Sometimes I'm amazed, I really am...

[JJSH]

... and not in a good way

I'm waiting for some friends to pop round with their firstborn, and am watching Ben Fogle's Escape in Time, where two families have to live on a pretend Victorian Farm for a week. Today's challenge for the kids (four girls, 12ish - 15ish) ~ make soup out of veggies from the garden.

Now, these don't sound like deprived, inner city children to me who are forced to go to a sink school where its all gangs, drugs and little teaching. In fact, they look like quite well off middle class type who no doubt go to decent schools.

I nearly fell off my sofa when they couldn't identify basic veg in the garden ~ Child -'this carrot hasn't got a carrot on it' Teacher -'thats because it's a piece of grass'. Teacher - 'Do you know what these are?' Kids - 'No' Teacher- 'Onions'

Ye gads, what are we teaching our kids? I think I am turning into a very grumpy old 30 something!

[Two_Sheds]

Well, tbh, kids are given their dinner in its "done" state, they don't often see the raw ingredients.

I took a cabbage in to school once, and one girl, bless her, swore blind that humans couldn't eat it, "only rabbits" could.

[rustylady]

Well, tbh, kids are given their dinner in its "done" state, they don't often see the raw ingredients

And TBH if they did see the ingredients they would be trimmed to within an inch of their lives and packed in plastic from the supermarket.

[JJSH]

True, I suppose. Still a bit sad, though. Growing up on a smallholding obviously spoiled me

[Florence Fennel]

I record that JJSH so I've something to watch at 10 after the F word's gone off. It's a bit twee, but I like Ben Fogle and I found the families quite nice (although the dad's are a bit wet). They seem above average intelligence those girls, it's hard to believe they didn't recognise an onion!

[lizzylemon]

I saw it for the 1st time yesterday with the little one and she seemed to really enjoy it but then she's 2yrs old so.....

It's funny (sad) how things have changed in such a short time and it probably is that hideous pre-chopped/washed/turned into vegetable robots thats done a lot of damage. Even 'posh' (I'm TV stereo typing so dont shoot me) families who probably have real food put in front of them don't know the original vegetable shape because mummy grabs the pre-obliterated stuff off the shelves.

Some of my earliest memories are going to the bottom of the garden and picking toms, gooseberries, peas, carrots, mint etc for dinner with my Beloved Gran.

[Comfreyfan]

Some of my earliest memories are going to the bottom of the garden and picking toms, gooseberries, peas, carrots, mint etc for dinner with my Beloved Gran.

Same here and I get goosebumps sometimes when I take my own grandchildren to look at what I'm growing!

[Patchninja]

I wasn't brought up on a farm and neither were my kids but we all know our fruit and veg because my Mum cooked, I cook and my children cook.

[lindyloo]

lizzylemon- that reminds me of one of my earliest memories too- about 3 years old, on a high slopey ridge, at teatime, waiting for my nan to finish digging up some spuds. freezing cold wind and drizzle , and my little stick legs in a dress and rubber wellies. my legs were really sore from the wellie tops rubbing my cold wet, skin, and i must have felt really miserable because i have never forgotten that experience in over 55 years!! ( taff - you'll know that hill)

one of my other early memories from the same time, is floating bits of straw down the drain channels behind the cattle which my gramp had been milking- it was proper hand milking in those days, not machine milking. he used to squirt some into my mouth straight from the source too which always made me laugh. i still love the smell of cows.

[janeyo]

Well, tbh, kids are given their dinner in its "done" state, they don't often see the raw ingredients.

I took a cabbage in to school once, and one girl, bless her, swore blind that humans couldn't eat it, "only rabbits" could.

and I am sure there are thousands of grown-ups all round the counrty agreeing with her! lol

[Bramble_killer]

Well, tbh, kids are given their dinner in its "done" state, they don't often see the raw ingredients.

I took a cabbage in to school once, and one girl, bless her, swore blind that humans couldn't eat it, "only rabbits" could.

Sounds a bit like my stepchildren. The younger one last year was absolutely entranced that dirty potatoes appeared in the ground where we were growing them. He'd never seen on covered in dirt.

They refuse to eat anything from the garden because it's not from waitrose and they don't understand why we don't buy ready made things from there. They scream when there's a small bug that isn't washed and request that things are washed off. I tell them that if they want it that clean, they can learn how to wash salad themselves.

Their mother feeds them on pizzas AND garlic bread for the same meal. Their idea of salad is a bit of lettuce with mayo on

It's such a shame people don't even bother to teach their children what food should look like!!

[maytreefrannie]

They scream when there's a small bug that isn't washed and request that things are washed off. I tell them that if they want it that clean, they can learn how to wash salad themselves.

When OH was growing up, he and his siblings would sometimes complain about bugs and creepies on lettuce (at the table) at their aunt's house.

Their dad's reply - "Ah, that's just a bit of meat to go with it."

[lindyloo]

i'm guessing that the mother is fairly young herself, so wouldnt know about fresh food? trying to think back, it would have been in the 60s-early 70s that all of the convenience food started to come out, supermarkets appeared on more and more high streets, and veg. gardening became not as popular as it had been previously. then again some people just dont like gardening.

so if that went down the generation line it would go 1970s mother bought veg from shop, 1990s-2000s mother also bought from shop, and now her children circa 2010, take it as the norm.

[Patchninja]

i'm guessing that the mother is fairly young herself, so wouldnt know about fresh food?

I think a LOT of young people know about fresh fruit and veg. My children have always cooked from scratch because that's how everyone in my family does it and there's no shortage of plain old fruit and veg in the supermarkets. My daughter's other half cooks wonderful food too so the men know their stuff too.

[Bramble_killer]

i'm guessing that the mother is fairly young herself, so wouldnt know about fresh food? trying to think back, it would have been in the 60s-early 70s that all of the convenience food started to come out, supermarkets appeared on more and more high streets, and veg. gardening became not as popular as it had been previously. then again some people just dont like gardening.

so if that went down the generation line it would go 1970s mother bought veg from shop, 1990s-2000s mother also bought from shop, and now her children circa 2010, take it as the norm.

nope. She's mid 40s and is a vegetarian as well. So she should know all about fresh fruit and veg but not the case.

She is the only person I know who buys the chilled mash from supermarkets.