These last few weeks I’ve been doing quite a bit of work for a charity that helps young people to eat more healthily. In short, to encourage them to lose weight. It’s got me thinking about the relationship young people have with food and how it’s made.
melon smile
You’ve probably all heard that some kids don’t know that milk comes from cows or that chips come from potatoes. Shocking, but not so surprising when an entire generation has been brought up on takeaway food. Many seldom venture into the kitchen and when they do, it’s invariably to extract something decidedly unhealthy from the fridge.
cucumber eyes
Many mums have neither the energy nor desire to engage with their kids in the kitchen. And we’re all paying the price. The rate of childhood obesity is growing at an alarming rate whilst teachers consistently report classroom behavioural problems associated with a high fat, high sugar diet. In the UK, 25 percent of boys and 33 percent of girls aged between two and 19 years are overweight or obese.
grating carrot
I don’t have the solutions to these problems – they go way too deep. But, as a start, let’s at least encourage children back into the kitchen. Let them make a mess, encourage them to use different utensils, get them involved in the meal-making process.
cocoa hands
Cooking is a wonderfully creative exercise and creativity is what kids have in abundance. If they can help mix a cake, enjoy the aromas as it bakes and then slice and enjoy it whilst still warm, just think what they’ll be able to achieve as confidence grows.
cake mixture
At home, we’ve always encouraged our two to get fully involved. Admittedly there have been a few heart-stopping moments (think large Japanese knife) and the kitchen isn’t always as tidy as I’d like it to be (think broken eggs, squashed tomatoes and flour everywhere) but it’s been a whole lot of fun.
pancake head
Maybe that’s the solution after all – if the meal-making process is fun, we stand a good chance of eating more healthily (it’s good for family relations too).
