CALLS have been made by the Limerick branch of the St Vincent de Paul Society to put cookery classes back on the menu for schoolchildren.
A recent report on food choices and income levels showed that low-income households are resorting to cheap fast food and that 15 per cent of the population is suffering from food poverty.
The Limerick branch of the St Vincent de Paul charity has seen firsthand the link in the city between poverty and dietary deficiency.
“There’s a huge over-reliance on the frozen food cabinet,” said Michael Murphy, regional president of the Society.
“What the volunteers are hearing from people they visit, is that they are price driven and nutrition is not a consideration. Instant meals are a priority and nutritional value is way down the list of priorities,” he told the Limerick Post.
“People are trying to feed a family and they are buying cheap, white sliced bread rather than nutritious wholegrain. Also people are not in a position to take advantage of economies of scale and buy bulk.
“Who buys a 10kg bag of spuds anymore? Because the real problem is that while our parents’ generation had the skills to turn cheap ingredients into nourishing meals, people just don’t have those basic cooking skills anymore”.
Mr Murphy is calling on the Department of Education to ensure that all schools offer basic home economics classes.
Schools can choose which subjects they want to offer and many do not offer home economics. It’s also feared that with the reform of the Junior Cert announced last week and students being limited to eight subjects, cooking may fall to more academic subjects.
“Home economics is not taught in all schools any more. It needs to be taught to boys and girls if there is to be a change and we are to get people, particularly people on a limited income, away from fast food and back to cooking,” he said.
The North/South body Safefood found that people living on or below the poverty line are not sufficiently engaged by the current general focus on healthy eating to move to better food habits.
“For the most, the priority was to put food on the table and the nutritional content of the food did not come into question,” the report states.
