Be a food detective
You’ll need
- A4 paper
- Coloured pens or pencils
- Device to show photos, videos, or slides
- Items of food or food packaging
- Reusable shopping bag
Before you begin
- Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Additional help to carry out your risk assessment, including examples.
- Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
- Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help if you’re short on helpers.
Planning this activity
- Collect a range of different food items and clean, dry food packaging. Include some items that come from plants and some that come from animals. If you want to take it a step further, you could include some that are made of both plant and animal ingredients, such as pizza. We’ve included some ideas below.
- To avoid any food waste, choose food that you’ll still be able to use after the activity or use clean, dry packaging.
- Make sure all the packaging you’re using is clean and safe for people to handle. Don’t use any packaging from raw meat or fish or any opened cans.
- You’ll need enough items for everyone to be able to have their own. If you’ve got a larger group, you might want to split into smaller groups so you can give each group a bag of items to explore.
- You could write out some labels saying ‘from plants’ and ‘from animals’ to help people sort the items into two piles. You could add some pictures to the labels to help everyone’s understanding.
Here are some ideas of different items you might want to use.
From animals:
- An empty milk bottle or carton
- An empty egg box
- An unopened can of tuna
- An empty yoghurt pot
- An empty tub from dairy spread
- An empty jar from honey
From plants:
- An unopened can of sweetcorn
- A packet of spaghetti
- A potato
- An apple
- A packet of raisins
- An unopened can of baked beans
- A box of dairy-free cereal (for example, wheat biscuits)
From plants and animals:
For an extra challenge, you could include some foods that have ingredients from both plants and animals.
- An empty cardboard pizza box. Cheese is typically made from cow’s milk, while the tomato topping comes from a plant. The base is made from flour, which is made by grinding up grains (seeds) from plants like wheat.
- A bar of milk chocolate. The milk comes from a cow, while the sugar comes from the sugar cane plant, and cocoa comes from a tree. Cocoa beans grow in pods on cacao trees in hot countries (especially countries in west Africa).
- An empty box from fish fingers. The fish obviously comes from an animal, but what’s it covered in? The batter or coating probably contains flour, which is made from plants.
Where does food come from?
- Ask everyone about where their food comes from. People might talk about supermarkets or food banks – but where does the food come from before it gets there? Some people might grow food in a garden, on a balcony, or on an allotment (a piece of land away from your home). Some people might even keep chickens for their eggs.
- Explain that some food (like vegetables and pasta) comes from plants, while other foods (like milk and chicken) come from animals. The food people eat is likely to have come from different places all around the world. You could chat about how lots of food comes from farms. Some of it goes to factories, where they mix things together to make different foods.
- Show everyone the bag of food items.You might want to split into smaller groups with a bag of food for each group.
- Everyone should take it in turns to pick an item from the bag. They should try to identify their food item. Do they think it comes from a plant or an animal, or maybe both? Some items might be harder than others. Encourage everyone to help each other and share ideas, and make sure the quieter voices are heard too.
- Let people keep taking it in turns to choose a food item, identify it, and think about where it comes from. Adults volunteers or young leaders can help everyone identify all the foods and help them understand which plant or animal each item comes from.
- If something’s from a plant, you could talk about whether it grows underground like a potato or above the ground. If it grows above the ground, does it grow in a tree (like bananas) or on a smaller plant or bush (like strawberries)? If there’s time, you could look at pictures of the plants.
My favourite food
- When everyone’s ready, they should draw their favourite food or favourite lunch. They could also draw something they like to eat or something they’ve eaten today.
- When everyone’s finished, anyone who wants to share what they’ve done should take it in turns to show everyone their drawings and tell them about their favourite food. You could ask what it’s made from, and where they think each ingredient comes from.
- For example, if someone’s chosen pizza, think about where the cheese comes from, where the tomatoes for the topping come from, and what the base is made from.
Squirrel story about food
Story time
- Everyone should sit in a circle.
- Someone should read Exploring the Allotment by Annabel Rose. This story is about learning about different types of foods and where they grow.
- After reading the story, everyone should take some time to reflect on it as a group. We’ve included some questions to help you reflect in the pink box below.
