Columbian Exchange Food Project (Free Worksheets)

Could you eat your favorite food if the Columbian exchange never happened?

This Columbian Exchange food project is a fun addition to your Age of Exploration unit. The Columbian exchange was the transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and people between the Old World and the New World. This was a result of the Age of Exploration.

Old World and New World ingredients make up many of the foods we eat today, such as pizza, tacos, and hamburgers .

In other words, they did not exist before 1492! (Can you imagine a world without tacos?)

The following activity is a FUN way to help your students better understand the Columbian Exchange.

Columbian Exchange Food Project Lesson Plan

1. Explain the Columbian Exchange (the exchange of diseases, plants, animals, and people between the Old World and the New World in the 15th and 16th centuries). John Green’s Crash Course World History video also does a great job (find that here).

2. Make a list of Old World and New World foods on the board. You can find a basic list here.

Pssst if you want to take this to the next level, I’ve created a great Columbian Exchange sorting activity which you can find in my Age of Exploration unit. 

3. Explain that many of the modern foods we eat are made with both Old World and New World foods.

This means, that without the exchange that happened during the Age of Exploration, they wouldn’t exist. Again, NO TACOS!!

4. Students pick their favorite meal and break it down into parts.

Example: Pizza can be broken down into crust, sauce, and toppings. 

5. Then, students list the ingredients for each part

Pizza Example: 

Crust

• water

• flour

• olive oil

• salt

Sauce

• tomatoes

• olive oil

• garlic

• basil

Toppings (these are the ones I like)

• pepperoni

  • ​pork

  • beef

  • chili pepper

• cheese

• bell peppers

6. Students research where each ingredient is from. Use google to search: “Where is ____ native to” to get the best results.

Some ingredients like salt and water are found in both the New World and the Old World. You could have students exclude these ingredients. 

7. Finally, students sort the ingredients into two columns: Old World or New World and draw a picture of the meal in the middle.

Their finished work will look something like this:

This columbian exchange food project is so fun!

Your students may ask to do this for more than one meal! Copy a bunch of these worksheets and use them as early finisher activities.

Download the worksheet!

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Related posts:

• Age of Exploration Videos for kids
• Age of Exploration Unit
• More US History Primary Sources