To think this food tech teacher is wrong?

[MagentaSpunkTrumpet]

DS is yr7 and currently doing a block of food tech lessons. I've just found a list of ingredients for this week which includes "low fat soft cheese (low fat only!)"

AIBU to think that yr7 children should not be being steamrollered into using low fat options? As a family we are fortunate to have good health and metabolisms so we are able to eat well while avoiding all need for such things ie- we use full fat milk, real butter etc.

I therefore will need to specifically buy low fat soft cheese which, in itself is not a problem (I also have to buy bread mix when I would always make bread from scratch) but it sits uneasily with me that DS is being taught that low fat is inherently "better".

I may well be being unreasonable and will probably stick the regular stuff in a pot and trust that the teacher will be none the wiser but on the other hand, I'm wary of becoming "that mother"

Goodness me! When you go to friend's houses for meals, do you question what ingredients they have put in their recipes? Whether organic, low fat, full fat etc, I hope not!
The teacher has asked for low fat, that is the recipe! Also think about how you are encouraging your children to disobey their teachers requests and maybe later in life their employers.
Yes, we live in times where sometimes questioning actions is important, but not on such an insignificant matter.

I doubt your son will thank you for being 'that' mother. I think on this occasion I would buy what was on the list and go with it. I don't always quite agree with what the schools teach and why, but I wouldn't put my kids in a position of getting a row for my opinion. Oh and I always try what ds brings home from school.. As a child I would have been devastated to see my hard work go in the bin. Op I hope your ds's pizza turns out great (and fwiw I think balancing fatty chorizo with lower fat cheese shows an excellent understanding of the brief).

I expect 'low fat' ticks a box on the curriculum, 'health eating' or something like that.

I don't think it's a bad thing for dcs to know that what the teacher is teaching isn't always right. My chemistry A level teacher used to tell us that much of what they were teaching us then would probably be dis-credited in 20 years but we needed to learn it anyway because hoops needed to be jumped through, I appreciated his honesty.

Pinkpanda, please would you share your recipe for New York Cheesecake with quark? I love NYC and I've never managed to do anything nice with quark so I'm intrigued!

The teacher can't win really. If he had said full fat there would be one of those mothers starting a post saying "the food tech teacher is wrong to make children use full fat ..."

It's the recipe. Get over it and don't be that mother.

I think you should relax. By Y7 children are being exposed to a whole range of opinions on all sorts of matters. The days when you could insist on your line on anything being the "received" one are long gone. Your dc might go with your opinion, the schools, or his friend Darren's. Or he might listen to them all and make up his own mind.

My mother was 'that mother'. It's one of the finest things I remember her for.

Have to say I think I'd take more issue with the 'bread mix'. Wtf is that about!

I'm with you OP, as regards the low fat. And I think it's good for you and DC to question. If nobody questioned we'd still be eating with no regard to sugar content. Being 'that mother' is no bad thing sometimes.

I am one of those mothers too! Agree with OP and can't see any good reason why one would substitute a low fat version unless for the low fat value (in which case you're probably substituting sugar for the fats). Can't think of any recipe that would taste better, or work better, with low fat.

My son is on a high fat diet for medical reasons (cystic fibrosis) and we are constantly having to counter the low fat mantra. Partly as a result of that, we have become fairly health conscious about diet ourselves and convinced that it's the high sugar contents of a lot of food that piles the weight on and fuels obesity. A balanced diet, with lots of veg, some fruit, nuts, pulses, wholegrains, dairy and meat in moderation plus exercise, whilst cutting back on the processed foods and anything with lots of sugar seems to be the healthiest. Totally wrong to demonise things like full fat milk and cheese....

I have become a bit of an obsessive foodie, so would well react the same way!

At my son's school, I would probably just send in the full fat version and TBH I don't think anyone would notice or make an issue out of it. (And, if they did, I'm afraid I'd stand my ground). Having said that, if my son didn't want to make an issue of it and wanted to conform, I'd decant the cheese into a plain tuppleware box and say nothing.

