We’re in an obesity epidemic and most people don’t know how to cook even very basic meals.
Make space for it, squish other classes if you need. Make it mandatory, everyone has to take it. Maybe even ongoing through multiple grades.
Edit: Rice, beans, and even basic meats are cheap. To eat healthy you don’t need your meal to be 100% Bell peppers and tomatoes.
JFC obviously you need more than rice, beans, and ground beef. But things like this make up the bulk of your calories. Not all, the bulk.
Frozen vegetables are fine, in fact they study it and it’s even better nutritionally because the vitamins are frozen and don’t start to break down. Canned vegetables are probably fine too, not sure if they add sugar or salt.
This is the problem, people think you need fresh everything everyday and that broccoli needs to bulk of your calories or something like that, and you don’t. The bulk (not all, the bulk) of your calories can come from very basic foods. You can eat healthy if you know some basic cooking.
You keep discounting things like rice, beans, all the meats I listed, and now you discount frozen vegetables, canned vegetables. You discount all the stuff that is cheap and healthy. These are the basic foods that you need to learn how to cook. This is the problem, you think everything needs to be fresh everyday and you can’t get the bulk (not all, the bulk) from basic foods.
Ok taxes, I doubt tax increases will ever go to the poor. Nor do I think this would be that expensive to teach cooking. When you look at how much we spend on schools and teachers, adding some hot plates and ovens is minuscule. You replace hours in one class with another, no change in teachers.
On to how this will save money, do you know how many problems come from obesity? And diabetes? How many other issues? Look at the health care costs, it’s outrageous. Some basic cooking skills will go a long way to prevent a lot of this, saving money for both people and government. Just need a tiny little bit at the start and it’ll save money for everyone.
I completely agree with you that cooking should be taught in schools, but you seem to be convinced that making that specific class mandatory will solve all the problems of obesity. Myself, and others on this thread, have tried to point out the most glaring issue that the group most disproportionately affected by obesity simply does not always have access to healthier options. That’s not even mentioning the mental health issues and social pressures that perpetuate obesity. None of which have anything to do with a person’s knowledge or ability to cook.
As for the cost of implementing a cooking class, is not nearly as simple as getting a couple microwaves and a hot plate. There needs to be teachers trained in the coursework, equipment and facilities that needs to be purchased and maintained, safety protocols need to be created and implemented, a regulatory board is needed to inspect and maintain the safety and cleanliness, considerations for the various dietary or health concerns of each individual student that attends, etc. If a cooking class gets out on the budget and schedule, what other classes get cut to make room? Are those classes not already providing valuable life skills and/or a creative outlet for developing students.
Also, coming from someone that is a low socioeconomic peasant himself, tax increases always affect the poor.
No I’m not under the impression that it will solve 100% of everything obesity jfc. It will solve a lot. Not all, a lot. This is just like you thinking I’m saying 100% rice beans and beef. You seem to take everything as 0% or 100%. I addressed food costs, teachers, schools costs, how this will save money in the grand scheme. Just like how you discounted all the healthy cheap food I listed, you ignore what I said. All that combined I think our conversation is done.
First of all, I have not discounted any of the foods you have mentioned. I apologize if I came off that way at any point. It is certainly possible to find ways to make healthy meals relatively cheaply, but it is much more effort. The only reason I ignored anything is because it’s tertiary to my original point. Which is that the healthier alternatives for most foods are quite often more expensive and more difficult to access for large portion of the worlds population. The same population that is most affected by obesity, at least in developed countries. This may admittedly be somewhat difficult for someone to understand unless they have personally had to struggle to pay for the most basic necessities.
Second, unless I missed something (entirely possible), you haven’t really addressed the costs of creating and enforcing a mandatory cooking class. You have merely stated that it is affordable and may actually save money over time. But, you haven’t offered any logical reasoning to support these claims.