OBJECTIVE

Students design a whaler’s menu to help them understand the constraints and limitations of eating on a whaling ship.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

Where does food come from? How does food build community? How do we preserve our fresh harvests? How did sailors adapt to the food options on a whaling ship? How did mealtime build and organize community aboard the whaling ship?

MATERIALS NEEDED

Crew bill of fare sheet, menu options and calories handout, “plan a whaler’s menu” worksheet

PROCEDURE

Introduction: Review food preservation and questions we are going to pursue this unit: o What did sailors eat at sea?
o How was the food prepared?
o What were the challenges of eating at sea?
• Discuss sea fare vocabulary, having students guess what each word means

Activity:
• Have students write down what they had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner yesterday
• Review feeding the crew bill of fare
• Then (using the menu options and calories handout) create a menu for one day based on
the minimum amount of 3000 calories.

Wrap up:
• Share work
• What are the challenges in this activity? How do the meals compare to what you eat?