I've had an idea and I'd like some thoughts

[StyleCommander]

I recently asked a teenager if they knew where foods come from. Simple things like mash, chips, sausages etc. And he responded with 'The Supermarket'.

Food is one of the most important things in life, especially in family life. We tend to eat together, food brings us together, we talk over dinner and discuss our days. What talk about what we like and what we don't and generally when you have a busy household, it's one of the few times in the day where families get together for some quality time, be it at the dining table or in front of the TV with 'Teas on Knees'.

I'd like to compile a collection of my own recipes, but also make it an educational tool too.Explaining the importance of nutrition and a balanced diet, while also making it fun to actually read and maybe even turn it into an interactive Ebook so that it can be viewed pretty much anywhere (and easily wiped down if a little bit of sauce gets splashed onto it).

As basic skills seem to be being shunned in schools, I want to essentially take the classroom to them without them even knowing it. Covering maybe 40 or 50 staple dishes that can be expanded on and grow their confidence in the kitchen while also teaching about nutrition and how although there's nothing wrong with a Mc Donalds every now and again, eating it day in day out isn't good for you and that with a little bit of effort you can provide healthy, nutritious meals that the entire family will enjoy (and also earn brownie points off your parents for cooking dinner a couple of times a week!).

What do you lot think? Would you buy into it?

I think they do it at school even if they don't do it in the home? Don't all schools do food tech?

Were you not just talking to a teenager that didn't want to talk to you? The mind boggles at the thought that a teenager genuinely didn't know that chips are potato. I just don't believe it. They even cover this stuff at primary school.

When I say I just don't believe it I do believe that the teenager you spoke to said "the supermarket". But I'm struggling to believe he/she didn't know about potatoes and pigs.

My DSs did this in infant school

No, he was holidaying next door to me, and we got onto what he wanted to be when he grew up (a chef), as I'm a big foodie, the conversation got onto techniques, decent knife sets for college etc.

I asked him what he was doing in food tech, (he was about to go into year 10) and he said the school didn't do food tech after year 9, and that the most complicated things they'd learned was club sandwiches, fruit salad and how to make a stock and soup from scratch.

When I was in school nearly 15 years ago, we were making Cottage Pies, Scotch Eggs, Roast Dinners. Stuff that as an adult, I would still be making now.

My nieces school is very similar, but my sister is a foodie too and has been sure to let DN know exactly where her food comes from and how to make meals for the family.

But he wants to be a chef and you were discussing techniques and knife sets . He would only have had to watch a couple of episodes of masterchef to have a pretty good idea of what a potato is.

DS1 is about to go into year 8. In food tech last year (year 7) he did soup from scratch, lasagne, apple crumble, something I can't remember with lamb and halloumi. And in the weeks when they were not cooking they did a lot of theory stuff about food groups, vitamins etc.

I'm not trying to imply that you don't have knowledge I'm just saying that I'm not sure you've identified a gap in the market

I was using the actual French techniques, his techniques were thin strips, thick strips, small, medium and big cubes and finely chopped.

Saying that in a decent restaurants kitchen to the chef would get him ridiculed. He also said something quite telling, they'd never actually cooked something like Lasagne or Crumbles, things that require a little bit more planning and time management. Like I said, it was sandwiches, salads and a very basic stock/soup.

All I'm thinking is, it's not surprising that a lot of younger people today aren't as confident in the kitchen as we are, or our parents and grandparents are.

I think an awful lot of it comes from the parents. They need to be shown at home how to cook a few meals from scratch. My 13 yr old DS can cook a decent chilli, spag bol, cheesecake etc by himself as I determined he will be equipped with life skills by the time he leaves home/goes to Uni. I am not sure its a priority for lots of families though, and therefore I am not sure your idea would work. Sorry.

I agree with the others; they cover a lot of it in food tech - in most schools anyway. All my children did food groups at primary and know where food comes from. The Internet is full of recipes and food tech/education.

I think it is a saturated market.

I don't think it's a gap in the market. Schools should be doing this on food tech already, and those that aren't probably won't start unless the national curriculum forced it.

Tesco do a farm to fork thing for schools and youth groups, I've taken my Brownies and it's very good. I can't remember if it's free or a small cost but they get samples of various foods, they get to go behind the scenes, and learn about where our food comes from. Obviously the advantage is it's sponsored by a huge company that will have stores local to a majority of people in the UK.

There's children's cookery shows on tv and millions of free recipes available online.

At my ds's primary school, they do cooking from KS1. They do healthy eating teaching as well.
In KS2, it become regular, each children has chance to cook at least once every half term. My ds is very healthy eater, and partially it came from me, but it came from school too.

It just perplexes me. I suppose it doesn't help though that with budgets being cut left right and centre, certain subjects seem to be getting less attention than others, yet 'non-core' seem to be pushed more (such as 2nd or 3rd foreign languages).

I don't know what his teacher is like, or where they are in their career, but I've had teachers when I was a kid where they were at retirement age and they just kind of gave up trying.

