Why isn't nutrition/cooking a core subject at school?

[estavino]

Just that really. I see so many kids having regular lunch/dinners that's barely contains any nutrition not out of laziness/budget but due to lack of education.

I can't think where I use any science knowledge gained from school in day to day life yet I had an hour a day once a week for years. Cooking on the other hand I had one term a year for three years. I think we had to make shortbread, a fruit salad and a flapjack. In the second year we had to make a tomato and cheese sauce. In the third I think we had to cook chicken breasts and something to do with beef. Yet I can still label parts of a cell, atoms and know some basics of the periodic table.

We literally use nutrition various times a day- why isn't it compulsory?

It is not compulsory because parents do part of their kids education. We farm out the stuff to school that is repetitive, fact based regurgitation, to school and keep the stuff of life for ourselves.

My children (now 15 and 17) can cook, can clean, can do laundry, can use public transport alone and can budget - the important stuff is down to me.

I taught my children to cook tbh.
Think the school did some cakes etc

I remember doing a term of cooking. Everything involved a tin of chopped tomatoes, huge onion, and a big block of warm sweaty cheese. Everything.

I agree. Should be a subject called Life Skills or something. How to write an e-mail, use a timetable, dress appropriately for different occasions such as job interviews etc, and how to cook. I think the concept that if you put more energy into your body than you put out as movement you will store the excess as fat, would be particularly useful.

It is at our school.... first two years of Secondary they all do Home Ec which has some basic cookery and food hygiene.

My daughter has made pizza, soup and a pasta dish.

I think your understanding in everyday life would be hampered if you had no knowledge of parts of a cell, atoms and .... basics of the periodic table. Hopefully you also gained some understanding of scientific method, basing conclusions on evidence and so on. I use my science and maths every day, but in ways that don't readily translate into questions on a GCSE paper.

It wasn’t useful to me as I could already cook far better than my teacher, but because it was Indian cooking and she could make piss poor Italian food she thought her skills were more valuable. I got so fed up that I turned up to a lasagna lesson with all of the ingrediants for samosas & while the others struggled with lumpy white sauce I made filo pastry from scratch, samosa filling, and fried 20 samosas.

From an early age I could cook a roast, cooked myself a lot of pasta bakes and had a lot of jacket potatoes. As a kid my mum cooked the staple meat and two veg type of dinners but she got depression before I got to secondary school so I used to cook myself dinner each night. I spent a lot of time having dinner around friends' houses and that's how I learned to cook pasta dishes. If it wasn't for my friend I would of just knew how to cook a roast and eggs. As a young adult I spent time Au Pairing for a health nut family where I did learn the importance of nutrition and how to cook various healthy meals and snacks.

We can only teach our kids as much as we know ourselves. What's meant to happen to the kids who their parents don't know how to cook except how to heat up meals?

So many diseases out there can be prevented by a healthy diet, and it's not just about fat content. Minerals and vitamins are vital but a lot of them don't come from classic British meals.

Schools already teach food tech. DS1 has a double period lesson every week in years 7,8 and 9. Can then do at GSCE if he wishes.

He also did a term in year 5 and a term in year 6.

To be fair if your parents don’t cook it often doesn’t matter how many lessons you have, you won’t cook either. The aim should be to get adults and new parents cooking, and that will filter down to kids.

I did GCSE Home Ec and it was genuinely interesting and beneficial in later life. Cooking in school is next to useless though - with 30 kids in a class you can only attempt a limited repertoire and there’s very little chance to show how to improve technique. Cooking is really something you should learn at home.

It is taught in schools, but main responsibility has to lie with parents.

I want the samosa recipe

Because schools don't have time to teach everything and parents are more likely to be able to teach their own child basic cookery than to prepare them for exams in chemistry or history.

Anyway, kids are taught about nutrition in school and they do do cooking. Also, most adults know enough about nutrition to know that a diet heavy in sugar, saturated fats, salt and processed foods is bad for you. That doesn't mean they eat a healthy diet.

We had excellent cookery + nutrition classes as compulsory subject when I went to school in Sweden in the 70s; also lessons on child development. Both have been extremely useful to me in adult life.

If the reason not to is because parents should do it, you could equally say that about maths and analysing Shakespeare. The truth is not all parents do know a lot about nutrition or basic cooking techniques, any more than all parents are good at algebra or iambic pentameters.

I suspect there are two reasons:

a) doing it properly (properly equipped school kitchens, 3 hour blocks to allow for both preparation and cooking) would require resources schools haven't currently got- because taxpayers don't want to pay for them

b) anything manual has traditionally been undervalued in British education where the ideal seems to be to turn pupils into "gentlefolk" who don't have to get their hands dirty

Because league tables, data, Ofsted et al, have taken away all the subjects that aren't core subjects, so Food Trchnology, Home Economics, whatever you call it, along with Art, Drama, Music, PE and others are eroded.

In my (state school) lessons we learnt how to make a roux, how to clean, gut and cook fish, how to make bread. Absolutely no reason you can't learn those things in a classroom setting.

I agree with Cory..
The only children that were valued at my children's school were the brainy ones that would make the school look good. Vocational or practical subjects are simply not valued, (nor are the children who take them)

Minerals and vitamins are vital but a lot of them don't come from classic British meals

Is it a wind up? Classic British meals have plenty of vitamins and minerals - meat/fish, potatoes and 2 or 3 veg form the basis of most Classic British meals.

Core secondary subjects like English and Maths are an extension of the literacy and numeracy done in primary school. They cannot be usurped.

Minerals and vitamins are vital but a lot of them don't come from classic British meals.

This is a bonkers statement by the way.

Yep. Totally bonkers and irrational.

I think cooking should be a thing parents teach really. It’s really easy to get dc involved in the kitchen from an early age, mine are only toddlers but the ‘help’ me make bread (I.e they roll some dough) or the help me decorate cakes etc etc

I did having cook lessons at school, but it was mainly sweet things that we made. Everything I know how to cook I learnt from my parents.

What's meant to happen to the kids who their parents don't know how to cook except how to heat up meals? maybe the parents could buy a very basic cook book and follow the recipe? Nobody can’t cook, its only following a set of instructions and as a parent you do have a responsibility to learn your dc some basic life skills

What's meant to happen to the kids who their parents don't know how to cook except how to heat up meals?

They don't even need to buy a book. There are squillions of simple, basic recipes online, plus videos to show you exactly how to do it. I can't imagine anyone of my dc's generation thinking "Ummm... I don't know how to cook x, y or z." They'd be straight on YouTube and finding out.

YANBU. When you consider the huge health implications of poor nutrition I really do think it should be given greater priority in schools. It's all very well leaving it to parents to teach their kids, but what if these parents weren't taught by theirs? Luckily my Mum taught me to cook at home yet plenty of people don't have parents like her. Personally I think learning about nutrition and cooking is way more important than English literature for example.

Personally I think learning about nutrition and cooking is way more important than English literature for example.

That might be the most depressing thing I've read for a while!