Can Street Food Save Us?

This was the big question guiding our DT Day, and Best Class threw themselves into exploring it with curiosity, skill and plenty of delicious creativity!

We began by thinking about the snacks we eat every day. Are they healthy? Do they give us the right balance of nutrients? Using real packaging and nutritional labels, we investigated the fats, sugars, salts and proteins hiding inside our favourite treats. This helped us understand why it’s important to think carefully about what goes into the “quick and easy” foods we choose.

Next, we explored the main food groups — carbohydrates, proteins, dairy, fruit and vegetables, and fats — and discussed how a healthy street food dish should include a balanced combination of these. With this knowledge, it was time to cook!

Lesson 1: Mexican Vegetarian Burritos 🇲🇽

Our first stop on our street food journey was Mexico. Best Class learned how to prepare fresh ingredients safely, practising essential knife skills like the bridge hold and the claw technique. With these new skills, the children chopped peppers, tomatoes, onions and herbs before assembling their nutritious vegetarian burritos. Packed with beans, vegetables and flavour, these colourful wraps ticked all the boxes for a nourishing street food option.

Lesson 2: Indian Vegetable Samosas 🇮🇳

Next, we travelled to India to make a healthier version of a classic favourite: vegetable samosas. Instead of deep-frying, Best Class used filo pastry and baked them for a lighter twist. Carefully folding the pastry into neat triangles tested everyone’s precision and patience — and the results were absolutely worth it!

Evaluating With a Pentagram ⭐

To finish our DT experience, the children evaluated both dishes using a food evaluation pentagram, reflecting on aspects such as appearance, texture, aroma, flavour and nutritional value. This helped them think like real food designers, analysing how well their creations met the brief.

A Day of Skills, Flavours and Learning

Best Class proved that street food can indeed be healthy, balanced and delicious — especially when it’s homemade with care. We developed practical kitchen skills, deepened our understanding of nutrition, and tasted flavours from around the world.

Street food might not literally save us… but with Year 6 designing it, it just might! 🌍✨

Our pupils have certainly lived out our curriculum vision statement for Design Technology:

Be innovative. Be hands-on. Be diagnostic.