Re: New Govt initiative

**Wallflower** Mon 14 May - 17:16

almostgothic wrote:A few years back my OH was talking to a guy who was a landlord of several properties.
One of his tenants told him that he had no money left and no food. He felt sorry for him and gave him £20 to get some grub in. He later found out that, instead of stocking up on the basics, he'd gone and bought a couple of takeaways - and was skint again.
I wonder if domestic skills are not being passed on from generation to generation quite as much as they used to be.
I watched my mother cooking and baking and in turn my kids watched me. (One of my daughters saw me removing the giblets from a turkey and shrieked:'Ooh Mam, what has he been eating!')
My OH does fabulous scrambled eggs learned at his mother's knee.
And I remember hearing how Raymond Blanc acquired his skills from his Maman.
I can recall Home Economics at school and the teacher was not very child-friendly. The lessons were dull, she was dull, and tbh there was a lot of unnecessary 'faffing about' which would never have fitted into a busy domestic routine. I especially recall 'How to clean your cutlery with jewellers rouge' - very useful for a future modern lifestyle (not). It was under these stultifying conditions that I produced my first egg custard tart and took it home. I wouldn't eat it because I was sick of seeing it. The family wouldn't eat it either. Someone ended up giving it to the dog. He buried it in the garden in disgust.

These days we grow our own produce (as far as is possible). And cook everything from scratch (as far as is possible).
From Plot to Plate - it's a lovely way to live.

It's true almostgothic, a lot of people are clueless about cooking even basics. Also after 3 or 4 generations of city living, totally unaware of how fruit and veg is grown and how to look after a plant.

**wjk** Mon 14 May - 20:13

Is Sure Start compulsory for these young girls with children?
We have a centre pretty close to us but I always thought it was just a nursery. I didn't realise they did cooking for young mums etc.

**AnnaEsse** Mon 14 May - 20:21

Wallflower wrote:
almostgothic wrote:A few years back my OH was talking to a guy who was a landlord of several properties.
One of his tenants told him that he had no money left and no food. He felt sorry for him and gave him £20 to get some grub in. He later found out that, instead of stocking up on the basics, he'd gone and bought a couple of takeaways - and was skint again.
I wonder if domestic skills are not being passed on from generation to generation quite as much as they used to be.
I watched my mother cooking and baking and in turn my kids watched me. (One of my daughters saw me removing the giblets from a turkey and shrieked:'Ooh Mam, what has he been eating!')
My OH does fabulous scrambled eggs learned at his mother's knee.
And I remember hearing how Raymond Blanc acquired his skills from his Maman.
I can recall Home Economics at school and the teacher was not very child-friendly. The lessons were dull, she was dull, and tbh there was a lot of unnecessary 'faffing about' which would never have fitted into a busy domestic routine. I especially recall 'How to clean your cutlery with jewellers rouge' - very useful for a future modern lifestyle (not). It was under these stultifying conditions that I produced my first egg custard tart and took it home. I wouldn't eat it because I was sick of seeing it. The family wouldn't eat it either. Someone ended up giving it to the dog. He buried it in the garden in disgust.

These days we grow our own produce (as far as is possible). And cook everything from scratch (as far as is possible).
From Plot to Plate - it's a lovely way to live.
It's true almostgothic, a lot of people are clueless about cooking even basics. Also after 3 or 4 generations of city living, totally unaware of how fruit and veg is grown and how to look after a plant.

One of my lessons with new Year 7 pupils was to do a kind of quiz with lots of vegetables: "do you know what this is?" So many couldn't identify things like parsnips and swede.

I had a worksheet with 2 diagrams, a cupboard and a fridge, and little drawings of various food items, which had to be cut out and glued onto the shelves of one or the other. So many kids got things in the wrong places. I tried out the worksheet on my grandson when he was just 4. I asked him for each food product: would this go in the cupboard or in the fridge? He got them all right because he had been helping his mum put away shopping for quite some time and knew what kind of things went where, yet quite a few 11 year olds got things in the wrong places.

**Wallflower** Mon 14 May - 23:33

It's sad isn't it? Probably one of the main reasons there is an obesity timebomb looming.

**AnnaEsse** Mon 14 May - 23:42

Wallflower wrote:It's sad isn't it? Probably one of the main reasons there is an obesity timebomb looming.

It is sad. I was amazed that some year 7 children couldn't decide whether food products should be in a fridge or a cupboard. I thought it was all obvious, which was the reason I tried it out on my 4 year-old grandson. The cafeteria system for school meals doesn't help, with items on the menu like filled baguettes with just a slice of cooked meat and kids walking out of there at break time chomping on a thick slice of pizza.

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