why not teach kids to cook instead we teach kidsa bad diet of food technology

[zippitippitoes]

....... I so much agree with this article

Agree too. When I worked supporting children with special needs in secondary schools I was stunned at food technology. It was incredibly difficult and had nothing to do with food. At all. And most of the kids I was working with would have benefited enormously from learning about food.

Blueshoes, I tried to CAT you but you have chosen not to accept them. You could change this on your registration page (link at top of page) or you could email me on frannyandzooey at india dot com. Just send me your postal address and I'll get the book off to you later in the week.

Oh tes,the article says it all.
(Food Monthly is brill and got back to me on some ahem...points I made about formula t'other month.)

What worries me is that people no longer understand what is/isn't processed.
A FRIEND GAVE MA AND MY CHILDREN a plastic white roll filled with some sort of spread,gloopy coleslaw and some Bernard Matthews turkey/ham approximate genuinely believing it was a 'helathy' snack.

I loved domestic science,although being the smarmy little shit that I was (am?) I baulked at learning how to bang the crusts for my invalid's light tray meal,after a summer of perfecting my phyllo pastry and gnocchi.

I find the whole idea of 'food technology' a bit obscene. Mind you, am not absolutely hog-whimpering wild about learning to cook at school either. I sort of suppose it has to happen there, as it's not happening at home and as I have already ranted on about how it shouldn't be all foisted onto mothers as part of our Womanly Role....

Boys and girls MI.
What say you???

S'pose so. Just not keen on Domestic Science and all that.

I didn't learn to cook till I was 18, out of books. Am reasonably good cook now, though.

You have this whole thing about wimmin and cooking.
I really don't see it like that at all.

Well, women still do the bulk of domestic cooking.

hi
just came through from the other thread.ust a point.e123 amaranth colouring mentioned on the other thread.be careful if you dont give it to your children as its banned in other countries, its one of the main colourings in medicines! my child cant have it as he goes nutty on it.cant remember if its in calpol, own brand paracetamol or medised but its red colouring.
just so you are informed.

I like cooking! Besides, there are a LOT of male chefs out there. I don't see it as affront to my femininity. I just enjoy it and did it even whilst I was single.

DH loves cooking, too. He and I cook about the same amount.

I do all the baking. Except bread. He's the bread guru and ice cream maker in the house.

'SUrely a better stratergy would be actually to teach kids to cook, to plan budgets for meals, to plan weekly menus, learn about healthy diets etc? Wouldn't it be more useful? '

Well, yes, along w/teaching them to handle finances.

Again, it's becoming apparent they are not learning this at home.

But the other problem is that most secondary schools now are so focused on testing and getting kids ready for university that skills like these aren't emphasised at all.

I remember doing stuff like spag bol (several times), chicken in a sauce we made ourself, home made pizza, scones, we even had to do a whole meal. I think it helped with learning but I probably learnt a lot more from helping mum & grandparents in the kitchen. I remember making lots of cakes when I was younger though!!

DD (7) has done things like fruit salad, cheese straws and pizza this year at school with her class. They had a lot of help though,

I remember potential SIL (same age as me) once saying to OH 'how do I cook this pizza?" to which he replied "read the side of the box!" (shocking!)

DD has expressed interest in helping in the kitched lately & I think this is great, even if she only gets to stir things together & do simple things.

I'm hopeing that as OH & I like cooking some of this will rub off on her & she'll pick up a lot of tips from us if not from school.

Just saw expatinscotlands post - I think that in some ways teaching kids to cook is an important part of preparing them for uni along with managing money etc. It should be part of encouraging them to get the grades to go in the first place.

I don't know if there's any truth/science behind it but I've always thought that eating well can help with studying?

I can remember my mum being told "Katymac seems to think she knows more than she does" by my home economics teacher

This was when I was about 12/13 and cooking full sunday roasts, cheese & onion flan, doughnuts etc at home but I failed abysmally at HE (converting ready meals in to edible food?? we even used bought pastry)

Completely agree with the article but I do think that a lot of thought needs to go into the course. Mine go to private school and actually do quite a lot of "cooking" BUT it isnt necc the Right sort of cooking! Sponge cakes are made with a mix, everything else relies heavily on cooking marg (the cheapest variety). Pizzas consist of the teacher "making" the base from a mix (ds is perfectly capable of making a nice pizza dough in the breadmaker) and smearing tomato puree on top. So just hands on cooking isnt enough either. I want them to be taught why butter is more healthy than margarine, why we should buy free range eggs, how to cook vegetables etc.

I don't think it's necessarily a school's job to teach life skills to nt kids but I honestly think food tech is SUCH a waste of time and effort. The food tech teacher I knew was longing to teach the kids to cook but was forced to help them design pizza boxes in line with the GCSE curriculum...

Batters - I don't necessarilary think hat the school is responsible for teaching children to cook.

However if they do have cooking/HE/FS lessons they should be effective, healthy and interesting

But is it the schools responsibility to teach any subject (maths, reading, history?) - if they are going to teach at least let them teach well

I dont think its necc the schools job to do it, but if they are going to do it, then why not do it properly.
Also re food technology, how many children are going to end up being pizza box designers versus needing to be able to cook a meal

i dont tink it should be taught in school at all. its should be taught at home

I agree with Katymac.

I do however think that learning to cook/prepare food is an important life skill that EVERYONE should be taught. It has a bearing on so many other aspects of life - same as doing PE - you don't have to be good at sport etc, but learning that lots of exercise (and encouraging, nay enforcing that exercise) is good for all children.

It certainly should be taught at home, I try and teach my DD stuff already (she is 3), but unfortunately there are many parents/households that don't/won't/can't. I think getting schools back to basics and teaching proper cooking/food prep would be a great plus for children in this country.