Thank you for writing this wonderful, thoughtful piece! I studied the hideously named "Health and Design Technology" (?!?!?!) as a thirteen-year-old in Australia (c. 2006), with cooking sandwiched between learning how to sew garish pencil cases on some ancient and abused sewing machines. Making anaemic apple turnovers with pre-rolled puff pastry is the dish I remember, but it was mainly memorising the food pyramid.
It is such a shame because cooking is such a joy, and something where you can, as a teenager, develop a sense of mastery and accomplishment. Maybe the answer is to sneak it back into schools under the guise of an adolescent mental health intervention? Community building, mutual respect, sharing cultures, mindfulness of bodily sensations, experiencing pleasure...
Thank you for this wonderful piece and for linking the papers that explained the development of home economics/food technology as a subject to be examined- it was fascinating to read!
I think I was lucky at my school (not a private school); we had regular food technology classes until year 10. We were given a bound booklet with set recipes each rotation (which we could adapt if we wanted to) and I still use some of those recipes to this day! We were lucky enough to have 2 food technology teachers and 1 food tech assistant, and a designated kitchen space. I also remember reading about the cooking competitions that were profiled in the school magazine. The only downside was that not having the option of Food Technology as an A-Level subject definitely put a lot of people off taking it as a GCSE subject in my school.
Unfortunately, in 2016/7, I remember taking some prospective students/parents around during an open day and was informed by my classmate that food technology wasn't offered at GCSE level anymore, so I didn't need to take them to the bottom floor of the DT block (which had the kitchen space). I also remember one of my food tech teachers leaving the same year. Having just had a look at the 2021-3 GCSE options booklet, I cannot see this subject being offered anymore, although I am unsure if things were changed due to the Pandemic.
Anyway, it was useful to reflect on this and it always interests me as to how the experiences one is offered are purely due to the luck/chance of the year one is born!
This is such a beautifully written, thoughtful and timely piece. I had no food education but it came from home much after I left home. I swore my kids would not have the same experience. But for education to leave food out is such a travesty and the impact on people and the planet are dire. A must read.
Seems like little mention of the US in the comments here. In elementary school (age 6-12) I remember making butter in a glass jar with a marble and eating it with some corn muffins my teacher made. I was probably in 3rd grade. It was used to teach us about the pioneers. Other than that, no mention of food or culture aside from the government-backed "Got milk?" campaign that advocated for protein and calcium intake. That's a whole rabbit hole one could go down. We also had large assemblies where all the students in the school sat and watched the principal talk about the food pyramid, and tell us we now had to take one fruit or vegetable from the cafeteria line because Michelle Obama said it was the law.
The next time students had an option to learn about food was in a class like the ones mentioned above. Not sure what it was called before but the year I went into 7th grade they called the group of classes "college and career readiness", in which our time was divided evenly between a few classes with a multitude of goals. They taught us so many things I can't remember half of them. Business and entrepreneurship next to programming next to graphic design, and then sewing and finances next to cookery. It was quite jumbled but it led me to take the home ec type class, then called CTE I believe. Career and technical education. The cooking and talk of food was quite minimal. We mostly discussed entrepreneurship and had a meeting with a local food truck owner. We made bread, some kind of smoothie, and talked about presentstion within food.
I left that class and went into high school with graphic design in mind because I liked to play games on the computers when the teachers weren't looking. No cooking classes were offered in my high school. Ended up attending university for graphic design and dropping it because my art professor was an airhead. Switched to culinary school not because I remembered liking those subjects in middle school but because I worked at a mom and pop restaurant for a few years in high school and loved it.
A very well researched piece that highlights how fast our relationship with food has changed, and how far behind education has slipped. Not only in its teaching methods but in its message. I found my love for food came from family, there is a greater emotional connection cooking and eating at home, stood aside your gran or mother helping in the kitchen, most likely the only slot you had for their attention. You felt the love in the food they prepared, be it the effort invested or the surrounding circumstances, it sticks with you.
Working with food charities has taught me how poor the food literacy is in many households, putting more pressure on schools to step in and at least provide the basics, for these basics allow confidence in what is a fundamental and basic life skill; cooking is a rough sense of what tastes good and common sense, it also provides the tools to control diet, manage costs, eat healthy, be more mindful and really importantly feed others, the joy of sharing food and teaching others how to cook.
Instead we have a rising number of young adults who know how to get the best deal on a food app on a mobile. I feel this is a problem that will be fixed outside of schools, legislation and central government.
