NCERT Solutions for Class 3 EVS Chapter 8: Food We Eat – Free PDF Download

Chapter 8 of Our Wondrous World (Class 3 EVS) is Food We Eat. It follows Shireen’s story about balanced eating, and explores why we eat different foods in different seasons and where our food really comes from. These Class 3 EVS Chapter 8 solutions are also useful as quick revision notes before exams.

Shireen’s Story: The Importance of Balanced Food

Q: What does Shireen’s story teach us about balanced food?
A: Shireen was a fast runner in Class 3, but she often fell ill because she only ate rice and potatoes. A champion runner told her that for a healthy, strong body she should also eat different fruits, vegetables, different grains (rice, ragi, jowar, wheat, millet), pulses and dry fruits. Shireen followed this advice, started eating a variety of foods, and soon felt stronger than before — she went on to win a medal for her school in a running competition. This story teaches us that balanced food — a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, pulses and home-cooked meals — is essential for staying healthy and strong.

Why Do We Like Different Foods and Drinks?

Q: Why do we need to eat and drink?
A: We need to eat and drink to live and to stay healthy and strong. Food gives our body strength and energy, which helps us grow, play, and study. We enjoy different sweet, sour, spicy and bitter foods.

Pause and Think! — Chhappan Bhog

Q: What is “Chhappan Bhog,” and which tastes does it include?
A: Chhappan Bhog is a special spread of food prepared for festivals and auspicious occasions, to welcome family, relatives, friends and guests. This spread includes 56 different dishes and combines six tastes of food — sweet, spicy/pungent, astringent, sour, salty and bitter.

We Eat All Kinds of Things — Food According to the Season

Q: What changes in our eating and drinking during summer and winter?
A: In summer, we enjoy cool things like ice cream, kulfi, coconut water, chaas (buttermilk), lemon water, aam panna, and sugarcane juice, because sweating removes water from the body. In winter, we prefer hot food, soups, or other warm drinks. Different seasons give us different fruits and vegetables — mangoes and watermelons are plentiful in summer, and apples in winter. Different parts of our country eat many kinds of delicious food, and sometimes we have only heard of certain foods without having tasted them yet.

Need for Water in Summer

Q: Why should we drink water often in summer?
A: Summer is hot and we sweat a lot. Sweating removes water from our body, so in summer we should drink plenty of water, chaas, lemon water, aam panna, sugarcane juice or coconut water. We also sweat while playing or doing hard work, so we should keep drinking water often. Our body needs a lot of water and we cannot survive without it — which is why we often say, “water is life.”

Where Does Our Food Come From?

Q: Which parts of plants do we eat as food?
A: We eat different parts of plants:

• Leaves: spinach, fenugreek, cabbage, mustard greens, coriander.
• Fruits: guava, chikoo, apple, mango.
• Roots: carrot, radish, beetroot.
• Stems: potato, green bamboo shoot, ginger, onion.
• Seeds: grains (rice, wheat, etc.), pulses, dry fruits (cashew, almond, pistachio).

Besides these, some people also eat things that come from animals, such as honey, eggs, meat, milk, and milk products like ghee, paneer and curd. So our food comes from both plant and animal sources.

Let’s Reflect (a) Discuss

Q: Why do we need different kinds of food?
A: Eating different kinds of food gives us different nutrients (proteins, vitamins, minerals, etc.) that are all needed to stay healthy and strong. If we keep eating only one kind of food, we will not get all the nutrients we need.

Q: Why do we eat according to the season?
A: Our body’s needs change with the seasons — in summer, the body needs food that keeps it cool, while in winter it needs food that keeps it warm. Also, different fruits and vegetables grow in the fields in different seasons, so eating fresh, seasonally available food is good for our health.

Q: How can we tell if food is balanced or unbalanced?
A: If our plate contains grains, pulses, vegetables, fruits and milk/curd in balanced amounts, the food is called balanced. If we eat only one or two things (like just rice and potatoes) again and again every day, that food is called unbalanced.

Q: Why is it important to stop food from being wasted?
A: Growing food takes the hard work of farmers and uses natural resources, so wasting it is not right. Wasted food is also unfair to people who go hungry.

Q: Suggest some ways to prevent food wastage at home.
A: Cook only as much food as is needed, store leftovers carefully and use them the next day, serve food in appropriate portion sizes, and use vegetable and fruit peels where possible (such as making a paratha with vegetable peels).

(b) Write

Q: Name a food that contains ingredients from both plants and animals.
A: Lassi is one such example — it is made from curd (which comes from milk, an animal source) and sugar (which comes from sugarcane, a plant source).

(c) Draw and (d) Eat Together

Q: What do students do in the drawing activity?
A: Students draw three plates or thalis in their notebook, showing the food they eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Afterwards, the class brings a fruit, and with the teacher’s help makes a chaat or salad that everyone eats together.

(e) Think

Q: If a guest suddenly arrives at your home, what would you serve them, and why?
A: This is a personal-answer question. Usually, homes keep some fruit, savoury snacks, biscuits or tea ready in advance so that a sudden guest can be welcomed with respect — this is also part of our culture of hospitality towards visitors.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Shireen learn about food in the story?
That eating only rice and potatoes made her weak and often ill, and that eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, pulses and dry fruits made her strong and healthy.

Why do we eat differently in summer and winter?
Because our bodies need cooling foods and drinks in summer (due to sweating) and warming foods in winter, and because different fruits and vegetables are seasonally available.

What are the six tastes mentioned in the Chhappan Bhog?
Sweet, spicy/pungent, astringent, sour, salty and bitter.

Written by Satish

NCERTBooks.org is an independent educational resource run by a small team focused on making official NCERT textbooks easy to find, read, and download for students, parents, and teachers across India. We are not affiliated with NCERT or the Ministry of Education -- we organise publicly available NCERT content by class and subject, verify links against official sources, and build tools (like our in-browser reader) that make studying more convenient. Every guide we publish is written and reviewed by our team based on the actual NCERT curriculum and syllabus.