Let’s learn about food from around the world, from falafel to lasagne, pho and more

Food is a central part of many cultures, and it can even teach us about history.

Pho is a comforting Vietnamese noodle soup that is usually made with beef bones and aromatic spices like star anise, cloves and cinnamon. Its history starts in the late 1800s, and many believe it comes from a type of soup made by Chinese people living in Vietnam, combined with beef bones that the French colonialists threw away.

Falafel is a popular Middle Eastern dish that is usually made with chickpeas, herbs and spices. People are still not sure where this dish comes from – some say Egypt; others say Lebanon. But it has hundreds of years of history, and now, different countries all have their own way of making it.

Lasagne is a yummy Italian dish made with layers of pasta, beef and tomato sauce, and cheese. It is considered one of the oldest pasta dishes in Italian cooking – it has even appeared in writing from the 1200s. A big pan of lasagne is perfect for large family gatherings.

Can you name the foods in this picture? Photo: Shutterstock

Home-made lasagne (serves four)

Ingredients:

• lasagne pasta

• 1 jar of pasta sauce

• 3 cups of spinach

• 450g of ground beef or plant-based meat

• 1 tablespoon of oil

• 1 cup of shredded cheese

• baking dish

• foil

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.

2. In a saucepan, heat your cooking oil before adding the meat. Sauté until the meat has turned a light brown, and add the pasta sauce. Once there are some bubbles at the surface, cook it for five minutes before turning off the heat.

3. Boil the lasagne noodles until they are soft, but still a bit firm. Drain and set aside.

4. Spread a layer of the meaty pasta sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. Place a layer of lasagne noodles above the tomato sauce. Next, spread a layer of cheese and spinach on top. Repeat the layers until the dish is full. The final layer on top should be cheese.

5. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Then, remove the foil and bake for 10 to 15 more minutes or until the cheese melts. Remove the lasagne from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes before serving. Take the lasagne out of the oven, and let it cool before serving.

Follow our easy steps, and you’ll have a tasty family dinner in no time! Photo: Shutterstock

World food trivia game

Instructions:

1. Go online to research popular foods from the countries in the chart below.

2. Then, you can play a memory game with them. Get 16 index cards, write the country names on eight of them, and the popular dishes on the other eight.

3. Place the cards face down, and pick two to flip up. If they match, you can keep those cards, but if not, you must flip them over. Take turns flipping two cards at a time until all the cards have been claimed. The winner is the one with the most cards.

Sample answers

• Ethiopia: injera (fermented, spongy flatbread made of teff flour)

• Poland: pierogi (filled dumplings)

• Nigeria: jollof (rice dish made with spices, tomatoes, other vegetables and meat)

• Lebanon: labneh (a dip made with a special type of yoghurt and seasoned with herbs and thyme)

• Kazakhstan: baursak (puffy pieces of fried Kazakh bread served with sugar, honey or butter)

• Peru: ceviche (sea bass marinated with lime juice, onion, salt and chillies)

• Laos: naem khao (crispy coconut rice)