BBC Good Food

• Nunnington

  18 February 2009, 8:31AM

  Nunnington

  Hmmm dandifiedviolence, got a chip on our shoulder have we? I think that comment sums up part of the problem Abbie is talking about, in many quarters there just isn't the 'appetite' to re-educate pooer sections of society when it comes to food. I've been guilty of wolfing down a KFC when I'm hungry and need something quick (and cheap enough to fall within the lunchtime claimback allowance from my employer). Okay, so I normally feel guilty - and even pretty sick - afterwards, but it fulfils a niche in the market. What's needed to combat this isn't sneering comment, but more effort made by government and our big supermarket chains to provide healthy, quick food that can be cooked on a budget. And even more importantly than that, a concerted effort made to educate people that healthy choices are within their financial reach, they just have to look for them.

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• Aedara

  18 February 2009, 9:47AM

  Aedara

  But there already is healthy quick food that can be cooked on a budget but also there is the problem that people don't know how to cook it. If you've been brought up on unhealthy food, have never reallly had proper lessons in what is healthy and how to prepare balanced meals then you're likely to feel uncomfortable with the idea an stick to what you know and like. I agree there should definetly be something to give more awareness of healthy choices and recipes but I'm not sure how it could be done so that people pay attention, because people do not like to be preached at.

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• Frantic Flapjack

  18 February 2009, 1:22PM

  Frantic Flapjack

  I feel very strongly about this issue. How are the next generation going to cook when they are not being taught by their parents? Schools should start to teach cookery again - I feel it is a basic right that pupils should know how to cook. Also, why not open up community centres so the whole family can learn to cook - judging by all the comments from food lovers on this site, I am sure a lot of us would give up some free time to volunteer to help out.

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• Nicola

  18 February 2009, 3:20PM

  Nicola

  Yup - what we really need is more community education around healthy eating and basic cookery skills. I learnt from my mother and my grandfather all the skills I now use, and it gave me a love of food and cooking. How are the next generation ever going to learn the basics to provide themselves with healthy meals when their parents don't know themselves, and so can't teach them, and they are also being let down by the lack of education in this area. I'd happily give up some of my spare time to help teach people basic cookery and healthy eating skills - if we teach the parents then this will be passed on down to their children as well. I've looked into it a bit, but there don't seem to be any organisations in my area (Hants) that are using volunteers for this type of thing...

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• miniminx

  18 February 2009, 5:54PM

  miniminx

  i would absolutely love to be part of a cooking initiative like this. like some of the posters above, i've had the benefit of learning from a whole family of food-lovers that taught me how to cook; and i think it would be great to do something similar for anyone who wanted to learn. however, i don't think that solves this issue at all: i completely disagree that education has anything to do with kfc (if no cooking requried, cheap and quick was the reason people bought kfc, then why don't they buy veg or fruit??). i think it's our british food culture; where we teach our kids that the 'naughty' things are TREATS and REWARDS...how many of us bribe our kids with sweets? and there's still the perception that 'shop-bought' is better (which i swear is a hangover from the war, when shop items were a luxury).

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• Di's Kitchen

  18 February 2009, 11:33PM

  Di's Kitchen

  It always amazes me that there are thousands of people out there who think that 'fast food' is cheap! It's very expensive compared to home-produced food. Sunday's roast chicken in our house (current cost for a farm-reared specimen £7/£8 depending on size) will serve four more than adequeately, with leftovers for sandwiches or maybe a curry, and a carcase for soup! But then I've only eaten a KFC offering once in my 59 years, a Burger King portion of onion rings once and only a coffee at Macdonalds, so perhaps I've just not allowed myself sufficient opportunities to acquire the taste for fast food!

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• sioden

  19 February 2009, 10:00AM

  sioden

  For me Fast Food is a guilty pleasure - the kind I sometimes absolutely crave - and immedately regret. I can understand how it's addictive, and if fast food is all you know - why should you change. Like the posters above - Itotally agree - it's a matter of education, starting kids cooking and understanding food from an ealry age - and doing this WITH their parents, educating both at the same time. Sounds easy, it won't be, but it WILL be worth it.

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• tracy

  19 February 2009, 10:10AM

  tracy

  what if the government give out the necessary info and then do something very revelutionary AND LET PEOPLE DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES! I for one,am fed up of being told that i'm uneducated in how to feed myself and my family,of feeling guilty if i have an occasional takeaway or the odd chocolate bar.generally i eat a well balanced diet,lots of homemade cooking and baking,WITH the kids helping. If people take a step back and stop ramming all the conflicting info down our throats maybe it would give us the chance to make our own minds up and for us to do what we want to do-shock,gasp,horror some people may not WANT to cook as oppose to not knowing HOW to cook,some folks may just be able to afford takeways 3 meals a day 7 days a week and who is anybody to stop them? It's their health,their buget and their choice!!!

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• MissEricaCourt

  20 February 2009, 5:57PM

  MissEricaCourt

  of course, we all know that fast food is bad for us, and i would say that most people are now attempting cooking for themselves. On the subject of Subway, I have to say that, as a fast food place, it is one of the healthier options, as all the toppings can be picked and chosen as we wish, and so you can get a fair amount of fresh salad if you wish, and fewer high-calorie additions such as mayonaise; i personally hardly ever have sauces on a subway sandwich, and pile it up with salad. On a slightly guiltier note, i have to say that, apart from Subway and other such sandwich places, KFC is my favourite fast food place, miles and MILES ahead of McDonalds, which can hardly even be called food.

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• Becks

  26 February 2009, 2:33PM

  Becks

  Tracy, It maybe their health, but it's our budget being ploughed into an ailing NHS that's overwhelmed with obesity-related problems. People should indeed be allowed to decide for themselves, but not everybody is as pro-active as you in getting their children involved in cooking, or making sure their family has a balanced diet. I've seen at first hand the ignorance that many people have towards cookery and nutrition - either from a lack of teaching or just from lack of interest, but it's surprising the enthusiasm of the response you get from even the smallest effort to educate properly. You're perhaps in the wrong place to be arguing that the problem doesn't matter.

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