1. Cultural Energizer

• Ask students: What are some of your favorite cultural foods? It can be food from your culture or another culture. 
• Prompt students to think about what memories are evoked from their favorite dishes.
• Have a class discussion and solicit student responses. 

2. Tapping into Prior Knowledge 

• Review the history of Cambodia, and have students share what they know about the Cambodian Genocide. 
• The teacher can give students access to the following resources for context and history of the Cambodian Genocide:
  • Brief history on Cambodian genocide “Cambodia 1975-1979: Introduction” / US Holocaust Memorial Museum https://www.ushmm.org/genocide-prevention/countries/cambodia/case-study/introduction/cambodia-1975 
  • Cambodian Refugees” / Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants (CERI) https://www.cerieastbay.org/cambodian-refugees 

3. Interaction with first source: “Gruel”

• As a class, read “Gruel” aloud. http://misfitmagazine.net/archive/No-12/tuon.html (Poem is included in the article)

Gruel

We were talking about survival

when my uncle told me this.

“When you were young,

we had nothing to eat.

Your grandmother saved for you

the thickest part of her rice gruel.

Tasting that cloudy mixture of salt,

water, and grain, you cried out,

This is better than beef curry." 

All my life I told myself I never knew

suffering under the regime, only love.

This is still true. 

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftkiRSz5dHM (timestamp: 15:15–15:58)
• Teacher will model analysis for the first read: 
  • What emotions are evoked from the first read?
  • What do you visualize as you hear the poem? 
• Teacher will model analysis for the second read:
  • Identify literary devices in the poem. What impact do the literary devices have on the overall mood and theme of the poem? 
  • What do the lines of the poem reveal about the Cambodian refugee experiences with food?

4. Interaction with second source: “Dead Tongue” https://numerocinqmagazine.com/2013/10/13/variations-on-the-theme-of-grandmother-poems-bunkong-tuon/

Dead Tongue

We are each other’s

springboard to another world.

I search for mother in you,

and you see your daughter in me.

I never knew how to thank you.

The words don’t sound right.

My tongue has been cut

to fit the meter of another world.

The words bounce off walls,

deflated, a dead poem

• Students will complete the second poem analysis independently
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftkiRSz5dHM (timestamp: 13:50–15:10)
• First read analysis: 
  • What emotions are evoked from the first read?
  • What do you visualize as you hear the poem? 
• Second read analysis:
  • Identify literary devices in the poem. What impact do the literary devices have on the overall mood and theme of the poem? 
  • What do the lines of the poem reveal about the Cambodian refugee experiences with food?

5. Cultural Production and Assessment

• Students will select a traditional Cambodian dish and complete an “Ode to (name of dish).” This ode can be an illustration, or can be text-based. 
• Criteria:
  • Cultural and Historical Accuracy - The ode should accurately represent the Cambodian dish and include relevant historical facts
  • Creativity - The illustration or text ode should be constructed with originality and imagination through style and language.
  • Cultural Relevance - The ode should demonstrate an understanding of Cambodian culture and its role in traditions and life.
• Models - Have students peruse this website for samples on what they can create for their ode project: Cambodian American Literary Arts Association (CALAA). (n.d.). “Food and Identity” issue of Stilt House Zine, CALAA. Available at: https://www.calaalowell.org/food-and-identity 
  • Additionally, students can utilize this website to get ideas: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/the-culinary-slang-of-cambodian-cuisine/28918/ 
• Students will then share their ode projects in small groups or to the whole class. This can be done in the format of a gallery walk or posting the ode on an online platform for all students to view and access. 

6. Reflection

• The students will then be guided to answer the following reflection questions:
  • Food is used to evoke memories for many of these writings by Cambodian Americans. What makes food so attractive as a writing subject? What does food have to do with being Cambodian? Think of your own relationship to comfort foods or memorable meals with your family. What role do they have in your life and why is it significant?