Description: Students use the ingredients and cooking plan from Part 1 to prepare, cook, serve, and reflect on a meal made with ingredients from the school garden. They work together to practise cooking skills, use kitchen equipment safely, and discover how garden ingredients can be turned into a shared meal.
Intention: Students experience the journey from garden to plate by preparing and cooking with ingredients they have grown or harvested. They develop practical cooking skills, learn to work together in the kitchen, and reflect on the food they have made and where it comes from.
This Brick is a continuation of From the garden to your plate – Part 1. Make sure you have finished this Brick in advance.
Make sure the school garden has vegetables, edible flowers and/or herbs that are ready to harvest. Check which plants are safe to eat and prepare any necessary harvesting tools and kitchen equipment.
It is very important that there is time and attention for the students to learn safely how to use knifes, stoves and ovens. Make clear rules about this.
Wash & Get Ready
Students wash their hands and wash/scrub the harvested vegetables.
Quick reminder:
Recipe & Team Briefing
Read the recipes together.
Quickly review important vocabulary, e.g.:
Make sure every student has a task or job to do.
Cook!
Let the students get to work.
The teacher circulates between groups, helping students:
Garden Feast
Serve the food together.
Encourage students to try the meal and become food critics.
Ask:
Smell: What does it smell like?
Taste: What flavours can you taste?
Texture: Is it crunchy, soft, creamy, crispy?
Garden: Which ingredient came from our garden?
Students can give the meal a rating.
Clean & Reflect
Students clean their stations and help put everything away.
Finish with a quick circle reflection:
What was the most fun part?
What was difficult?
What did you learn about our garden?
What would you change next time?
Final challenge
Ask students:
“If we could grow one more vegetable in our garden just for cooking, what should we grow, and what would we make with it?”
Give students real responsibility: Let students do as much as they safely can themselves. The goal is not just to produce a meal, but to practise cooking skills.
Model one skill at a time: Before students start chopping, measuring or cooking, briefly demonstrate the technique they need.
Don’t fix every problem immediately: If something goes wrong, ask: “What could we try?” Give students space to solve small problems together.
Connect cooking back to the garden: When using an ingredient, ask students where it came from, how it grew, or what they noticed about it in the garden.
Make tasting part of learning: Encourage students to describe what they notice rather than simply saying whether they “like” or “don’t like” something.
Celebrate the process, not just the meal: A successful activity is not only a tasty dish. Cooperation, trying something new, solving problems and learning from mistakes are equally important.
Keep the reflection short and concrete: Choose two or three questions rather than asking every question every time. This keeps the ending energetic and gives students time to listen to each other.
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