Lesson video

Hi, Mrs. Lomas here.

I am a primary school teacher who loves teaching geography, so I'm really excited to be joining you today for your geography lesson.

So let's have a look, shall we, at what we're gonna be learning today.

So today we are going to be looking at changes in the food we eat as part of our Farms and Factories, Where Does Our Food Come From Unit.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to describe how food production, processing, and distribution have changed over time and identify potential positive and negative impacts of these changes.

We have some key words in today's lesson.

They are place of origin, imported, greenhouse gas emissions, in season and processing.

So let's do some my turn, your turn, shall we? Place of origin.

Imported.

Greenhouse gas emissions.

In season.

Processing.

Well done.

Let's have a look at what these words mean, shall we? The place of origin is the place where something first comes from.

Goods that are imported are brought in from another country.

Greenhouse gas emissions are gases that are released and trap heat in Earth's atmosphere.

In season means the time of the year when a food is naturally ready for harvesting.

And processing means making changes to a food's natural state.

An example is cooking beans in a tomato sauce and preserving them in tins.

Today's lesson is split into two parts, where do different foods originate from and how has the food we eat changed over time? So let's have a look at where do different foods originate from? Many of the foods we eat today have been eaten for thousands of years.

These foods have different places of origin.

And here we can see some chocolate and some bread, which is made from wheat, and some apples.

Where do you think the place of origin is for these foods? Pause the video, have a discussion, and come back when you're ready.

How did you get on? Chocolate is from Central America.

Chocolate is made from the beans, or rather the seeds, from the cacao tree.

Cacao was first grown by the Aztecs and Maya people in Central America.

It's thought that the earliest consumption of cacao was over 5,000 years ago.

The wheat used for flour to make bread was originally from West Asia.

Wheat was first grown in West Asia more than 10,000 years ago.

It was one of the earliest crops to be grown by humans, and it's now grown in every continent except Antarctica.

Wheat is used in many products such as bread, cakes, and biscuits.

And finally, apples are from Central Asia.

Apples originated in Central Asia and have been grown for thousands of years.

More than 7,500 varieties of apples are grown around the world.

They are mentioned in the Bible and Greek mythology.

It is thought that the sweeter tasting apples we eat today were brought to the UK by the Romans.

Can you imagine being one of those first Britons to taste these wonderful new sweet apples that the Romans had brought? Must have been quite exciting.

Let's have a quick check, shall we? Where were cacao beans first grown and eaten? A, Central America, B, Central Africa, C, Central Asia, or D, Central Europe? So once again, where were cacao beans first grown and eaten? A, Central America, B, Central Africa, C, Central Asia, or D, Central Europe.

Pause the video, have a go, collect your answers and come back when you're ready.

How did you get on? If you said that it was A, Central America, well done.

and we were definitely trying to trick you there a little bit, weren't we? With having every answer have central in it.

So if you managed to remember it was Central America, well done, you were definitely listening very carefully.

So it is time for your first task.

I want you on your map to draw an arrow to the place of origin for each of these foods, apples, wheat, and cacao, and also an extra little challenge, can you add in the place of origin for any other foods? So once again, you're going to draw an arrow on your map to the place of origin for each of these foods, apples, wheat, and cacao.

And then there's an extra challenge of seeing if you can add in the place of origin for any other foods.

Pause the video, have a go, and come back when you're ready to check your answers.

How did you get on? Hopefully you said that apples were from Central Asia, wheat was from Western Asia, and cacao was from Central America.

What other foods did you manage to add onto your maps? Did you get the same ones as your friends or lots of different ones? So we've had a look at where different foods originate from.

Now let's move on to, how has the food we eat changed over time? Although many of the foods we eat today have been eaten for thousands of years, people's diets have changed over time.

Did the Victorians eat microwave popcorn, do you think? And did the Romans eat tinned baked beans? Why or why not? I want you to pause the video, have a class discussion, and come back when you're ready.

How did you get on? Hopefully you all remembered that Victorians definitely didn't have microwaves.

So thousands of years ago, people in the early Stone Age hunted and gathered their food.

They hunted animals such as woolly mammoths, which you can see there in the picture, and wild boar.

And they gathered plants, wild fruits, nuts, birds' eggs, snails, and even caterpillars.

