Avondale Primary School

Avondale: Where we came from, where we are now , and where we are going

Foods in Our Community

The Community's Heritage of Cultural Foods and Eating Habits
By Room 10

Avondale's changing nature of its community is bringing with it a diverse range of foods that are now being adopted, tried and enjoyed by its people. The different cultural groups such as the Māoris, Samoans, Tongans, Europeans, Indians, Niueans, Chinese, Africans, Middle Eastern origins have brought their food preferences to a community which is now trying out new foods.

Pizza

Pizza is fast becoming an easy, quick, and much preferred food for a lot of people in this day and age.

Room 10 found out that pizza was first made by the Italians and the Greeks as early as one thousand years ago. Today all cultures have taken to eating pizza and it is much loved by all ages.

For a shared class experience Room 10 decided to make pizza. In groups of 4 or 5 the children designed, named and made their own pizzas according to their tastes and preferences. Ingredients were bought and prepared. After the filling was all cut up and ready the base was carefully mixed and kneaded and cooked for five minutes before the topping was added.

Cooking the pizza took about twenty minutes in the oven and delicious, hot pizzas were enjoyed by all children.

These are some of the photos of the cooking and eating of pizza in Room10.

Preparations underway for our self designed pizza

It's all ready for the oven now

Being cooked in the oven . Can't wait till eating time

It is scrumptious

Hangi

Hangi is the traditional way of cooking food for the Māori people. The method is similar to that of a pressure cooker as the food is cooked by steam trapped under the ground.

The hangi can be used to cook food for small or large groups of people and for any special occassion. Traditionally flax ketes or baskets were used to wrap food before being put in the specially prepared pit of hot stones and then covered with earth to create the oven effect.

All types of food including meat, root crops and vegetables can be cooked in a hangi.

Different cultures around the Pacific cook their food in similar ways but have their own names for this method of cooking. The Samoan and Tongan people call it umu, the Hawaiians called it imu and the Fijians call it lovo.

Cultural Feast

To celedrate the different cultural foods, Room 10 organized a big cultural feast for lunch on the last week of the term. A large variety of foods from all groups of people were represented. Each food was labelled with its name, the culture it came from and the ingredients used. the pictures show the range of dishes shared during our feast.

All food was properly labelled and ingredients listed.

This is rewana bread that is traditionally Māori

Pavlova is a traditional European dessert

Taro is much loved by people from all Pacific Islands. It can be either boiled, deep fried or made into chips as a snack

Dumplings are chinese delicacies made with flour and filling of choice

Biryani is a traditional Indian rice dish.

Mexican Burritos had vegetable stuffing rolled in flat thin homemade bread

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By Room 10