I am saddened but not particularly surprised to see that growing up in the Nanny state, where parents abrogate their responsibility for bringing up their children to the state, has produced a generation of children who have no idea where food comes from.
A survey conducted by the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) of 27,500 five to sixteen year olds highlighted that approximately 33% of UK
primary pupils think cheese is made from plants, and 25% think fish
fingers come from chicken or pigs (given the ongoing scandal over processed foods, that may in fact be nearer to the mark!).
A further 10% think that spuds grow on bushes or trees.
Roy Ballam, education programme manager at BNF, is quoted by the BBC talking about BNF's Healthy Eating Week which aims "to start the process of re-engaging children with the origins of food, nutrition and cooking, so that they grow up with a fuller understanding of how food reaches them and what a healthy diet and lifestyle consists of."
A spokesman for England's Department for Education said:
"We want to encourage children to develop a love of food, cooking and healthy eating that will stay with them as they grow up."That's all very nice and dandy, but I learned about food and cooking from my parents and grandfather; not the state. Indeed on a Saturday morning my dad used to regularly take me to the local butcher's shop to see the carcasses hanging in the cold room and to watch the sausage machine at work.
These findings show that parents are failing in their primary responsibility in bringing up their children to have a basic understanding of how the world functions and how to feed themselves. It is not the role of the state to teach children how to feed themselves, just as it isn't the role of the state to teach children how to tie their own shoe laces or wipe their butts.
Cooking classes etc are fine and useful for developing an understanding of food groups, nutrition and hygiene etc. However, the basic understanding of where food comes from should start in the home; otherwise parents will have no role whatsoever in the upbringing of their own children!
Visit The Orifice of Government Commerce and buy a collector's item.
Visit The Joy of Lard and indulge your lard fantasies.
Show your contempt for Nanny by buying a T shirt or thong from Nanny's Store.
www.nannyknowsbest.com is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"
Visit Oh So Swedish Swedish arts and handicrafts
Why not really indulge yourself, by doing all the things that Nanny really hates? Click on the relevant link to indulge yourselves; Food, Bonking, Gifts and Flowers, Groceries
Which is exactly how nanny wants it to be.
ReplyDeleteI recently had to educate my own grandchildren as to where their mfood came from; We went to our local market to see a butcher friend of mine, he was cutting up meat at the back. My eldest grandson asked what he was doing and I explained how a dead animal was cut up into joints and cuts; It horrified him to think he was eating "bits of dead animals."
ReplyDeleteI then asked him where he thought his meat came from, to which he replied, Tescos.....And therein lies the problem: too many kids only see food that is over sanitised and over packaged in supermarkets. I have made a point of showing my grandchildren a proper butcher and fishmonger, I have taken them to food festivals and have got them to help me dig up spuds, carrots and beetroot from the garden....However, in my opinion, their mother should be educating them, not me.
Nu is correct: an uneducated, unconfident dozy population is far easier to control than an educated and confident population.
No one should know where there next meal REALLY came from (it might upset them).
ReplyDelete[Much of it is full of 'Ingredients' anyway.]
my all comes from the greenhouse - but I have helluva problem closing the door each night because of the herefordshire bull - I really should get a bigger greenhouse!!!
ReplyDelete