Thank you for writing this wonderful, thoughtful piece! I studied the hideously named "Health and Design Technology" (?!?!?!) as a thirteen-year-old in Australia (c. 2006), with cooking sandwiched between learning how to sew garish pencil cases on some ancient and abused sewing machines. Making anaemic apple turnovers with pre-rolled puff pastry is the dish I remember, but it was mainly memorising the food pyramid.
It is such a shame because cooking is such a joy, and something where you can, as a teenager, develop a sense of mastery and accomplishment. Maybe the answer is to sneak it back into schools under the guise of an adolescent mental health intervention? Community building, mutual respect, sharing cultures, mindfulness of bodily sensations, experiencing pleasure...
Did you still use the Commonsense Cookery Book?
I think it was a little before my time, but it's definitely something I'd love to leaf through!
The section on "invalid food" is seared into my memory. Steamed fish, but none of the fun Cantonese flavours.
Thank you for this wonderful piece and for linking the papers that explained the development of home economics/food technology as a subject to be examined- it was fascinating to read!
I think I was lucky at my school (not a private school); we had regular food technology classes until year 10. We were given a bound booklet with set recipes each rotation (which we could adapt if we wanted to) and I still use some of those recipes to this day! We were lucky enough to have 2 food technology teachers and 1 food tech assistant, and a designated kitchen space. I also remember reading about the cooking competitions that were profiled in the school magazine. The only downside was that not having the option of Food Technology as an A-Level subject definitely put a lot of people off taking it as a GCSE subject in my school.
Unfortunately, in 2016/7, I remember taking some prospective students/parents around during an open day and was informed by my classmate that food technology wasn't offered at GCSE level anymore, so I didn't need to take them to the bottom floor of the DT block (which had the kitchen space). I also remember one of my food tech teachers leaving the same year. Having just had a look at the 2021-3 GCSE options booklet, I cannot see this subject being offered anymore, although I am unsure if things were changed due to the Pandemic.
Anyway, it was useful to reflect on this and it always interests me as to how the experiences one is offered are purely due to the luck/chance of the year one is born!
This is such a beautifully written, thoughtful and timely piece. I had no food education but it came from home much after I left home. I swore my kids would not have the same experience. But for education to leave food out is such a travesty and the impact on people and the planet are dire. A must read.
Seems like little mention of the US in the comments here. In elementary school (age 6-12) I remember making butter in a glass jar with a marble and eating it with some corn muffins my teacher made. I was probably in 3rd grade. It was used to teach us about the pioneers. Other than that, no mention of food or culture aside from the government-backed "Got milk?" campaign that advocated for protein and calcium intake. That's a whole rabbit hole one could go down. We also had large assemblies where all the students in the school sat and watched the principal talk about the food pyramid, and tell us we now had to take one fruit or vegetable from the cafeteria line because Michelle Obama said it was the law.
The next time students had an option to learn about food was in a class like the ones mentioned above. Not sure what it was called before but the year I went into 7th grade they called the group of classes "college and career readiness", in which our time was divided evenly between a few classes with a multitude of goals. They taught us so many things I can't remember half of them. Business and entrepreneurship next to programming next to graphic design, and then sewing and finances next to cookery. It was quite jumbled but it led me to take the home ec type class, then called CTE I believe. Career and technical education. The cooking and talk of food was quite minimal. We mostly discussed entrepreneurship and had a meeting with a local food truck owner. We made bread, some kind of smoothie, and talked about presentstion within food.
I left that class and went into high school with graphic design in mind because I liked to play games on the computers when the teachers weren't looking. No cooking classes were offered in my high school. Ended up attending university for graphic design and dropping it because my art professor was an airhead. Switched to culinary school not because I remembered liking those subjects in middle school but because I worked at a mom and pop restaurant for a few years in high school and loved it.
In Home Science in the 80s in Australia we were also taught to set a pretty table. Very useful.
A very well researched piece that highlights how fast our relationship with food has changed, and how far behind education has slipped. Not only in its teaching methods but in its message. I found my love for food came from family, there is a greater emotional connection cooking and eating at home, stood aside your gran or mother helping in the kitchen, most likely the only slot you had for their attention. You felt the love in the food they prepared, be it the effort invested or the surrounding circumstances, it sticks with you.
Working with food charities has taught me how poor the food literacy is in many households, putting more pressure on schools to step in and at least provide the basics, for these basics allow confidence in what is a fundamental and basic life skill; cooking is a rough sense of what tastes good and common sense, it also provides the tools to control diet, manage costs, eat healthy, be more mindful and really importantly feed others, the joy of sharing food and teaching others how to cook.
Instead we have a rising number of young adults who know how to get the best deal on a food app on a mobile. I feel this is a problem that will be fixed outside of schools, legislation and central government.