Fried foods for Hanukhah

This Jewish ‘festival of lights’ lasts for eight days. It celebrates an important time in Jewish history and a miracle that turned one day's worth of candle oil into the eight days of light. The most important Hanukkah ritual is candle lighting. Every night of the festival, one candle is lit in a special candleholder called a "menorah" until the last night when there are nine lit candles. During Hanukkah, people traditionally eat fried foods, like ‘potato latkes’ and

‘sufganiot’ (jelly doughnuts) as a celebration of the oil lamp miracle.

You can find recipes for Gulab Jamans and Potato Latkes in the Information section.

• When does your family, or community, join together for feasting?

• Are there times when your community fasts?

• Are there any special foods, or ways of preparing food that are linked to these celebrations?

• How many people in your community still take part in traditional celebrations and customs?

• Are there any new festivals or celebrations in your area?

Design a colourful “celebrations calendar” to show the festivals, celebrations and customs that are important in your area at different times of the year. Try to show whether there are any special ways of preparing, decorating or celebrating with food at these times.

Potato Treasure!

Potatoes came originally from Peru and have been grown high up in the Andes Mountains for thousands of years. Archaeologists* have found remains of potatoes from 8000-6000B.C.! For the ancient people in this area, the potato was so important that it had an important place in legends, myths, festivals, rituals and offerings – and many of these are still celebrated today. International Potato Centre 2001, The Potato Treasure othe Andes.

Part 3 You are what you eat

Our bodies need food so that they can work properly – to be active, to grow, to heal themselves, and so that our brains can think. The combination of different food that you generally eat is called your diet. It is important to look at your diet to check if the food you are eating is giving your body everything that it needs.

There are five main groups of essential foods that our bodies need to grow and work properly - protein, fat, carbohydrate (starches and sugars), vitamins and minerals. Each of these, plus water and fibre, is essential for a healthy balanced diet. The best way to balance your diet is to eat a wide variety of different foods. Key words about food types and diet can be found in the glossary at the back.

I can get vitamins

and minerals from

vegetables and

fruit, fish…

I can get food for

I have water and

products…

I can get energy carbohydrates in bread, noodles, rice, pasta, flour, warmth from fats in milk, nuts, cheese, oil, yoghurt…

fibre in whole

grains, cereal, bran,

vegetables, fruit…

I can get strong

muscles from protein

in eggs, meat, nuts,

cheese, fish, milk

5. Food and a healthy body

a. Look at your chart of the food you ate in your day. Use the picture above and the table to find out what food groups were in your diet. Find a creative way of showing how your food helped you to carry out your activities in the day and helped your body to be healthy. You could draw a picture, design a cartoon, or make a food chart.

b. Think about the other foods you could you have eaten in the day to give you a more balanced diet.

c. Many things can affect the amount and variety of food that is available to people in

different parts of the world and it can be difficult for people to have a balanced diet. For example, some areas of the world have unreliable rain which can make it hard to

grow enough food.

As a class, think about your region. What are the main things that affect food and healthy diets in your area?