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When I was in high school, we took a course entitled Home Economics. By we, I mean the girls. The boys, well, I don't know what the boys did, but it must have been suitably masculine. Home Economics consisted of sewing and cooking. In the first term, we made aprons (mine was pink gingham with white rickrack trimming) and in the second term, we wore them while we cooked. I'm not kidding. Our teacher liked the sewing component, but wasn't too excited about the cooking. I recall shredded iceberg lettuce with bottled dressing, spaghetti with bottled sauce, and tinned fruit salad, but not much more.
Home Ec. fell out of fashion in the 1980s, but we may see something of a renaissance soon, but in an improved version. According to the Globe and Mail, the British government is making cooking classes mandatory for students aged 11 to 14. They are planning to train 800 teachers to teach these classes and schools must have adequate kitchens within three years. I say good for them. There is a lot of support for this endeavour, not the least Jamie Oliver, who famously tried to improve the food in the school system. The detractors say the time should be spent on academics, and parents should be responsible for teaching children to cook. But the truth is, many parents don't have a clue as to how to put together a healthy, nutritious meal.
Just walk into your grocery store and look around. Frozen chicken fingers, canned spaghetti, and fruit roll-ups. That's what is on offer, and that's what kids are eating. In the school cafeteria, they are likely eating nothing but chips and gravy, with maybe a doughnut for dessert. So if the school curriculum starts to actually provide children with the skills to make a stir fry with vegetables, rather than nattering on at them about how vegetables are good for them, I can only see that as an improvement. Maybe we can look forward to this in our schools. ::Globe and Mail
See also: ::Teach Your Children to Cook
Difficulty level: Easy
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