Sorry for the late reply. I was asked to do a chicken salad last night, and dickhead here forgot to take said chicken out of the freezer so I've just had to run up to the shop to get some fresh.

Surely food tech never goes beyond yr 9 except as an option (which few students choose)? at the idea of 2nd and 3rd languages being pushed. MFL is very low on the prority list for most (secondary MFL teacher here).

I think you need to do more research about what is actually on the curriculum. The knowledge of one teenager is not a very reliable source. I've been a secondary teacher for 20 years and now to quite a lot of supply teaching (all subject areas). The food tech classes I've covered seem to be very focused on all the things you mention, and primary school pupils also seem to do quite a bit about healthy eating. My dc's primary does regular farm visits to learn about where food comes from.

Imo kids aren't confident in the kitchen because their parents don't get them to help. I'm just as guilty of this as anyone - it's so much quicker if I do it myself!

I would guess there's a chance he was feeling a little put on the spot if you were grilling him on french techniques when he's 13? Perhaps he was worried that he'd be tested on how to make something if he confessed to having covered it? I'd be surprised if he's only done sandwiches salads and soup in food tech over the course of three years. But even if that is the case I think he would be the exception rather than the norm and if he hasn't learnt it at home already particularly with his desire to be a chef I think the chances of a book or ebook changing that are next to zero.

Just checked with DS1 and the others things they did in year 7 were smoothies (first lesson) where they also had to look at the calorific content of various fruit combinations, lamb halloumi and vegetable kebabs, fairy cakes, mince pies, blueberry muffins, pizza pinwheels, cheese and potato pie plus the things I mentioned above lasagne, apple crumble, tomato and red pepper soup and brocolli and stilton soup. They've also done loads of theory stuff and some meal planning/costing stuff plus some technique work.

Not bad for 11 year olds. Then they have a further two years to go.

I am not disputing that there will be some children with limited kitchen experience. I'm also not disputing that some food tech lessons won't be great, just as some maths lessons might not be great. I do think there can sometimes be a tendency to assume that kids nowadays don't know the things we knew.

Oh and my favourite lesson was the one where they were taught about food hygiene inculding how to wash up properly and given the homework of doing all the washing up at home for a week

Sorry op but I don't think it's a gap. I wouldn't buy it because we discuss/ do all that anyway and always have. The parent who doesn't know themselves isn't going to either because if they wanted to learn there's already lots out there they could access. Same for teens like in your op, if he's interested himself there's already a lot out there.

I don't think his 13yr old terminology will hold him back either. Plenty of time to learn all that if he pursues it as a career. Plus I imagine chefs are like any other professionals, someone coming in talking the talk but never having been trained in the walk will be as hard to train as someone who enters the profession feeling like they have a lot to learn.

Re his comments- are you sure he wasn't being sarcastic if he's genuinely interested in cooking? My dd would find such a question quite insulting and probably answer in the same vein.

He's 13, he wants to be a chef, yet he thinks food comes from supermarkets and has never made anything more advanced than a club sandwich.

He was winding you up...

Maybe your idea has legs (I personally doubt it) but I'd suggest more research than a comedy 13year old.

Tesco do a Farm to Fork thing; my ds's did it on Cub outing.

It sounds as if the child was a moron and his school lacking. This certainly wasn't a issue when I was at school five or so years ago).

I don't think its very nice to call the child a moron. I suspect its more likely that he was trying to be funny/clever.

If our school system had one trainee teacher for every hundred "edupreneurs" marketing educational resources online our society would be a lot better off.

if they wanted to learn there's already lots out there they could access

This. My teen dd was completely uninterested in learning to cook from me, but when we finally snapped and told her she had to provide one meal a week she had absolutely no difficulty in finding online recipes and YouTube demos. The internet is absolutely groaning with that sort of thing.

Sorry OP. Didn't mean to rain on your parade but I'm not sure its your Dragon's Den moment.

And in the meantime, this ... www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-41125279

OP, if you want to make a difference to young people's education, including but by no means limited to food technology, there are other ways that will have much more impact.

Actually my nearly 15 year old has been independently educated from pre prep and has never once done food tech. But she is about to do CCF and DofE so she's going to learn basics in those (or starve 😂).

I am quite glad she's not been forced to do it up to now. I hated my all girls school and carrying bloody wicker baskets on the bus with tea towels covering it.

As long as she learns when she wants or needs to, that's fine by me! She certainly knows where food comes from though 🙄 As would almost all kids I think. They eat unusual meats and fish as well as the standard ones and have a good palate.

The teen was taking the piss.
It's part of tge early years curriculum. They go to farms, they see cows milked. Mine have been on 3 farm related trips in 5 years at school plus a brownies trip to a supermarket.

It's moved on a bit Gin. No wicker baskets these days - would probably be a Health and safety hazard. DS (13) enjoys it and has become more independent in the kitchen since he started it last year.