📘 Class 5 EVS
Book: Our Wondrous World
Unit 2 – Health and Well-being
Chapter 3: The Mystery of Food
🍱 What is this Chapter About? (Pages 38–39)
This chapter teaches us:
- Why food gets spoiled
- What are microbes
- Good and bad microbes
- Different ways of food preservation
- Why we should chew food well
- Teeth, digestion, oral hygiene, and choking
🕵️ The Forgotten Tiffin Box (Page 40)
- Disha finds her uttapam spoiled
- It smells bad and has coloured patches
- This starts the mystery of food spoilage
🦠 Mystery #1: What made my uttapam spoil? (Pages 41–42)
Answer:
- Microbes (very tiny living things) grew on the food
- The coloured patches are mould
- Some microbes are good (help make curd, digest food)
- Some microbes are bad (spoil food)
👉 Finding #1 (Page 42): Microbes are everywhere — in air, water, soil, plants, animals, and inside us.
✍️ Think (Page 42)
If we eat spoiled food:
- We may get stomach ache, vomiting, diarrhoea
- We should rest, drink fluids, and see a doctor if needed
🕵️ Mystery #2: Why do some foods spoil faster? (Pages 42–43)
Answer:
- Microbes need air, water (moisture), and warmth to grow
- If we remove any one of these, microbes cannot grow
👉 Finding #2 (Page 43): Keep air and water away from microbes.
🧂 Food Preservation – Mystery #3 (Pages 43–47)
☀️ Drying and Dehydration (Pages 43–44)
- Chillies are dried in the sun to remove moisture
- Without moisture, microbes cannot grow
👉 Finding #3 (Page 44): Drying removes moisture and stops microbes.
Write (Page 44):
Other things that are dried:
- Papad
- Grains
- Fish
- Chillies
- Fruits
🥭 Activity 1 – Mango products (Page 44)
Answers:
- Aam papad
- Mango pickle
- Mango jam
- Dried mango slices
🧪 Activity 2 – Tomato slices (Page 45)
Observation:
- Tomato slices shrink and dry
- Water goes away
How to preserve tomatoes?
- Dry them or make sauce / pickle
🛢️ Pickling and Oiling (Page 45)
- Oil stops air from entering
- This keeps pickles safe
👉 Finding #4: Oil keeps out air and stops microbes.
Discuss:
If no oil is added → pickle will spoil quickly
❄️ Refrigeration and Freezing (Pages 45–46)
- Fridge makes things too cold for microbes
👉 Finding #5 (Page 46): Cold temperature slows down microbes.
Why butter needs fridge but ghee does not?
- Butter has water in it → spoils faster
- Ghee has no water → lasts longer
🧂 Other methods (Pages 46–47)
- Using salt, sugar, spices
- Airtight packing in factories
👉 Finding #6: There are many ways to preserve food.
🍚 How are Idlis Made? (Pages 47–48)
- Microbes in air ferment the batter
- This makes batter rise and become fluffy
👉 Finding #7 (Page 48): Microbes help idli batter rise.
🤢 Indigestion and Home Remedies (Page 48)
- Curd and buttermilk have good microbes
- They help in digestion
👉 Finding #8: Bad eating habits can cause indigestion.
🛒 Visit to Vegetable Market & Seasonal Fruits (Pages 49–50)
👉 Finding #9 (Page 50):
Fruits taste best when eaten in their season.
Write (Page 50):
Examples:
- Mango – summer
- Orange – winter
- Peas – winter
😬 Chew Right! Teeth and Chewing (Pages 50–52)
Types of teeth (Page 51):
- Incisors – cut
- Canines – tear
- Premolars – crush
- Molars – grind
👉 Finding #10: Chewing breaks food and releases saliva.
👉 Finding #11: Different teeth have different uses.
🦷 Oral Hygiene and Choking (Page 52)
👉 Finding #12: Oral hygiene is important.
👉 Finding #13: Eat slowly to avoid choking.
Write (Page 53): How can you avoid choking?
Answer:
- Eat slowly
- Chew food well
- Do not talk while eating
- Take small bites
🧠 Let Us Reflect (Pages 53–54)
1. Why some food lasts long and some spoils fast?
Answer:
Because microbes grow faster when they get air, water and warmth.
2. Food for two-day trip & how to keep safe
Answer:
- Biscuits, fruits, pickle, dry chapati, nuts
- Keep in airtight boxes
3. World without food preservation
Answer:
- Food will spoil quickly
- Hunger and food shortage will increase
4. Match the following (Page 54)
- Roti → Dehydration → Khakhra
- Papad → Dried in sun → Dried papads
- Mango → → Aam papad
- Lemon → → Lemon pickle
- Butter → → Ghee
- Juice → → Canned juice
- Chillies → → Chilli powder
- Fish → → Dried fish
🌟 Chapter Summary
- Microbes spoil food but some also help us
- We preserve food by drying, oiling, cooling, salting
- We must chew well, keep teeth clean, and eat slowly
- Eat fresh and seasonal food
