Reply #22: When I was a member of the New Haven Food Co-op in the 1970s

[Lydia Leftcoast]

they surveyed the residents of the poorer neighborhood where the co-op was located and found that due to fast food and the lack of good grocery stores in the area, there were young people who literally didn't know how to put together a meal without processed junk. They lived on pizza, fast food burgers, and fried chicken.

The co-op put on free cooking classes, showing how to make nutritious meals based on one of the cheapest fresh ingredients around--vegetables. I think they called the series something like "Delicious Home-Cooked Meals for a Dollar or Less" (This was the 1970s.)

I don't know what the long-term effect of these classes was, but I do know that more education of that type is needed.

Unfortunately, home ec classes have been another casualty of school budget cuts.