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Making Sarmale Romanian Cabbage Rolls
In the preschool room, as part of our commitment to developing a multi-cultural curriculum, we want to celebrate and learn more about all the cultures represented within our community. The kaiako (teachers) each have a turn to choose a culture to learn more about, as well as cook a traditional meal from their chosen culture with nga tamariki.
One of our Romanian families shared a delicious recipe with us for Sarmale, which is a savory cabbage roll filled with pork mince, rice and herbs and cooked in tomato juice and bacon.
Nga tamariki really enjoy getting involved in these cooking sessions. With close supervision we support them as they fully participate in the whole process (using children's knives). This becomes a great opportunity to learn about new foods from different cultures, the tikanga around preparing food and importance of hygiene. So many valuable conversations happen around the table as we work together to prepare the alimente (food). Once they were cooked the children loved trying the Sarmale and said they were "so yummy!"
During the week we also learnt a bit more about Romania and where it is on the world map and the globe. We found New Zealand on the map and then saw how far away Romania is from us. We looked at the Romanian flag and practiced counting to 5 in Romanian. One of our Romanian children also taught us the word for water, which is apa! It was great hearing the children later using the word apa at kai time when having a drink of water!