Teen Kitchen | Food | Channel4.com

Date Published:: 05/09/2008

Times are tough for Britain's teenagers. The media is awash with tales of knife crime and bullying that paint a picture of embittered children more at home with a revolver than a rolling pin. It's hard to imagine these hardened youngsters getting excited about baking bread. So how do you teach them to cook?

Hannah Williams met up with food technology teacher, Miss Longman, from Kelmscott School, North London, for a lesson in turning troubled teens into gastronomic gurus… or at least get them off the deep fried chicken.

So how do you get into teaching food technology?

I used to organise business and travel for an investment bank but I had enough of that and wanted something more challenging. I've always loved food and working with the kids gives you a new way of looking at food.

"When some of the students made lasagne they couldn't believe what they'd created. But until you show them, they'll keep buying chicken and chips for £1.99."

How knowledgeable are the kids about cooking? Do they know their coq au vin from their Southern fried chicken?

In our school 60 to 70 per cent of the kids come from an Asian background and their food knowledge is pretty good. They know a lot about foods from all over the world and can tell you the difference between bananas and plantain. I didn't know that at their age.

The kids are clever. They know they have got to think about what they're eating - lots of them are into sport and they know what healthy food is. It's about changing the way they view familiar things. I taught them how to make vegetable soup from scratch. They all had to blend the ingredients and they really enjoyed it - making it and eating it. Now, if I'd have asked them if they wanted vegetable soup for lunch before that none of them would have been interested.

What sort of things do you do with the kids? Is it flapjack and rice crispie cakes or could they turn their hand to a three course meal?

In our school it is compulsory to study food technology until age 14. Next September, it's been suggested that it will be compulsory across the country. Each year they learn a little bit more, building their skills up. So if we're doing an Italian theme: in the first year they'll learn mixing skills by making pizza, then in year eight they'll go on to lasagne and in the third year make their own vegetables sauces and garlic bread.

We also study foods from around the world - each student chooses their own country and makes a different thing. And I also run a food club. There's a mix of the academic kids and then we get some of the really naughty boys and they all help each other. All the boys have really good ideas and are full of enthusiasm but when it's time to wash up we'll get a lot of 'But my mum does that'. It's about teaching them, 'No, you're doing it'. You can do it. Teaching them they can make the food themselves.

It's not all about cooking but learning where your food comes from too. We have allotments on the back and a patch of land and the head of science would love to make that into a vegetable garden, getting them to grow some food. That would be the next step.

So how do you get a bunch of surly youths excited about an afternoon in the kitchen?

Food is an area all kids can get involved in. It doesn't take three weeks to see results; they can come in, make macaroni cheese and straight away see something to be proud of. If they have a lesson that ends at lunch time or on a break they can stay and eat what they've created. They've spent all that time making it so at the end it's good for them to be able to enjoy their creations.

When some of the students made lasagne they couldn't believe what they'd created from scratch. It's the same with things like burgers. They couldn't believe they'd made something that tasted nice. But until you show them, they'll keep buying chicken and chips for £1.99.

Lots of the kids when they learn a recipe here they'll take it home and make it for their parents then they'll tell me: "Ooh Miss, my mum really liked it."

What can we do to encourage children and adults to get back in the kitchen?

Jamie Oliver has made some great suggestions to do with school dinners but there's just not enough money. Maybe getting parents to understand more and understand that what goes into their children will affect their bodies in some way or another. A lot of the kids come to us in the morning and they've had a packet of crisps or a biscuit for their breakfast. We can't control that.

We talk a lot about the state of school dinners but what about outside schools. What about the dinners served in staff canteens? Education has got to happen outside schools as well.