Sec. IV students in Ms. Fainsilber’s Food, Nutrition and Food Security class stirred up a delicious brew of chai tea this week.
Why chai? Because Rukhsana from this year’s Traf Reads book – The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali – is always making and enjoying chai. As part of the learning experience the group: located Bangladesh on the map, learned about Bangladeshi history, talked about the central role that food plays in the book, and looked up some of the foods mentioned in it (khichuri, poochka and shrimp dopiaza, for example). They also looked at, smelled, and tasted more than a dozen spices used in Bengali cooking (cinnamon sticks, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, ground coriander, cloves, etc.) and helped to prepare the chai from a Bengali recipe.
What a novel and delicious way for this class to begin the year!