Katherine Martinko on Treehugger.com brings up a mundane but important point – doctors are beginning to realize that many health problems begin with our diet, and food is what makes or breaks us:
Doctors and hospitals are well-positioned to guide patients toward better eating habits; but, ideally, such education would start much earlier in life, before chronic diseases manifest themselves. Children should be learning how to cook from their parents, and schools should implement cooking classes as a standard part of the curriculum. It’s an excellent connection point for various subjects, such as science, math, health, even history and social studies.
Most importantly, the societal mentality toward cooking deserves a makeover. It should not be viewed as drudgery (a normal reaction when one struggles with a skill), but as a respected domestic art, something to celebrate, admire, and constantly strive to improve. After all, our survival depends on it.
I don’t recall this being on my high school syllabus, but it seems obvious in retrospect – good nutrition and provision of food should be a central topic in schools. Yes, yes, division of labor has led to astounding discoveries, so why should everyone learn about cooking? But the division of labor has also led to a fast food industry unconcerned with real nutrition, just with making money. If only out of self-defense, knowing how to cook and how to evaluate a restaurant meal is probably one of the great under-taught skills of American civilization (I shan’t drag down the rest of Western Civ for our mistakes).
