Policy into practice - Cooking lessons can fight bulging waistlines
Anne Longfield
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The UK now has the highest rate of obesity in Europe and childhood obesity is rising at an alarming rate.
Obesity in children under 11 has risen by over 40 per cent in 10 years. If this trend continues, half of all children will be obese or overweight by 2020. Faced with this escalating problem, equipping children with the skills and knowledge of how to prepare nutritional meals has to be a priority.
The government's drive towards making cookery lessons compulsory for all children under the age of 14 by 2011 is a major step forward, teaching young people to produce healthy meals for themselves and their families. Just taking part in food skills clubs and classes has been shown by a number of studies to make children and adults eat more fruit and vegetables.
The Academy of Culinary Arts' Adopt a School Trust initiative arranges for professional chefs to help teach cookery to children in schools around the country. The trust works with more than 300 schools to encourage children to get passionate about good food and educate them in nutrition, hygiene and health. It hopes that through its work children will be encouraged to experiment with food for themselves. The chefs deliver two to three annual sessions yearly, devised by the Chefs Adopt a School committee, that comprise structured one-hour workshops for five- to 16-year-olds. The chefs not only share their knowledge of simple recipes, but also teach children about why we need food, where food comes from and introduce them to the five senses and the four principal tastes.
Let's Get Cooking is a new campaign to teach children and families how to cook through a network of after-school cookery clubs. It helps clubs, which are run by volunteers, to pay for their equipment, running costs, training for adult helpers and a range of resources. In the past year, Let's Get Cooking has signed up 937 schools, trained 671 volunteers and teachers in food safety and cookery demonstrations and run start-up events for more than 2,000 children and adults. The scheme, which has a target of signing up 5,000 clubs over the next five years, is led by the School Food Trust. It has also been successful in targeting schools in areas of higher deprivation, as almost half of schools signed up to Let's Get Cooking have a high number of pupils eligible for free school meals.
Cooking is a skill for life and understanding diet and food is vital for living a healthy life. Not only do children need opportunities to learn about how to cook and what to eat, they need a step change in the culture of how we as a country prepare and consume food.
- Anne Longfield is chief executive of 4Children.Email anne.longfield@haymarket.com.