Lesson video

Hello, everybody.

My name is Ms. Panchal, and I'm so excited and glad that you've joined me on our lesson today.

So our lesson today is going to be focusing all on food miles, and it's part of our bigger unit of learning on healthy eating.

Now, we're going to be talking about lots of different types of food, so your tummy might be rumbling a little bit.

Make sure you've had a snack! Let's get started with the lesson, 'cause we've got lots of learning to do.

So the outcome for our lesson today is I can research how far the food I eat has to travel and the impact this has on the environment.

So let's go through some keywords that we're going to use in our lesson.

So we're going to practice saying them.

My turn, seasonal.

Your turn.

Super job.

My turn, food miles.

Your turn.

Brilliant job.

My turn, environment.

Your turn.

Wow, everyone, fantastic work! So the word seasonal is food that is seasonal is only harvested at certain times each year.

And food miles are the distance between the place where food is grown or made and the place where it is eaten.

And the environment is the surroundings of a living thing, including other plants or animals and the conditions they live in.

So these are some of the words that we're going to be using in our lesson today.

So for our food miles lesson, we're going to be talking about two different parts.

We're going to be first thinking about food miles and then we're going to move on onto how foods can impact the environment.

So let's get started with the first part of our lesson.

So Sam says, "Farmers can grow lots of different crops.

How do they know which crops to plant?" What do you think? So pause the video here and have a think with your talk partner.

How do farmers know which crops to plant? Excellent ideas, everybody.

Well done.

So we're going to be learning a little bit about this in our lesson.

So there are many different factors that farmers consider when choosing which crops to plant, including the weather, the season, and the demand for different foods.

But what does demand mean? What is demand? Have a little think in your head and then I want you to share your answer with your partner.

What is demand? What do you think it means? Brilliant.

So a demand is a need for something to be supplied because lots of people want it.

For example, if there is a high demand for potatoes, it means lots of people want potatoes, therefore the farmers can meet this demand by growing more potatoes.

Much of the food that we eat can be grown to meet our demands.

Let's do a check of our learning.

Who do you agree with? Laura says, "Farmers choose to grow foods that they like the most." Jun says, "Farmers choose to grow foods to meet demand." And Andeep says, "Farmers choose to grow foods that look the most colorful." Who do you agree with? Pause the video and have a little think.

We'll go through the answer really soon.

Excellent work, everybody.

The answer is correct, so it's Jun is correct.

So farmers choose to grow foods to meet demand.

All of the food that we eat has to be transported to our homes, but how can food be transported? Have a little think in your head on your own, and then I want you to share your answers with your partner and then share what you discussed with the rest of the group.

How can food be transported? Brilliant ideas, everybody.

Well done.

I can see you've thought really hard about how food can be transported.

Now, there's lots of different ways that food can be transported.

So it can be transported in many different ways, including by boat or lorry.

Do you know what we call the distance that food travels to get to us? There's a keyword that we looked at at the beginning of our lesson, and it's a key part of our lesson today and it's what we call the distance that food travels to get to us.

Do you know what it is? Excellent, it's food miles.

Can you say that for me? Brilliant, well done.

So food miles are the distance that food is transported from the time it is produced to the time it reaches us.

So we've got a world map here and we can see the United Kingdom is circled there in the middle in purple.

So for example, if we looked at coffee from Brazil, that is 5,568 food miles away from the United Kingdom, so those coffee beans have to travel a long, long way to reach us.

Another example is lamb from New Zealand, and that has to travel even further, for example, 11,426 food miles in order to reach us in the United Kingdom.

So here are just two examples of two foods that would reach us and have to travel quite a long way.

Some foods travel a short distance to get to us and other foods travel much further from where they are produced.

How can we find out where foods come from? So pause the video here and have a think with your talk partner.

How do you think we can find out where foods come from? Brilliant ideas, everybody.

Well done.

