Overview and Outcomes of Reasons to Write:

We suggest that practitioners plan to host a class picnic, inviting parents and carers. In this ten-stage Story Sapling, practitioners begin by sharing a food that holds significance for them and the story behind it. They then use adjectives for tastes and textures to describe what they have eaten. As the Story Sapling progresses, children create invites for their class picnic. Following the story, children create potion recipes, postcards, poems about desserts and notes of advice to Tariq. In preparation for their class picnic, children then write shopping lists and the instructions for creating their own recipes. Finally, after the picnic children collaboratively create a class cookbook that celebrates the foods that represent their identities and cultures.

Synopsis of Text:

Tariq's class are having a picnic and everyone is going to bring a dish that represents their family, traditions and culture but Tariq can't think of the dish that tastes like home to him. In a bid to help him, his family members share their favourite foods and the stories behind them until eventually Tariq lands on his favourite. A delicious celebration of family, food and identity.

Text Rationale:

Author, Maryam Hassan, won Best Picture Book at the Diverse Book Awards 2025 for her debut, Until You Find the Sun. A Taste of Home, her second book, is equally wonderful. Inspired by the delicious South Asian dishes, she loved as a child, her main character, Tariq, explores the love, joy and adventure there is to be found through food. The book explores the significance of food and the stories it holds for families. The overarching theme of the book is the power food holds to bring people together.

Links and Themes:
Celebrations, representation, diversity, family, traditions, culture, identity, food

Date written: May 2026