Who Wants to Be A Veggie-Naire?

cooking
Written By Judy Doherty, MPS, PCII
We played this with a class of 32 fifth graders. They used the cups and baggies to take home all the leftovers they had not eaten to show their parents!
You need:• Whole and diced samples of 4-8 fruits or vegetables of about the same color, some familiar, some new to the children or class.• Paper plates.• Small cups.• Plastic baggies.Mary used rutabaga, turnip, parsnip, potato, apple, boniato and jicama – all white ones. Green leaves or yellow roots and fruits would also work.Show the whole ones, tell something about them and pass them around the room one by one along with a plate of diced samples for the children to taste. Pass a baggie, in case they want to spit it out.Divide the class into two groups, and arrange the chairs so there are at least 4-5 rows of 2-3 students with room for moving in a center or side aisle.Have numbered paper cups of each product. Keep a list of which one is in each number, and put the products in a different order for each team.The first row is “it” on each team. They each get a cup of sample to taste and identify. If they agree on an identity and it’s correct, they get 10 points. If they can’t agree, or don’t know, they can ask their “lifeline,” the second row. Or lifelines may be other teachers who don’t have the answer list. A correct answer with a lifeline earns 5 points; an incorrect answer earns no points.When the first row team presents an answer, they get up and run to the back. Each row moves up one row, and the new first row gets their sample. The game proceeds until all the samples have been tried.The team with the most points wins.To make it more TV game-like, I put the correct identity on one side of a numbered card, one card per envelope per team. As each row presented their answer, a helper opened the envelope, showed the card so the team was sure it was the right number (matched their cup), then read out or showed the correct answer.By CFFH reader Mary Keith
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Judy Doherty, MPS, PCII

Judy’s passion for cooking began with helping her grandmother make raisin oatmeal for breakfast. From there, she earned her first food service job at 15, was accepted to the world-famous Culinary Institute of America at 18 (where she graduated second in her class), and went on to the Fachschule Richemont in Switzerland, where she focused on pastry arts and baking. After a decade in food service for Hyatt Hotels, Judy launched Food and Health Communications to focus on flavor and health. She graduated with Summa Cum Laude distinction from Johnson and Wales University with a BS in Culinary Arts, holds a master’s degree in Food Business from the Culinary Institute of America, two art certificates from UC Berkeley Extension, and runs a food photography & motion studio where her love is creating fun recipes and content.

Judy received The Culinary Institute of America’s Pro Chef II certification, the American Culinary Federation Bronze Medal, Gold Medal, and ACF Chef of the Year. Her enthusiasm for eating nutritiously and deliciously leads her to constantly innovate and use the latest nutritional science and Dietary Guidelines to guide her creativity, from putting new twists on fajitas to adapting Italian brownies to include ingredients like toasted nuts and cooked honey. Judy’s publishing company, Food and Health Communications, is dedicated to her vision that everyone can make food that tastes as good as it is for you.

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