Aug 31, 2010
Should children be taught more about food production?
Haven’t we got ourselves into a big fat mess with food? We eat too much, we waste too much and our planet – and our bodies – are in trouble as a result. It’s what author Julian Cribb, calls a global feeding frenzy which in less than a generation has "overwhelmed centuries of thrift ... home growing and recycling of food resources".
Cribb is the author of The Coming Famine, a new book which argues that the world is heading for a food crisis fuelled by population growth and a mounting hunger for food, especially protein rich foods like meat, fish, dairy foods and eggs – not just from overfed countries like ours, but from newly affluent shoppers in India, China and parts of South East Asia. Meanwhile we’re running out of land on which to farm food - a quarter of all land is so degraded that it can barely yield food, says Cribb, while big cities are eating up more of it – and we’re running out of water.
If you want a book that shakes you out of your comfort zone to face the big issues the planet is facing with food and the environment, this is a good, accessible read. It’s not just doom and gloom either because Cribb offers solutions, some of which consumers can be part of – like practising water saving in our choice of food, rediscovering thrift, eating more plant foods and less livestock, eating fish sparingly and demanding eco-labelling from supermarkets and manufacturers. But he also thinks it’s time to grow a future generation of savvy food consumers by giving children a better grasp of how food gets on to their plate.
We’re already taking baby steps with programs like Stephanie Alexander’s Kitchen Garden project, and with families who are involving their kids in growing vegetables and cooking at home. But Cribb has another idea –introducing a ‘Food Year’ into the world’s primary school curriculum that would integrate a better understanding of food production with the teaching of subjects like science, history and geography. The curriculum would vary to suit different cultures, but the principle would be the same - ‘never take more from the natural world than it can replenish, cherish your water, your soil, your plants and your animals... Eat sparingly and only what is good for you and the planet.’
In higher-consuming societies like ours he suggests a second year in early high school too.
“This is just when most kids, including future presidents and leaders of industry, switch off science because they find it too dull. Food could help retain their interest and might result in saner policies when they grow up and take power’.
It’s a move that might also improve their future health. We accept the idea of vaccinating kids against life-threatening infectious diseases, Cribb writes, so why not ‘vaccinate’ them against killer diseases of affluence like heart disease and some cancers by giving them better knowledge about food?
The Coming Famine by Julian Cribb is published by CSIRO Publishing, $29.95
How can we turn kids into thriftier, greener food consumers?