Food is far too important to be left out of the lesson

The last time I wrote for this column (Caterer, 11 November 1999, page 22), I talked about preprepared foods and said that we were looking at reskilling rather than deskilling in the cooking forum, responding to changing needs within our changing industry.

Even so, traditional skills are as vital as ever, and I'm worried that the day may come when we won't have the opportunity to recruit chefs, food development executives and young people who are passionate about food.

I know I'm not alone in being concerned that the generation currently working their way through our primary and secondary schools gets very little opportunity to learn about and genuinely understand food and drink.

It's not just the economic implications for our industry that worry me, but that food and drink play such an important part in our social fabric. Eating is about inclusion - within the family or out of the home, it plays a significant part in our relationships with others.

We all need to know how to feed ourselves, and we should all understand about nutrition and eating healthily, even when we sometimes choose not to.

Also, wouldn't it be enlightening if we had a better understanding of the different food implications for different races and cultures, and why certain foods are excluded?

How do we expect to encourage students on to hospitality courses at further education level, and ultimately into the industry, if a whole generation is not inspired and informed at school level?

Recruitment is already an issue but, with an estimated 300,000 new jobs to fill over the next decade, the situation can only get worse. What we will see is further deskilling within the industry, and the image of food being viewed as fuel rather than a source of pleasure.

Changing lifestyles mean that fewer children have the opportunity to learn the basics of cooking at home. However, we are now seeing supermarkets and some food manufacturers providing more detailed educational information on packets.

Optional subject

I studied home economics at school in Ireland until I was 17, which took me into the industry. Today, the subject is called food technology, and falls under the umbrella of design and technology, generally focusing on the processes of food, with the inclusion of elements of nutrition and hygiene. Food is a compulsory subject only up to Key Stage 2 (ages 7-11). After that, food technology is an optional subject for the school, often not on offer to students because of the general lack of facilities.

I intend no disrespect to the other design and technology subjects but, with the hospitality industry worth £43b and being such a huge job generator, surely the subject of food technology ranks in importance as high as graphics, textiles, craft and design?

There are qualifications available at Key Stages 3 and 4, particularly General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs), but how do we move children forward into these vocational qualifications when they have lost the impetus of a regular syllabus?

There are already a few industry initiatives that address the problem at a national level, such as the Academy of Culinary Arts' Adopt a School programme, which invites children into the world of chefs, teaching them a basic understanding of taste and to appreciate the enjoyment of eating.

The Focus on Food project, set up in 1997 by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority in conjunction with the Royal Society of Arts, produces curriculum materials that encourage and support schools and colleges in teaching students about good food, and facilitates working links between food experts and schools and colleges.

Education Business Partnerships operate throughout the country to promote relationships between industry and schools. Springboard UK and Leisure Careers UK, too, are working to attract people into the industry, as are many colleges around the country.

Key influencers

All this is great, but we need to do more. The Hospitality Training Foundation (HTF), as National Training Organisation for the industry, with funding from the Savoy Education Trust, is producing learning resources for schools that will help widen the dialogue between employers and key influencers of the national and school curricula.

This will lead to case studies, question banks and project ideas across a range of subject areas to promote the importance of food and the hospitality industry.

If you feel strongly about food being on a school curriculum, please get in touch with me at the HTF. We are currently looking at a range of options.

Let's move forward together.

Declan Swan is NTO director at the Hospitality Training Foundation. He can be contacted at International House, High Street, Ealing, London W5 5DB. Tel: 020 8579 2400. Fax: 020 8840 6217. E-mail: dswan@htf.org.uk