School cookery classes to be compulsory - email your recipes!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article3229949.ece

Teenagers will be given compulsory cooking lessons at school for the first time, under government plans to ensure that all pupils know how to make eight different healthy meals.

[...]

Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, said that he wanted members of the public to come up with ideas for the classic English dishes and international cuisine that children should learn to cook.

He is asking anyone with suggestions to e-mail the Government. They must be healthy, easy to prepare and the kind of meals that teenagers will want to eat.

[...]

The email address for the consultation is: getcooking.consultation@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk

sorry, slightly OT, but I'm feeling a bit cheeky at the moment.

DH read an article this morning on the BBC site talking about how teenagers now aren't recognizing basic vegetables and didn't know what to call them.  They went on to blame the school cooking classes for not teaching them what vegetables were.  I just shook my head at the fact that nobody seemed to be mentioning that if the children were eating semi-nutritious meals at home, they would know what a vegetable was, but I guess it's the school's responsibility to feed all of the kids at night too. 

I guess this is ok if they learn decent recipes.  Of course, we were taught mini pizzas. 

I fail to see how this will fight the "obseity crisis".  Didn't the parents of most of there kids have to take cooking classes in schools?   So they shouldn't have weight problems since they were taught how to cook in school, right?

What a coinkidink. I'm starting cooking lessons with my son tonight.. I would hate to send him out in the world without being a proper cook..

I think it's amazing that people don't see cooking as a life skill of vital importance. I was cooking simple meals by 10 and annoyed my Home Ec teacher because I already had ways I preferred to do things by the time I had her classes!!

My kids will definitely know how to cook and they'll be helping in the kitchen from an early age.

I fail to see how this will fight the "obseity crisis".  Didn't the parents of most of there kids have to take cooking classes in schools?   So they shouldn't have weight problems since they were taught how to cook in school, right?

I think it's yet another one of those situations in which the parents should, but many don't. Either they don't have time, don't have interest, or rely on ready meals themselves. Just because someone is taught to cook doesn't mean they will cook. But at least if they're taught they'll stand half a chance! 

Wicked!  I think we all send healthy, balanced recipes.

Of course, cynical me knows they will pick stuff like bacon quiche and toad in the hole for recipes to teach, not so much helping the weight crisis.

I think this is great, whether it has an effect on obesity rates or not.  I'm 23 and never learned how to cook properly growing up.  I learned how to cook simple dishes like pasta and scrambled eggs simply by watching my parents and out of necessity, but until recently I couldn't have told you how to cook most vegetables or how to make things like basic soups or cuts of meat.  

I've gotten pretty fed up with it though and am now actively teaching myself how to cook and it's been such an eyeopener.  It's amazing the yummy meals I can cook myself without too much effort that are miles better than the frozen/ready made crap I was eating before.  I'm with balmerhon, learning how to cook is definitely an essential life skill and I'm glad schools are teaching at least the basics.

I think it is a good idea, everyone in my district had to take cooking classes (as well as electric, wood, plastics, printing, sewing, metal, leather and home ec) for three years. 

I just don't think it will have any effects on obseity.  It will still be easier to throw a ready meal in the oven. 

If knowing how to cook made you within your weight range then no one over the age when the classes stopped would be fat, aside from those who learned how to cook at home.

I just don't think it will have any effects on obseity.  It will still be easier to throw a ready meal in the oven. 

But isn't that the point? To teach children that 'easier' isn't always best?

So who's going to send in some recipes? I think it's a great idea! 

Education is the key.  The reason such a large percentage of people here generally eat like crap is that they don't know any better. 

I love the cooking lessons my kids had at school.  My son learned how to bake bread at school,  a skill that has translated into making killer pizza.

If you hear it often enough, eventually it will become 'the way it is' and kids will eat better. 

Yes, I cook 6 days a week, I enjoy it, I find it fun and easy.  

I think this is a great idea.

I'm just saying I doubt this is going to have any bearing on obseity levels.

Everyone my parents' age learned how to cook either in school or at home.  They are obese as well. 

I just think it is a slight con.  When levels don't start falling off will something that should be done for its own right will be dropped? 

I think it's amazing that people don't see cooking as a life skill of vital importance.

I agree with you but it's not so surprising considering how convenience food is on the rise.  There appears to be a growing trend of the younger you are, the less you know about cooking. And why not, when you can to the supermarket and get everything already made for you in individual little packets. Plus, they're so packed full of fat, sugar and salt that home made food seems a bit bland!

I think this scheme is a good idea. I'll send a few recipes. I hope it all works out because I do believe that if you can get more kids interested in cooking their own homemade food, it will help with obesity.

I too have been cooking since I was a child and I enjoyed the classes I took through my school--although I liked the summer school classes more than anything.  Home Ec was a joke at my school.  We sewed on a button for sewing and made nachos by melting velveeta for cooking.  In summer school we made cakes from scratch and learned a variety of recipes.  I used many of those recipes for years.

I think it's a great idea to have kids learn more about cooking, but if they are going to require it, they should help fund it since many schools don't even have cookery classrooms. I was also surprised to hear that in many schools students will be expected to bring the ingredients themselves.  This could be quite difficult for some of them. 

Hopefully my comment complaining about the parents not teaching their children wasn't misconstrued.  I like the idea of having classes, but I was surprised that in discussing children not recognizing basic vegetables the article DH read seemed to imply that it was entirely the school's fault that children didn't know what they were.

I don't think the issue is so much people not wanting  or knowing how to cook, it's finding the time to cook.  I've done lots of cooking at times when I wasn't working - nowadays, after coming home from work hungry after a very long day, and knowing that I've got to get up early the next day, or after spending the entire weekend cleaning and doing the weekly errands, I just don't have the energy to be chopping vegetables