The Scottish Government

Get them young

Monday, September 24, 2007

Linda Brackenbury says: Schools should be looking back to practices of post war years, when good local produce was widely available, if not in quantity then at least in quality and used in school kitchens, children should be taught of where their food comes from and school cookery lessons should be made to be a compulsory part of the curriculum for boys as well as girls. As well as practical lessons, there should be lessons in nutrition and as to what the body needs to survive as opposed to what the body craves. Junk food out, good nutritious food in.

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Comments

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• 1. Douglas Watt - Morvern

  Tuesday, February 5, 2008 16:42

  Surely a key way to "get them young" is to provide FREE schoo; meals for all primary children, on the understanding that schools will supply only healthy, well balanced meals(and I don't mean boring, unappetising meals!)Then the children will have a chance of discovering that they actually LIKE the stuff!

• 2. Emma Hart - Kilmarnock Ayrshire

  Thursday, February 7, 2008 21:11

  My daughters primary school uses local fresh produce which is great. Menu looks great if you are an adult but a bit too fancy for children. It needs to be children friendly, simple and healthy. Free meals for all ages and portions small. Children should be encourage to try new things and not forced by teaching staff.

• 3. Daye Tucker - Balfron

  Wednesday, February 13, 2008 00:12

  Ayrshire has proudly led in local procurement, ALL Scottish councils should follow suit and support their local producers.
  The education and procurement departments within councils need to work closely together with the local schools and producers, and most important of all, listen and really engage with them. When young people are involved in designing a healthy menu, they WILL eat enthusiastically.
  RHET, ( Royal Highland Education Institute)
  www.rhet.org.uk is doing great work in schools teaching youngsters where their food comes from and illustrates the various journeys and transformations it makes before it reaches their plates.
  It is sad that a combination of supermarket shopping, time poor parents and a devaluing of that great subject, now known as Home economics has led to the present situation.
  However thanks to various high profile chefs, there is at last recognition of the nutritional disaster already taking its toll. Councils must stop ticking boxes and start to create a climate which produces a quality outcome.

• 4. Stirrin'Stuff - Angus

  Thursday, February 14, 2008 18:22

  Yes, we need to get children grappling with raw ingredients when they are young. However, cookery in primary schools doesn’t just happen.
  Here are some unsung heroes from an interactive cookery demonstration which took place in a primary school in Perth today.
  
  The school secretary
  This lady donated and washed 100 carrots from her farm, for the hands on session. She also brought some dirty carrots – time and facilities do not always allow the children to wash, peel and chop.
  
  Scotherbs
  Supplied all of the herbs.
  SALAR
  Sent salmon, from South Uist.
  
  
  TOTAL (FAGE):
  Donated yogurt and sent prizes and yes, I have asked Scottish yogurt producers. Hands on cookery is all about funding, if a Scottish producer says No - Stirrin’Stuff will pester other producers.
  
  
  The Head teacher:
  This lady found some funding and stayed after school and swept the floor to keep the cleaning staff happy.
  Dinner ladies:
  Helped with the washing up and allowed us to use the dishwaher between sessions.
  
  
  
  

• 5. Anne - Glasgow

  Monday, February 18, 2008 10:27

  To much choice in school menus when I was at primary you ate what was put in front of you good and bad. Young children are given to much choice it confuses them. Also n my experience if you get children involved in preparing food they will eat or at least be prepared to try things they have not before

• 6. Jennifer Dunn - Glasgow

  Tuesday, February 19, 2008 15:06

  Part of the problem is that the dishes taught in school cookery classes can be largely useless to anyone who's just left home. I got taught how to make five different varieties of scones, coleslaw, fruit salad, sponge cake and Coburg cake. We did get baked potatoes in the microwave and fried cheese sandwiches, but I would rather cook the potatoes in the oven and fried bread isn't exactly healthy. I think the lessons got a bit more useful in 3rd and 4th year, but I did other subjects instead.
  
  As far as I'm aware, most authorities have compulsory home economics in first and second year. Pupils should be taught to cook things they could use as a family dinner at home, like spag bol, chilli, stew, a roast chicken and so on. And also get taught about food prices and nutrition, so they realised it was cheaper to cook homemade stuff rather than rely on ready meals.
  
  Schools could also run weekly optional informal classes aimed at 5th and 6th years leaving home to go to Uni, to teach them to cook stuff like omlettes, pasta with tomato sauce or pesto, enchiladas and so on - stuff that's easy, quick and cheap to cook when you're catering for one or two people.
  
  Also, more effort should be made in schools to teach pupils about different sorts of vegetables - aubergines, butternut squashes, avocados, asparagus etc etc. There are lots of people, particularly in poorer communities, who don't know what these are. If more people were comfortable with a wider variety of veg, Scotland would be a healthier place.

• 7. linda sneddon - Dalkeith

  Wednesday, February 20, 2008 10:28

  I agree with Jennifer above...I did cookery at school in 1960s to early 70s and I am often heard to say it was the subject which gave me the strongest life skills. From learning to cook basic soups, stews etc to baking - as well as learning about the balance of meals, time management for preparing of food, the chemistry of food, right down to basic budgetting.
  
  10 years ago as a school board member trying to effect change in my local primary school in East Lothian and having a discussion with a school catering manager over provision of vegetables resulted in a comment "children won't eat them". Having seen the worn out overcooked vegetables on offer at the local school...no wonder! Yellow broccoli too!! I have always found kids to enjoy peas, cherry tomatoes and sweetcorn all of which can be kept well.
  
  Children need to know where food comes from, have access to healthy lifestyle information across the curriculum and understand the relationship between food and exercise.

• 8. F Hamilton - Argyll

  Thursday, February 21, 2008 20:31

  Children are more willing to try different food if they really understand how it's got to their plates. Many schools are now growing their own fruit and veg, however some authorities don't allow it to be used in school meals for health & safety reasons (might be dirty, for goodness sake!!) What message is that sending? If children have grown it, they'll want to eat it. They'll love using it themselves to cook with. Local Authorities/Health & Safety Exec have a responsibility to make it possible for this to happen.

• 9. Daye Tucker - Balfron

  Friday, February 22, 2008 12:04

  A common barrier to innovation and good practice is the local authority through its interpretation of rules and regs. You now have in place Parent Councils, a legal body and a powerful voice. Be strong, be determined but always be polite!

• 10. penny - edinburgh

  Friday, February 22, 2008 14:01

  I remember when I was very little going on school trips to a dairy farm, and also (it was a while ago!) to either a small holdings or nursery, as well as feeding lambs brought in to nursery school. I lived in a rural community, fair enough, but these experiences helped me understand the difference between simple, healthy 'natural' foods connected to their origins and processed foods whose origins are less easy to appreciate and therefore to be treated with a little more suspicion!
  
  I currently work in the city, and with kids and teenagers from the local community, and am fairly frightened at the lack of knowledge some of these kids display as to the origins of the food they eat - being taken aback at the idea that milk comes out of cows, for example. I'm sure that this may be unusual in the main, but it may be indicative of a worrying trend? Understanding the basics of the life cycle of the food we eat has surely got to be a good place to begin educating kids about healthy eating and good living, as well teaching cooking in schools.

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