Undergraduate Lesson Plan
Intended for undergraduate level students in history or Slavic departments
Will work best for a class with less than 40 students
This lesson plan is meant to be a loose guideline for educators and is adaptable for multiple unit topics
Understanding traditions through recipes
This lesson plan works with the Memorial Book and Recipes document compiled by Marie Baca in 1957. Students conduct a close analysis of the recipe book that also has sections with photos, advertisements, and announcements from the local Czech community. The collection of different types of information provides a valuable insight into understanding the experiences of first and second-generation immigrants. Food is an engaging subject for students because they can connect their own culinary experiences with the Czech recipes. This archival source stretches the boundaries of what students think of as primary documents. Students will learn how to gather information from primary documents and evaluate this information in a broader context.
Introduction
This lesson plan takes the concept of a “Proustian memory” and asks students to discuss recipes as a window to history. Marcel Proust talks about memories related to his experience with food, in this case, a simple madeleine, in his seven-volume work "À la recherche du temps perdu," or "In Search of Lost Time." When Proust dips the cookie in tea and eats it, memories of his childhood come rushing back. The students should read an excerpt of Proust’s work (found online here) and then reflect on their own culinary “Proustian memory,” making sure that it is connected to their childhood or family.
In connection with the archival document, students should browse the various recipes, pick one or two, and note any interesting ingredients and who contributed the recipe. Often, there are recipes dedicated to other family members. The student should create their own variation on the recipe using ingredients that they would find in their local grocery store. Time permitting, the student would attempt to recreate the original recipe and describe their process. In recreating historical recipes, students will notice a lack of instructions, products that do not exist anymore, and a more relaxed approach to nutritional standards.
Through analyzing these recipes, the students will gain insight into what life was like for Texas Czechs in the twentieth century. To complement this lesson, students should also browse the “memorial” section of the book that includes a wide range of topics. Given the context that this book was compiled as a fundraising product to help build the Czech Catholic Home for the Aged, have the students discuss how the non-recipe sections would be used to raise money for the institution. The students will find that some of the pictures and advertisements will mention specific Texas locations.
Objectives
Students should be able to:
- Develop skills to analyze primary documents.
- Understand recipes as family and community traditions that can cross borders.
- Explain how a community can finance a new institution (the Czech Catholic Home for the Aged) by using its own resources.
- Locate the origins of recipes and advertisements.
- Appreciate the difficulty in recreating recipes and the importance of contextualizing history.
As mentioned above, students should read an excerpt from Marcel Proust that describes his “Proustian memory” with food.
Students should also browse a Czech food blog: Czech Cookbook. The author, Kristýna Montano, was born in the Czech Republic and translates traditional Czech recipes into English. The food blog will give students a sense of what traditional Czech cuisine is and they can compare this to the recipes in Marie Baca’s compilation.
Class Agenda
At the start of the class, the students should discuss the Proust reading and their own “Proustian memories.” The teacher should also ask what recipes they found from Czech Cookbook to be the most interesting.
Depending on the size of the class, students should form small groups and look at pre-selected pages of recipes and a few pages from the “memorial” section of the archival material. For the recipes, the students should write down what type of recipe this is (appetizer, dessert, etc.) and who the author is, if any is listed. They should also note the length of the recipe and if it has any instructions. For the other pages, students should note if the information is an advertisement or a photo submitted by a family. If it is the advertisement, have the students discuss why this business would want to be included in a distributed book. If it is a photo of community members, have the students research who the people are and where they lived.
Ask the students why a book like this would have multiple types of information. How does this source differ from a community newspaper? What can this book tell us about the community structure and how the people interacted with one another? Finally, ask the students what we can learn about history by looking at recipes and other information that comes from a specific community, in this case the Texas Czech community.
These questions can be asked via a handout or as a more informal, discussion-based class.
As mentioned above, if time permits the students could choose a recipe to recreate for the following class day and then present on the challenges of recreating the recipe.