Lady Jenkins Apologises.

[DTCwordfan]

Lady Jenkins apologises having declared that one of the principal causes of food poverty was that “poor people do not know how to cook”.

Is she right or wrong about the cooking skills of the UK....?

Secondly 4 million tonnes of food are wasted in this country because customers are so picky. How do we change this? Or how do we divert some of it into the foodbanks - a quarter of it would make a huge difference? Ideas?

[Bazile]

Of course we don't know how to cook - we have someone to do it for us

McDonalds

[woofgang]

I think she is partially right, also the other issue is that "poor people" may not have the facilities to cook. Food banks hand out "kettle boxes" where all that is needed to prepare hot food is boiling water and even "No kettle boxes" designed to be eaten cold. Diverting fresh produce to foodbanks is always going to be an issue, it better sent to kitchens and shelters who provide hot meals. Even then things like salad and soft fruits are unlikely to be easy to donate.

[jourdain2]

1st response (which I will probably regret as some will come down on me like a ton of bricks) is that she is right - in that 'Food Technology' replaced 'Cookery' or 'Domestic Science' in Schools (the wonderful Nat. Curriculum). This meant that people who did not see home cooking never had a chance to learn about it. I did some cover lessons and it was all about readingb labels and nutritional guidelines. I wasn't even allowed to teach them how to make cheese on toast because I wasn't insured! DOH!!!

It is not difficult to make a nutritious meal out of very little, but people don't know how!

[BlackadderV]

I'm not so sure that this is restricted to "poor" people, rather those who cannot be bothered, instead of "don't know." Why waste time cooking when you can just stick your little mite in his pushchair and shove a Gregg's sausage roll into his tiny hand whilst you carry on swilling premium strength lager with your mates.

[Everhelpful]

She apologises because,as SHE said,"My remarks were unscripted" Says it all really, about how out of touch Politicians really are.!!

[Butterbun]

Some poor people don't have any food to cook.

[tonyav]

Link to the apology here.
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/politics/tory-sorry-over-cooking-remarks/ar-BBgu3FJ

[horseshoes]

And some will waste money buying McDonalds instead of making a big pan of nourishing stew or casserole because they don't now how. Lady Jenkins is spot on and I don't see what she has to apologise for.

[ToraToraTora]

a bit of a generalisation but I'd say a lot of "poor" people do not know how to create nutritious innexpensive meals or choose not to, so I guess she has a point. Yes the whole "use/best/sell by" date thing tends to override common sense and results in a lot of unnecessary wastage.

[Prudie]

On the second point there would be less waste if 'sell by' dates were considerably extended. We are not so much picky as governed by the numbers and are scared to eat anything out of date so it gets chucked away, often unnecessarily.
It's a cliche but lots of us grew up without worrying about sell by - it didn't get eaten if it smelled off!

[gness]

So she should apologise!

Sod cooking skills......I live in a country where far to many people have to use food banks to get the blasted food to cook.....

Yes we do have horrific food waste, DT....but we need to address that in a different way....
Blow looking at diverting it into food banks.....we shouldn't be seeing or accepting the need for food banks!...Grrrrrr..x

[BlackadderV]

She does have a point, it's just that her words in expressing it were ill chosen. Most children learned how to cook basic meals first hand from their mothers; I know I did, but I suggest that this is not happening as much today.

[ToraToraTora]

that's what I do now, prudie, if it smells off I don't eat it.

[BlackadderV]

Scraping the mould off bread and cheese was natural when I was little.

[mushroom25]

the food suppliers don't help - for instance, supermarkets sell ready cut fruit in sealed blister packs, and people buy them. yet most people are perfectly equipped with the tools to deal with raw fruit, which is much cheaper to buy than these ready packs - they're called teeth.

[dunnitall]

IMO it's not a case of 'poor-people' it's a case of the low grades and ill informed of our society who haven't been brought up properly who don't have an idea of how to provide proper meals. It's those who haven't been given life skills, who haven't had proper upbringing to know how to provide the needs for feeding their offspring properly. Not their fault, they are only as good as the parent. Trouble is it's then perpetuated within their family too...no hope when it gets to this level.

[ToraToraTora]

yep me too blackadder, we didn't have a fridge in my early years, cold larder floor was it! If the immune system gets no exercise then any minor infection will, well infect! I can remember my mum scrapping mould off cheese especially!

[BlackadderV]

When I was very small we were living in the last days of post-war rationing so nothing was wasted. Nothing to do with poverty and everything to do with availability.

[tamborine]

If food banks offered staple dry foods like, oats/rice/pulses they would be empty

[Mamyalynne]

One way the Supermarkets could cut down waste is to go back just a few years - sell off at a reduced price overripe fruit and tomatoes/bruised apples etc.

Their insistence on perfection is so wasteful when much could be done with what they throw away.