I'm not sure I'd want to be eating caterpillars today, if I'm really honest.

It wasn't until the late Stone Age that people started farming.

These early farmers kept animals such as sheep, pigs, and cows, and crops included wheat, barley, beans and peas.

And there we can see an illustration of how people think that Stone Age people used to live.

Many foods have been distributed around the world by the migration of people.

When the Romans arrived in Britain around 2000 years ago, they brought with them more than 50 new kinds of food plants, fruits such as apples and plums, vegetables such as cucumber and celery, nuts, seeds, and pulses such as almonds and lentils.

Do you have any children from your class that are from different countries? Are there any foods that they miss from home that sometimes they bring over themselves when they've been back to visit? You can pause the video and have a discussion if you like.

Let's do a quick check, shall we? True or false, people in the early Stone Age grew most of their food.

Once you've decided if this is true or false, I want you to justify your answer with either, A, people in the early Stone Age hunted and gathered their food.

It wasn't until Tudor times that people started farming.

Or B, people in the early Stone Age hunted and gathered their food.

It wasn't until the late Stone Age that people started farming.

So once again, I want you to decide if this statement is true or false.

People in the early Stone Age grew most of their food.

And then justify your answer with either A, people in the early Stone Age hunted and gathered their food.

It wasn't until Tudor times that people started farming.

Or B, people in the early Stone Age hunted and gathered their food.

It wasn't until the late Stone Age that people started farming.

Pause the video, have a go, collect your answers, and then come back when you're ready.

How did you get on? If you said that it was false, because B, people in the early Stone Age hunted and gathered their food, and it wasn't until the late Stone Age that people started farming, you'd be correct.

Well done.

In Tudor times, new foods started to arrive with increases in trade and exploration.

Many of the foods we eat today have been traded around the world for hundreds of years, such as spices, coffee, tea, and chocolate.

Advances in transport means that food today can be distributed much more easily and quickly than in the past.

A lot of the food we eat in the UK is imported from other parts of the world.

This means that most people have access to an even greater variety of foods.

And in this picture, we can see a huge container ship, can't we? That is transporting many goods, including foods around the world.

And that is one way and a very popular way of food to be transported around the world.

What are the potential disadvantages of transporting all of this food around the world? Pause the video, have a class discussion, and then come back when you're ready.

How did you get on? Transporting food from where it is produced to where it is eaten is a source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are the major cause of climate change.

So let's have a quick check, shall we? I want you to decide if this statement is true or false.

Many people now have access to a greater variety of foods than people did in the past.

Once you've decided if this is true or false, I want you to justify your answer with either A, advances in transport mean that food can be distributed around the world more easily and quickly, or B, nearly all the food we eat in the UK is grown in this country.

So once again, decide if this statement is true or false.

Many people now have access to a greater variety of foods than people did in the past.

And justify your answer with either A, advances in transport mean that food can be distributed around the world more easily and quickly.

Or B, nearly all of the food we eat in the UK is grown in this country.

Pause the video, have a go, collect your answers and then come back when you're ready.

How did you get on? If you said it was true, because A, advances in transport mean that food can be distributed around the world more easily and quickly, you'd be correct.

Well done.

Food processing has also changed over time.

Early humans cooked their food on a fire.

Over time, more complex forms of food processing started to be used such as baking bread, making butter and cheese, drying vegetables in the sun, fermenting food, and preserving meat with salt or smoke.

Preserving food made it last longer.

This meant that people had food to eat when there was less fresh food available.

This might have been when certain foods weren't in season or because of crop failures or conflict.

Sailors on long distance journeys had to rely heavily on processed food, 'cause they didn't have a nice field or some trees growing, did they, on their ship from where they could get the food.

Let's do a little check, shall we? Which of these types of food processing we used during the Stone Age? Select two answers, A, canning, B, cooking on a fire, C, freezing, D, making cheese.

So again, which of these types of food processing we used during the Stone Age? Select two answers, A, canning, B, cooking on a fire, C, freezing, or D, making cheese.

Pause the video, collect your answers as a class, and then come back when you're ready.

How did you get on? If you said B, cooking on a fire, and D, making cheese, you would be correct.

Well done.

