what recipes do kid NEED to be taught at school

[FluffyMummy123]

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Kids LOVE cooking at my school (a Pupil Referral Unit so doesn't have to follow NCurriculum) - although they do prefer making cakes and jerk chicken and rice above everything else!

For the person wanting to go into primary schools, quote the Every Child Matters agenda. Lots on there to do with basic food skills and nutrition etc so the school can tick lots of boxes (Dh - Head of Technology - has all but abolished food tech in his place for Old-fashioned Cooking in his school by citing ECM)

Nutrition is important to learn- so many kids are veggie, or allergic to something these days, and it's important to know that if you can't eat X you really need to replace it with Y.

We used to do stuff like what removes what stain as part of home ec as well, all useful stuff in RL.

We ahd the option of single home ec (compulsory for veryone up to 14) or double, which was really child development and taken by the thicker girls (eg moi). My head of year at the time wanted that to be copulsory too- said that he could live in a world devoid of geographers if needs be, but a world of no parenting skills was a scary thought.

I have been saying this for years.

The end of the article on Cods link says it's a myth that there was ever a golden age where everyone learned to cook. ??? I moved to a state secondary in 1982 and the 1st/2nd years spent 1 or 2 terms each doing home econ (where we cooked real food), woodwork, metalwork & plastics. So it must have been the curriculum at the time?

I remember making cheese sauce & cooking pasta, jam tart, sponge cake and 'savoury mince', which is easily adapted to anything and modern pupils could use beef, lamb or mildew tofu. I must have cooked other things but I can't remember now.

I made peppermint creams and some mice and pastry thing. I also made an apron in needlework and some wood thing in woodwork.

I think it is crazy that it is going to take years to get the schools ready with kitchens. Could they not use the kitchen that cooks the school dinners, assuming they have one?

they would be hard pressed, because the kitchens are working flat out from first thing in the morning, they then have to clean up after lunch. Plus, many primary schools (and a good few secondary) don't have kitchens

DD's school food tech department is great, the kitchen is brand new and looks like the one in Gordon Ramsay's house.

She is having her first food tech lessons after half term - the timetable is split between food tech, textiles, CAD design and other technology subjects. Will be interested in seeing what she learn to cook (oh shit it will mean measuring 50g of flour into a plastic bag, can see me flurrying round the kitchen before work doing that!)

I never learned to cook until I was a mother. My gran's vomitous cooking was beyond the pale, and I didn't even learn how to fry an egg until after I left home.

I would have loved to have had proper cooking lessons, though to be honest I think I would have wasted the time pissing about throwing flour and potato peelings at my mates, though

I nannied for a woman who went on a cordon bleu course before she got married to learn how to cook.

NAB - my parents sent me on a cooking course in Florence in my gap year . And you know what - I'm so glad they did. It was brilliant.

My dh learnt to cook in childhood, as self defence, as his mother's cooking was soooo dreadful.

He says by 11 y.o. he was cooking sunday lunch (full roast chicken and veg) while his parents went to the pub !!

Which is pretty if you think about it. I bet few of our 11 y.o. kids could boil an egg!!

clumsymum - I must stop cooking immediately - my family is far too well fed to even think about setting foot in the kitchen.

I don't think children need tobe taught any specific recipes TBH.

Just taught about tastes and textures, healty eating, balancing meals, etc.

Show them how to prepare and cook veg.

Show them how to safely prepare meat, esp poultry

Show them that fish needs very little cooking

Talk about herbs and seasoning

Show them recipes and how to follow them - this means they can make whatever they like

Explain the difference between boiling and simmering, and what we mean by roast, steam, saute, fry, grill, etc.

And let them experiement in a safe environment

Humble pie. So they recognise it when their mother eats it.

actually anna that's a serious issue... growing up in a family with 2 great cooks, i could barely boil a kipper in a bag when i first left home. Not for want of trying on their parts either.

choosyfloosy - I agree. It is quite easy to be prevented from acquiring a skill that exists to a high standard in one's own family by virtue of intimidation and fear of failure in the fact of excellence.

In my father's elder brother's family one of the three children was such a fantastic cook/housekeeper that she basically hijacked the running of the household. Today she has a lovely house and cooks brilliant meals and her brother and sister are complete slobs who can't cook to save their lives. And in my own family I know I prevented my younger sister from learning to cook by virtue of the fact that I loved cooking from a young age and it was always "my" thing.

But my sister is a brilliant cook these days, so don't have to feel guilty [sigh of relieve emoticon]

I posted the kind of thing my children have made at secondary on another thread this week.

flapjacks
melting moments
pizza (bought base)
design a sandwich
currently designing a biscuit (WTF haven't we done biscuits already)

They'd be better served by learning how to do beans on toast, boil an egg, baked potatoes and stuff like bolognaise and a basic curry. [mine can do this ,preen>]

I did Home Ec and we had to make meals around a theme and within a budget - for example a veggie main course for less than £2 or a nutritional meal for a pregnant woman. We did do bread and pastry but from scratch not a farkin packet.

I don't think we should be 'showing' them Hulababy - I think they should be doing it themselves. It's the best way to learn - especially if something you've done has gone wrong. That way you get to learn that one tablespoon of flour weighs an ounce (sorry, I'm not metric!), etc

I was at secondary school in 1970 (my goodness I'm old) and we were definitely taught to cook. It was called domestic science then. We had to do needlework first (horrid, horrid, horrid) and then domestic science. Things I remember learning to make: pastry, cakes, stews (horrible Irish stew cooked for only the length of the class - grey and tough - put me off for many years!) and soused herrings. One girl fainted whilst she was gutting the fish!

I think that it's also important in this age of growing environmental concern that we teach children about food - where it comes from (specific parts of the animal as well as global provenance) and what is in season.