DT: cooking savoury meals, and an appreciation of WWII rationing
In Year 6, the Connected Curriculum is used to link different elements of the learning, which helps the children build meaningful connections and the cross-application of knowledge and skills.
In autumn 2, Year 6 study the Battle of Britain, a famous series of areal battles which took part in World War II. To help the children understand more about life in the early 1940s, the children learnt about growing, preparing and cooking food on the home front.
The children had already learnt a little about rationing, during their trip to Eden Camp. This system was put in place during World War II to make sure food was distributed fairly, as food and other commodities (such as clothes and soap) were in short supply. As a result, each person could only buy a certain amount of each food item.
The classes then used their Design and Technology skills and knowledge of rationing restrictions to cook savoury meals that fitted this period. They made three different dishes: cottage pie, cheese and potato dumplings and bubble and squeak. The cooking of a range of savory, main course meals builds on their prior knowledge of making pizzas in Year 3, designing salads in Year 4 and cooking stews in Year 5.
Once they had cooked the food, the children were able to taste all the dishes and evaluate how successful each meal had been. The cheese and potato dumplings were the most popular, and the bubble and squeak was given the lowest overall rating.
These lessons showed us how hard it was to cook delicious meals with rationing in place. However, the children did realise that meals were often healthier during this time, as they contained an extremely high vegetable content, and far less fat and sugar than people eat today.
