Multicultural Christmas Lunch

This activity was created for the IB students to get together in a lunch break and celebrate the upcoming holidays. As it was holiday season, we were challenged to create a food that is traditional in our country in the season, whether it be for Christmas, which was my case, or any other festivity. From my spanish half, I decided to create Crema de Castañas (sweetened chestnut purée) as it is widely made in Spain as a desert for Christmas. This was useful for CAS because I had increased my awareness of my own strengths and areas for growth whilst cooking the recipe and also undertaken new challenges as I had never made it myself before. I considered the ethical implications of my actions such as considering allergies people may have and made sure to write that it contained nuts to make sure no one that was allergic took it by accident. I developed new skills like caramelising and become involved in an international project as this activity opened up a diversity of cultures. By participating in this activity I became an inquirer, knowledgeable, a thinker, a communicator, principled, open-minded, caring, a risk-taker, balanced.

This was a challenge for me because I had never made the dish before. I had to peel a kilo of chestnuts which should be an activity for CAS alone because it took so much time and patience! Also, when I had made the purée, I realised that I had to figure out where to put it. I found some small Actimel bottles, and cut them to make small cups and put the puree in there where I could finally put the caramel on top and take it to school.

My aims were to create a delicious dish to represent Christmas in my culture and country to my peers and find out about my peers' cultures as well.

This activity was CREATIVITY because I made the recipe in my own way, not identical to the actual recipe, and also because I had to create a way to present the desert and make it look aesthetically pleasing at the same time. This is also SERVICE because I made it for other people to enjoy and to show them about my culture.

Overall this was a very fun activity. My dish was very successful and we all exchanged dishes and had a taste of our different cultures at Christmas. I managed to meet all of my aims and learning outcomes and fill my stomach with Christmas spirit as well as delicious food.