Is obesity linked to class?

Still have my first cookery book by Marguerite Patten

Oh I would honestly have loved the choice of woodwork instead of domestic science. I had no interest in cooking, baking or ironing. However, when I got married, I did what a lot of others did and taught myself. A few disasters, but I got there and eventually enjoyed trying new recipes. I remember once phoning my mother and saying, "I've bought a cabbage, what do I do with it?"

I think younger generations now have much more opportunity to learn with many more cookery books and cookery programmes available.

..now

I remember the apron and headband too...we had to embroider our initials on the headband and the pocket of the apron. I still adopt this invaluable practice in my kitchen no .

In the top 'A' stream at secondary school we did not get Domestic Science or Woodwork because we had Latin instead. I presume they thought that as we were 'clever' we would also be rich and able to employ servants to carry out these tasks while we sat (upstairs) reading Pliny, Ovid and Virgil. The reality was somewhat different - I went home with my Latin homework to take my turn making the tea in our Council Prefab, because my Mum worked and Dad was a shift worker. My 3 2/3 years of Latin did me no harm but not much good whereas being taught to cook (and wash, iron and clean) at home ensured that I was fully competent by the time I was 13/14 and able to produce not one but two full Christmas dinners each for 5 people, as a newly wed 19yo. MIL was dumbstruck!

I don't know what to say about obesity and class as I was a plump baby, toddler, child, teenager, fat dumpy adult and now am an obese pensioner, whereas my Dsis, same parents, same diet and always given to eating more than me, was and is tall and slim.

glamma I forgot about the pinny and headband. Yes, we made them, too, and had to baste the edges of the apron with bias binding, hand stitched. The headband was starched till it was like cardboard, with bias binding ties. We learned to make a swan out of starched napkins - what was it about Robin starch? It went in everything!

You have just reminded me glammanana about my first job and my first rebellion. I was expected to do the 'first make the pinny and then do the cooking' regime. I amazed myself by refusing, which was incredibly brave of me, but was backed up by another older member of the department and in one fell swoop no more pinnies were made. We did a deal with a local shop and the kids all had nylon overalls.

My DD is dreading getting a letter from DGDs school as it it weigh and measure time for Reception children! DGD2 is not a skinny Lizzie but she is equally not obese! She enjoys her food and eats a wide variety... on Sunday afternoon she worked her way through the fruit bowl: apple, apricot, kiwi and a pear having had a pancake for breakfast and then a roast lunch! She does not like cream so no Eton Mess for her just a bit of a meringue and red fruit for pudding! Her older sister is a skinny malinki but also eats (healthily) but like a horse! With regard to class: her dad is a self taught builder and her mum is a teacher... not sure what that adds up to!

My oldest son did food technology at school and was saddened by the lack of actual cookery (he loves to cook and bake), he often came home and cooked something out of sheer frustration. My youngest son had me as his PSHE teacher and as I had the luxury of devising my own syllabus we did a whole term of basic cookery (calling it 'life skills' to please the pen pushers) during which he and others learned the rudiments of preparing simple meals. The Ofsted Inspector visited during that term and sat in on one of the lessons (we made vegetable soup that day). He was very impressed at what the children achieved in the time allowed and enjoyed a taste of the finished product.
At school we did Domestic Science and in addition to cookery that also covered simple sewing and housekeeping. Skills that I've probably used almost every day of my life. If budgeting and cookery were both taught at school I think society would gain hugely.

My daughter took her baby for his 9 month check up today. There was a little girl in the waiting room who was rolling about on the floor screaming. Mother's reaction was "SHUT UP Darcy-Storm (Darcy- Storm ???) or there'll be no sweets after school!" As she said it underlines the fact that as soon as they come out of school their mothers take them into the shop to stock up on sweets, crisps and fizzy drinks. My poor grandson isn't allowed anything to eat until his lunchbox has been checked to make sure that he's eaten it all.

If only I could get breast of lamb. I still make lamb stew and rabbit pie, my favourite meals when I was a child.

When I was stuck at home with baby and DH in Germany still studying for exams, I went to night school and took a City& Guilds cookery course. I had a student lodger and she baby-sat for me. it was the best thing I could have done as when I was later in Germany, in a small village I needed to cook everyday and am still doing it.

When I was at school no one was overweight. If you look at the old newsreels everyone was slim, and managed to go for hours on end without food. They had to!

I don't think it is anything to do with class either. We ran a restaurant for over thirty years and some people just eat too much, drink too much alcohol and do not move enough, irrespective of class or nationality, although we did have a lot of Danish customers and they were rarely overweight despite starting on the beer at breakfast time

Going back to obesity and class - I think it's more complicated, though learning to cook does come into it.
We have some friends nearby (both big people in their 50s) who invited us for a meal yesterday - it was fish and chips with cabbage in mayo plus a separate dish of mayo to go on top. Followed by suet pudding and ice cream.
First of all, they're not working class, never have been. Second, I've met some of their family who are also big. Thirdly they're not happy with their eating habits.
I managed a small helping of fish and chips, an orange for desert, and my guts are still suffering from the results. We are both skinny, from skinny families, eat loads of fruit and veg.
I think the genetic component is probably the strongest of all.

