The Olympics and agriculture might not seem like a natural partnership, but in AP Human Geography, it’s what’s on the menu for the current unit.

“With the Olympic dining project, we wanted students to think about the real world problem of how the Olympics provide dining for a variety of cultures while also thinking about their local economy and sustainability,” HGAP teacher Sarah Wiseman said. “This helps students to recap a bunch of concepts we’ve learned throughout the agricultural unit.”

According to PressBooks, agriculture is an important part of human geography, due to its impacts on food and culture and how it shapes land use. For some students, such as freshman Draco Lorenso, it also presented an opportunity to showcase some culinary skills.

“I brought in a Cuban dish called arroz con pollo,” freshman Draco Lorenso said. “My favorite part of the project was probably making the food, because it was fun, and bringing it to class to share with everyone.”

However, many students struggled with the research portion of this project. Finding information about locally sourced and diffused meals proved to be difficult for some students like freshman Buse Oklu.

“I struggled with finding locally sourced products to use in my dishes or meals, but other than that it was a really fun project,” Oklu said. “But it taught me that it is important to be sustainable and use local resources and not heavily rely on imports from different countries.”

But in the end, the Olympic dining project was a way to learn about agriculture, a factor that influences human settlements and geography, in connection with food. 

“I think it’s a good way for students to show these kinds of boring terms about agriculture in a more interesting way, and everybody loves to eat!” Wiseman said. “Dining is a really easy way to understand a variety of different cultures. My personal favorite part has been the two dishes that students have brought in.”