Grandparents are being urged to pass on cooking skills in order to save future generations from relying on convenience food.
A new study reveals that people are consuming more food culture and content, but cooking less than ever.
As the nation’s obsession with high profile chefs, cookery books and foodie TV shows continues, a study has found that we are spending more than five hours a week consuming ‘food media’ – but just four hours actually cooking.
More than half admit they would much rather watch a dish being cooked on TV, or spend time looking at food online, than try their hand at making something themselves.
But more worryingly other research has revealed that the number of British families eating a home cooked meal at least six nights a week plummeted from around half (47%) 30 years ago to just 15% today.
The report research released by environmental charity Hubbub and Unilever reveals that essential cooking skills are at risk of being lost as children are not being given the time or opportunity to cook with their family.
– Eight out of 10 parents wish they have more time to teach their children to cook.
– 94% of parents consider cooking a vital life skill, yet 6 in 10 never cook a meal from scratch with their children.
– 45% of 16-year olds have never cooked a family meal
Trewin Restorick, Founder and CEO of Hubbub said “Will our children’s children be able to cook a roast? Make pastry? Whip up a lasagne? Cooking skills are essential if we want to use up leftovers and maximise the value from our food and tackle the 7 million tonnes of food wasted in the UK each year. We want to show how cooking can be used this Grandparents Day to inspire an appreciation of the food we eat and the precious time we spend with our families.”
Grandparents Day is a day to honour grandparents and to help children become aware of the wisdom older people have to offer.
With 68% of parents indicating that they would like their children to spend more time cooking with their grandparents, the awareness day provides the perfect opportunity for older generations to share their knowledge and culinary skills with younger generations.
To mark the occasion, Unilever and Hubbub are creating a treasury of delicious, child-friendly family recipes to inspire other grandparents to get cooking with their grandchildren. Whether it’s apple crumble, hotpot or a fish pie, visit cook with your grandchild and share your favourite family recipe along with a photo of you cooking with your family. The best will be featured in a special recipe collection for Grandparents’ Day on the Hubbub website.
Give your grandchildren a taste for cooking with these tips from Nicole at The Kids’ Kitchen.
Try and ignore the inevitable mess and be relaxed so that cooking doesn’t become a stressful activity for everyone! To make things easier, pre-weigh ingredients for younger kids and make sure everything is to hand and you have enough time to cook, remembering that things will take longer!
Even when you are outside the kitchen you can make cooking fun by playing food related games (e.g. ask your grandchildren to find fruit and vegetables beginning with every letter of the alphabet; or how many types of green vegetables or red fruit there are) and use food playsets/apps/ other virtual cooking games/ TV programmes to arouse their interest and be more creative.
Let us know if you spend time in the kitchen with your grandchildren and send in pictures of any of your creations.
