Derek Corsino teaches at Healdsburg High School, in Healdsburg, California. He is a 2019 alumnus of the George Washington Teacher Institute. 

Above: Sam Murphy, manager of historic trades, demonstrates 18th-century chocolate making at Mount Vernon. Photos by Rebekah Hanover Pettit.

Cooking Up Lesson Plans

How one California teacher serves up history, economics, and science through a culinary education

The lessons of George Washington and his time don’t just have to be in social studies, American history, English, or science classrooms. I teach culinary arts in the heart of northern California wine country, and they are equally relevant in my classroom.
My go-to ingredient for starting the conversation is typically chocolate. I tell students in my Cuisines of the Americas class, “Here, munch on this while we talk about exploration, exploitation of resources, colonialism, Spaniards, and Italians.” However, after my time at Mount Vernon, I’ve expanded the conversation, and we now also examine the cuisine of a budding nation on the verge of independence. We talk about the cash crops of the day and the trade of tobacco, vegetables, fruits, fish, and sugar cane. This transitions into the triangular trade and the global movement of food and goods.

How does one humanize a topic such as the global food supply? I recall a sobering moment inside a sweltering cabin at Mount Vernon. Character Interpreter Brenda Parker (as Caroline Branham) walked our group through the life of the enslaved on the plantation. The temperature was 105°F, with humidity a stifling 83 percent. We could only imagine what those conditions had been like. These are the moments that stick with you, and that I hope to bring back to my classroom.

There are other takeaways for a culinary classroom: Colonial-period cooking is not just demonstrable and participatory, but recipes also can be made inexpensively. A big hit is hand churning ice cream in the way the enslaved cooks would have done for George Washington. First, my students examine photos of period hand churners and the molds the finished ice cream went into. Next, we dive into replicating the process with a bucket, a tall container, ice, salt, and a wooden spoon. As their arms tire, students learn it’s a lengthy process. However, the frosty reward leaves everyone with a smile and a lesson they will never forget.

My goal is to foster lifelong learners with an appreciation and passion for not just food, but for history as well. To do this, I build a curriculum that poses questions, fosters interaction, and creates an environment for “Ah Ha!” moments. We view and discuss trade route maps, artwork, and the tools of the day. I often pull up images of colonial cooking tools and invite them to guess their uses. Many torture implements are usually suggested!

This past year required many pivots to online education. Step in Be Washington. The educational tool connected not just with the students who love Hamilton, but also with students who need visual and vocal stimulation when they learn.

Educating in the kitchen can be more than just making an omelet, learning knife skills, and simmering soup. It can be churning, crafting, and culturing butter. It can be removing all the electricity, modern conveniences, and far-flung ingredients ubiquitous today and asking students to step back in time to reflect, and learn. While a 2,854-mile field trip to Mount Vernon may not be in the school budget, any teacher can lead students there through their imaginations