Paul Lindley founded Ella’s Kitchen and is now the chief executive of the organic baby foods operation. His new report, Averting A Recipe for Disaster, Our Children and Their Food, brought together expert voices from the food industry, from the health and charity sectors, and from the media.
It concludes that food skills have been lost over the generations but states that the importance of family food education is incalculable, identifying changing attitudes to food and health to be a 25-year challenge that needs cross-party support.
The report reveals that diet-related disease costs the NHS almost £6 billion every year but points out that the impact of poor nutrition, causing obesity, malnourishment and diet-related disease in the under fives, will have a much longer-term impact on the nation.
Paul Lindley says current solutions for dealing with nutrition in the under fives are too small-scale to succeed and calls for a Food Manifesto for the Under Fives to be included by all the main political parties in their 2015 general election campaigns.
New figures from YouGov show that 87% of parents and 70% of primary teachers want cooking and food education included on the national curriculum. The YouGov figures also reveal that 93% of parents are aware that their cooking ability decides how healthily their child eats. In the classroom, 45% of teachers say the government isn’t doing enough to encourage healthy eating in children.
The Lindley report points to initiatives that are already under way and are showing signs of success. It wants retailers, manufacturers and restaurateurs to work with the education sector and parents to work together to roll out those successful projects across the country. Its other recommendations are for compulsory cooking in schools, free breakfast in schools for every child and for professional kitchens to become available to teach families basic cooking skills.