Hi everyone! Welcome back to Storytime Family! How are you today? Did you wake up in time for school? Sometimes, we have to wake up extra early to make sure we get to school on time. It’s important to sleep early and maybe read a book before bed for sweet dreams!
Today, we’re going to talk about one of my favorite things: food! In our house, we all love food. I especially love cooking and trying new foods. How about you? Do you like food too? If you do, join me on a fun adventure with a book called “Can I Eat That?” by Joshua David Stein and illustrated by Julia Rothman. This book is colorful and fun, and it teaches us about different foods we can and can’t eat. Maybe it will inspire you to try something new!
Let’s start our adventure! Do you know what an olive is? It’s a small, round fruit. Can you eat an orange, an olive, and a sea urchin? Yes, you can! A sea urchin is called “uni” in Japanese, and it has a mild flavor. Have you ever tried it?
Can you eat a potato, a tomato, and a tornado? Well, you can’t eat a tornado because it’s made of wind! But you can enjoy foods like tomato sauce from Italy or a tostada from Mexico, which is like a Mexican pizza!
Have you ever tried pickles? They are vegetables soaked in vinegar or salty water. Pickles come in many flavors like garlic, sour, and sweet. You might have had pickles in your burger!
If you eat jelly and fish, can you eat jellyfish? In some places, people eat jellyfish in salads with sesame oil and soy sauce. It’s a bit different, but fun to try!
Do fish have fingers? No, fish have fins, but we call fried fish pieces “fish fingers” because they look like fingers!
Do eggs grow on eggplants? No, eggs come from chickens! Eggplant is another name for aubergine, which is a vegetable. Isn’t “aubergine” a pretty name?
Can you eat a pear? Yes! How about a bear? No! Some foods are just for fun to think about, like eating a telephone or a pony. But you can enjoy delicious things like cherry pie or a can of soup!
Did you enjoy learning about different foods? Are you feeling hungry now? Maybe you can try something new today! Eating is always fun, especially when you share with family and friends.
Thank you for joining us today! Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and tell us how much you love food. Take care, and we’ll see you soon with more fun books. Bye-bye!
Food Exploration Adventure: With the help of an adult, go on a mini food adventure in your kitchen. Find three foods you have never tried before. Ask questions like, “What does it look like?” “What does it smell like?” and “What do you think it will taste like?” Try a small piece of each and describe the taste. Did you find a new favorite?
Draw Your Food Story: Imagine you are the main character in a story about food. Draw a picture of yourself trying a new food from a different country, like “uni” from Japan or a tostada from Mexico. Write a sentence about how it tastes and how you feel trying it. Share your drawing with your family and tell them about your food adventure!
Food Fun Facts Hunt: With a family member, pick a food you eat often, like tomatoes or potatoes. Use books or the internet to find three fun facts about that food. For example, where does it come from? How does it grow? Share your fun facts with your class or friends. Did you learn something surprising?
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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[Music] Hi everyone, welcome back to the Storytime Family! How are you today? Did you wake up in time for school? Well, my kids were actually late for school the past two days, so today we had to wake up extra early to get ready. Sometimes you have to put in extra effort to make sure you get to school on time, sleep early, and maybe read a book before bed for sweeter dreams!
Today, we’re going to be talking about my favorite subject: food! In our house, we all love food, especially me because I love cooking, buying, looking at, and everything to do with food. How about you? How much do you like food? If you’re a foodie, then you can join me on a culinary adventure with “Can I Eat That?” by Joshua David Stein and illustrated by Julia Rothman. In this book, we’re going to learn about the foods we can and can’t eat. It’s a quirky, colorful book that’s pretty to look at. I hope you can enjoy this book with your mom, dad, or friends, and it might even inspire you to try new things!
