It's cookery, but not as we know it.

« Fourth on the Fifth | Weather »

It's cookery, but not as we know it.

by LissaT ^Pro @ Monday, Nov. 06, 2006 – 07:07:46 pm

Last night when the fireworks were over and everyone had gone home, Jess rang me in desperation. Cookery first lesson on Monday morning and she needed a pizza base. Now I don't have things like pizza bases (neither does Helen) - on the rare occasions when I want a pizza I start from scratch, while Helen regards pizza as something bought ready assembled and kept in the freezer until needed. So this is what I did at about 10 p.m.: I set to and made a loaf of bread (which was quite useful for my pack-up for lunch today) and a pizza base for Jess.

So this morning I sent up a baked pizza base, a pot of passata, some basil, some chopped boiled bacon, some pineapple chunks, and some grated cheddar. Hardly a classic pizza: Jess's choice of topping, and she likes cheddar better than the mozzarella which I offered her.

Now, as I understand it, the idea of school cookery is to teach children about proper nutritional values and how to cook. I cannot see that assembling a pizza from prepared ingredients fulfils either of these criteria.
Options:
Tags:
- children
- food
- schools
Trackback URL for "It's cookery, but not as we know it."

Enter this code:

7 Comments on It's cookery, but not as we know it.

Hide subcomments

- Monday, Nov. 06, 2006 @ 07:42:32 pm
We must be lucky in Scotland. My girls are taught to make dishes from stratch.

This year thro the budget has been cut and we have to provide majority of the Ingredients, which is expensive when you have twins in the same class.

Have a great evening

RG
- - LissaT ^Pro
  - Tuesday, Nov. 07, 2006 @ 12:05:06 am
  A few years ago I was teaching a class the 'Dommestic Staff' workshop at Normanby Hall, and one little girl remarked that she liked cooking and would have liked to be a cook. I asked her what she enjoyed cookng, and she described how she opened a tin of beans, put them in a bowl, and warmed them in a microwave.
  
  Over lunch I told one of my colleagues this, and she remarked that it was typical of today.
  
  I was able to reply maybe, but only the other day I had been having lunch with a friend and had overheard the two nine year olds (the afore-mentioned Jess and friend Esther) discussing favourite food. Both liked pheasant casserole and their discussion of the recipe started with 'first shoot your pheasant' followed by a discussion of the relative merits of plucking and skinning, eating fresh or leaving it to hang.
  
  These are young ladies who, nearly three years later, do not need lessons in pizza assembly.
  
  More than an other subject cookery is one which starts from very different levels, and schools ought to be able to take these different starting points into consideration when offering the roundabout of practical subjects so that children can choose from a range of short courses geared to different starting points and dietry requirements.
  - - Tuesday, Nov. 07, 2006 @ 01:25:49 pm
    I would agree with that. Both Males and Females should be taught at an early
    age about food.
    
    In my younger days I was a Pre-School teacher, the children loved the taste
    and tell and cooking days. Very simple food.
    
    My own girls have always enjoyed cooking. We are now getting advanced dishes
    and often get my tea make for me.
    
    A good pizza is home made. But we do eat pre packed somedays.
    
    RG
    - - LissaT ^Pro
      - Tuesday, Nov. 07, 2006 @ 06:07:24 pm
      I've no gripe with convenience food: there's some very good stuff about, and I'm not one of those cooks who regards any prepacked ingredient as a sin. I'm quite happy that some people choose not to cook from scratch most days when they return from work.
      
      I enjoy cooking, but I too like the occasional day off.
      
      However, I do think that it is something everyone should be able to do, and I don't think that it is the business of school home economics teachers to give children the impression that the assembly of prepared ingredients can in any way be equated with teaching them to cook.
      
      I wonder, though, has anyone ever learned to cook at school? Most enthusiastic cooks tell you that they learned from their mothers (aunts, grandmothers, even fathers), while a few learned from sheer necessity.
      - Tuesday, Nov. 07, 2006 @ 10:59:54 pm
        
        I would agree with that. Cooking from scratch after a days work is a chore. But a mixture of prepacked and fresh food is good way round that.
        
        Like you I love cooking, but need a day off too.
        
        I do beleive that child should be introduced into cooking, at an early age. I am from the era where I learnt to cook, sew , knit by my mother and grandmother. These skills I have passed on to my girls. But the only one they really enjoy is cooking.
        
        My main issue with perpacked food is the chemicals in them which can affect some children's behaviour. My eldest daughter had ADHD and watching her diet help keep the chemical balance on a even keel.
        
        Reply to comment
        
        Permalink
- angelkirstin
- Tuesday, Nov. 07, 2006 @ 08:23:29 am
In my view it is both a sign of health and safety gone mad - cookers are dangerous hot things; parents not cooking, at all or as much - as they are too busy or too tried after work; cut backs with school budgets - HE is an easy one to slash without it affected league tables; and a misapprehension that children can't be bother with cooking - for them it isn't a chore but fun. I have taught both mine how to cook and several of their friends, who when they comment they like something I tell them and then even show them how to make it themselves. I remember once teaching one of them how to bake bread via text messages which started from the supermarket and got increasingly more complicated as they had no dried yeast and the very nice baker from the instore bakery kindly gave them some fresh yeast!
- - LissaT ^Pro
  - Tuesday, Nov. 07, 2006 @ 08:31:27 am
  At the primary school Jess attended the had a special food day with visiting nutritionists. Quite a lot of the children had quite healthy and imaginative pack-ups as a general rule, but they had obviously made a special effort on this occasion. I believe that the visitors were quite non-plused by the gamekeeper's daughter's squirrel sandwiches.
  - Reply to comment
  - Permalink