Foods and Nutrition First Assignment:Welcome!

Foods and Nutrition

The Link

Foods and Nutrition First Assignment:Welcome!

Welcome to The Link!

Choosing to complete courses through Distributed Learning is an exciting choice! You have the opportunity to complete work at your own pace, at times of the day that work for you.

You may be thinking “Foods and Nutrition online – huh?”, and that’s okay. This is how we can make the course work:

• You need a camera to capture some of your kitchen adventures

As we won’t be working in a kitchen together, you will need to document some of your attempts, successes and failures. Pictures will need to be shared with me, but it doesn’t have to be a fancy camera – a cell phone camera will work.

• You need someone who will be your food critic: to try some of your recipes and provide feedback

This can be a parent, a sibling, a friend… someone who will taste what you have prepared and provide written feedback that will be submitted to me

• If both or either of these are not possible for you, please contact me (June Hinshaw) at to discuss other options regarding the delivery of this course.

• As you will be using your home kitchen for food preparation, students will bear the cost of supplies.

For success in any Distributed Learning course, you also need to do the following:

Communicate: It is essential you communicate with your teacher(s) when you have questions. If you don’t ask, we don’t know! Send an email as soon as you have a question, and you will receive a response within one school day. If your teacher emails you, please respond in a polite manner using proper language (i.e., capitalize “I”) within a reasonable timeframe. Make sure you state your name and which course you are working on.

Read Carefully: Since you don’t have a teacher in front of you explaining the instructions, it is very important to read instructions carefully to make sure you are meeting the learning outcomes for the course. If you don’t understand any of the instructions, please ask! This is especially true when following a recipe!

Engage: Success in Distributed Learning depends on you, the student, being self-motivated and being interested in completing your work. No one can force you to do this: you must make the choice to log into the program on a regular basis and submit work (in this case, get in the kitchen and (literally!) get cooking! You have to eat, right?). The Link expects you will be logging in on a regular basis and setting and meeting reasonable goals. Failure to do so may result in withdrawal from the course(s).

You have made the first step by reading this! Now, keep reading to begin the first assignment for Foods and Nutrition. Read carefully. When you are done, follow the instructions for handing your first assignment in to the teacher and moving forward in the course.

Completing the first assignment will help you to;

• Identify your eating habits (Introduction to C1, C3)
• Become more aware of how food influences lifestyle and visa versa
• Become more aware of your engagement with food shopping and preparation.
• The second part of the assignment is designed as a review from previous courses or to introduce you to Food Preparation Foundations related to Safety and Sanitation in the kitchen. (A1, A2, A3(from Grade 9))

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

June Hinshaw,

Foods and NutritionTeacher

Foods and Nutrition First Assignment:

Personal Survey

Ah, food and nutrition. Such an interesting topic! We all have to eat, but what we choose to eat, when, how it is prepared is up for debate. What makes a good pizza, for example? Some people think it should be deep dish, loaded with toppings, dripping with cheese. Others prefer the simpler, Naples-style of fewer toppings and a dusting of cheese, to let high quality ingredients do the talking.

These questions will help me to understand why you want to take this course and get to know you a little better.

Obviously, there can be no right or wrong answers to these questions. You will receive full marks by doing the following:

• Answering all parts of the question, in detail
• Answering in complete sentences, using proper spelling, grammar and sentence structure
• Showing that you have given your answers some thought

You can answer all questions for this first assignment in a separate document. Number carefully (otherwise I can get very confused, very quickly!).

1. Which type of pizza is your favorite, and why? If you don’t like any pizza, explain why.

1. What is your favorite meal, from start to finish? Include any appetizers, beverages and desserts.

1. What foods do you really dislike, and why? Have you always disliked them?

1. What foods do you eat on a regular basis?

1. What is your favorite food or meal to cook or prepare?

1. Do you have any food allergies?

1. List everything that you ate yesterday, and the approximate times you ate. (If you can’t remember, list everything for today and enter it in the assignment tomorrow). Include quantities.

1. Does your family or you have any cultural or ethnic foods that they enjoy eating?

1. Who does the shopping and meal planning in your home?

1. What is your experience with cooking and preparing foods?

1. As you will be working in your home kitchen, please explain the space to me. Is it large? Do you have a dishwasher? Do you have a stove/oven/microwave? Please take a picture of your kitchen space and insert it here.

1. Have you ever had a job in the food industry? Please explain.

1. Our culture celebrates often with food. Think of a happy “food” memory, and explain it to me. For example, a surprise birthday cake, a meal someone prepared for you, trying a new restaurant, or a holiday meal with family.

