Quote:
Originally Posted by jodi
No one taught them how to cook at home.
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I think education is a much bigger factor than people realize. As I said, I work in a very poor community. I counsel patients on diet on a daily basis. That counseling generally begins with me interviewing them about their current eating habits. You'd be amazed at some of the things people tell me.
I was speaking with one woman who told me her diet consisted largely of deep fried food. She fried almost everything. I explained that deep frying added a lot of extra fat and calories and that she should try to really cut back on frying. Her response was, "I don't know any other way to cook." And she wasn't being sarcastic. She truly had no knowledge of how to broil fish or bake a chicken breast or steam some veggies. To her, cooking meant preparing the food and dropping it in a vat of hot oil. It wasn't because she was poor. It was because she was uneducated. It doesn't cost any more to bake the chicken. In fact, it is probably cheaper since you don't need to buy oil by the gallon.
What we need is to reintroduce Home Ec class to our schools, particularly in poor neighborhoods but really in all schools. Teach kids basic cooking skills. Teach nutrition. Take field trips to a supermarket to learn how to shop.