What is the purpose of food education today? Should we teach children to cook? What does food education in school include? Is it just healthy eating or should it include cooking skills, growing, sustainability or nutrition? What do children need to know about food to be healthy for life? What is the policy for food education? When is the best age to teach children about food? Why don’t schools teach many practical food lessons?

There are many more unanswered questions about the purpose, nature and type of food education children receive during their education. As someone who received a rich and comprehensive food education both at secondary school, at home and degree level, I believe children have a right to be equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to be able to live healthily, for life.

This website therefore aims to discuss all the topics and questions that relate to this. Food education today does not have the status it needs within education and policymaking. Yet globally we face unprecedented two major challenges of climate change and public health crisis with malnutrition including obesity, of which the food system is a major contributor. If our children are going to be able to navigate the food system they are living in, and leverage their capacity for changing the food system, surely they need to be taught about it?

We urgently need to shift population diets to be more sustainable, yet we are currently not equipping our children with the skills, knowledge in how to do this. Equally we are not yet shifting food preferences towards plant based diets as veg consumption continues to decline. School is the best place for this. Yet in practice it doesn’t happen. So here I plan to discuss the issues as to why, highlight the people who are setting out to change this in schools, and share research, books, and more.