Cooking lessons for all
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7200949.stm

Whilst I think it's important that people learn to cook, wouldn't it be better if schools focused on making sure kids left school being able to read/write and add up?

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

Yes, but I think a teaching of a few "life skills" is as equally important.

God knows, some youngsters have to fend for themselves at an early age, while their deadbeat parents are off ******* it up.

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

When did cooking lessons stop being compulsory for those under 15? :/

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

They never were as far as i know, we had ours included in "Technology" lessons for osme reason, and we only ever learnt to cook crap, i mean, what use is a thousandth fruit salad when you can't prepare meat or potatoes, or any reasonable meal?

In my opinion i say it's great to have the lessons, just make them worthwhile. Full Sunday lunch anyone?

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

I think it's a great idea. I know a few people that woud have trouble doing beans on toast.

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

I learnt cooking from my grandmother, my mother and my father.. I also spent one afternoon a week learning cookery at school.. it's more than just a vital component of the curriculum.. you need to know how to survive and food is survival!
I love cooking... there's a joy in watching a bunch of raw ingredients that look like nothing, turning into a meal thats quick, simple, nutritious and will keep you going for hours!
Todays 'yoof' wouldn't know how to boil an egg and only know how to reheat something frozen..... thats NOT cooking - it's REHEATING!!
I constantly look around for ideas to cook whilst on a budget... and I'm currently keeping two of us fed!

I cook mostly vegetarian/vegan meals and the popularity of my cooking amongst my friends is astounding... with so many wanting me to cook for them because for some reasom I just cook better! *lol* (their opinion - not mine!)

I love it in the kitchen... in fact, when I was growing up, I used to do make all my own cakes, pastries and toffees (yeah, vanilla fudge and pure rock hard toffee!) :D

Once you learn the basics, the rest is pretty simple... it's not as hard as some 'yoofs' make it out to be...

This afternoon, with it being somewhat cold out, I'm putting a litre carton of apple and orange together in a pan and warming it up slowly with 3 tablespoons of sugar and a good dose of cinamon... not only is it refreshing, but it tastes divine :D

I can't wait to get my daughter her first cookery book... :D
Yeah, she *does* burn toast!!

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

your talking about me again !! ;)

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

You knew you'd get found out eventually :)

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

Where it's optional, you can tell the savvy lads from the non-thinkers by the ones who do cooking or needlecraft ;)

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

Well said, anyway whats difficult about using a microwave :D

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

It's probably too late. The huge quantity of ready meals now available in the supermarket, and the minuscule display of home baking products tells you all you need to know.

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

Our kids' "cooking" lessons (last year) involved putting tomato puree (tube not can), pregrated cheese and "other toppings of choice" onto a bought pizza base, then bringing it home for us to bung in the oven (with no cooking instructions of course). Then it was the inevitable fruit salad, then undercooking pasta for 5 minutes and stirring in a can of chopped toms and a sliced onion.

1 hour per week is not enough to teach AND actually cook something, so I think this is just lip-service to the "ban the fatties" brigade.

I would have been more impressed if the kids had been taught various techniques (frying, steaming, casseroling, etc) but all they seem to get is "knife skills" and that is OUTSIDE the class!

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

I doubt it will happen, Schools need to find the time, money and space to do so.....Someone above mentioned a full Sunday meal??? how do you expect people to cook that in a school? there is not the time.

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

I did half a term cooking at school (same for sewing) both of which I enjoyed and was good at. I would say my interest of cooking came from those few lessons and has continued to grow.

I think your missing the point. This policy small step to the goal of reducing obesity.

By giving people enough basic skills that they dont just have ready meals will have a large impact if people use them.

I watched a programme the other night and was really surprised to hear person after person say they never made any meals from scratch!? Im not just talking young people but grown, middle aged women.

Shocking

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

My school has been teaching Catering for the past two years..Before that it was Food Tech and hardly anyone wanted to take it because it involved too much research and written presentation.With the catering there is hardly any written presentation or writing at all.Every week they have to have their 'whites' on and cook.They get an automatic grade for that lesson and by the time they get to the final practical exam they know what grade they have.These courses have proved to be the most popular since they were started and as a consequence more of the students want to learn to cook.