So actually, many foods say on their label where they are produced, and this helps us to know how far they have traveled.

For example, a melon may have been grown in Spain, tea leaves may have been grown in Kenya, and beef may have been a product of Britain.

So here are just a few examples.

So maybe next time you're at the supermarket and you're buying some produce, have a look at the label.

Where has it been produced? Let's do a check of our learning.

What are food miles? A, the distance from a shop to where a food is eaten; B, the distance from where a food is produced to where it is eaten; and C, the distance from where a food is produced to the shop it is sold in.

What do we think is the correct answer, A, B, or C? Excellent, the answer is B, the distance from where a food is produced to where it is eaten.

Brilliant work, everyone.

So let's move on to the first task of this lesson.

So I would like you to find out the food miles of your favorite foods, or use the list below.

So you can use the examples below or you can choose some of your own favorite foods, and I'd like you to find out the food miles of where those foods have come from.

So if you'd like to, you can print out this slide here and use these foods as an example, or you can draw out your own table and use your own favorite foods.

It's completely up to you.

Pause the video here, have a go at the task, and we'll go through some example answers once you have finished.

Off you go, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the different favorite foods that you've chosen.

Off you go.

Brilliant work, everybody, well done.

I can see you've listed lots of your favorite foods there.

So let's go through some examples.

So the chicken, it may have been the Netherlands with the place of origin, it has traveled 422 food miles.

Beef from Ireland may have traveled 236 miles.

Bananas from Costa Rica would've traveled 5,282 miles.

Grapes from South Africa may have traveled 6,139 miles.

Tomatoes from Germany may have traveled 642 miles.

Soybeans from Canada may have traveled 3,606 miles.

Herbs and spices from Madagascar may have traveled 5,902 miles.

And nuts from Vietnam may have traveled 6,230 miles.

So your answers may have looked a little bit different to this, as you may have chosen different foods, but well done for having a good go at researching the different food miles of different foods.

Super job, everybody.

So we finished the first part of our lesson where we've learnt about what food miles are, and we've looked at some examples, but we're now going to use that knowledge to help us think about how foods can impact the environment, because we've learnt that in food miles, some food travels a very, very long way.

So transporting foods can have an impact on the environment, and foods that must travel a longer distance may have a greater impact on the environment.

So for example, we've got barley growing in Germany and a tea plantation in Sri Lanka.

So for example, that barley from Germany coming to the UK, that would be food miles, but also the tea plantation in Sri Lanka.

The tea that's transported to the UK, those food miles were a lot further and a lot more because Sri Lanka is a lot further away from us.

Food miles are one factor used when testing the environmental impact of foods.

So we've got the United Kingdom circled at the middle at the top there.

So almonds from America may have traveled 5,037 food miles, and prawns from Indonesia may have traveled 7,306 food miles.

Do you know any other examples? Pause the video and maybe share your other examples with the person next to you.

Excellent discussion, everybody.

Well done.

So eating local seasonal foods can help to reduce the impact of food on the environment.

What does this mean? So if we're reducing the impact of food on the environment and we're eating local seasonal foods, what do we think this means? Have a little think in your head on your own, and then I'd like you to share your answer with your partner and then share your ideas with the rest of the group.

Did you have similar answers or do you have some different ones? Excellent discussion, everybody.

Well done.

So seasonal foods do not grow all year long.

They are ready to eat and can be harvested at certain times of the year.

For example, cucumbers can usually be harvested in the UK between July and October.

And if you buy a cucumber at a different time of the year, for example in December, it may have been grown locally but in a heated greenhouse rather than outdoors, because the temperature at that time would not be suitable to grow cucumbers and they just would not grow.

So that's why some of the cucumbers may be in a heated greenhouse.

These peas can usually be harvested in the UK between June and October, and if you buy peas at a different time of year, they may have been grown abroad and traveled more food miles to get to your plate.

So again, if you were trying to buy these peas in December, for example, they may have actually been grown in another country and traveled more food miles to get to your plate.

