Exploring food in the Malawi and UK

  • What different foods do we eat? Why? Look at the standard food of both countries. What does “healthy eating” mean in both countries? Think about what we need to eat to be healthy. Consider the cost of cooking in Malawi and the UK. Are children's favourite foods the same or different in the schools? Why? How do we preserve food in the different countries?

 
 

Where does our food come from?

  • Investigate the food journey in the UK and Malawi. What are the environmental issues? What does it tell us about the children's connection to the land in the two countries? How can we reduce our food miles? What does carbon footprint mean? Compare this for the UK and Malawi. Is it the same?  

 
 

Classroom Activities

There are numerous activities listed below to help you create a fun and informative lesson on the topic of food in the UK and  Malawi. There are also some excellent resources about life, food and farming in Malawi on the shared work and case studies.

Please produce a report to share with other schools about your lesson and what you discovered.

 
 

Suggested Lessons:

  • Images of Food - For schools in Malawi look at "Images of food in England," and for schools in England look at "Images of food in Malawi."

  • School Meals - Look at "School meals-world food programme" to find out some of the difficulties facing children in Malawi.

  • Food Shopping - Compare what is being sold in the UK supermarket with what is on sale at a local village market in Malawi. List the items. What are the differences? Why?

  • Food around the World - Watch the video "What School Lunch Looks Like Around the World." Which of these meals do you like the look of and why? Which of these meals looks bad and why? Take a vote on your favourite looking food

  • Where does your food come from? An excellent PowerPoint presentation by the Royal Society of Biology - Click here

  • Food a fact of life. Classroom activities and resources for all age groups - Click here

  • Work out how far your food has travelled - “Food Miles Calculator Around the World". - Click here

  • Shared work and case studies: “Food at the Trading Post" Shows how far a typical meal plan would have travelled in Malawi. - Click here

  • Shared Project - Compare meals in Malawi with meals in the UK. What does this indicate about each country? What impact does big Food Miles have on the environment. Write up a report and compare findings and discuss the issues.

 
 

Optional - visit a local restaurant to find out what is on the menu. Compare with a restaurant in Salima or Kasungu.

Malawi cuisine - What Malawians enjoy eating.

 
 

Starfish TV - Useful Internet Videos

 
 

  • Pounding Maize - (above - 2:03) Teachers from the UK learn how to shell Maize.

 
 

"Food miles challenge"

 Please send us all your images, reports, case studies, photos and other Schools Linking good works

so we can put them on the website...Thank you