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If everyone knew how to cook would we all become more healthy and help reduce NHS, and taxpayer, costs?
Let me explain: I have just enjoyed a Danish Pastry with my morning coffee but half way through wondered what additives I had just consumed.
As I make my own bread I realised that to make ‘pastry’ the recipe would require lots of butter or, worse, palm oil. If I actually looked at the list of ingredients and had a go at making Danish Pastry I doubt I would want to eat them again.
Likewise the amount of sugar and butter required to make biscuits would completely put me off eating biscuits. Even home-made ones that use butter instead of the cheaper, and nasty, palm oil used in nearly all well known bought biscuits!
I am convinced that it is the actual process of cooking that makes us change and this should carry through to our health.Perhaps visiting an abattoir would have the same effect on meat eaters and reduce global warming as more people switch to a lower carbon plant based diet?
We now live in a time when we have become disconnected from where our food comes from and how to cook healthy meals. It is no wonder that the consumption of ultra processed food is on the increase and NHS spend on food related disease is still rising from the current 20% of total NHS spend.
Obesity cost to NHS; now £27billion, yes billion!
Just like climate emergency at BigBarn we see decreasing health as an emergency. And why we have a petition to get Food Growing, Cooking, and Nutrition on the school curriculum.Food growing because kids, and even teachers, will be more interested in cooking if they have grown and harvested the ingredients.
We also see growing food as the best way to reduce the cost of this initiative as over half our schools already have a veg patch, or garden, and there will be no need for schools to set up class room kitchens if the food grown can be taken home to be cooked with the family.
This will have the ‘double whammy’ effect of the rest of the family also discovering the joys of cooking and healthy food.
If you agree please sign our petition here, and get cooking!