Garnishing is defined as embellishing something. In this project, it pertains to food!  In this project: Garnishing: Student Led Demonstration, students compile the information on garnishing a specific food in a presentation and teach and/or demo the technique that can be used with the class!  The project can then be shared with students via Google Classroom, keeping entire presentations together. Since students orally share, they can be graded as presented, making life easier at the end of the day!

Set

• First, you will want to make sure you’ve taught your students about knives and knife safety as many of the techniques they will be demonstrating require the use of sharp tools.  If you need to teach these topics, check out the resources below under the Similar Lessons heading.
• Cut apart the foods listed at the bottom of the assignment sheet and place them in a bowl or fill in a name generator wheel to spin and randomly assign your students a fruit or vegetable to work with.
• Optional, demo for students how the demonstration assignment will work using a fruit or vegetable not selected if you are requiring them to actually demo their food and garnishing technique.
• If your budget doesn’t allow for the purchase of extra fruits and vegetables, just have students present the technique via their slide presentation. The actual garnishing technique can be incorporated later in other meal presentations.

Materials

• iPad or Laptop
• Projector & Screen
• Demonstration Table (optional)
• Tools Needed for Demonstrations (optional)
• Fruits & Vegetables (optional)

Activities

• Once students have their assigned fruit or vegetable, they will need to research various ways the food can be garnished and select one that is neither too simple or too difficult to complete. Students will create a slide presentation based on the rubric that includes the following:
  • Title the slide with your assigned food and your name
  • Describe the garnishing technique(s) used & include tools needed to perform (cite source). Be sure to keep skill in mind when selecting your technique–not too simple or too difficult.
  • Include a picture that illustrates the garnishing technique with your assigned food
  • Include a hyperlinked YouTube clip of the garnishing technique in action; include a picture. You may create your own if necessary
  • Share/Present your information with the class (teacher will decide if a demonstration of you performing the technique will be included or required)
• Place all presentations in a Google Folder and share with students so they can be referenced in the future.

Attachments

• Garnishing Mini Lesson & Rubric (please make a copy if you wish to edit)

Similar Lessons

• Student Led Mini-Lessons for Food Preparation Terms & Kitchen Tools
• Knife Skills Interactive
• Knife Skills Workbook for E-Learning
• Knife Skills: A Hands-On Lesson & Lab
• Knife Skills Lesson Plan