I don't think you're unreasonable to care about what you and DS eat. And it's a good life lesson in my opinion to question.

I'm half-tempted to suggest asking the teacher why it's stipulated that it has to be a low fat version, but you could be opening up a can of works. (Agree, it would be interesting if it was a comparative exercise).

Perhaps speak to DS for views? But unless one feels ready for a battle, I'd decant the full fat one and just carry on doing what you're doing. Bread-mix? May be a good introduction in school context. However, if you're making bread from scratch at home, it strikes me you've probably got a better handle on instilling cooking skills and how to eat healthily anyway.

YANBU

Teacher won't even know if it's low fat or not, just a block of cheese! It looks the same.

I lost a mark for my shepherd's pie because it was underseasoned. I liked salty food so laid off because the teacher was tasting it. It would never happen now. Likewise my bread, which was really nice, but again didn't have enough salt in it. I was the only one in the class with fresh yeast - everyone else had dried but my mum worked in a bakers and cadged it. I still remember the smell of the warm loaf. It was one of the nicest smells I've ever sniffed.

I'd buy the normal fat cheese, OP, and put it in a plain wrapper if DS was likely to be worried.

I started teaching Domestic Science, then Home Economics and now Food Technology. At the beginning the lessons were longer and this enabled use time to teach proper skills and knowledge.
Then it all changed, to Food Technology with the emphasis on how food is produced in INDUSTRY. I can remember writing many a letter to everyone, saying how wrong this was. How could someone with no knowledge or skills ,plan how industry would make the food items, change ingredients (whether healthier, less salt, more interesting, new ingredients) , it would be like asking a year 1 chef trainee, cook a 3* meal with no help.
Like any subject, there are stepping stones to learning.
I have always said 'the health of a nation is dependant upon the COOK of the house'. This means they COOK the meals, plan the nutrition, and not just 'PING' commercially produced food which is after all high in fat, sugar, fat and low in fibre and vitamins.
Since curriculum has changed, yes matters have got worse. Lessons are now 60 minutes from start to finish, arrival, preparation including hygiene, sorting out forgotten items, making and cooking, ( crumble 25mins, bread rolls15 mins,)
washing and clearing up, packing up hot food (no containers, bags etc from home) All this happens with a class of 20 - 28 mixed ability pupils. ( some with a reading age of 6 at age 11, or English as a second language)
My first lessons did include 'washing up' as they don't know how to, after all homes have dish washers or MUMS. and I would get them to work in groups, as each room will only have 5 sinks, 8 cookers.

Then the bell goes and we have another 25+ to do it all over again. After 5 lessons in one day !!!!!!!

My lessons include much on tasting, if doing a pizza, the normal order would be cheese, we would introduce yes different cheese, peppers, flavourings. Bread was done first with a mix and for real ......... showing how much easier it is to make your own.

I know all Food Teachers are not perfect but remember they have 60 min lessons if lucky, 25+ pupils, mixed ability with children who mainly eat commercially prepared food, limited food choice and knowledge. AND they have to follow the requirements from the Government and Exam Boards.
Go onto School web site and look up their Scheme of Work for help.
Often its your children who don't tell you straight away food orders and choose poorly.

RANT OVER

Your lessons sound similar to the ones I had in the 70s peanut. We did washing up and cleaning the oven too and learned about food groups and nutrients as well as the practical side of cooking.

The girls would have one morning a week from 9.30am-12.10pm on Housecraft and the boys would spend the same time on woodwork and metalwork. I railed about it at the time, but I now see that we should have all done Housecraft with a bit of simple DIY thrown in. The things that I just know about making a balanced meal from cheap ingredients are invaluable and enjoyable.

I could have done without the compulsory girls-only needlework lessons. I'm very clumsy. DH, who can machine, hand sew and embroider, picked it up when he was working as a salesman in a clothes shop that had a full time tailor, but he's good at that sort of thing.

