Students at PVSS in Armstrong take food classes outside – Vernon News

Photo: SD83

Students in Pleasant Valley Secondary School’s nutrition classes recently moved their learning outside.

The upper food classes at Armstrong School took advantage of the mild fall weather and started their semester by collecting berries for classroom use.

Teacher Elizabeth Woolnough said students took time to learn about intentional heat management, and how to read and stoke fire to achieve desired results when cooking.

“This is not the first time we have used fire in the classroom. It is included in both the Foods 10 and senior food classes,” she said. “In the past we have made deer patties with cast iron pans, roasted hot dogs and on many occasions made bannock. The goal is to learn to read the heat and be patient while cooking. It is also an opportunity for students to unwind and spend time in the community and be outdoors.”

Woolnough chose food items to be cooked in the coals of the fire, and encouraged students to manipulate and fan the flames.

Bannock was prepared while the vegetable packets were being cooked in the coals.

“As always, getting the right coals and cooking food in one class is a challenge, but it was a success,” Woolnough said. “Students had to provide their own fire, move and rotate their vegetable packs, while remaining aware of the hot and cold spots in the well. They also cooked bannocks on sticks, again reading the fire and observing how each area cooked the dough.

As the students cooked, they discussed the colonial impact on reserves and how food rations such as flour, lard, sugar and eggs led to bannock becoming a survival food made from limited ingredients.

This year the senior class will learn different ways to adjust and use heat when cooking.

“We will practice this again when we use hibachi grills later in the semester,” Woolnough said, adding that she hopes to spend more time on this part, which will further develop students’ skills in building and managing cooking stoves will be further developed.

The instructors have also been engaged in their own learning, experimenting with safely heating rocks to boil water, a traditional method used by indigenous people for years.

– with files from SD83