Food and Culture Project: The World's Flavor Profiles

By exploring food through a prism of culture, time, and place, we build a deeper appreciation of how regional characteristics have shaped our global food system.

In this lesson, students examine the food traditions of the world’s five major continents. They learn about the broad flavor profile of each continent, and then select a country and research key ingredients, seasonings, and dishes that form the foundation of that country’s cuisine.

Grade Levels: 3-5

Background: A flavor profile includes the overall attributes of a food product or cuisine. Numerous cuisines around the world use many of the same basic foods, but may add flavor to them in distinctive ways. Within each of these profiles are very distinctive regional differences, but the choice of seasonings — and in some cases ingredients — allows us to talk in broad terms about flavor profiles.

Length: Two 50-minute class periods, plus time between for student research.

Download The World's Flavor Profiles PDF [8.3M]

A California Food for California Kids® downloadable resource