1. Why do you wish to take this course?

1. What do you wish to learn from this course?

1. Is there anything I need to know about you?

Foods and NutritionFirst Assignment:

Kitchen Safety and Sanitation

No one wants to prepare food, cook food, eat food, or hang out in a gross kitchen. And no one wants to end up in the hospital instead of eating their tasty meal. So let’s make sure we know how to be in the kitchen and not get hurt, okay?

Watch these introductory videos:

Kitchen Safety and Sanitation:

Kitchen Attire

Just as you don’t wear a wedding dress to go for a run, you need to cook and prepare food in proper attire.

Proper kitchen attire includes the following:

• Nothing big and loose or dangling (loose sleeves or things hanging down can get dirty and/or catch fire)
• Hair tied back or in a hair net (no one wants your hair in their food)
• An apron (so your own clothes don’t get dirty)
• Non-slip shoes (so you don’t slip) with closed toes

Hand Washing

Clean hands are essential for working in kitchens, as well as just stopping the spread of germs in our society. Expect to wash your hands several times per day, and several times during food preparation.

Equipment Safety

When you turn 16, you are eligible to learn how to drive. But then you have to learn how to operate a motor vehicle. Kitchens are similar: you need to learn how to work your equipment.

General tips:

• Make sure all wires, cords and plugs on your appliances are not frayed and that the plugs have 3-prong grounded connections. This would include coffee makers, toasters, blenders, microwaves, mixers, etc.
• Don’t use extension cords. You can obtain a junction box that has built-in GFI (ground fault interrupters). This will allow you extra plug in space and the GFI will kick in if there is a power shortage. Helps avoid water/electrical shock accidents.
• Get rid of any appliance that is broken or damaged. New ones are very inexpensive these days. If a new one would bust your budget, try garage and tag sales (just make sure you’re not buying somebody else’s broken appliance).
• Be sure appliances are unplugged before touching sharp edges (blenders, can openers, mixers, etc.).
• Never stick a fork in a toaster to retrieve trapped toast – you may get shocking results.
• Always be sure the blender is unplugged before touching the blades.

Ovens and Stoves

Your oven is what you use for baking. You need to know how to turn it on, how to read the temperature (is it Fahrenheit or Celsius) and how to clean an oven (an unclean oven becomes a serious safety risk as the old, burnt food could catch fire). When you open the oven door, wait a few seconds for the hot air to release. If you stick your head or hands in right away, you will feel the gush of hot air – not good.

Always remember to use oven mitts to pull hot dishes out of the oven.

The stovetop is the burners on top. Are they gas or electric? Electric is a metal ring that will heat up (left, top). Gas shows a blue flame that heats up the burner (left, bottom).

Usually stove tops have 4 burners (2 small, 2 large), but some models have up to 6 burners and a flat grill space. (Fancy schmancy!). Hopefully you have already learned that these burners get very hot and you DON’T touch them. If you haven’t learned that by now….um, well….

The higher you set the stove dial, the more heat you are producing. High heat is used for boiling, low for simmering or keeping warm, and in-between for various cooking methods, like a low boil or a medium heat.

Knives

A knife is one of the most important kitchen tools. A good knife is a great thing… it slices cleanly and easily. Have you ever used a dull knife? I had to saw through a tomato once… it wrecks the tomato and is a safety hazard, as a dull blade can catch and slip. That poor tomato.

Using a knife properly will prepare your food better and be safer in the kitchen. Proper knife care includes:

• Keeping your knives sharp, either professionally or using a knife sharpener properly
• Storing your knives properly in a knife block or knife rack. When you throw your knives in a drawer, they dull more quickly and there is a greater chance you will cut yourself reaching in to grab one
• Hand washing your knives and drying them immediately to prevent any rusting
• Chopping and cutting slowly and carefully
• Cut away from your body
• Make sure your hands are dry and your cutting surface is not slippery
• Watch what you are doing at all times – if you are distracted, stop cutting

Watch this YouTube video about basic knife cutting, or The Pinch and The Claw:

Food Storage

Food that goes bad is:

a)Gross to look at

b)Smelly

c)A waste of money

d)Dangerous to cook with or eat

e)All of the above

If you answered e), you’re right! If you didn’t - seriously?

Proper food storage has many benefits. I don’t know if you have ever had to pick up a month old, mushy cucumber from a produce drawer, but you only want to handle that ick once. [Rebecca shudders at the memory!]

Read through the following to understand how to store food to keep it fresh, tasty, and ready to prepare.

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Cross-Contamination

Some foods are naturally much higher in bacteria than others, and need to be handled with extra care. Raw meat and fish are the most important ones to look out for, as the bacteria found on them can easily lead to food poisoning if it’s allowed to spread to other foods.

