Q: Loved the article on teaching cooking as part of wellness. Great idea. My questions is – Are we starting too late? By the time kids are in college their eating habit are pretty ingrained. Although I am sure it will benefit many people, I was wondering what you thought about starting this way earlier.
It seems to me it would be a great program for elementary schools. The sooner the better. Is anyone doing this now?
A: I love your question, and while it is not the sort of question I usually answer for the Ask Dr. Gourmet column, I certainly want to address it.
My belief is that it is never too early or too late to start. We have great research that shows even making lifestyle changes into your 70s can make a huge difference. So can making changes in young adulthood. My opinion is that we have a challenge to create the curriculum for our students at every level – elementary school, high school, college or graduate school. It used to be that this sort of teaching would be done in home economics, Girl Scouts and even Boy Scouts, now that those programs are largely gone we have many young adults that simply don’t know how to cook.Teaching Cooking to Students
