The “4-H Food and Culture” Program gives 4-H youth in Letcher County, Kentucky, the opportunity to both see and taste other cultures from around the world.  Created through the need for citizenship education in local schools, this program integrates food, language, geography, music, art and dance into the classroom experience. Each month, a new country from a different continent is chosen and students get to participate in hands-on activities that bring this country to life. Both students and teachers enjoy activities such as learning to eat with chopsticks, doing the Mexican Hat Dance, listening to music from Beethoven to Samba sounds and much more. Through this program, 4-H is bringing the world to the youth of this rural community who may never get a chance to see the world.

The “4-H Food and Culture” Program began through discussion among educators and the 4-H agent that youth in our county have a very narrow view of the world and have not had opportunities for cultural experiences. More so, the youth needed positive experiences in citizenship and leadership.  4-H is a wonderful outlet for youth to experience such, thus the 4-H Agent researched and pulled from various resources to implement the “4-H Food and Culture” program.        

The overall goal of the “4-H Food and Culture” program is to educate youth about other countries, cultures and traditions. More so, the program strives to provide youth opportunities to have such cultural experiences in the context of their classroom. Most of all, my personal motto is that if the youth can’t travel to that country, bring that country to them.

The “4-H Food and Culture” Program is open to grades K-5 all schools in Letcher County, Kentucky.  Fifteen classrooms elected to participate in the program in the 2023-2024 school year. Each 4-H Club offered in the Letcher County 4-H program participated, Art Club, Homeschool Club, Jr. Teen /Teen Club, and Cloverbuds. Once a month, the 4-H agent scheduled a program in the classroom and each lesson focused on a different country from a different continent from around the world. By the end of the program, students experienced six of the seven world continents.  

Each country lesson follows similar instruction pattern, including geographic location, population, flag, holidays and holiday traditions, basic language, the arts, and food.  Through this lesson, students have the opportunity to engage in art (flag drawing), communication (language lesson), physical activity (cultural dances, i.e. Mexican Hat Dance), music (Beethoven to samba sounds) and nutrition (cultural food sample).  

The countries that were included in this program in the 2023-2024 school year include Japan, Mexico, Germany, Brazil, South America, and New Zealand.

The Extension Agent is responsible for scheduling the program dates, gathering supplies, fixing the food samples, and implementing the program.  Extension Office assistants have helped in the food preparation. Classroom teachers are also instrumental in assisting in the classroom and information follow-up in the classroom, if they choose to.  

Although the 4-H “Global Gourmet” curriculum (The Ohio State University) influenced the planning of this program, the 4-H “Food and Culture” program series is unique in that it covers a variety of cultural topics and provides experiences and knowledge that may not have been gained otherwise to youth in our county.  With knowledge comes understanding and respect for other cultures, and the possibility of inquiry for more knowledge.  

Educators, school administrators and family resource center staff have given a lot of positive feedback about this program and have already requested it for the next school year, and possibly at different grade levels as well.  While this is a positive measure of success, my personal measure of success is the squeals of students as I enter the classroom and their quick responses to my review questions about previous countries they’ve learned about. More so, it’s when I walk down the hall of a school and a student greets me in Japanese, Portuguese or Spanish.  

This program has proved to be a fun and valuable learning experience for the youth of my community and I plan on continuing this program in the coming school years.  I may also expand the activities and countries included in the program series.  I have also considered day camp and summer camp opportunities based on educating youth on other cultures and traditions.  

Overall, teaching youth global citizenship and the responsibility they have to understand and appreciate various cultures and people is immensely important and embodies core values of 4-H.  As our 4-H pledge states, we strive to do our best for “our world” and this program does just that!