I am doing some research and I would be eternally grateful if any of you home cooks could give me your opinions on what you think the difficulties (if any) are with feeding yourselves and your families a really good fresh food diet.
Basically, we all know that food poverty is a reality amongst lower income groups in our country. As I am single mother on benefits, we are classed as a low-income family and we eat like kings, but only because I have been cooking all my life and am food-obsessed enough to know exactly where to go and what to do to make the most of our limited resources. For me, the pursuit of good food is a full-time occupation, but I understand that most people just do not have the time, energy, resources and (perhaps) inclination to do the same.
It worries me that the current level of welfare benefits do not permit low-income families with children or pregnant women and girls to eat what I regard to be an adequately healthy diet unless they already possess cooking skills, (which have been completely phased out in most state schools) equipment and a hell of a lot of time and passion.
The Food Poverty Network
As people who cook real food, how much time do you
spend?
Do you have to really go out of your way to get good, unpolluted fresh food?
Does buying fresh food and the consumption of time involved with producing meals put you out of pocket?
What do you think you need to spend each week to feed your family fresh every day?
Why do you think it is that we have such a pathetically non-existent food culture in Britain, as opposed to, for example, France or Italy, where the vast majority of the population eat wonderfully good food.
What kind of objections have you heard people giving to the idea of eating well?
Obviously, this is not a particularly structured form or research - I just want to pick your brains, if that is ok.
What do you do with your kids while you are cooking and preparing food, especially if they are too young to help?
Does the amount of time you spend cooking have an impact upon the amount of attention your children get from you? Does this matter anyway?