Year 7 & 8 Technology 

Raw Ingredient Journey – Field to Fork

Understanding the journey of food from field to fork is key to the Technology curriculum and it is also something that Hospitality Teacher, Mr Josh O’Shea, is passionate about. 

It’s so important that students learn the journey of raw ingredients.  From where and how they are produced to how they are processed and how this can enhance or detract from the quality, taste and nutritional value of the raw ingredient is significant to our lives.' - Mr Josh O'Shea 

With an initial focus on dairy products, Year 7 had a cheese tasting class where students sampled a wide variety of cheese from blues to fetta, haloumi and brie and considered the differences and similarities between them.

Next it was making butter from cream by shaking it in a jar, then using the buttermilk produced in the process to make buttermilk pancakes.  For comparison, students also cooked buttermilk pancakes using commercially packaged buttermilk.

‘It was a unanimous vote that the pancakes made from the home made buttermilk were tastier, fluffier and had a better texture than those made with packaged buttermilk’, said Mr O’Shea.

‘Our next lesson in the series will be to consider and understand why there was a difference between the two’, added Mr O’Shea.

‘Year 7 have had four practical lessons so far this term and it is pleasing to see their confidence in the kitchen and food preparation skills developing. It’s not only important from a curriculum point of view, but also from a life skills perspective. Ensuring students can confidently follow a recipe, navigate their way

around the kitchen, understand how to prepare and cook raw ingredients for the best results and produce nutritious meals for themselves is essential to good health’, explained Mr O’Shea.