Pritti lived in a block of flats with her mummy and her mama. They didn’t have a garden. One Saturday morning, Pritti’s mama had some very exciting news.
‘Our new neighbour is called Rosie and she has an allotment,’ Mama explained. ‘Allotments are like gardens that people can rent. They use the space to grow fruit and vegetables, and Rosie said we could help her harvest some.’
When they arrived at the allotment, Rosie was waiting for them. She led them past lots of people digging holes and watering plants and picking weeds.
‘Here’s everything I’ve been growing,’ Rosie said. ‘I think we can harvest carrots and cauliflowers and cucumbers today.’
Rosie pointed to a row of plants with tall, green leaves that looked a bit like feathers.
‘These are the carrots,’ she explained.
‘Where?’ asked Pritti. She wasn’t a gardening expert, but even she knew that carrots were orange.
Pritti’s mummy showed her how to push the tickly green leaves to the side. It looked like someone had poked a carrot into the mud! Pritti learned to carefully pull the long orange carrots out of the ground. They were all different sizes, and some of them were funny shapes too.
‘This one looks like a pair of legs!’ Pritti giggled.
Meanwhile, Mama was helping Rosie harvest the cauliflowers. It was a bit easier to spot the wrinkly white cauliflowers poking out among the big green leaves. Pritti watched as Rosie cut the cauliflower off the plant.
Soon they moved to the cucumbers. The cucumber plant was the tallest plant of the three. Bendy cucumbers grew among the leaves and yellow flowers. Pritti’s job was to find the cucumbers; then she stepped back while Rosie used one of her tools to snip them off the plant.
‘Some plants grow on bushes, too,’ Rosie explained. ‘Let’s go and see if the blackberries are ripe.’
Rosie led Pritti, Mama and Mummy to the back of the allotments where there were big bushes all along the fence. Rosie showed her how to carefully pull the plumpest, juiciest blackberries off the plant – and she soon learned to be careful of the prickly thorns.
‘When did you plant the blackberries?’ Pritti asked.
‘We don’t know where they came from,’ explained Rosie. ‘These plants are wild – they probably planted themselves! Everyone at the allotments shares the blackberries, and we leave some behind for the wildlife too.’
They walked back to their flat with their arms full of berries and vegetables. When they got home, they washed the food and Pritti sat down to have a snack.
‘I wonder what we’ll harvest next weekend?’ she said. ‘Maybe we’ll pick some eggs or dig up some milk.’
Mummy and Mama laughed. Do you know why they were laughing? Where do eggs and milk really come from?
By Annabel Rose
Reflection
This activity encouraged everyone to explore different foods and think about where they come from. People also practised taking turns and sharing their ideas.
Exploring the Allotment
- How many different foods did Pritti find?
- Why is it good to see where food comes from?
Plant or animal?
- Had people tried the food in this activity before? Did they like it? What does it taste like?
- Did people enjoy finding out about where different foods come from? Was anyone surprised when they found out where the foods come from?
My favourite food
- Did anyone find out anything new about their favourite food?
Safety
All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.
- Food
Remember to check for allergies, eating problems, fasting or dietary requirements and adjust the recipe as needed. Make sure you’ve suitable areas for storing and preparing food and avoid cross contamination of different foods. Take a look at our guidance on food safety and hygiene.
- Rubbish and recycling
All items should be clean and suitable for this activity.
You can make it more challenging by including food items that have ingredients from both plants and animals, like pizza or chocolate.
It’s up to you to decide how much detail you go into about where the foods come from and how they’re made.
People could label their drawings with words or pictures that show where their food comes from.
Check whether anyone has allergies or dietary requirements before the session. Are there any items of food (or packaging) that people can’t touch or be near to? Are there items that people might not be comfortable using in the activity?
Whenever you’re talking about food, remember that everyone’s situations will be different. Some households may be able to easily afford to buy any food they like, whereas others may rely on help from food banks or have fewer choices at the supermarket.
All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.
Ask an adult to help you find out more about your favourite food. Can you find out if it comes from this country or somewhere else around the world?
Next time you have a meal or snack at home, see if you can find out where the food comes from.
Make sure everyone has a chance to share their ideas.