Foods that do the same job
Many people like prawn sandwiches but probably they do not think about the different foods as they tuck into their meal. Where did all the parts of the sandwich come from to end up together in the hand of a hungry person?

Let us imagine that the prawn sandwich is made from a slice of bread and butter and it has lettuce and tomato in it as well as prawns. The sandwich then has food from each of the five food groups. These groups are cereals, dairy products, vegetables, fruits and meat.
Cereals are produced by grass-type plants. The cereal that has produced the bread for the sandwich is wheat. This is a plant that is grown in many parts of the world, such as Great Britain, North America and Australia. You may have seen it growing in a field. When it is ready to be harvested the plant goes a golden brown and on the top of each stalk are a large number of wheat grains clustered together. The wheat grains are separated from the rest of the plant and ground up at a mill to make flour.

Butter is a dairy product. It is made from milk. Every day a dairy cow makes milk. It is stored in a cow's bag called the udder. At a dairy, the milk is removed from the udder of a cow by a milking machine. Milk contains a thick white substance called cream. The milk and cream are put into a machine called a cream separator. Inside this machine, the milk and cream are spun round. There are holes in the side of the machine, which let the milk escape but keep back the cream. The cream is then heated, cooled, shaken, salted and turned into butter.

Lettuce is a salad vegetable. A vegetable is a plant, which has an edible part such as a leaf, stem or root. It may even have edible flowers like cauliflower or broccoli. The lettuce produces edible leaves. Lettuce is easy to grow and you may have grown it in a garden. As the leaves form they grow over each other and form a tight ball. Most lettuces are grown in greenhouses where the heat makes them grow quickly.

A fruit is a part of the plant which forms from the flower. When it is ripe it contains seeds. Apples and oranges are well known fruits. We call their seeds pips. If you cut open a tomato you will see seeds too. The presence of seeds in the tomato tells you that it is really a fruit although most people call it a vegetable. Tomatoes originally grew wild in South America but they are now grown in many parts of the world where there is enough heat and moisture. Many tomatoes are reared in greenhouses, like lettuces, because the heat makes them grow quickly.

Prawns belong to the same animal group as the crab and the lobster. They have a hard outer shell and are also known as shellfish. Prawns live on the bottom of the sea and they are caught in nets. The prawns are cooked and have their shells removed. The part of the prawn that is eaten is the tail.

Next time you have a meal, try and put the various parts into the five food groups. You could then follow it up by finding out where each of the foods really came from. You will find that your food comes from many different plants and animals that live in different parts of the world.

Is wheat used to make other foods besides bread?
Yes, it is. It is used to make cakes, biscuits and pasta and some breakfast cereals. It is also used to make couscous and semolina.

What other cereals are there besides wheat?
There are six more cereals which are eaten in large amounts around the world. They are rice, maize, oats, barley, rye and millet. Rice is used in curries and Chinese dishes, in some puddings and in some breakfast cereals. Maize is eaten as sweet corn, as popcorn, and in some breakfast cereals. It is also used to make custard powder. Oats are used to make porridge and biscuits. Barley is added to stews and used to make a drink called barley water. Rye is used to make some crisp breads. In parts of the world such as Northern Europe, rye flour is used to make bread and cakes. Millet is used to make a porridge and for making flat bread. It is eaten by people in parts of Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.

Why does pop corn pop?
Popcorn contains a large amount of starch which dries up when the popcorn is heated. As the starch dries, it swells up and makes the outside of the grain pop open.

What happens to the milk that is not used to make butter?
It is sold as skimmed milk or semi skimmed milk. Many people prefer this milk to full cream milk as it contains less fat.

Is cheese made in the same way as butter?
No. At a cheese factory, full cream milk is mixed with some skimmed milk. The skimmed milk has had some microbes added to it. These microbes help the milk turn into cheese. The milk and its microbes are kept warm. The warmth makes the microbes breed and turns the milk sour. A chemical is added which makes the sour milk turn into lumps called curds. Inside the curds, some of the milk turns watery. This watery milk is called whey. It is not used to make the cheese but may be used to make a drink. The curds are salted and pressed together to make the cheese. The cheeses are kept for a few months in a cool place before they are ready to eat.

Where do lettuce and tomatoes get their food from to grow?
Lettuce and tomato plants make their own food. They do this using air, sunlight and water. They also take some substances from the soil. These substances are called minerals. The plants make the food in their leaves then send the food to all the parts of the plant that need it. The food is used to make new leaves, longer stems, flowers and fruits.

What other fruits are there besides apples, oranges and tomatoes?
There are a large number of fruits. You may find these at your local supermarket ? apricot, avocado, banana, cherry, date, fig, grape, grapefruit, melon, lemon, lime, lychee, mandarin, mango, nectarine, peach, pear, pineapple, plum, pomegranate, strawberry, watermelon.

How are shellfish different from other fish?
Shellfish are animals which have a shell. The shell may form a suit of armour over the body as it does in the prawn, lobster or crab. Some shellfish have a single coiled shell in which they can hide. The winkle and the whelk are examples of this kind of shellfish. Other shellfish may have two shells, which they hold together around themselves. Examples of these kinds of shellfish are cockles, muscles, scallops and oysters. Other fish do not have a shell. They have a skeleton inside them to give them support and are covered in scales. Examples of fish that we eat are cod, haddock, plaice, salmon and tuna.

Is it healthy to eat just one food?
No. Each food contains a range of substances your body needs. Each substance is called a nutrient. No food contains all the nutrients you need, so if you just ate one food your diet would be lacking in some nutrients and this would affect your health.

Babies only have one food ? milk. Is that healthy?
Yes, it is, because the milk contains all the nutrients that a baby needs to grow and be healthy. As you get older your body grows much larger and needs larger amounts of nutrients than just milk can provide.