Following on from David’s post about school lunches, Jamie Oliver is in the news again, he has now called on the government to introduce compulsory cookery lessons in schools.
He told The Sun:
“Here’s what I propose – compulsory cooking lessons for all schoolchildren from primary school up to 16. One of my dreams is for all of our kids to be able to cook their children a lovely roast because they’ve been taught in school and know about good, wholesome ingredients.”
I remember cookery lessons at school, (or home economics as it was called then), and I thoroughly enjoyed them! I come from a very foodie background, so maybe I’m lucky but I have to agree with Jamie, it’s really is important to know how to cook and how to feed yourself properly from an early age. When I was at university, I had a housemate who would regularly horrify me with her food choices - eating tuna out of the can sprinkled with cayenne pepper was a particular favourite of hers - not mine I’d like to add!!
I’ve been doing a lot of research into educating the next generation about where our food comes from and I have found a genius project run by Action in Rural Sussex (AirS). Children these days are not eating a lot of fruit and have little, if any knowledge of the processes involved in growing and cooking food. AirS is trying to address these issues by introducing a food project specifically aimed at schools.
AirS have planned with the children and teachers of five schools, the planting of mini-orchards including local varieties of apples and plums. They will also be organising fruit cookery sessions with chefs in each school, using locally grown fruit and arranging visits for each school to local professional fruit growers.
Well done AirS!! This is a great idea and not only will the project connect the children with a local source of food, hopefully it will encourge budding gardeners too. When we hear more about how the project is progressing, we’ll let you know.
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5 Comments on "Orchards for Schools"
i started secondary school in 1977. My mum contacted the school to complain about the home econmoics classes in our first year becase the menu went like this:
week1 - learn to lay a tray with a cup of tea
week2 - make a danish open sandwich
week3 - make cheese and potato bake using “Smash”
the last one really got her mad since she thought we should be taught to use real potatoes. I am not surprised.
Two years later, the class was really something else
I particularly remember making flakey pastry (no mean feat) that I have never tackled since, because it took so long.
I agree with Jamie - cooking for everyone in school should be on the curriculum - it would be a lot more use to most people than some of the other things they insist on teaching.
I used to love cookery lessons at school. Mainly because we’d get to eat it all afterwards! I still have my old cookery book from my 1st year of secondary school at my parents somewhere. In there is a cooked breakfast, baked stuffed potato, fruit salad, coleslaw, coconut ice and more I can’t remember.
I also learnt to cook cakes and biscuits with my Mum and Nan way before secondary school. My parents were quite happy to teach me and my brother how to cook various easy meals which I think helped and gave me a passion for cooking now.
Funnily enough I’ve been picking apples and pears at a local school the past week. My husband’s old junior school was closed down a few years ago and has been left to fall into disrepair (and heavily vandalised). I’m involved with a group trying to bring it back into community use and in the quadrangle there are two apple trees and a pear tree. There are also a number of blackcurrant bushes on site. My husband tells me that they used to sell the fruit and school fayres.
I also pick the cherries on the school field and at one of the other schools in the village there are a series of 3 apple trees on the roadside which have wonderfully sweet apples, which must have been purposefully planted there, but that are just left to rot where they fall now :(
I have got some very strange looks, but have carrier bags full of apples (so much less than is available to pick to) ready to make into jelly etc. (I have some strained on the hob ready to make into jelly tomorrow).
Please let us know how the Jelly turns out though, can’t say I have ever had some of the Apple variety to the best of my recolection :)
David
[...] I described one such scheme in my post about Orchards for Schools and since then I have been eager to find out about similar projects. Reckless Orchard is a new, design-led, landscape architecture practice based in the Wye Valley and also in an artspace in central Bristol. They are interested in the interplay between food, rural landscapes and community gardening and how this fits with city life as well. At the Westonbirt International Festival of Gardens, Reckless Orchard exhibited a circular walled orchard garden, called Homage, in the summer of 2003.The garden paid tribute to the old apple varieties and traditional orchards now increasingly rare in our rural landscape. Reckless Orchard’s approach is to use limited resources to create something that is stylish, has meaning and is enjoyable for those who experience it. [...]
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