State Project help-NEVADA-for 4th g Social Studies

[gfolchick]

Hello,
My 4th grade son needs to complete his state project by making a food item for their state food festival next week. His state is NEVADA. We are having difficulty finding a "state food"-something to represent Nevada. From research, Ken's dressings and Ocean Spray have offices there, but those products in Connecticut where we live are distributed out of Massachussets.
Their major crops are potato and onion, along with livestock and sheep. Any ideas for an easy recipe that is kid friendly and can sit out for a little while. Each class (there are 4) will be sampling the items. When we visited in November (before I knew about this project) I brought the kids back Prickly Pear candy but it's made in Arizona. I'm out of ideas.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[happygirl]

All I can think of is the buffets in Las Vegas

 

[BountyHunter]

i live in las vegas. you can do something that looks really nice that is upscale

 

[lvanleer]

Here's a great site for Native American foods(specifically Nevada): http://nevadaculture.org/dca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1100&Itemid=165

The things that popped out to me are sunflowers(think seeds), pine nuts, raspberries.

 

[mamacatnv]

Hello,
My 4th grade son needs to complete his state project by making a food item for their state food festival next week. His state is NEVADA. We are having difficulty finding a "state food"-something to represent Nevada. From research, Ken's dressings and Ocean Spray have offices there, but those products in Connecticut where we live are distributed out of Massachussets.
Their major crops are potato and onion, along with livestock and sheep. Any ideas for an easy recipe that is kid friendly and can sit out for a little while. Each class (there are 4) will be sampling the items. When we visited in November (before I knew about this project) I brought the kids back Prickly Pear candy but it's made in Arizona. I'm out of ideas.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Fallon, NV is famous for their Hearts of Gold Cantalope, they have a festival and everything. There is a large Basque population here and some of the Basque dishes are unique, the dried Monterey Jack cheese comes to mind. My DD just finished 4th grade on Friday (my DD had the state of Texas for her project).

Sparks, NV hosts "the Best in the West Rib Cook-Off" every year.
Reno has the famous Awful Awful burger at the Little Nugget - but that is a locals thing

There are lots of regional delicacies such as Chukar which is a wild bird that is smaller than a chicken and I have several friends who hunt and then host a Chukar feed at the end of the season. Sorry, I'm a city girl, if I can't buy it at Costco chances are I am not going to eat it.

Check out the made in Nevada website http://www.expand2nevada.com/made.html

I'm going to go Google and call DD's teacher....I'll be back

The state of Nevada according to my DD's 4th grade social studies teacher does not have an official food. Many states don't - there are foods that are associated with a region, example Maryland and Crab Cakes or Texas and Chili but an official food is not all that common.

Good luck

 

[gfolchick]

Bumping Up...

I agree with the PP about a state not having a state food. When my daughter did this two years ago she was assigned Mississippi so we made Mississippi Mud Brownies (which were a huge hit).

To add to my problems, my son has food allergies to milk and all nuts. I was trying to make him something he can actually eat since he probably won't be able to sample most others from his classmates.

I really appreciate the help. His class is assigned Tuesday June 9th. Hope we can find something by then.

 

[NotUrsula]

I'd go with some sort of Native American food. I think that the largest tribes in the area were the Washoe and Paiute.

Here's something that comes from a teacher in the Las Vegas area, about living off the land in the desert. http://www.survive.org/1desertsecrets.html

The teacher mentions the first thing that I thought of: cactus. It's a bit complicated to prepare, though, so in this case I think I'd go with something premade. Cactus jellies are often pretty easy to find in gourmet markets or Mexican grocery stores; you could have the kids taste it on cookies or chips. (Depending on if you got the sweet or savory kind.) You could also try Nopales; which are the pads; those are often made into salsa.

 

[mamacatnv]

Cactus, if we actually have it is only found in the far southern areas of the state near Arizona. The north is a high altitude desert and sagebrush prevails. Matter of fact sagebrush is the state something (flower or weed depending on who you ask).

 

[gfolchick]

Thank you for the suggestions. We have decided to go with a coyboy/miner theme-Chuckwagons and do a Dutch Oven Dump Cake. I got the idea off another website. I appreciate your help

 

[mamacatnv]

Thank you for the suggestions. We have decided to go with a coyboy/miner theme-Chuckwagons and do a Dutch Oven Dump Cake. I got the idea off another website. I appreciate your help

Good idea! The Reno Rodeo is set to head into town and the cattle drive has a chuck wagon (the head "Cookie" is one of the checkers at our local grocery store )