Getting mix of foods right

Sep 14 2007 by Jane Hall, The Journal

Teaching children about healthy eating and cooking in a fun and practical way could be the answer to Britain’s obesity crisis. So believes chef turned healthy food guru James Miller. Jane Hall finds out more.

A DETERMINED look on his face, three-year-old Angus Singer is struggling to blend an interesting amalgamation of ingredients with an over-large wooden spoon.

He is helping to make fruity flapjacks, but the effort he is having to put into turning the spoon suggests he and his four fellow cooks may have been over zealous when it came to weighing out the main components.

A glance in the bowl shows there is no shortage of porridge oats, diced apricots and dried cranberries. It’s a formidable looking combination guaranteed to keep one’s feet firmly planted on the ground should you happen to find yourself in the middle of a hurricane.

The fruity flapjacks taking shape wouldn’t win any prizes on the aesthetics front either. But Angus, his seven-year-old sister Lucy, friends Jacob and Ashleigh Blowers, aged three and six respectively, and new acquaintance Sarah Hamilton, eight, don’t care.

They are thrilled at their handiwork and can’t wait to sink their teeth into a gooey, honey-soaked flapjack wedge.

It’s one of the joys of cooking – being able to eat the fruits of your own labours. And it’s even more rewarding if your efforts happen to be healthy too.

But healthy and children don’t seem to go hand-in-hand at the moment. Obesity levels among children and adults alike have reached epidemic proportions in the UK as our once healthy, nutritionally balanced diet has been ousted in favour of calorie and fat laden burgers, chips, crisps, fizzy drinks and sweets.

Just how bad things have become was brought to the nation’s attention by celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver. In his TV series, Jamie’s School Dinners, which investigated what is being dished up to our children in full-time education, he spoke to classrooms of pupils addicted to fast food who were unable to recognise even everyday vegetables. Viewers were stunned. Embarrassed, the Government has taken action. This month has seen the start of the Year of Food and Farming, aimed at teaching young people not only about how our food is grown and produced, but how it reaches the consumer.

Schools are being encouraged to ensure pupils make farm visits, get hands-on growing experience and cook and prepare meals.

Critics doubt the move will have much impact. They say it will take more than the ethos behind the Year of Food and Farming to change children – and their parents – woeful eating habits. Faced with choosing between an apple and a chocolate bar, the sweet treat would win every time.

Not so, says James Miller, a former chef turned nutritionist, who is proving that given the right tools and encouragement, children can – and do – enjoy healthy eating. The trick, he explains, is to make food fun and easy to prepare.

The 30-year-old, who gained a degree in food science from Northumbria University last year, has been taking his message out into the community. And today he is weaving his magic for a group of 20 children and adults in the home economics unit at Ponteland High School in Northumberland.

Three groups of children and adults are busy chopping, measuring, mixing and cooking a healthy and quick menu that includes not only the fruity flapjacks, but herby burgers with salad and pitta bread pockets and pizzas with chopped tomatoes, oregano and low fat cheddar cheese.

Laughter fills the air as the youngsters get their hands dirty. All are desperate to dig into their handiwork – even though the food contains ingredients children allegedly would rather avoid such as herbs, salad and fruit.

But as James points out: “Given the chance, children will eat these things. But it is all about getting that chance. People have become reliant on ready meals and food-on-the-go. People work long hours, they have little time for shopping and when they get home they understandably want to eat something quick and easy.

“Quick and easy often means a ready meal or fast food, however. But quick and easy can be a healthy option too. I think people think of healthy eating as being a challenge, time consuming and expensive, so I’m trying to show it can be easy, quick and cheap. As an example, the herby burgers with salad we are making today take just 25 minutes from start to finish and cost just 90p a portion, while the pizza takes just 30 minutes and costs 20p per person.

“All my recipes are low in salt and low in fat. The herby burgers have no salt and use yoghurt instead of an egg to bind the mixture to make up the calcium. In the fruity flapjacks much of the sugar has been replaced with honey.”

James, who has set up is own business, Healthy Food Solutions, works with schools, community organisations and charities across the North-East.

He believes his decade working as a chef in the hotel and catering industry before moving to Prudhoe Hospital where his daily menus had to reflect both patients religious and dietary requirements, has given him a unique edge in his new career. “It is certainly unusual for a chef to move into nutrition. I have only heard of one other person who does a similar thing to me.

“But it means I can utilise all my professional experience and the cooking skills I’ve been taught. My new career is also utilising the love of chemistry I had at school. It’s my dream job – combining food and science.”

James says children are especially receptive to his interactive workshops. “The younger the children are the more receptive they are. Quite often as they get older, children switch off to the healthier side of eating, but if you can get hold of them and present the facts in the right way, you can change their views.

“There is something very satisfying about making your own meal, and children appreciate that. I’ve cooked all my life. I cooked at home and with my grandmother, and for as long as I can remember I’ve had a real passion for food. That’s why I went off and became a chef. It is unfortunate that so few children get the chance to cook now. It is something they love doing, and it is my experience that if they make something using healthy ingredients they will eat it because they have made it.”

It’s a sentiment shared by Jacob and Ashleigh’s mother, Emma Clayton from Capheaton, Northumberland, who childminds Angus and Lucy. “My children cook with me in the kitchen at home and love being involved in preparing a meal, but I have to admit it’s not something we do as often as we should because of lack of time.

“I think this session is going to be as useful for me as for the kids as I hope to get more information about healthy eating. As a family we are fairly good – we don’t do faddy – but there is always something new to learn. And the kids are really enjoying being here. They’re desperate to eat what they’ve made.”

Ashleigh goes to Belsay First School and takes a packed lunch. Emma tries to ensure her daughter eats a varied and healthy diet, but she says peer pressure, even at six-years-old, is already proving a problem. “I have had to succumb with Ashleigh and put some treats into her packed lunch, but I normally try and include a healthy snack disguised as something sweet, such as a cereal-based bar.”

James believes parents want to do their best for their children. “I think Jamie Oliver has done a good job in raising people’s awareness about just what our kids are eating now. Because of him the Government has created the School Food Trust whose remit is to transform school food and food skills, promote the education and health of children and young people and improve the quality of food in schools.

“The question we have to ask though is, how did we get here? Children are our flesh and blood, yet we give pets better food than we give our children.

“There are many reasons for the current predicament we are in, but my experience is that people are now much more interested in hands-on-food. I think the rise of organic foods is making people more conscious of what they are eating and what’s in it and we are becoming more conscious of food labels.

“If we can get children interested in what they are eating then things can be turned around. And if they can play a part in preparing what they are eating then they are more likely to go for the healthier option.”

For more information on James Miller and his food consultancy work visit www.healthyfoodsolutions.co.uk

FRUITY FLAPJACK

(Makes 15 portions)

Cooking time: 25 minutes

150g sunflower oil

5 tbsp honey

75g demerara sugar

450g porridge oats

3tsp mixed spice

100g dried cranberries

200g dried, chopped apricots

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and grated

Pre-heat the oven to 190C.

Warm the oil, honey and sugar in a pan. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl.

Pour over the warm liquid and mix thoroughly. Line a medium baking tray with greaseproof paper, pour in the mixture and spread in the tray.

Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Per portion: Calories, 282Kcal; fat, 12.7g; protein, 4.5g; cost, 22p.