Where does it come from?
Aim:
To understand that food is traded all over the world.
You will need:
Food packets/jars etc (from a variety of countries), world map, pins, string/wool, photos of group members (optional).
Duration:
30 minutes
Show a selection of food packets and containers. Ask the group to examine them and find out where the food comes from.
Use a world map to locate the countries. Use pins and string to connect the country the food comes from to your country. This will demonstrate how trade connects you with so many other countries.
You could make the map more personalised by using photos of the group members, stuck around the edge of the map. Add labels such as 'Peter's favourite food is tomatoes, which come from Morocco', and attach a string from the country the food comes from to the photo instead.
Explain that one of the good things about international trade is that we can now eat so many different types of food, that we could not grow in our own country. But there are also disadvantages - it is expensive, and bad for the environment to transport food thousands of miles by aeroplane. Also, in some countries people use all their land to grow crops for selling, and do not have enough land left to grow food to eat themselves.