Primary students' knowledge of and attitudes towards traditional foods of different nations

The transmission of something from generation to generation and its stabilization in the life of a community can be defined as tradition. We live in a world where migrations are present on a daily basis, and these have affected social diversity in Slovenia as well as in other countries. Accepting different cultures, customs, languages, cuisines, etc. led, among other things, to the opening of various restaurants, with traditional food of other nations. In this work, I focus on the dishes and cuisines of five countries that can be found in Slovenia: Bosnia and Herzegovina, India, China, Mexico and Nigeria. Students, according to curriculum, should not encounter traditional dishes of other nations in regular classes and optional subjects. Therefore I have decided to research whether this is the case, and find out what is the knowledge and attitude of students towards traditional dishes of other nations. I collected the data through an online questionnaire for students, an analysis of curriculum and textbooks for elementary school, and interviews with teachers. 203 students from sixth to ninth grade and 12 teachers of Home Economics and the optional subject The Way of Nourishment from all over Slovenia took part in the survey. I researched if there is a difference in knowledge of traditional dishes of other nations between students and what attitude students have towards these contents. In addition, I wanted to find out in which subjects the discussion of traditional dishes of other nations is included and what is the way of dealing with the contents of traditional dishes of other nations by teachers and their attitude towards them. The results of the research showed that knowledge of the most typical traditional dishes of other countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, India, China and Mexico) is good, except for traditional dishes of Nigeria. Knowledge is somehow worse towards those traditional dishes that are less known and present in Slovenia. The attitude of the students towards the traditional dishes of other nations is positive, as they are willing to try dishes, unknown to them. In addition, they love to eat traditional dishes of other nations, as they find them delicious, and want to know more about them. Content related to traditional dishes of other nations can be found in the curriculum and textbooks for the elective subject The Way of Nourishment. Contents about the traditional dishes of other nations are discussed by teachers in the subject of Home Economics and The Way of Nourishment. Some teachers discuss them only theoretically, others also practically. Teachers have a positive attitude towards content about traditional dishes of other nations, which manifests itself as adapting and allowing students to choose discussion contents of traditional cuisines of other nations. It would make sense to include contents of traditional dishes of other nations in the program of the regular subject Home Economics, which it does not anticipate at the moment. It is important that students know the culture of other nations, which also includes traditional dishes. Interdisciplinary integration is also important when dealing with these contents, as the contents can be considered from historical, geographical and other aspects