Other Activities

Spanish in the Kitchen
Grade 11 Spanish Activity, 2 February 2007

Last Friday the ten 11th grade Ab Initio Spanish students had a session cooking simple food used every day in many parts of Latin America, food items that have been in use for thousands of years.

The staple diet in several Latin American countries is either maize or wheat cooked and mixed to form a kind of dough without yeast to make unleavened bread for example tortillas in Mexico or arepas in Colombia. This carbohydrate base is used as the means of holding other food products like cheese, meats, beans, tomato etc and can be the main part of the meal in poor households or an addition to one for those with more resources. Rather like a very early form of sandwich!

The cultivation of maize began over 8,000 years ago in central Mexico and Meso-America.  Ancient maize cobs in archeological excavations have been found in caves in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico.

Pre-Hispanic names given to food items have been incorporated in modern languages, examples include Tomate, Chocolate, Aguacate, (Avocado) mostly Nahualt words from North and Meso-America.

This was a truly participatory event with every member of 11th Grade Spanish contributing to make this a culturally informative and practical event.