Some of the advice given to kids about 'healthy eating' these days is just bollocks incredible! All those yellow booklets advising us to give them "sugar free" squash as a healthy alternative - yeah, because wedging them full of carcinogenic aspartame is soooo much healthier than, say, real (diluted) fruit juice!!
It drives me mad. OP I don't think you are THAT mum, and I think you're right to be concerned about school recommending "low fat" options - here is a link to an article with evidence from a heart surgeon and the shocking effect "low fat" diets are having on our arteries.
www.naturalnews.com/035295_low-fat_diet_heart_disease_medical_myths.html#

Sorry, hit a raw nerve there backs out of door, leaves

My little girl is too young to be doing 'food tech' yet, so my only exposure to these classes was a harassed looking man in Sainsburys at 10 PM one night, asking me where he would find buttercream icing. I told him that you made it by mixing butter and icing sugar. He had been told to buy a tub of it for child's food tech lesson the next day. I didn't know you could buy it ready-made, no idea where you would look for it (fridge or baking aisle?).
Original post about low fat cheese - I would be inclined to provide what you've been asked for and just have a discussion with the child about what the difference between the low and full fat is, and how the low fat is not necessarily healthier. Maybe pull up the nutritional information and ingredients listed on the packs from the internet and compare what's in each.

TeenyfTroon
Cheesecake

INGREDIENTS
• For crust:
• 1 cup crushed digestives
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 4 tablespoon melted butter
•
• For cake filling:
• 5 eggs, separated
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 pounds (900g) quark
• ¼ cup milk
• 2 tablespoon flour
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 190c
2. For crust :
3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine biscuits, sugar and melted butter.
4. Press crumbs evenly into bottom of 9" springform pan.
5. Bake for 7- 10 minutes.
6. Cool before filling.
7. For filling:
8. In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, mix together egg yolks, sugar and vanilla extract until well combined.
9. Add quark, milk, flour and lemon juice. Mix until creamy and combined.
10. In a separate mixing bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until they form stiff peaks.
11. Fold egg whites into quark mixture.
12. Pour cake filling on to biscuit base
13. Bake at 190c for 50 -60 minutes or until cake has puffed up, is set and a light golden brown.
14. Turn off heat in oven, open the door a little and leave until the oven is cool. This helps to prevent the top from cracking. Cool cake on wire rack for an hour or two. Move cake to refrigerator and continue to cool for a few hours.
15. Release sides of pan, slice and serve.

TeenyfTroon

Also, quark is good for

• stirring into curries for creaminess (it doesn't split so can be heated)
• mixing with fruit compote for dessert (or filling meringue nests)
• use instead of sour cream to make that lovely salad dressing
• mix with chunky chutneys or salsa to make a dip for nachos or veg

It can basically be used anywhere you'd use cream cheese or fromage frais or natural yogurt. Stir in a little milk if it's too thick. It's just been made from skimmed milk but is otherwise exactly the same, nutrition wise etc.

Nearly all low-fat 'plain' dairy products don't have sugar or artificial ingredients; they have just been made with skimmed or semi-skimmed milk. I can recommend the Tesco Greek style fat free natural yogurt! As a nation I think we should start trying to eat more unflavoured things, as it's the flavourings that are invariably the sugars and additives.

Thanks pinkpanda, I'll give it a go! Also interesting that it doesn't split when heated.

Nearly all low-fat 'plain' dairy products don't have sugar or artificial ingredients; they have just been made with skimmed or semi-skimmed milk. I can recommend the Tesco Greek style fat free natural yogurt! As a nation I think we should start trying to eat more unflavoured things, as it's the flavourings that are invariably the sugars and additives.

The fact that there is no sugar added does not mean these products have the same amount of (naturally occurring) sugars, volume for volume, as the full fat product, though. Taking the fat out it means you are left with a more sugary product, naturally, as the fat occupies volume IYSWIM.