Teaching The Foods of Texas

Teaching The Foods of Texas

How a Focus Shift Tripled the Enrollment of A Food Technology and Safety Course

BY: ERIN STUTTS, COLLEGE STATION HIGH SCHOOL AGRICULTURE SCIENCE TEACHER

If you take a survey about the best things in Texas, the varied and breathtaking landscapes, friendly people, and diverse music scenes would probably be on the list. At the very top of the list, at least for me, is the amazing food in our state. From the boudin and crawfish of southeast Texas to fajitas originating on the border region, to modern twists on traditional BBQ which merge immigrant food cultures into a delicious new flavor fusion.

With this in mind, I took a hard look at the Food Technology course name and curriculum a few years ago. The class was interesting and engaging once students registered for it, but it was difficult for us to get students to enroll in a class called “Food Technology and Safety,” especially at a school with 80+ other elective course options. One day, it hit me, restructure the course around the Foods of Texas! I could use the same TEKS but in the framework of those foods that we all love. We would explore the production, harvest, processing, and marketing of those foods and how the climate, immigration, technology, etc. impact the foods we grow, process, and eat. With a name change and a shift in focus, we tripled the enrollment in the course.

I begin the course by exploring what I argue is the greatest Texas invention: chili powder. I show students raw poblano chiles and chili powder and ask how they think the pepper transforms to the powder and who may have invented it. I rely on sources like the Texas State Historical Association website, the UTSA Institute for Texas Cultures website, and a wonderful podcast from the Southern Foodways Alliance to guide the learning. We use a recipe from a vintage Gehhardt’s recipe book to make a version of chili that was popular in the 1950s. Ultimately, the students learn that the unique combination of Mexican and German cultures in the San Antonio area combined with the rise of the tourism industry in San Antonio thanks to the railways provided the inspiration for the dried chili powder that is ubiquitous in Texas kitchens today.

Through every unit, I focus on Texas-specific products: in the meat unit, the culminating project for the section on the structure of meat and tenderization methods is in the context of fajitas. After a history lesson on fajitas, a meat tenderization experiment using round steak, students search for traditional Texas fajita recipes from classic Tex-Mex restaurants around the state and make modifications to that recipe based on their learning. Ultimately, they compete in a fajita challenge, trying to prepare the best skirt steak fajitas in the class, but they must use their learning to cut it correctly, too.

In the dairy unit, students learn how the structure of cheese impacts its meltability, and then compete to make the best queso in class.

In the fruits and vegetable section, we start by making a map of all of the Texas festivals devoted to a fruit or vegetable (like the Luling Watermelon Thump and the Stonewall Peach Jamboree). We learn about the preservation of fruits and vegetables through exploring Texas companies, like Best Maid pickles. We learn about Ruby Red Grapefruits and the ongoing research into improving fruit and vegetable varieties. This naturally leads to learning about biotechnologies to improve food plant production.

I add a grain unit into the class, even though grains are not specified in the TEKS. We spend a week on wheat, learning about the varieties grown in Texas, harvesting, and milling, but spend the bulk of the time focusing on gluten and how gluten content impacts biscuits.

During the week on corn, we learn how corn is treated with food-grade lye to make hominy, which is dried and ground into masa. We then use masa to make tamales and tortillas. We also study rice: the history of rice production in Texas and the important role Japanese immigrants played in the rice industry in the early 20th century. Students learn why parboiled or converted rice was invented, how it fed the troops during WWII, and how Uncle Ben’s (now Ben’s Original) in Houston became a leader in rice sales by embracing new technologies.

The seafood unit is a class favorite. During this two-week unit, students learn about the commercial fishing industry and aquaculture in Texas. Students use the Texas Commercial Fishing Guide to explore the regulations of a species of their choice. We learn about the shrimp and oyster industries. I grew up on Galveston Bay, so both are dear to my heart, soul, and stomach!

I use a National Geographic series called Big Fish Texas to show a (somewhat dramatized) look at commercial offshore fishing based in Galveston. We borrow from our neighbors to the east and use the LSU Ag Center’s publication, Louisiana Crawfish Production Manual, to learn about this important agricultural industry in southeast Texas. We end with a crawfish boil, and this is often the day that my evaluator chooses for a walk-through!

Creating the curriculum for the class and finding sources of information is an ongoing, and fun, challenge. I use a variety of websites, from The Texas Beef Council’s Beef Loving Texans website (their BBQuest series makes for great sub plans) to the websites and YouTube channels of specific companies, like Best Maid Pickles. The videos produced by Texas Farm Bureau and available on their YouTube channel are incredibly valuable to me and my class.

I’ve attended the Foodways Texas symposium for several years to gather ideas and resources. I draw material from a huge variety of books: from Lisa Fain’s Queso! to Aaron Franklin’s Meat Smoking Manifesto. In the non-COVID years, my students learn a great deal from field trips: Royalty Pecan Farms, Slovacek Sausage in Snook, and Blue Bell Creameries in Brenham; and finding chaperones is never a problem!

Every year I change up the class depending partly on what my students are interested in learning, but also what I’m interested in learning, and that keeps the class fresh and exciting for me and for my students.

My ultimate goal is that students leave the class with a firm understanding of the technology and processing methods that safely convert the products produced by Texas farmers and ranchers into the foods that sustain us. In fact, the course ends with a food innovation project. My favorite this year is tied between candied bacon with pecan ice cream and a sweet tea peach jam.

Students learn that there is so much more to food than just cooking and there are way more jobs in the industry than just being a chef. There’s an entire field of study called Food Science that is so very important to feed our growing population. Students learn to be savvy consumers and not be swayed by fancy marketing terms. They learn to work as a team, to practice food safety, to plan ahead, and they do learn to make some pretty delicious foods, all centered around the amazing and diverse Foods of Texas.