Mrs. Lual’s 7th grade Geography class got a genuine experience in food culture this week when their teacher brought homemade Ethiopian food as part of their lesson on the impact that food has on a culture. 

The family of Mrs. Lual’s husband, Buomkuoth, is originally from South Sudan. She began the lesson with a video of Nyadeng (Buomkouth’s mom) explaining where she was from, what the food was called, how they ate it, etc. 

Next, students studied a physical map of South Sudan and talked about the food native to the region. Because the food is called Ethiopian but the Luals are from South Sudan, which borders Ethiopia, it helped students understand that diet isn’t necessarily controlled by political boundaries, but rather geographic features. 

As for tasting the food, students were excited but nervous. Most of them said that the flavor was good but the texture was different from foods they had tried before. They ended the lesson writing a reflection on what they thought of the food, if they would ever eat it again, and what they think the importance of food culture is.