Wonderful Waste: NCERT Class 5 English Story (Marigold Unit 1)

etmantra13 Jun 20209 min read

What can you do with a basket of vegetable scraps? This story tells how a worried cook turned 'waste' into a dish now loved all over Kerala. It is a lovely lesson about not wasting food and using our ideas.

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From the NCERT English book Marigold for Class 5, unit 1. NCERT’s newer Class 5 book is Santoor, but many schools still teach Marigold.

Watch: Wonderful Waste

Play the video three or four times. The first time, just listen. Then point at the pictures, and from the third time, say the lines along with the video. Short, repeated listening is how CALP builds a child’s English.

What your child learns

Cooking words: wash, cut, grind, whip, decorate
Telling steps in order with first, next, then, finally
Phrases: in a fix, lo and behold
Not wasting food, and turning a problem into an idea

What the story is about

The Maharaja of Travancore orders a grand dinner at his palace. Before the feast, he goes into the kitchen to look at the dishes. He sees a basket of vegetable scraps and asks the cook what will happen to them. The cook says they will be thrown away. The Maharaja sternly tells him not to waste them but to find a way to use them. The cook is worried, but then he has an idea. He washes and cleans the vegetable bits and cuts them into long strips. He cooks them in a big pot with a paste of fresh coconut, green chillies and garlic, and some salt. Then he adds whipped curd and a little coconut oil and decorates the dish with curry leaves.

The guests love the new dish and want to know its name. The cook calls it aviyal. It became famous all over Kerala and is now part of a traditional Kerala feast, all from a basket of waste.

New words, with Hindi meanings

grand: very big and special (हिंदी: शानदार)
survey: look carefully at everything (हिंदी: जायज़ा लेना)
feast: a big, special meal for many people (हिंदी: दावत)
scraps: small leftover pieces (हिंदी: बचे हुए टुकड़े)
sternly: in a strict and serious way (हिंदी: सख़्ती से)
in a fix: in a difficult situation (हिंदी: मुश्किल में)
tempting: making you want to have it (हिंदी: ललचाने वाला)
lo and behold: an old way of saying 'look, here it is!' (हिंदी: देखते ही देखते)

Explained in Hindi

If your child finds the English hard, watch this explanation of the story and its word meanings in Hindi, then go back to the English video.

Talk about it

Ask these aloud after reading or watching. Let your child answer in English if they can, or mix in their home language. Both help.

What did the Maharaja see in the kitchen, and what did he tell the cook?
How did the cook make the new dish?
What name was given to the new dish, and where is it famous?
What do you do at home with leftover food or vegetable peels?

Answers for parents

He saw a basket of vegetable scraps. He told the cook not to waste them but to find a way to use them.
He washed the scraps and cut them into long strips, cooked them with a paste of coconut, green chillies and garlic and some salt, then added whipped curd and coconut oil and decorated the dish with curry leaves.
It was named aviyal, and it is famous all over Kerala.
For example: We give vegetable peels to the cow near our house, and we eat leftover rice the next morning.

Grammar corner: Order words: first, next, then, finally

When we tell someone how to do something, we use order words. They show which step comes first and which comes later, so the listener does not get confused.

First, wash the vegetable pieces well.
Next, grind the coconut with the chillies.
Finally, put a few curry leaves on top.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank: The cook was in a ___ when the Maharaja walked away. (fix / feast)
Put the cook's steps in order: add whipped curd, cut into long strips, wash the scraps.
Make a sentence with the word "tempting".

Answers: 1. fix · 2. wash the scraps, cut into long strips, add whipped curd · 3. For example: The smell of hot pakoras was very tempting.

Try this

Talk with your child about food that gets thrown away at home. Together, write down two or three ideas to use leftovers instead of wasting them. Your child can then write the cook's recipe in their own words as simple numbered steps.

Tip for parents

Next time you cook, name each step in Hindi and then in English: धोना is wash, काटना is cut, पीसना is grind. Let your child tell you the cook's steps in Hindi first, then try them in English. Mixing the two is fine; praise every step they remember.

Questions parents ask

What is the moral of Wonderful Waste?

We should not waste food. With a good idea, even things we think are waste can become something useful, like the cook's new dish.

What is aviyal in the story Wonderful Waste?

Aviyal is the dish the cook made from vegetable scraps, cooked with coconut, green chillies, garlic and curd. In the story it became famous all over Kerala.

Which book and class is Wonderful Waste from?

It is Unit 1 of Marigold, NCERT's older English book for Class 5. The newer NCERT English books are Mridang for Class 1–2 and Santoor for Class 3–5.

Learn every Class 5 chapter with CALP

Every chapter of Santoor, NCERT’s new book, with notes in English and Hindi, say-it-aloud practice with a score, grammar, speaking and writing practice. ₹1,299 for the whole year.

See the free lessons and enrol →