Putting food at the centre of the school curriculum

I am a passionate lover of food and argue that it should form the centre of our school curriculum. If the current government gets its way it will soon to be relegated to the substitute’s bench of school life, brought on only when other players in the school curriculum have been exhausted. The planned changes imposed by efficiency savings will ensure vocational courses take a back seat to more ‘academic’ recognised qualifications.

However, without a proper diet where would the likes of Rooney and Beckham find the energy to score goals, both on and off the pitch?

The absence of even basic skills in understanding food and nutrition, and its preparation, undermines every aspect of our social and economic framework.

The breakdown of traditional family units, and families not longer sitting down to a daily meal together, means youngsters often need to fend for themselves in the kitchen. How then can we expect them to learn how to enjoy food, treating it as a friend, not public enemy No.1, as the media would have us believe?

Where are the opportunities to develop and practice the skills, gaining confidence and ability in what we eat, and where it comes from?

Full time teachers, constrained by curriculum requirements, are at a disadvantage, often accused of not being in touch with the real world.

By working with the commercial sector as well, I often have my views and opinions challenged, and my competence is rewarded by those I advise gaining much coveted awards.

Promoting healthy eating is dependent not on lecturing, but by encouraging exploration, allowing choice.

Only this week we hear of the ambulance service making costly adaptations to accommodate obese patients; a direct result of problems caused by poor diet and lifestyle, imposing a strain on the health service, notwithstanding the implications for taxpayers and employers.

Likewise, the inability of couples to conceive is often linked to a lack of nutritional knowledge and the way in which diet affects their bodies. The potential is enormous.

Current changes to core curriculum subjects will hinder advances made by such projects as the Food in Schools programme; yet political interference results in top-down initiatives rather than inspiring others to learn.

Food remains a hot topic for TV programmes and cookbook sales remain buoyant but no-one knows which side of the fence to sit on. Foods such as chocolate, salt, sugar, butter, and even wine, have been subjected to one theory or another only to quickly be dispelled sometime later and the current thinking that ‘five portions a day’ of fruit and vegetables is necessary for good health has been disproved.

Educating our community (including adults, who influence their children) about good eating habits is inextricably linked to the skills and knowledge needed to make intelligent decisions about what is consumed, not being told by someone else what eat.

This can be done by introducing ‘food’ into all aspects of our educational system. It’s not just what we eat, but how, why, where (standing up, or on the run, for most of us these days) and when we eat that matters. It is not just what we teach about food and nutrition, but how we put this across, explaining and demonstrating why food is important.

Like to eat ice cream (and what child doesn’t)? Conduct a blind tasting so they can at least tell the difference.

Show them how to make their own bread, as every child of my acquaintance can now do……

Interested in sport? Learn what kinds of food makes athletes perform better.

Like literature? Who could not fall in love with honey after reading Winnie-the-Pooh, or resist a luscious fig when described by D H Lawrence?

Good at maths? Learn why and how ratios affect the success of ingredients put together. Gather statistics on a food you’re interested in.

A science swot? Carry out experiments into why soufflés rise or fall.

Ever bothered to explain how Newton came about his theory?

Want to grow the biggest pumpkin? Find out how ......

Historians too can indulge. Where would I be without chocolate, first discovered by the Aztecs, or the dreaded chewing gum, from the chiclet tree?

Want to go into politics? Many a deal has been done over the dinner table – I’ve witnessed it.

Like to travel? The world’s your oyster, literally, for without the advantage of cheap travel how would we ever have tasted an avocado in its native habitat, or discovered, potatoes, tomatoes?… the list in endless.

There is a reason why food comes so high on the list of human wants and needs, ask Maslow, and it is time the relevance of our food education from cradle to grave was treated with the importance it deserves.

Ask why we went to war with Iraq and many will argue it was more to do with oil than a brutal regime – and why oil, because we need it to fuel our vehicles, planes, trains, boats..… to get our food from one place to another.

Who decreed that we need more houses per hectare to solve the housing problem? If we had BIGGER gardens we might be inspired to keep those chickens and grow our own tomatoes and onions, so much part of what is now our national dish, chicken tikka marsala. Instead we get into the car, polluting the roads, causing accidents, lining the pockets of greedy supermarket giants..…..

While we’re all at home cooking, who would be left on the streets to cause mischief?

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching cooking a meal for someone you love is the fastest way to woo yourself into someone’s heart – trust me I’ve done it.

Food, truly the centre of our universe…. I rest my case.