Food and Cooking in the Past

Active learning works because this topic blends abstract historical facts with tangible, sensory experiences. When students handle real or replica tools, taste preserved foods, or simulate past processes, they connect abstract ideas to concrete memories, which strengthens long-term understanding.

• Year 1
• HASS
• 4 activities
• 25 min–45 min

Learning Objectives

1. Compare methods of food preservation used in the past with modern methods.
2. Explain how cooking methods have changed from open fires to modern appliances.
3. Identify different sources of food available to people before the existence of supermarkets.
4. Describe how food was stored and kept fresh before refrigeration.

Stations Rotation

⏱ 30 min·Pairs

Role-Play: Past Market Stall

Students work in pairs to set up stalls with pictures of past foods like bush tucker or farm produce. They role-play trading with classmates using play money or shells, then discuss how this differs from supermarket shopping. End with a class share of favourite past foods.

Prepare & details

How did people cook food before there were stoves and microwaves?

Facilitation Tip: For the Past Market Stall role-play, assign specific roles like vendor, customer, or historian to ensure every student participates and stays engaged throughout the exchange.

Setup: Tables/desks arranged in 4-6 distinct stations around room

Materials: Station instruction cards, Different materials per station, Rotation timer

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Stations Rotation

⏱ 45 min·Whole Class

Demonstration: Fireless Cooking

Demonstrate safe cooking methods using solar ovens made from boxes and foil, or stone boiling with hot water and pebbles in bowls. Students observe and draw steps, then try making damper dough. Compare to microwave use at home.

Prepare & details

How did people get their food before there were supermarkets?

Facilitation Tip: During the Fireless Cooking demonstration, dim the lights or use a single candle to simulate open-flame cooking and help students focus on the sensory experience of heat and smoke.

Setup: Tables/desks arranged in 4-6 distinct stations around room

Materials: Station instruction cards, Different materials per station, Rotation timer

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Stations Rotation

⏱ 40 min·Small Groups

Experiment: Food Preservation

In small groups, students salt cucumber slices, dry apple rings in sun, and observe over days. Record changes in journals with drawings. Discuss why these methods worked before fridges.

Prepare & details

How did people keep food fresh before there were refrigerators?

Facilitation Tip: In the Food Preservation experiment, assign small groups to test one method per group (salting, drying, or smoking) so students can compare results side by side and discuss reliability.

Setup: Tables/desks arranged in 4-6 distinct stations around room

Materials: Station instruction cards, Different materials per station, Rotation timer

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Timeline Challenge

⏱ 25 min·Individual

Timeline Challenge: Food Journey

Individually, students draw a personal timeline of a meal from farm to table today, then add past versions. Share in pairs to sequence class timelines on a wall.

Prepare & details

How did people cook food before there were stoves and microwaves?

Facilitation Tip: On the Timeline: Food Journey, use string and paper clips to create a physical timeline students can move along as they add events, making sequencing interactive and memorable.

Setup: Long wall or floor space for timeline construction

Materials: Event cards with dates and descriptions, Timeline base (tape or long paper), Connection arrows/string, Debate prompt cards

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Teaching This Topic

Experienced teachers approach this topic by grounding abstract ideas in sensory and social learning. Start with the familiar (modern foods) and move backward in time to provoke curiosity. Avoid overgeneralizing past diets as ‘hard’ or ‘boring’—instead, highlight the ingenuity and cultural richness of historical foodways. Research shows that hands-on experiments and role-plays build empathy and deepen understanding of cause-and-effect relationships in history.

What to Expect

By the end of these activities, students will confidently describe how past communities sourced, prepared, and preserved food using evidence from role-plays, experiments, and timelines. They will also compare past and present practices with accuracy and detail.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

During the Role-Play: Past Market Stall, watch for students assuming past diets were limited or unappetizing.

What to Teach Instead

Use the role-play to showcase abundance by assigning vendors to offer seasonal foods like roasted game, dried fruits, or preserved fish. Ask students to describe the flavors and textures they imagine tasting during the exchange.

Common Misconception

During the Experiment: Food Preservation, watch for students assuming all food spoiled quickly without refrigerators.

What to Teach Instead

After the experiment, have groups share their results and discuss why some methods worked better than others. Use their observations to correct the misconception with evidence from their own tests.

Common Misconception

During the Timeline: Food Journey, watch for students assuming cooking methods were the same everywhere.

What to Teach Instead

Use the timeline to highlight regional differences by having students add artefacts like Indigenous ground ovens or settler cast iron pots. Ask students to explain why methods varied and compare their findings.

Assessment Ideas

Quick Check

After the Timeline: Food Journey, show students pictures of tools (e.g., mortar and pestle, microwave) and ask them to sort the pictures into ‘Past’ and ‘Present’ categories. Listen to their reasoning to assess understanding of historical changes in food preparation.

Discussion Prompt

During the Experiment: Food Preservation, pose the question: ‘Imagine you need to store apples for the winter without a refrigerator. What are two ways people in the past might have done this?’ Encourage students to recall methods like drying or storing in a cool place, and note their responses.

Exit Ticket

After the Role-Play: Past Market Stall, give each student a card with a food item (e.g., fish, berries). Ask them to write one way people in the past might have cooked or preserved that food before modern appliances.

Extensions & Scaffolding

• Challenge students to research a specific culture or region and prepare a short presentation on how they sourced, cooked, or preserved food in the past.
• For students who struggle, provide picture cards of preservation methods or cooking tools to match with descriptions or labels.
• Deeper exploration: Invite a local historian or chef to discuss Indigenous food traditions and compare them with settler-colonial practices shown in the activities.

Key Vocabulary

Preservation	Methods used to keep food from spoiling, such as drying, salting, or smoking.
Open fire cooking	Preparing food by cooking it directly over flames or hot coals, common before stoves were invented.
Foraging	Searching for and gathering wild food resources like plants, fruits, and nuts.
Root cellar	A cool, underground storage space used to keep root vegetables and other produce fresh for long periods.