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With the issues of obesity ever prevalent in the media, it was good to hear recently that as a measure to help tackle the problem, the Department for Children, Schools and Families has decided to introduce compulsory cooking lessons to the core curriculum, in England. The aim is to ensure every 11-14 year old is given practical cooking lessons by 2011, teaching them how to turn cheap, fresh ingredients into healthy meals. This will build upon the ‘Licence to Cook’ programme, available from September 2008, which is an entitlement for all secondary school pupils to learn how to cook. Both programmes are integral measures in the Government’s current Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives strategy for England.
At present, more than a half of women and two- thirds of men are clinically overweight or obese, increasing their risk of developing high blood pressure, heart disease, type II diabetes and osteoarthritis. The rise in childhood obesity now sees a million children under the age of 16 fall into that category. Helping children to acquire the skills and knowledge to choose, cook and eat safe healthy food may go a long way in tackling the problem in the future.
So how do we assist schools and communities in this challenge?
In recent years the Agency has looked to add value to children’s food experiences through the Cooking Bus and our What’s Cooking School and Community Food clubs which aim to help children pick up food skills. The Cooking Bus aims to bring the importance of food education and enjoyment of cooking back into schools and communities. The cooking bus, developed with the Focus on Food campaign, is a fitted out with a state-of-the-art kitchen and for over four years has toured schools to give children and their teachers an opportunity to find out that cooking is fun – and tasty!
Our What’s Cooking club guide, available for use across the UK, provides children and the school community with out of school hours opportunities to get hands on with food. Our programme has been rolled out in North East England, Scotland and is currently rolling out in the East Midlands.
We believe that that all these opportunities help to encourage children to get interested in food, to cook with their parents but also think about what they’re eating. You never know, it may even result in a whole new generation of Jamie Olivers!