When I was 11-16 I had two AFTERNOONS a week spent in
Home Economics.I learned to cook far better than the students have been doing for the past 20 years.All they have learned is how to read a ready prepared meal or food product package.They have not learned how to cook from scratch with fresh ingredients but with stop gap ready produced rubbish as Taf has already pointed out.

I actually think this WILL work especially when you think how many cookery shows there are on tv.They have proliferated vastly in the last 20 years and I think it is because many young adults have left school and home without the necessary skills to survive on their own.

How Maggy T's education Gurus thought replacing HE with Food Tech would benefit the country I cannot understand.Mind she was also responsible for closing down many school kitchens because she refused to provide the subsidies for school meals, leading to the catering mess that Jamie Oliver highlighted in his school dinner's campaign.:rolleyes:

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

Pray to god they dont get an oven that youve been near ;)

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

i have 3 brothers ,3 sisters 3adopted sisters and 1 adopted brother and mum taught us all to cook ,when i say cook i mean cook every thing, i am still teaching my boys 18+20 years old to cook but there not bad at it, i think its parents that should pass on these skills, i remember my granny teaching me to bake cakes ,my dad taught me to make bread, beer and wine, how to shoot ,trap ,skin and fillet, and mum taught me how to make it tasty, are parenting skills dead in this country.

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

Unfortunately because they stopped teaching it properly in schools and families often find themselves at opposite ends of the country there are some parents who can't cook let alone pass on any skills.:(

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

Don't suppose there'll be any money for things like errmmmm.... kitchens, ovens, hobs, kitchen equipment, utensils etc etc etc will there!

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

Well of course they can say that because the golden
age was BEFORE the advent of 'Equal Education'.The girls of my generation got a very good grounding in cooking and nutrition.The boys of course didn't but got the fun stuff like building go-karts because men didn't cook.:(

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

When I was at school, some 12 years ago, we could choose an activity. One was cookery lessons, but my male friend wasn't allowed to do it as it was a girls' only activity. He was only on the pull at the time, but he still wasn't allowed.

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

Well that was technically illegal and his parents could have challenged that on the grounds of equal opportunities.However in reality they could have just said the course was oversubscribed and they had no more staff to provide the subject to every child who applied.

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

I just hope they teach them more appetising meals than what I had to make. I'll never forget the look on my family's face when i presented them with (rock hard!) cauliflower cheese and mum made them eat every last bit :D. I am a much better cook these days ;)

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

He did kick up a fuss and threaten to go to the board of governors, etc. Didn't do any good. As a kid you get it drummed into your head that you have no rights and the adult teachers, etc are in loco parentis and always know what's right. As I said though he only want to do it so he take a shine to the girls though so in the grand scheme of things he wasn't that bothered to worry about legalities.

If it makes any difference, it was a private school. It was co-ed, but between juniors and 6th form, the kids were completely segregated. The boys had their school buildings on one side and the girls had theirs on the other (with the mixed juniors in the middle). They claimed that as the student kitchens were in the girls' school building and the activity was part of the girls' school cirriculum, it was not available to him, in much the same way as a boy was ineligible to play netball or join the girls for biology classes.

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

Private huh..if you had included that little bit of info..;)

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Its not something I really like to brag about, but I would have though gender laws apply to private and state schools. I thought i'd mention it in case though.

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

Guess Marge is getting a rest this weekend and Punky is cooking Sunday Roast for us all :) :tu:

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

:scratch: :shocking: :help: I'm off down the pub for my sunday dinner :LOL:

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

Oh alright... It is the most humane option after all :angel:

Re: Cooking lessons for all
 

You would think and hope so.However I tend to think that it depends whom is in government at the time.;) Labour traditionally hate private schools(unless it's their own children involved) and the Tories support them whole heartedly and will show a blind eye about some rule bending.Well that's my opinion.