Middle Schoolers explore culture, family, and community through food

Students in Eighth Grade English Teacher Christine Park’s class wrapped up a lesson that saw them tell the story of their family recipes.
By Ian Dinkins, Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications

The eighth-grade hallway at University School of Nashville has the smell of storytelling in the air after a recent lesson in English Teacher Christine Park’s class.

Park led her students through a deeply personal storytelling unit, which had them write food narratives that tied a favorite recipe to family, identity, and community. What started with a simple dish, like dumplings, biscuits, or grandma’s soup, turned into something much more profound.

“I enjoyed getting to explore myself through my food, which is something that I’m very passionate about,” said Anna Brook ’30. “This assignment was perfect for me because English is my favorite subject, and I love food!”

Park first taught the unit as a seventh-grade teacher at 826 Valencia, a writing nonprofit in San Francisco. When she moved to Nashville and began teaching at USN, she brought the lesson with her, adapting it to her eighth-grade students and refining it each year. What’s remained constant over the years is its emotional depth and the connections it builds, both in and outside of the classroom, she said.

“I think most of the students walk away with a greater appreciation for their family and a better understanding of something about themselves,” Park said. “Writing-wise, I hope they walk away with a greater sense of how tone, sentence fluency, and sensory details can shape a narrative — both from a reading and writing perspective.”

One student agreed with Park’s assessment of the project.

“My classmates and I learned a lot about how to be storytellers and not just tell the story,” said Alyvia Thompson ’30. “ You can't just have the facts; there needs to be detail and personality as well.”

The primary purpose of this project extends beyond good storytelling and is tied to a larger goal for her class this year. 

It’s a key component of the class’s broader yearlong theme: “Community, Conflict & Communication.” One of the core questions they keep returning to is, “How do communities shape identities?” This food unit invites students to consider how the meals they eat (or don’t eat) are part of a larger story about who they are, where they come from, and how they relate to those around them.

“We explored this question independently through the personal food narratives,” Park said, “Learning how our communities can shape what we are exposed to or not, how we feel about certain things, and how we may not even agree with our close communities.”

The assignment included an interview component, where students talked to a family member, often a parent or grandparent, about the chosen recipe and its background. These conversations turned out to be as meaningful as the writing that follows.

“Every year, the students have stories to tell,” Park said. “Sometimes, I get students who say that they don't have a food that is significant to their families, but that in itself is a story.”

“The recipe I wrote about was my late grandfather's pancakes, and my 'so what' was the fact that his pancakes will never be the same if we make them, because of how thoughtful he cooked them and the memories that went along with them,” said Phoebe Schneider ’30. 

The inspiration that the assignment brings extends far beyond the classroom.

USN parent Rachel Sobel still vividly remembers the project. Her son Eli, now a junior at USN, wrote food narratives in Park’s class. When Park said that she still teaches the lesson to students, Sobel responded with joy, telling Park how years later, Eli asked to make his great-grandmother's pot roast he had written about, sparking a deep and unexpected conversation while cooking together.

Beyond its emotional resonance, the unit also serves as a tool for teaching essential writing skills. Students examine how word choice and descriptive detail can build vivid scenes. They consider voice, pacing, and tone. They also learn to revise their work based on peer feedback, sharpening not only their writing but also their listening and communication skills.

“The whole unit was also really great practice for adding 'flavor' to our writing pieces,” said Schneider. “Adding flavor by really painting a picture with our writing and using things like word choice and vivid descriptions.”

Whether students walk away with a newfound appreciation for their grandmother’s tamales or a reflection on why their family never had that special meal passed down by generations, they leave with invaluable insight into themselves and the people who shaped them.

“I think that we all got to learn a little bit about each other on a personal level, and that is a really special connection that we would not have had if it weren't for this specific lesson,” said Brook. “I also think that everyone learned about themselves and their relationships with other people.”

The unit provides students and their families with an opportunity to slow down, reflect, and connect, bridging the personal and the academic in a fun and delicious way.
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