There is a distinct lack of formal education when it comes to food - I can only speak for the UK here, but it's all very well sticking pretty colour-coded labels on packs of food to say what percentage of your GDA is inside but only serial dieters seem to add up the numbers. People are not taught how to cook anymore and instead the local councils chuck out dancing DVD's or try to make getting fit fun. Cooking programmes rabbit on about healthy eating but the chefs themselves use high fat, high salt ingredients for the most part because otherwise taste is compromised and then no one wants to eat whatever it is.
Two things no one ever seems to take into consideration either are convenience and finance. I've got kids meself and it's a damn sight easier some evenings to whop some cheese on toast for dinner than spend three hours pratting about making an uber healthy meal which tastes of cardboard and everyone just goes "ugh" when presented with it. My kids will try new stuff, don't get me wrong, but if they don't like it there isn't a power on earth that will make them try it again. And as a parent it's utterly frustrating because you are trying to feed them the right stuff and they simply won't have it. So you'd rather they ate something than just went to bed hungry night after night - it's actually quite difficult to manage. I don't keep junk in the house such as snacks and chocolate and desserts and I'm well aware that up to a certain age a child will not willfully starve himself, but getting the right stuff into kids is sometimes a lot harder than you would think and having a heart of stone when they refuse food and not giving them an alternative is easier said than done.
Financially speaking, I have yet to come across a celebrity chef on TV or indeed anyone who bleats about childhood obesity with authority to offer an affordable solution to those who simply cannot afford the poncy ingredients so often used in healthier meals. Meat and poultry are insanely expensive, fresh fruit and vegetables are pricey with a poor shelf life if no one eats them in time and for a lot of families, something zapped in a microwave or a Happy Meal are much more affordable than home cooking and a lot less stressful. Sure, feeding your family chips every night for dinner is just plain lazy and people like that need a good slap - but when you've got 3 kids, one wage, lots of bills and barely any time to wipe your backside let alone anyone elses, cooking takes a major backseat. You just want to know they've eaten something that vaguely qualifies as a meal even if you'd prefer it to be salad.
I used to have to feed a family of three on £10 per week - I kid you not. Two adults, one child. And all the will in the world could not make a nice-tasting healthy meal affordable. We had supermarket value branded crap because there was no viable alternative. As much as I tried, plain pasta four days a week and rice on the others was not ideal and had less nutritional value than a fast food menu. What I think is needed is a FREE course for EVERY family, regardless of status and age, which is fully accessible for them in whichever manner suits their needs for them to be able to learn how to cook within their means a nice, tasty but most of all AFFORDABLE menu which they can sustain week by week and then couple that with some basic out-and-about ideas to get exercise into their routine. You gotta remember that the vast majority of school leavers seem to not even know how to boil an egg, let alone make a meal, and all to often kids are having their own kids before they've even figured out how to tie their own laces - so they do what they know which is microwave something or get takeout. And so the cycle continues. The day they make unhealthy eating too expensive an option is the day they will see a difference in how kids are fed - right now, the balance is all wrong and it's simply cheaper and quicker to grab a burger than plan and prepare something more substantial.
