This Is the Way We Eat Our Lunch: A Book About Children Around the World

by Edith Baer, Steve Bjorkman (Illustrator)

Introducing young readers to the typical dishes that children around the world eat every day, a fact-filled culinary tour covers everything from Coney Island hot dogs to Japanese tempura.

Genres: Picture Books, Food, Childrens, Cultural, Nonfiction, Education, Travel

32 pages, Library Binding

Published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Emma Apple · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so hopeful when I picked this book up. I mean, the title screams cultural/racial diversity. I was excited to see the cultures represented and how it was done. Excited to see authenticity and nuance. Unfortunately, I was disappointed in a few ways. It felt really superficial, the rhyme felt a little forced and the first half of the book was different U.S. states (which is fine, but not exactly “the World” as the title suggests), the latter can be forgiven, considering the audience was probably always primarily American. The second half was various world cultures. I had all but forgiven the superficial feel and annoying rhyme, until I got to “Israel”, on this page we meet Mira and Jamila (Arabic names), in a market full of people wearing Arab style clothing, eating hummus on flat pita bread, an Arab dish. This book was published in 1995, where perhaps awareness of the Middle East conflict was lower, maybe? Maybe they couldn’t say Palestine for some politically correct reason, but wanted to represent the people anyway? Whatever the reason, I was disappointed to see that.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

After having read another of the author's works you would have thought that I would have chosen to dodge this particular book but I didn't. Instead I found myself disappointed again although it isn't for the same reason as it was with the other. Instead with this book it felt more like it was passing on stereotypes then it was actually exploring lunch choices

Although I know the subject is a broad one and hard to cover with the diversity of foods that so many of us can eat at any given day it still made shot-guesses with clam chowder for Mass, hamburgers for Kansas (although I am from Kansas it has been a while since I had a truly good burger for lunch unless you count fast food) and salad for those from California since we all know that Californians like to stay thin. Furthermore some of the other suggested food items seemed more like desserts than actual lunch..

And while reading I did notice that the book did focus more on the United States, especially at the beginning before taking its trip around the world just to a few countries. Furthermore even though the pictures were nice and detailed in their giving - not all of them showed their subjects eating nor the foods they were suppose to be enjoying.

The parts that I can say that I did enjoy was the fact that they included three recipes in the book for the reader to attempt if they should choose to do and a glossary of some of the terms used in the book. Also the book included a world map while showing where each person could be found.

In the end it was decent and maybe a good start for those who are wanting to teach their children some food diversity but not one that I would use as a foundation to explore further cultural diversity.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Agree with other reviews: this book hasn't aged particularly well: it feels a little US-centric, and the meals described feel pretty stereotypical (plus, we don't learn a lot about them unless we flip to the back of the book to read more). The illustrations also don't show the meals very clearly, so if a young reader isn't familiar with bubble and squeak, gumbo, tempura, etc., they're not going to get a lot of clues from the pictures.

Great premise. Dated execution.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is decent, but the review is right. The illustrations do not focus enough on the actual food. ON the page about Ghana you can hardly see it. It drags a little and focusses too much on the United States.

[Jenna (Falling Letters)]

A childhood favorite (received for Easter 1998) but it doesn't really hold up to today's standards.

[Samantha Cucchiarella · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about what children in different areas of the world eat for lunch. Each page has a different state or country in the world and what the child on the page eats for lunch. Each page has a drawing that represents where the child is in the world.

This is a great book to show students that people eat all different types of foods around the world. This would be a great book to introduce some differences in a multicultural unit. The only negative to this book is that the teacher would have to acquire some background knowledge to explain the more complex words and make it clear that not everyone in these places eats the same food.

This could be used as a mentor text for writing by having students come up with different recipes of food they make at home to make a class recipe book and write about different foods they eat.

One book that would be a great pair to this one is “Children Around the World” by Donata Montanari. This book describes 12 children’s lives from different countries.

[Montana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used this as a multicultural read aloud in a fourth grade classroom. It was interesting and enlightening to hear the discussions the kids had after the read aloud. They were hungry for more! They wanted to know more about the types of food, why those types were more popular & prevalent in certain areas, and the people from those places. It was a great conversation starter.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rhyming story of the many different types of food eaten in America, and other countries and places around the world. There are several recipes, and definitions of what the different types and styles of dishes and ingredients contained in them.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book at a nursery where I was working today and it seemed like a great resource. I will be trying to track down a copy.

[Amanda Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting concept, poorly executed.

[Addison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a great book to show to students about the different types of food around the world

[Lauren Risner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story shows how people throughout the world eat their lunch. It is cute because it is written in rhyme, so it is very easy for children to listen to it being read. It shows different pictures of people all over the world eating their native food, and in the back of the book it gives the names of each of the characters and shows where in the world they live. In the back of the book there is also a page where it describes the different terms used for different foods around the world. This would be a good book to use in a children's classroom because of the rhyme scheme and cultural diversity.

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Take a tour around the world and see what kids are having for lunch.

Told in well done rhyme, the book spends half of its time in the USA featuring regional treats and then branches out for other countries. The survey of food is a nice range. In the back of the book are two recipes plus further descriptions of all of the foods mentioned. I like the multicultural tour but felt like the book spent too much time in the USA and missed out on several other countries that could have filled those pages. Still good, and useful for kids learning about how others live.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story shows how people throughout the world eat their lunch. It is written in rhyme so children can find the rhyming words while reading. It shows different pictures of people all over the world eating their native food, and in the back of the book it gives the names of each of the characters and shows where in the world they live.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

fun little rhyming book about different foods in different parts of the world. I can see this book inspiring children to eat different meals to experience different cultures and traditions.

[Leanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous cultural lessons here!!! Also in the back the families are mapped out with definitions of the meals and a few recipes.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice tie in for a food storytime. Had to google "Bubble and Squeak" :)