Food Revolution Day
"We're currently facing a global obesity epidemic, with 42 million children under the age of five either overweight or obese across the world. The bottom line is the next generation will live shorter lives than their parents if nothing is done to rectify these alarming statistics."
What Jamie wants is for schools across the world to have compulsory practical food education. I totally agree with him, in fact it's one of my soap boxes that I'll climb onto readily if anyone wants to listen. I was brought up watching my grandmother and mother cook. I loved nothing more than being in the kitchen with them, watching them cook our healthy meals from scratch. There was never anything ready made in my mum's kitchen when I was growing up. Both my grandfather and dad had vegetable patches in their gardens ,and again, I loved helping out, digging and planting. There really is something so exciting about growing your own food.
There is such pleasure to be had in serving up a home cooked meal to your family and friends. I get huge pleasure from it. But we live in a time where both parents are working and never seem to find the time to cook a homemade meal; well, that's the excuse being used anyway. Why bake a casserole when I can buy a ready meal? You know it's doesn't take much more to cook a meal from scratch than it does to chuck a plastic meal in the oven. Don't get me wrong, I'm partial to a ready meal on occasion, it is easier on the brain cells than planning a proper meal; I buy ready meals for my mum and prepared vegetables because she's 81 and finds cooking difficult now. Ready made meals do have their place in our lives but not every day for a growing child.
For me though the issue goes deeper than just the ease of a ready made meal. We now have a generation of parents who actually don't know how to cook. They didn't have weekly cookery lessons at school, they weren't taught domestic science. For some obscure reason these subjects were deemed of little importance in education. Valuable academic time wasted on learning how to cook and run a home, on the nutritional value of the food our bodies require? Good lord, no, this is the modern age and these things are beneath us. So, if you have parents who can't cook, won't cook this leads to children who are malnourished, overweight and don't have a clue where to start in the kitchen.
For all this is a dire problem, I do believe that there are still some families that have their home cooked meals, where the children see their parents cooking a homemade meal each evening. I've noticed a better range of fresh produce in the supermarkets at home, a wide range of fish and meat. My mum worked full time as did I and we still managed to cook a meal each evening. To be honest not only is it better for you but I'm pretty sure it must be cheaper over the course of a month to cook a family a healthy home cooked meal than buy ready prepared meals? I wouldn't bet on it but I can't believe otherwise. But it's right there in front of you, all the healthy food that you need, there's no excuse other than laziness, bad habits and a lack of education stopping us from feeding our children properly.
Jamie's first campaign was to change school meals. Again, if many children are getting their only proper meal at school then it is vital that it is healthy and nutritious. Schools should not be serving up junk food to our children. Pack lunches should be controlled. Send an informative list of food acceptable within a lunch box. It's time to toughen up on the schools and the parents. My kids had a brown bread sandwich, fruit, yogurt, cheese and milk in their lunch box. A mini chocolate treat on a Thursday as it was the weekend. We didn't have chocolate biscuits or sweets in the house, these were treats as were crisps. A junk meal for them was a rarity as it was cheaper for me to feed them at home than out. Once we were met Dicky B these things changed slightly as he has a terrible sweet tooth and the guys knew all his hiding places! They both still drink milk if they're thirsty and know to limit fizzy drinks. Bex makes a great Sunday roast or toad in the whole, and Ben's lovely wife enjoys cooking with her homegrown vegetables.
Start cooking at home with your kids. Not only will they be eating a healthier meal but you'll actually get to spend some quality time with them. Hours of fun to be had cooking and baking together. Trust me, we've all done it. And the best thing is, Bex now cooks for me when I go and stay with her. Like mother like daughter, she loves cooking for family and friends.
So come on, sign Jamie's petition.
VIVE LA RÉVOLUTION!