Editorial

Citation

Wells, D. (2002), "Editorial", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 32 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2002.01732baa.001

Editorial

Focus of Food's aim is to ensure that all children have a right to practical food education, which develops in them an appreciation of the social role food plays in our lives and teaches them to select, prepare and cook food that is nutritionally sound, enjoyable and fun. Waitrose is the principle sponsor and the scheme was launched in 1998 by Waitrose and the Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). The scheme improves the way children think about food and leads to better food education in primary and secondary schools. It sends the message that there is more to cooking than opening a package or tin, and this improves pupils' knowledge of the nutritional value of food.

There is a cooking bus which is a mobile classroom, a fully fitted kitchen in which 16 pupils can prepare and cook a wide variety of dishes. Each week, for 48 weeks of the year, the bus visits schools giving interactive lessons on food to young food lovers and budding chefs. Intensive professional development courses are also arranged for primary and secondary schoolteachers. It is estimated that only 10 per cent of schools have the facilities to teach cooking and its relationship with good nutrition. In some schools food preparation is only part of technology and this rarely includes a highlight on nutrition.

Focus of Food has a partnership with the British Nutrition Foundation and the Scottish Diet Action Plan. It offers a challenge to government to provide facilities for teaching food preparation and food skills which will ensure that the younger generation will be better fed. At a recent evening held by Focus of Food, Marguerite Patten spoke about the way food habits have changed during her years as a food writer and demonstrator. She spoke of the rationing of the Second World War and how women needed to start cooking in a different way to ensure their families were well fed. They served plenty of vegetables, many of which were home grown, and she described their response when dried egg was imported from the USA. Some loved it, others hated it!

Food habits have changed enormously since those times. No longer do we have concentrated orange juice and cod liver oil for children, nor do we have British restaurants. People rarely bottle fruits in summer to serve during the winter – they turn to the frozen food cabinet in the supermarket instead. Potato Pete is just a figment of older people's recollections and no longer are bananas and citrus fruits a rare treat.

Many young people who went straight from school into the armed forces did not learn how to cook. Now, with the variety of food programmes on television, we know that cooking has to be made entertaining and fun. But how many people try to make the dishes these skilled cooks prepare? Cooking has become an unknown skill in many households which specialise in ready meals and take aways. Families sitting round a table to have a meal have in many instances ceased to exist and this means a loss in social skills as well as in the joint appreciation of a good meal.

Today there is an increased interest in ethnic foods and the Indian and Chinese restaurants flourish. There are wonderful books and articles about cookery but while our interest in food increases, cooking has actually decreased. However, one good thing is that men no longer feel that it is effeminate to become a good cook. We see this in the number of male presenters of cookery programmes on the television.

What does this mean for the nutritional status of the people? The supermarkets have a wonderful array of healthy foods and most people are aware of them and value their quality and freshness. Parents should encourage their children to cook and to understand the nutritional value of food. My own sons are both good cooks, although spotted dick and golden syrup pudding appear on their tables rather too often for my view as editor of a nutrition journal!

Dilys Wells