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Lauren and Ali
February 9, 2007
The Edible Cell

“Mmmmmmm” that tastes great! You might be wondering what tastes so good, well we have the answers. That great taste is an animal cell. You also might be wondering why an animal cell would taste so good.  Well this cell is edible and everyone in Mr. Jaffe’s room is crowding around for a slice. Students in Mr. Jaffe’s class for extra credit were given a project that involved making an edible animal cell. This was done over the weekend so when they came back into school they would present to the class their cell.

Every cell was different so the students had a wide variety of food to choose from. Some cells were made out of cookies, cake, jell-o, pizza, and other things. Here on the right is a picture of one of the cells that was made by Michelle. Her cell was made out of jell-o that she made herself.

Here are a few of the questions that we asked Michelle about her cell. What was your cell made out of? “It was made out of jell-o, which was the cytoplasm, a marshmallow, which was the nucleus, peanuts, which were the mitochondria. Also grapes, which were the vacuoles, and the fruit by-the-foot, which was the cell membrane.”

Was it hard to make the cell? “It was hard to get the food to stick into the jell-o, but the rest was fine.”

Did you think that making the cell was fun? “I thought that making it was fun and it was also fun to find out that a lot of students liked the jell-o.”

Did you learn anything from making this cell? “I learned a lot about the different parts that are in a cell and their certain jobs.”

Michelle’s cell was delicious and she ended up getting a good grade! We thank Michelle a ton for answering those few questions and showing us a picture of her edible animal cell.

All this talk about cells makes you wonder what the parts of a cell are. You can follow along with the picture to the left. Well for an animal cell the out sideliner is called the cell membrane. The inner part that fills up the whole cell is called the cytoplasm, which is a jelly like substance. Next is the nucleus, which is basically the control center of the cell. It sends messages throughout the cell telling all the parts what to do. There is also the lysosome and that part of the cell (which is like a city dump) breaks down all the old parts and the large molecules. There is a vacuole, which is the cell’s “grocery store”, which is a storage center for the cell. The mitochondria is like power plant because it produces 90% of the cell’s energy. Also there is the ribosome and the ER. The ER is sort of like a highway because it transports parts around the cell. The ribosome is similar to a factory because it manufactures protein. Another part of the animal cell is the golgi body, which is related to a post office because it packages materials for export from the cell.

Now the plant cell is the same except that it doesn’t have the lysosome. Also there is only one vacuole, which is a lot bigger comparing the animal cell to the plant cell. Also there is a cell wall for the plant cell that gives the cell its shape, strength, and support. Last there is the chloroplast, which gives the plant the green color.

So, now as you move onto the next yummy cell you know what are the parts, and why it is so yummy. Also you got to read an interview on Michelle, one of the many students who participated in this mouthwatering assignment. Also you got to see one of the many edible cells us students made. Wow hearing about all this food makes me craving for a cell myself. Now I can make an edible cell with all the parts of a cell from what I learned today.