Food Technology

As the semester draws to a close, we say hip hip hooray to our Year 8-10 Food Technology students, as we prepare to welcome in our new classes next semester.  Over the semester, students have learnt about the design brief, food hygiene, safety, the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, Indigenous Australian food and culture, and, most of all, cooking. As students progress through the different year levels, the concepts and skills being taught become increasingly challenging, and the students' improvement is evident.

Year 8

Year 8 students have been cooking up a storm, designing an ice-cream and pancake faces, mastering baking with ANZAC biscuits, quesadillas and jam drops, sautéing cheesy rice fritters, enchiladas and Thai green curry. Not to mention boiling, simmering, grating, chopping, melting, whisking…the list goes on.

Each Term, the year 8’s complete two common assessment tasks (CAT), designing a puff pastry parcel in Term One and stir fry noodle box, Term Two.

Year 9

Year nine students started the year with an in-depth study on food hygiene and safety. Understanding bacteria, conditions for growth and preventative measures. We studied Australian Indigenous diets, changes over time and implications on health. Indigenous ingredients, lemon myrtle, wattle seed, bush tomato, saltbush and Tasmanian pepper are incorporated into cooking lessons. At the end of term, students complete their assessment designing an Indigenous Australian burger.

Term twos learning went 'around the world'. In the kitchen they produced calzones, Italian biscuits, Pico de Gallo, Pad Thai, beef stroganoff and butter chicken to name a few.

Year 10

Two electives are offered in year 10, Foundations of Food Preparation and Global Cuisine. Both electives use the design process and delve into the sensory properties of foods.

Foundations of Food Preparation sees students undertake learnings on the functions of foods and the role they play in our cooking. We study grains, meats, dairy, fruit and vegetables, fats, sugar and acids. Their CAT’s have them designing a pizza and a new/trial product using cream cheese. Their achievements were amazing.

The Global Cuisine elective has students investigating different regions around the world. They look into the foods in these regions, historic influences on food, the roles food plays in culture, geography and climate. Students choose a region to design a wedding menu for their first CAT. They then choose one of the items on this menu to demonstrate and cook during term two.