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Research Note  
 
Food as Lens for Exploring Key Concepts in Cultural Differences: A Curriculum 
Project—Curriculum Activities (Applying Education Theories)   
By: Jerry R. Reed, III   
 
I was invited to work on this project by Dr. Long while I was completing the final year of my 
master’s degree in Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University, Ohio. I had also done 
undergraduate and graduate work in education.  Dr. Long spoke about folkloristic 
perspectives on food to a class I was taking, and I found her work relevant to my master ’s 
project on lunchtime exchanges of food items among middle school students. I was 
interested in continuing working in folklore and education, particularly around issues of 
social equity and diversity in the schools. I drew from that background as well as my 
experiences in teaching and interacting with educational professionals to assist Dr. Long in 
developing the Keywords curriculum further. I also adapted the different units for specific 
age groups.  
 
My approach to this curriculum is to provide activities for conversations around concepts 
of culture that can then be used to better understand and push back against a long history 
of institutionalized racism and colonialism that has been perpetuated consistently (and in 
recent years more aggressively) by American society. Diana Baird N’Diaye (2020) reminds 
us that a pedagogy of equity, “...is subjective and can be subversive in the best sense of the 
word. The stories recorded may be joyful, painful, or a bit of both, but they are essential”. A 
single curriculum will not be the end all for social equity. While we want to create methods 
for educators to engage their learners in a conversation about culture, we must urge all 
individuals within these systems, including ourselves, to “explore our implicit assumptions 
and practice through a critical lens. We cannot name our White spaces if we do not know 
they exist… Staying outside this comfort zone takes vigilance and honesty” (Milne 2016: 
82).  
 
There have been several movements within education which have pushed for developing 
culturally responsive pedagogies by attempting to utilize the resources of cultural 
knowledge students already have, particularly minority students, to used in the classroom 
to make learning relevant (see Ladson-Billings 1995; Wlodkowski and Ginsberg 1995). 
Other researchers, like Django Paris (2012), prefer the phrase “culturally sustaining 
pedagogies,” stating that the approach: 

“…requires that our pedagogies be more than responsive of or relevant to the 
cultural experiences and practices of young people… they support young people in 
sustaining the cultural and linguistic competence of their communities while 
simultaneously offering access to dominant cultural competence (95).  

 
From this perspective, if we, as educators, are not making conscious efforts to use these 
methods to preserve our students’ cultures, we are participating in an act of aggression 
against minority cultures that has been a consistent pattern of educational institutions in 
the US throughout its history (Alim 2007). This curriculum is meant to increase awareness 



Reed, Food as Lens (Curriculum Activities)  Digest: A Journal of Foodways and Culture 10:1 (2023) 

 
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of and sensitivity to the complexities of cultural differences, so that educators can better 
challenge the historical patterns in our society. 
 
In addition to making our curriculum relevant, and preserving our students’ cultures, we 
must ask how we can help our students understand cultural differences that they will 
inevitably encounter in an increasingly culturally pluralistic society. This may require us as 
educators to take a step back and examine our own biases and culture, and work to create 
an openness to being able to learn from our students, or a reciprocal pedagogy “teachers 
and students learning from and with each other- “emotions and desires engaged” -an event 
that is powerful enough to be narrated” (Bowman & Hamer 2011: 20). This reciprocity 
includes providing space for students to teach the classroom, including their teacher, about 
their culture, their values, and their family. Many different identities may pop up in these 
conversations, Jones lists “In addition to gender, class, and ethnicity, the social categories of 
family and peers relate to identity and food choice” (148).  
 
We believe that, because of this connection, food acts as a powerful place in which to have 
the conversation of cultural pluralism and co-existence. More so, applying a folkloristic lens 
to food, being able to see that even a small difference in a family history, ethnic lineage, or 
geographic background can have drastic changes to the culturally relevant foods of an 
individual allows even a largely non-diverse setting to begin to see diversity around them. 
Even small acts, such as the “proper” way to eat an Oreo, can show a diverse body of 
thinking and demonstrates the influence of popular media, which is further influenced by 
class, gender, ethnicity, etc. (Belasco 2008). 
 
This project offers activities and materials to engage students in understanding the 
diversity they have in their own lives both within and outside their classrooms. We also 
encourage them to see how, despite a number of differences they may have at various 
levels, they can find ways to relate and understand each other. The conversations start 
small, and then build towards larger groups. Through activities that allow students to 
compare and contrast their tastes and family foods, such as the Sandwich Activity, 
educators can help nurture a conversation with students about understanding differences.  
 
A personal example of such a conversation comes from my own background. I grew up in 
the Midwest, but have a very Appalachian family. One of my fondest food memories 
growing up was going to see my great-grandmother, Granny Margaret, and smelling her 
cooking a large pot of soup beans, pinto beans stewed for long hours with onion, bacon, and 
crushed red pepper. Not everyone can relate to my specific love of Granny Margaret’s soup 
beans, but most do have some fond memory of a grandparent or similar elder-figure 
cooking a beloved childhood dish. Not even all of my family can relate to this love of soup 
beans, as another great-grandmother, who was also equally Appalachian, had a very 
different, and sadly, more bland recipe. My family’s Appalachian food traditions set me 
apart from other kids in my Midwestern classrooms, making me aware that they 
represented a different identity. At the same time, our food heritage was not uniform 
within our family, illustrating—and perhaps confusing me—about the role of individual 
taste preferences and choices within a group identity. Most of us can all relate to this 
memory in some way, and it can be a stepping off point for discussing much larger issues. 



                                                                  Digest: A Journal of Foodways and Culture 10:1 (2023) 95 

Finding common ground in this way can then help students to further understand culture 
and society, and perhaps even engage in some change for the better. Researchers in the 
field of character education have long called combining morals and practical knowledge 
with identity and growth (McGrath 2018). As Lickona (2018) points out, identity itself is at 
the very center of character education, and that educators must figure out how to “… help 
young persons as they think and craft their own character, as they clarify a sense of who 
they are…” (54). Character education should therefore focus on enabling young people to 
acquire good judgment and govern themselves in accordance with it” (Curren 2017: 30), 
and food is an ideal medium for such learning. 
 
Kim et al. (2018) show one example of both character education and a culturally 
responsive pedagogical lens.  Their project applied engineering skills to food waste issues 
in the US, asking through students to identify a food that was culturally relevant to them. 
They were then tasked with designing new packaging or food waste measures that were 
more environmentally responsive and protective (31). Engaging students to ask how they 
can help their community by dealing with food waste allows students to apply their 
understanding of their culture to help preserve their culture and impact the world beyond 
that.  
 
Food is a central component of identity, and as such, can be the foundation for social unity 
and equity as well as the basis for conflict and misunderstanding (Belasco 2008: 19). This 
curriculum offers a foundation for students and teachers to understand their own cultures 
and see the complexity and humanity of the cultures around them. It is offered in the spirit 
of folklorist Lisa Rathje’s words on reciprocal pedagogy:  

 
“To embrace reciprocal pedagogy is also to keep on learning. The sharing of tools 
and strategies through partnerships and reciprocity will help to address the 
challenge of staying relevant and vital in an increasingly complicated, 
interconnected world” (77). 

  



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https://doi.org/10.1108/JPCC-09-2020-0070

