afford to buy. That evening she made a mixed green salad for her family which had mixed greens, tomatoes and cucumbers. She was able to get all of these ingredients from the community garden. Mia hopes that more parts of the city will get a community garden of their own.
Ianne lives in Cotonou, Benin. She was surprised when her aunt brought home a very large bag of yams. Yams are an important food for Ianne’s family because they are in many of the meals that Ianne eats. Sometimes though, poor roads make it difficult for farmers to get their yams and other foods to the market. Ianne’s aunt said that the roads have improved a lot recently and that is a reason why she is able to buy more yams than usual. Ianne is very happy too because she loves it when her aunt makes igname pilé à la sauce d’arachide a dish made with yams and peanut stew. Ianne hopes that the roads stay clear and continue to improve so she can keep enjoying her aunts delicious cooking.
Chantrea lives on a small family farm close to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Her family works very hard to grow crops on their farm. The plants on Chantrea’s farm need a lot of water, and her family had big, metal irrigation pipes that pull water from an underground well. But this year, the weather has been very dry and the well was running out of water. Chantrea could tell that her parents were very worried about the plants dying on their farm. One day, Chantrea’s mother went to a community center and brought home a new irrigation system. Instead of using big, metal pipes the new pipes were much smaller and made of rubber. The pipes had tiny holes that would slowly drip water onto the plants. This method helped Chandrea’s family reduce the water they needed for their crops. Chantrea helped her mother place the new irrigation tubes around their mango trees. That night, Chantrea’s family enjoyed a green mango salad with vegetables. The Cambodian food guide is shaped like a tower of a famous Cambodian landmark: Angkor Wat. The tower is broken into six categories: cereals and starchy foods; protein-rich foods; vegetables; fruit; calcium-rich foods; and a final group of oils, fats, and sugars. The green mango salad is a nutritious meal that gives a large portion of fruits and vegetables that Chantrea needs to eat daily. Chantrea is hopeful that with drip irrigation her family’s farm will continue to grow happy and healthy mango trees.
Lucia is traveling with her dad to a cattle farm near Buenos Aires, Argentina. Lucia’s dad is visiting a farm with two new baby calves. He will give the calves some shots so that they can grow up healthy and strong. Lucia loves seeing the baby animals on the farm. She helps her dad by feeding the calves some treats while he gives them their shots. Lucia wants to learn more about medicine so she can also be a veterinarian when she grows up. After treating the calves, Lucia and her father returned to their home in Buenos Aires. That night, she got a special dessert for helping her dad. The dessert is named flan con dulce de leche, which is a sweet dish that has a lot of dairy products such as milk and cream. That night, Lucia realized how important it is to keep the cows healthy in Argentina because so many different types of foods have beef and dairy in them. The Argentinian food guide is shaped like a circle with six food groups: vegetables and fruits; legumes, cereals, potatoes, bread, and pasta; milk, yogurt, and cheese; meat and eggs; oils, dried fruit, and seeds; and sweets and fats. Lucia hopes she can help keep the cows of Argentina healthy so everyone can enjoy such a delicious dessert!
Antonio lives in Mexico City, Mexico. Today, he is very busy with helping his neighbors at their breakfast restaurant. Antiono’s neighbors had so many customers that they were running low on ingredients for their salsa. They asked Antonio to run to their garden and to pick some peppers and tomatoes so they could make some more. Most people have their gardens outside on the ground floor, but Antonio’s neighbors have their garden on the roof of their building! The roof of their building is flat, and the garden has enough room for tomatoes, herbs, peppers, and even a small chicken coop. Sometimes it can rain very hard in Mexico City, causing the ground to flood. But since this garden is on the roof, it is protected from floods. The plants and animals stay protected from too much water. After Antonio helped his neighbors, they cooked him a delicious meal of huevos rancheros. Huevos rancheros is a dish with a fried egg, beans, and salsa on a tortilla. The food guide of Mexico is in the shape of a plate and is separated into six categories: cereals, food from animals, vegetables, fruit, legumes, and dairy products. Huevos rancheros includes a lot of important and nutritious food groups, namely, cereals, eggs, vegetables, and legumes. Antonio felt proud that he helped find the ingredients to make such a good meal.