Benin food

Topics Year 4/5
This unit is part of Benin (900 to 1300CE) Everyday Life

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Objectives

History

Understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources.
Undertake an in-depth study of a non-European society that provides contrasts with British history - The Benin civilisation.

D&T

Prepare and cook a variety of predominantly savoury dishes using a range of cooking techniques.
Understand seasonality, and know where and how a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed.

Lesson Planning

Learn about the types of food people ate in Benin and try out some traditional recipes. Eat!

Teaching Outcomes:

To find out about the traditional food of Benin.
To cook savoury dishes from Benin.

Children will:

Learn that people eat what is available in the environment around them before globalisation.
Understand that these recipes are a best guess about the food people ate historically in Benin.
Follow a recipe and cook a traditional dish from Benin.

Planning

Provided Resources

Pictures of traditional food from Benin
Traditional Benin recipes
Quiz
Discussion questions for feast time

You Will Need

Kitchen scales
Preparation & serving equipment
Dried fish
Ground crayfish
Yams
Plantains
Ground cassava
Salt & pepper
Palm oil
Spinach
Onion

Weblinks

Traditional recipes from the Edo state of Nigeria, which was the kingdom of Benin from edoworld.net
Five dishes popular from Edo state of Nigeria from travel.jumia.com
Pounded yam recipe from allnigerianrecipes.com
Fried plantain recipe and video from allnigerianrecipes.com

You may also need to use online African food shops for some ingredients.