Have you ever wondered how the food on your plate got there? Most of our food travels a long way before we eat it!
A local food: dasheen
Dasheen grows on farms here in Trinidad and Tobago.
🌱 farm ➡️ 🚚 truck ➡️ 🏪 market ➡️ 🏠 my kitchen
An imported food: apple
Apples need a cold winter to grow, so they cannot grow well here. They come from far-away countries.
🍎 farm abroad ➡️ 🚢 ship ➡️ ⚓ port ➡️ 🚚 truck ➡️ 🛒 supermarket ➡️ 🏠 home
Kinds of food transport
- 🚚 trucks and vans (from farms to markets)
- 🚢 ships (bring lots of food across the sea)
- ✈️ aeroplanes (bring food that spoils fast, very quickly)
- 🛻 pick-ups and even donkey carts or bicycles, long ago and in some villages today
Why do we need to transport food?
- Food is grown on farms, but most people live in towns far away.
- Some foods cannot grow here, so they must come from other countries.
- Fresh food must reach us quickly before it spoils.
- Farmers need to get their food to markets to sell it and earn money.
TRY ITFood journeys
Choose a game.
Let’s practise
Try each one. Then tap Show answer to check.
1. Name three kinds of transport that carry food.
Show answer
For example truck, ship, aeroplane, van.
2. Draw or say the journey of a dasheen.
Show answer
Farm, truck, market, kitchen.
3. Draw or say the journey of an apple.
Show answer
Farm abroad, ship, port, truck, supermarket, home.
4. Give two reasons why we transport food.
Show answer
For example people live far from farms; some foods cannot grow here; to reach us before it spoils; so farmers can sell it.
5. Name a food that is grown in Trinidad and Tobago.
Show answer
For example dasheen, mango, pumpkin, cocoa, pigeon peas.
Quick check
1. What is an imported food?
Show answer
A food brought from another country.
2. What is a port?
Show answer
A place where ships load and unload goods.
3. Which travels further: a dasheen from Penal or an apple from abroad?
Show answer
The apple.
Words to know
Say these words with a grown-up. Can you use each one in a sentence?
farm · transport · truck · ship · port · market · supermarket · local · imported · journey
Try it at home
- Look at labels on food at home. Which country did it come from?
- Draw a flow diagram of the journey of your favourite fruit.
- Visit a market and ask a vendor where their produce comes from.
For parents and teachers
After this lesson, your child should be able to:
- explain the kinds of transport that bring food from farm to home
- sequence the journey of a local food and an imported food in a flow diagram
- give at least two reasons why transporting food is needed
Reading country-of-origin labels together is a quick, real way to show imported food.
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Next: Infants 2 lessons (all subjects)
Attributions to media used in this post:
Point Lisas Port – Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies.jpg – Kalamazadkhan – CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
© 2026 Vedesh Kungebeharry. All rights reserved.