On Friday, 13 November the Foods 12 students got a chance to recreate a traditional Dim Sum restaurant. Ms. Jessica McDiarmid started the Dim Sum lab a few years ago because she felt that the traditional food and nutrition curriculum was a little bit too Euro-centric and lacked teachings of different dishes and ethnicities.
“It’s a fun lab that takes a week to do, gives students a variety of skills that the students would’ve never explored such as steaming in bamboo baskets, making pot stickers, using woks and deep frying,” said Ms. McDiarmid. Students, Paulo Fortin and Emerald Uyi-Osagie said that this was their favorite unit so far because everyone was making something different, and it taught them different skills. They also added that they would definitely try to make these dishes at home. This unit seemed to be very beneficial to the students, giving them another aspect to love about Foods 12.
There are six groups in the Foods 12 course and every single group made a different dish. The students learned to make, egg tarts, green onion pancakes, lotus leaf rice, shumai, vegetable pot stickers and spring rolls. They simulated a Dim Sum restaurant with every group serving every other table their dish and everyone sat down to a very nice elaborate brunch. Every foods 12 course student got to taste each dish. In addition, they compared and contrasted Western etiquette to Chinese etiquette. Before they started making the dishes they learned and practiced some Asian table manners, later on learning why those manners are used.
The Foods 12 students got to expand their knowledge about Chinese etiquette and aspects of the Chinese culture, as well as making some unique Chinese dishes. This unit taught them a lot of useful skills for their life after high school.
