Global Chefs Visit French Polynesia

Banana Po'e (Tahitian Banana Pudding)

Today was all about bananas and coconuts in our Global Chefs summer camp as we learned about French Polynesia! All of our recipes contained coconut milk or cream and two of the three used bananas as the main ingredient - very tropical and tasty!  

We started the (very hot!) morning by sidewalk chalking for the Conservatory's Farmers' Market.  The market is held every Wednesday during the summer.  Campers drew fruits and veggies and helped color a big 'sign' advertising the market times.  Ohio is in the middle of heat wave this week so to help keep cool I misted the campers with water from a small spray bottle.


To begin our journey through the French Polynesian islands, we first located them on a map, colored the flag and a picture of a banana plant (did you know bananas come from herbaceous plants - not trees?) and a lizard.  Nicole listed some common French words and numbers next to their English counterparts and several campers dutifully copied them down in their recipe journals.  Each camper then had their passport stamped and we got ready to make our snacks!

For our morning snack we made Polynesian Coconut Bananas from Global Table Adventure.  This recipe was extremely simple - and delicious!  It was also the most popular snack of the day, nine campers gave it a 'thumbs up' and only three gave it a 'thumbs down' (three other campers gave it a 'sideways thumb', they thought the bananas were "ok").

To cool off after playing outside this afternoon, we ate Banana Po'e (Tahitian Banana Pudding) from Juggling with Kids and ‘Otai (Coconut Watermelon Refresher) from Global Table Adventure.  We made both recipes in the morning and allowed them to chill in the fridge until snack time.  The campers had fun making these snacks, but they didn't enjoy eating them as much.  Six campers gave the banana po'e a 'thumbs up' and eight gave it a 'thumbs down.'  We talked about how this pudding would not have the texture of pudding the campers usually eat here in Ohio, the unfamiliar texture is what the campers seemed to dislike about this pudding (I thought it was delicious and enjoyed the chewy texture!).  The 'otai was not well liked either, five campers gave it a 'thumbs up' and nine gave it a 'thumbs down.'  This cool beverage contained mashed watermelon, coconut milk and lime juice.  I was expecting to taste more of the lime and coconut, but it was still a nice refreshing drink!

All of our recipes today were very easy to make and required only a minimal amount of cooking.  Perfect for a warm, tropical location like French Polynesia and very convenient for a hot and muggy Ohio day!

I am linking this post about our adventure learning about French Polynesia with Around the World in 12 Dishes and with the Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop #6!


For more international craft and recipes ideas, check out my Pinterest board Global Chefs + Crafts!