Imagine for a minute that you’re cooking grilled chicken and salad for dinner. If you chop up the raw chicken on a chopping board before cooking it, then use that same knife and board to prepare your salad, the salad will be contaminated with bacteria from the uncooked chicken. This is called ‘cross-contamination’ and here are the golden rules for avoiding it:

•Store raw meat and fish on the bottom shelf of your fridge, and store food that is ready to be eaten whether it’s salad, cheese, dairy or cooked food on the shelves above. This is so the juices from the raw foods can’t drip onto cooked foods and cross-contaminate them.

•If you’re preparing raw meat, chicken or fish on a chopping board, wash the board, the knife and your hands thoroughly afterwards so that the bacteria doesn’t spread onto food that is cooked or ready to eat. Some restaurants have different coloured chopping boards for raw and cooked foods, or for meat, fish and veg, to minimise the chances of this happening. These are readily available from loads of home and kitchen stores so you might like to try this at home.

•Be aware that there may be germs and bacteria in the soil on any dirty muddy vegetables. Peel them in the sink, rinse them well before use then remember to clean the sink and your hands before you do anything else.

•Once meat, chicken or fish are cooked, lift them out of the pan and serve them using clean implements that haven’t touched any raw food. This applies to barbecuing too; it’s a scary thing to see the same tongs that put raw chicken on the barbecue oneminute, lift off cooked chicken the next!

© Jamie Oliver: JAMIESHOMECOOKINGSKILLS.COM

Handling Hot Food

Rule #1: Don’t burn yourself.

Rule #2: See rule #1.

But, to be more specific, when dealing with hot food in the kitchen:

• Always use oven mitts to pick up things from the oven or stove when the handle may be hot
• Open lids away from you, to deflect the steam away
• Use two hands to lift heavy pots or pans
• Wear an apron and long sleeves to protect against splatters
• Use a cooling rack or a trivet to protect your countertops from burns
• Do not leave cooking food unattended
• Keep all dish clothes, pot holders and oven mitts away from heat sources so they don’t melt or catch fire
• Wipe up spills on the oven top to prevent old food from catching fire

If something goes wrong….

Keepa fire extinguisher in or near the kitchen, but not near the stove or the heater. Know how to use it.

In case of a grease fire, salt and/or baking soda will help if you do not have a fire extinguisher.

Keep emergency numbers handy – 911 is easy to remember, but phone numbers to Poison Control might take longer.

Scalding is one of the most common injuries in the kitchen. Make sure to turn pot handles away from the front of the stove and away from little curious hands.

Scalding can occur from hot steam as well. Be careful when lifting lids from hot food (including opening that hot bag of microwave popcorn)!

Consider taking a local first aid course – in Victoria, St John’s Ambulance runs courses quite frequently:

Watch this quick YouTube video:

Invest in a basic first aid box for your home. According to the Mayo Clinic, a home first aid kit should contain:

• Adhesive tape
• Antibiotic ointment
• Antiseptic solution or towelettes
• Bandages, including a roll of elastic wrap (Ace, Coban, others) and bandage strips (Band-Aid, Curad, others) in assorted sizes
• Instant cold packs
• Cotton balls and cotton-tipped swabs
• Disposable latex or synthetic gloves, at least two pair
• Duct tape
• Gauze pads and roller gauze in assorted sizes
• First-aid manual
• Petroleum jelly or other lubricant
• Plastic bags for the disposal of contaminated materials
• Safety pins in assorted sizes
• Scissors and tweezers
• Soap or instant hand sanitizer
• Sterile eyewash, such as a saline solution
• Thermometer
• Triangular bandage
• Turkey baster or other bulb suction device for flushing out wounds

Medications

• Activated charcoal (use only if instructed by your poison control center)
• Aloe vera gel
• Anti-diarrhea medication
• Over-the-counter oral antihistamine, such as diphenhydramine (Benadryl, others)
• Aspirin and nonaspirin pain relievers (never give aspirin to children)
• Calamine lotion
• Over-the-counter hydrocortisone cream
• Personal medications that don't need refrigeration
• If prescribed by your doctor, drugs to treat an allergic attack, such as an auto-injector of epinephrine (EpiPen, Twinject, others)
• Syringe, medicine cup or spoon

Foods and Nutrition First Assignment:

Kitchen Safety and Sanitation Questions

Continue your answers in the document you created for questions # 1-16.

1. Watch this video on YouTube:

From what you have read and watched already, list at 12 examples of what this cook should not be doing. Number your list please.