During the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries, food started to be produced in larger amounts and food processing became more complex.

New forms of food processing such as canning and pasteurisation made it easier to package and preserve food.

Refrigeration meant that food could be chilled and frozen.

In the 20th century, other types of food processing started to be used such as freeze drying and the use of preservatives.

Artificial colours and sweeteners were added to try and improve the taste of processed foods.

More food was mass produced in factories.

And domestic appliances such as microwave ovens and blenders meant that food could be prepared more quickly.

Time for a quick check.

Which of these types of food processing were first used in the 18th century? And I want you to select two answers again.

A, canning, B, fermenting, C, pasteurising, or D, microwaving.

So which of these types of food processing were first used in the 18th century? And you're going to select two answers for me.

A, canning, B, fermenting, C, pasteurising, or D, microwaving.

Pause the video, have a go, collect your answers and come back when you're ready.

How did you get on? If you said A, canning, and B, sorry, C, pasteurising, you would be correct, well done.

Food processing methods have continued to develop and are still very important in food production today.

Food processing can help to make food safe and free of bacteria.

It can make food last longer, which helps to reduce food waste.

And it can decrease food preparation times.

Adding vitamins and minerals to processed food can help to provide the nutrients people need to stay healthy.

Often the more processed a food is, the fewer vitamins and minerals it actually still contains.

So they often have to add back in the nutrients and vitamins just so that everybody's getting a nice healthy diet.

There are many potential positive impacts of modern food processing methods, but there are also potential negative impacts.

And Laura wants to know, "What do you think these negative impacts might be?" Pause the video, have a class discussion, and come back when you're ready.

How did you get on? Ultra processed foods are foods that have had a lot of processing.

These foods usually contain lots of ingredients that you wouldn't add if you were making foods at home, such as chemicals, colouring, sweeteners, and preservatives.

Some people have concerns about the effects of these substances on our health.

Ultra processed foods are often cheaper to buy, but may have fewer nutrients and high levels of sugar, salt, and fat, which aren't good for our health.

Let's do a quick check, shall we? What is a potential positive impact of modern food processing methods? Pause the video, have a think, and then collect your answers and come back when you're ready.

How did you get on? If you said any of these, you would be correct.

It can make food safe and free of bacteria.

It can make food last longer, which helps to reduce food waste.

It can decrease food preparation time.

And it can provide vitamins and minerals.

So are you ready for task B? Task B has two parts.

Number one, describe three ways in which food production, processing and distribution have changed over time.

And number two, list one potential positive impact and one potential negative impact of modern food production, processing and distribution systems. So one more time, for number one, I want you to describe three ways in which food production, processing, and distribution have changed over time.

And for part two, I want you to list one potential positive impact and one potential negative impact of modern food production, processing, and distribution systems. Pause video, have a go, and then come back when you're ready to check your answers.

How did you get on? Here's an example answer.

For number one, three ways in which food production, processing, and distribution have changed over time are advances in transport means that many people now have access to a greater variety of food.

A lot of food is now mass produced.

And food processing methods have become more complex.

You might have had some different ones to this, but if you didn't quite get three points, now's your chance to pause the video and make any changes that you need to.

And now let's have a look at number two.

A possible advantage of modern food processing methods is that they can make food last longer and help to reduce food waste.

A possible disadvantage of modern food processing methods is that ultra processed foods may contain high levels of fat, sugar, and salt.

You might have come up with different answers for this, however, if you didn't quite get enough information in your answer, now's your chance to pause the video and add anything extra in that you need to.

So let's summarise what we've learned today.

We've been looking at changes in the food we eat.

We've learned that many of the foods we eat in the UK have numerous origins around the world.

Modern food production, processing, and distribution systems are much more complex than those of the past.

And there are potential positive and negative impacts of the food production, processing, and distribution systems we use today.

That's all for today's lesson.

Well done, everybody.

Hopefully you learned something new and something very interesting.

I do always have a little giggle to myself of about imagining how the first Britons might have reacted to seeing the Romans eating sticks of celery.

For some reason, that just looks really funny in my mind.

Anyway, well done on all your hard work today.

Thank you for letting me join your geography lesson.

And hopefully I will see you soon for some more geography.

Bye.