Summer SAVY, Session 2 Day 1, Culinary Anthropology: Exploring Food and Culture (5th-6th)
We’re off to a great start to our week of Culinary Anthropology! It has been a joy to meet your students and to witness their curiosity, enthusiasm, and eagerness to explore the diverse aspects of human culture and tradition.
We kicked off the day with an exploration of tereré, a South American tea ritual. This activity served as an introduction to the basic concepts of cultural anthropology, including ethnographic fieldwork (including participant observation and interviews), the difference between cultural relativism and ethnocentrism, and the cultural importance of rituals. While trying the tea, students documented their sensory observations as well as reflections on the ritual in their field journals, fostering their skills as budding anthropologists. Many students didn’t appreciate the bitter, earthy taste, but were happy to take home the guampa (cup) and bombilla (filtering straw) to try other loose-leaf teas at a later time!
In the afternoon, we explored hunting and gathering societies and how their deep ecological knowledge challenges our assumption that their way of life is less advanced. Students learned about groups like the San people of the Kalahari Desert and how, rather than accumulating material wealth, their way of life reflects a different kind of “affluence”—one marked by ample time for family, community, and connection. Inspired by this idea, students created poems, artwork, and skits to express their own visions of a “good life.” These creative pieces sparked thoughtful conversations about how we define happiness, success, and well-being.
How To Support Your Child’s Learning at Home:
- Discuss Today’s Activities: Ask your child about their takeaways from drinking yerba maté and about their insights from hunter-gatherer societies. Encourage them to share what they learned and how they felt about these experiences.
- Share Cultural Traditions: Does your family have an ethnic or heritage tea or beverage? If so, how do those customs compare to the ritual of tereré? Discuss the ethnic and/or intergenerational food rituals in your family and their significance.
- ‘Travel’ like an Anthropologist: Family-friendly options of documentaries on hunter-gatherer societies include John Marshall’s The Hunters (1957) and People of the Seal (1971), produced by the National Film Board of Canada. To further examine cultural particulars vs. human universals, the documentary Babies (2010) (rated PG for some images of breastfeeding and naked babies) provides a fascinating look at the first year of life for babies from four different cultures around the world.
Tomorrow, we will delve further into how our own food preferences are shaped by our cultures. We are excited to continue this journey of discovery with your children and look forward to more enriching experiences throughout the week. Thank you for your support and for fostering a love of learning in your young scholars.
Warm regards,
Ms. Kathryn and Ms. Andrea