Let's do a check of our learning.

What helps us to know the environmental impact of what we eat? Is it A, how many food miles it has traveled; B, what it tastes like; C, whether it is in season; or D, how much it costs? which do you think is the correct answer? Brilliant, there's actually two answers, so how many food miles it has traveled and whether it is in season.

So that helps us to know the environmental impact of what we eat.

Brilliant work, everybody.

Well done.

So let's move on to the next task.

So I would like you to research the ingredients of your favorite meal, or you can use the meal below, to find out approximately how many food miles it has traveled to get to your plate.

So we've got a beautiful looking paella here.

So the ingredients of this paella are rice, red peppers, lemon, prawns, chicken, mussels, and green beans.

So lots of delicious ingredients in this dish.

So you can choose to use this paella dish as your example, or you can maybe choose your favorite meal.

So I'd like you to find out approximately how many food miles the different ingredients have traveled in order to get to your plate.

So pause the video here and have a go at this task.

If you'd like to, work in partners so you can all take it in turns in doing your research but also finding out the food miles.

Pause the video, have a go, and we'll talk through some example answers really soon.

Off you go.

Brilliant work, everybody, well done.

I can see lots of you have chosen the paella, but I can also see that lots of you have chosen ingredients with your favorite meals as well.

So super job, everybody.

So let's go through an example.

So the example we had was the paella.

So the rice was from China and traveled 4,831 miles.

The red peppers were from the Netherlands, and they had traveled 422 miles.

The lemon was from Spain, and that traveled 1,104 miles.

The prawns, which are from Vietnam, traveled 6,230 miles.

The chicken, which was from a local farm in the UK, only traveled five miles.

The mussels were from Scotland, and they traveled 239 miles.

And the green beans from Egypt traveled 2,608 miles.

So the total food miles for this particular dish was 15,439 miles.

Now, your answers may have varied slightly depending on where you are in the UK, but we can see here looking at this example that the chicken which was from a local farm had only traveled five miles compared to, for example, the prawns, which are from Vietnam, they traveled over 6,000 miles.

So the harm to the environment from the prawns from Vietnam was obviously much more than the chicken from the local farm.

So it's really important that we all try our best to try and buy locally, but also use local produce as to make sure we reduce the harmful effects on the environment.

So let's move on to the next part.

Why is it important to know the food miles of what we eat? So we've got a world map here, so I'd like you to pause the video here and I would like you to write a paragraph or you can talk into a camera to explain your answer as to why is it important to know the food miles of what we eat.

So pause the video and have a go at answering this question.

If you need to, go back over the last few slides of this lesson to recap on your learning before completing the task.

We will go through an example answer really soon.

Off you go.

Excellent work, everybody.

Well done.

So let's go through an example answer.

So the question was why is it important to know the food miles of what we eat? And Lucas says, "It is important to know the food miles of what we eat so we can make informed decisions about the foods we eat.

Foods that have traveled a long way and have a greater number of food miles may have a greater negative impact on the environment.

Eating seasonal foods that are grown locally will be less harmful to the environment." So next time you're at the supermarket, have a think about what types of produce you're buying and think about could you go to your local greengrocer to maybe buy some locally grown fruits and vegetables instead of ones that have been grown in a different country? Well done by answering this question, everybody.

I'm so impressed with your answers.

So we've come towards the end of our lesson now, so let's do a summary of our learning.

Much of the food we eat can be grown to meet our demands.

And food miles are the distance food travels from the place it is grown to our plates, and food miles provides one way to measure how the way we get our food can impact on the environment.

So it's really important we think about food miles when making choices about what we're going to buy and also what we're going to eat as well.

Now, I'm so impressed with all of the learning you've done today, and you've worked really hard at doing some fantastic research.

I hope you have a great rest of the day and I'm sure I'll see you really soon in the next lesson.

Bye-bye.