Multiplication
Robert Deane, Retort line cooking tins of pie apple. Mountain Maid Pty., Ltd., Batlow, New South Wales, 1997, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-143408852
Robert Deane, Retort line cooking tins of pie apple. Mountain Maid Pty., Ltd., Batlow, New South Wales, 1997, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-143408852
Another form of maths that is used in cooking is multiplication. Knowing how much food you need to buy/prepare for your own meal can be difficult enough, but how do we contend with larger groups? Our families, our friends, a dinner party, the extended family reunion? We use multiplication.
Recipes can be multiplied (scaled up) to increase the number of serves (portions) or people being fed. This is handy from the home kitchen to school lunches, all the way up to industrial kitchens where they prepare food for selling to thousands (that’s a lot of maths!).
See Robert Deane’s above photograph of a cooking line at a tinned apple pie factory.
Pudding
Norman Lindsay, The magic pudding : being the adventures of Bunyip Bluegum written and illustrated by Norman Lindsay : [publisher's brochure], 1918, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-37156612
Norman Lindsay, The magic pudding : being the adventures of Bunyip Bluegum written and illustrated by Norman Lindsay : [publisher's brochure], 1918, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-37156612
The Magic Pudding written by Norman Lindsay, published in 1918, and here advertised by Angus and Robertson, tells the story of Albert the Pudding’s attempts to stay out of the clutches of the notorious Pudding Thieves.
Fortunately, Albert is a never-ending pudding, the amount of pudding he provides can be multiplied countless times. In the story, Albert reforms into a whole pudding each time after being eaten. For this activity, we will pretend he can also grow in size and weight.
Activity 1
Imagine that you are a Pudding Thief.
At his regular size Albert is enough serves of pudding for 2 people (number can change).
- If Albert is 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 20 times his original size, how many pudding thieves can he feed?
If you eat 2 Alberts a day, how many will you have eaten in one week (7 days)?
If Albert weighs 500g at his regular size, how much will he weigh if multiplied by 10?
Country Women's Association in Tasmania. Flinders Island., Flinders Island : souvenir : cookery book, 1946, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2531663107
Country Women's Association in Tasmania. Flinders Island., Flinders Island : souvenir : cookery book, 1946, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2531663107
Activity 2
Using the catering guide in the CWA Flinders Island Cookbook as inspiration:
- If you have 5 guests, how much soup will you need?
- If you have 10 guests, how much soup will you need?
- If you have 20 guests, how much soup will you need?
- If you have 50 guests, how much soup will you need?
- If you have 100 guests, how much soup will you need?
- If you have 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 100, 150 guests how much of each item will you need?
Try writing these word problems out as simple equations.
Ask students to cater for a certain number of people and put together a menu of measurements based on that.
Apollo Mills, The Nurse's corn flour recipe book : containing 60 entirely new recipes, 1936, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-52817753
Apollo Mills, The Nurse's corn flour recipe book : containing 60 entirely new recipes, 1936, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-52817753
Activity 3: Chocolate Delight recipe (serves 5) (simplified)
Ingredients:
- 55g Nurse’s Cornflour
- 550ml Milk
- 1 egg
- Pinch salt
- 50g of Sugar
- 50g of chocolate
If we double, triple, quadruple, etc the recipe how many people can we serve?
If we want to serve 10, 20, 30, 50, 100 people, how much of each ingredient do we require?
You’ve been given x number of eggs, how much will you need of x other ingredient?
You’ve been given x amount of sugar, how many guests must you be cooking for?
More to explore