Glamma, we made pinnies first as well out if gingham. I remember having to unpick my homework tacking as my stitches were too long! How sexist itwas in those days no cooking or sewing for boys no woodwork or metalwork for girls. I loved my wicker cookery basket but unfortunately
one year had cookery, hockey and violin on the same day. Tricky on a crowded school bus with horrid boisterous boys!

Before we started our cookery lessons we had to make our own pinnies and head band with our names embroidered across the front in our house colours I hated needlework and it took me ages to get it right and guess whose name had the most letters ?? when we started our cookery lessons we really enjoyed them I used to be fasinated at the sponge mixtures rising in the ovens it took me ages to understand how it happened.

Some of the best meals are the ones my DM or MIL derided as suitable only for poor people. Neck of lamb with pearl barley cooked very slowly was my DM's standby but which appalled my mil both thought nothing of slow cooked belly pork and breast of lamb. I'd never come across ham hock with broth until I came to the north east. They are all great favorites and staples and all seem to be fashionable to boot. I love Waitrose's forgotten cuts of meat. I hadn't forgotten them just had to wait for them to be reinstated.

Re the eating all day, only about 12 or so years ago I remember passing a cafe and seeing people eating burger and chips. I looked at my watch and said its 3 pm I wonder if its their dinner or tea, how strange to be eating a meal mid afternoon. How times have changed, ive even been in that same cafe at 3pm and eaten a meal.
The fast food event as a treat for my boys in the 90's was more to do with lack of money than nutritional value I have to say.
My old dad, still going strong at 85 and a severe stroke back in April of this year, says we dont know what food poverty is these days. He always quotes the boy in the 1940 playground who stood by my dad who was eating an apple. The boy asked if he could have the core when dad had finished eating the apple. That was not really anything to do with the original post but I always remember it when there is discussion about food poverty etc.

With rationing after the war the food on the plate HAD to be eaten and the waste of food unheard of. No excess sugar, fats etc. however the feelings of guilt at not emptying the plate in childhood seems to mean that there is this subconscious need not to waste instead of stopping when full. This leads to weight gain. My daughter is always telling me that DH is not a dustbin when I offer him seconds.!

We had a little flat too Glass Little did I know how soon I would be making full use of the lessons in homemaking!

Tiggy, hear hear and well said. I learned so much that I still remember from DomSci but my sons educated in the 90's remember nothing except how to decorate a pizza. I had to teach them basic cookery skills.
I dont want to get into the politics of class etc but in the last decade or so I think that many younger people, especially female have changed shape. When im out and about I observe a large proportion of young adult females with enormous waists. Im sure its down to a combination of poor diet and lack of movement. When my eldest son was at uni he said that although the boys ate and drank as much as the girls, the boys tended to do more sport and burn it off. I notice that when one of my adult sons has a season off football or cricket he gets a lot chubbier. If I look at pictures of young people in the 70s they are a completely different shape.
I personally think that one of the reasons is that food is available 24 hours a day. When I was growing up and a young adult it was not common to eat between meals, I can never remember being offered any food as a child other than at the table for breakfast dinner and tea.
Our local fast food restaurants are always full at any time of day. When I'm at school childrens news is often " we are going to Mcd for tea" it is no longer a treat like it was say 20 years ago.
White high carb food is cheap, but lots of people eat it so I think it is a combination of a variety of causes. Including the luck of the draw re genes.

Oh crikey !!!!

I do hope I was not like some of your teachers !!!!

We had a little flat attached to the Home Economics class room and we had to make beds, lay tables along side the cookery lessons, in our final year we got chance to sleep over and to prepare and cook meals while we were there.
The Home Economics teacher was very highly strung, one girl in the class had her legs slapped every lesson for everything from forgetting her apron to her victoria sponge looking like a pancake but we did learn all the basics on how to cook for a family and my MIL filled in the gaps as my DM was the worst cook and housekeeper you could ever imagine.
Thats what is missing from this generation they dont have the basic cooking skills to go on and expand for their family.

I remember my DS teacher very well. She had a habbit of saying "ma" instead of "my"

A lesson with her went something like.......

First I will spoon ma mixture into ma cake tin with the help of ma little finger
then I will smooth ma mixture out with ma pallet knife
then I will take ma oven glove and pop ma cake into ma oven.........

It still makes me cringe when I think about it.

It's a wonder that any one ever wanted to cook again if all DS teachers were as sarcastic as the one who derided every single effort of mine.

The silly thing is that I am a good cook despite her rather than because of her. The only thing I remember about her lessons was not to try rubbing sugar into butter when making scones or you get used as an example of how not to do it and laughed at by the whole class.

I detested my DS teacher, so wasn't too keen on her subject. She failed me for my Guides laundress badge - twice. So I never attempted the cook's badge. However, my mum taught me the essentials and by the time I reached 15, one of my jobs was to prepare the stew for Saturday lunch, using the pressure cooker. I also made the annual mince pies, while listening to the nine lessons and carols from King's College. My GD suffered from the food tech lessons but made up for them by taking over my kitchen at weekends and is now a competent cook.
Grans - we may be the last line of defence against convenience food!