Shall we have a look? Let’s get started! Can I eat that? Do you know what this is? You might have seen this—it’s an olive! Correct! Can I eat an orange, an olive, and a sea urchin? I recently had sea urchin, and I must say it’s quite interesting. It wasn’t what I expected because I had it a long time ago and couldn’t remember how it tasted. When I had it again, it tasted nothing like I remembered. It’s got a very strange texture—it’s a bit soft, and I expected it to taste like fish, but it actually has a mild flavor. Yes, you can eat all three! A sea urchin is called uni in Japanese. Inside the uni are bright orange strips of meat called coral, which you can serve on rice as uni donburi. Have you had donburi? My favorite is sashimi donburi and unagi donburi. What are yours?
Can I eat a potato, a tomato, and a tornado? I don’t think you can eat a tornado—it’s made out of wind! But you can eat a tomato sauce from Italy made with tuna, tornadoes are a type of stick from France, or tostada, a type of fried tortilla with delicious toppings from Mexico—it’s like a Mexican pizza!
Can we go pickle picking sometime? Not exactly! Pickles are really vegetables that have been soaked in vinegar or salty water called brine. Pickled cucumbers or gherkins are a popular kind of pickle, and there are many flavors to choose from—garlic, sour, dill, sweet, and half-sour. Have you ever had a pickle? You might have had some in your burger. Yeah, well, I love pickles—all kinds of pickles!
If I eat jelly and I eat fish, can I eat jellyfish? Have you had jellyfish before? It’s really young and doesn’t have much taste, but you can flavor it with lots of things like sesame oil, soy, ginger, and garlic to make a salad. In China, jellyfish is thinly sliced and served cold with shredded vegetables, like the salad I was telling you about.
If there is bacon, is there bake-off? If there is ketchup, is there a catch down? If there is raisin, is there a race out? Very cute! Is this a faraway line or a life-size pit? It looks more like a line to me, though. What do you think—lime or pea? Well, to each his or her own!
Is this a distant donut or a close-up? Cheerio! Hmm, it looks more like a Cheerio because donut holes are usually smaller in proportion. What do you think? Yeah, I’ll tell you a secret, though—I actually don’t like donuts. Sorry!
Do fish have fingers? I don’t think they have fingers. No, fish have fins, but they don’t have fingers. What we call fish fingers are actually fried bits of fish, but they are called fingers because they look like our fingers—kind of! They would make really fat fingers, though, don’t you think?
Do eggs grow on eggplants? Huh, white eggplants? I’ve never seen white eggplants before! I used to hate eggplants, to be honest, but now I love them. No, eggplant is another name for aubergine. Did you know that? Aubergine is such a pretty name, don’t you think? Oh, where do eggs come from? Chickens! You knew that, right? But the question is, which came first—the egg or the chicken? Okay, and where do chickens come from? All chickens come from eggs, but not all eggs become chickens. I recently learned that you do not need a rooster for hens to lay eggs. I feel very silly!
Some eggs become breakfast. I love eggs! Do you love eggs? I love sunny-side-up eggs with bacon, baked beans, and buttered toast—perfect!
Can I eat a pear? Bee? I guess some people eat bees. Bear? No! Moose? Mouse? Juice? Goose? People eat goose in Hong Kong; they’re quite yummy! Grouse, grape, egg, cantaloupe, antelope, and some people actually eat pants. No, you can’t eat pants! Elephants? No, I don’t think so. Eclair? A high chair? I’m sure you’ve eaten some part of your high chair, right? Cherry pie, apple pie, pineapple, pinecones—not delicious, I can tell you! Telephone, panettone, pony? No, you can’t eat ponies! Cannoli? Yum! Can of soup? Two cans of soup!
Did you enjoy “Can I Eat That?” Now do you feel hungry? Are you going to go looking for food now? Well, why don’t you try something new today? You might surprise yourself! Eating is always fun, and it’s always fun when you share with your family and friends—it’s the best!
[Music] Well, thank you for joining us today! Don’t forget to give us a like, subscribe, and leave us a comment. Tell us how much you like your food! Take care now, and we’ll see you back here soon with more books. Bye-bye!
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