I am attaching a pdf file of my first grade lesson plans for incorporating East Asia into my curriculum through a study of food. If the links do not work when you click on them, simply copy and paste into your browser. Safari seems to work well. Though my lessons are for younger students, the web resources are very interesting and offer possibilities for use with older students, as well.
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The lesson plans for incorporating East Asia into the curriculum through a study on food is a great idea! I agree that teaching about Asian meals is a viable way of getting students to understand and appreciate different cultures. I specially like the idea of using Everybody Cooks Rice by Norah Dooley as a resource. That is something I could definitely read to my third graders. Also, I like the fact that it is tied to Math by posing the question, "How much does it cost to eat for a week in other countries?" I think it would be neat for slightly older students to then place that information in a bar graph.
I LOVE this book, there are so many topics covered and even though it is a picture book, it handles the very mature topic of intermarriage. One of the items that I would use along with the book is a website called http://freerice.com/ This site allows students through the study of vocabulary to donate rice to other countries. I don't think it is a scheme, and it doesn't ask the students for personal information. Students compete to fill the rice bowl while improving their vocabulary.
Finally, in the old days, when students were allowed to bring cooked foods into the classroom, all the students would prepare what they thought was a typical lunch for a Japanese students while we read Sadako and the Thousand Cranes ( we also made cranes). The quirkiest entree was from Bangladesh- where the amount of chili powder added to the rice wrapped in seaweed was almost unbearable. It provided an interesting entry point for talking about Asian fusion cuisine.
You could share with your first grade students how to use chopsticks using small cotton balls. This was a fun activity taking cotton balls from one bowl to another.