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Introduction
Historic changes in food preparation patterns have negatively impacted on health through deskilling and dis-empowering society (Caraher, 2012). Furthermore, research highlights lower income groups as having a higher deficit of these skills (Caraher et al., 1999; Lang and Caraher, 2001), which in turn contribute to health inequalities. Indeed the lack of cooking skills tallies with the sharp increase in consumer spending in the convenience food sector (Mintel, 2012), where lower end cost pre-packaged convenience meals are generally energy dense, high in fat and salt and low in micronutrients and fibre. It may be argued that society is entrenched in a cycle where the consumption of convenience meals discourages cooking from scratch, facilitating a society of individuals lacking in food preparation skills. Notably, studies reveal that when young people are involved in food preparation they are more likely to consume a more balanced and nutritional diet higher in fresh fruit, key nutrients and vegetables and lower in saturated fat (Fulkerson et al., 2010; Foley et al., 2011; Rees et al., 2012). It therefore follows that enabling young people to develop a generic range of transferrable practical skills will empower them to access a more varied and nutritious diet with the freedom to creatively apply these within budgetary constraints.
Superficially it appears that a simple strategy to encourage and engage more young people in food preparation in the home (as was the case in the past), would offer the most efficient resolution. However, barriers which were not present some years ago are now entrenched in society, blocking engagement, confidence and motivation in cooking practices. For example, traditionally cooking skills have been modelled in the home, however, due to parental time restrictions, increased ready meal consumption has become inevitable and more young people today are not being exposed to basic food preparation skills by their parents. Subsequently, the development of cooking skills, confidence and therefore motivation has become diluted. If young people are not engaging in these skills in the home environment, arguably, increased pressure to deliver formal practical cooking skills teaching has moved to the statutory sector. Although Home Economics is compulsory in schools at key stage 3 only (11-14 age group), there is no further statutory food skills intervention in the...