For the Juniors: Cooking food in the past and present

SUBJECTS:  History

YEARS:  F–2

How might your family cook without electricity or gas?

See what some kitchens of people from long ago looked like.

Discover ways that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people cook some food.

Things to think about

1. 1.What are some of the different ways that food is cooked in your home? What equipment is used? Think about how your grandparents and their parents might have cooked. Has cooking food changed over time?
2. 2.Find three things in the present-day kitchen that can be used to cook food. Why did people in the past have wood fires in their kitchens? What foods are the Aboriginal people cooking on their open fires?
3. 3.The narrator says that cooking was harder work in the past than it is now. Do you agree? What are some good and bad things about using wood fires inside the kitchen? How have the ways people cook food changed over time? Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people cook their food as they have for generations. Why is this tradition important?
4. 4.Look again at the old kitchen in the clip. What tells you this scene is from the past? Draw two kitchens, one 'past' and one 'present'. Label the things that are different in each picture. Draw 'past' and 'present' for a different space in your home. What questions could you ask to find out how homes have changed over time?

Date of broadcast: 25 Aug 1998

Copyright

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