Alec Swan - just for you!!

A few years ago my husband and I visited a state run farm in Luxembourg. It is the most popular attraction for schools in the Benelux countries.

They have a small working farm with different types of animals and a hostel. It is also a breedinc centre fro Ardennes which are now, like the CB on the rare breeds list.

The horses plough the land and the children can learn to plough and to drive a horse in harness. They learn how to mill wheat, make bread etc.

I never here anyone hear obsessed with ecoli - by the way.
 
Bertieb123 said:
Bring back Home Economics to schools!
Click to expand...

I agree, and though this is a shift of axis, a plea to ALL MOTHERS, please, don't do as your forbearers, and just teach the girls how to cook, teach the boys too.

I left my home, when still a child, and a frying pan was a mystery to me. As for cooking, well that was beyond any comprehension. I muddled by, I married, the wife at the time took off, and the void was unbelievable.

I was 36 before I was forced, through necessity, to learn how to cook a proper meal.

The current DG taught both of her boys how to cook, from when they were in their early teens, and believe me, they are nifty around the kitchen.

There are still too many mothers who say "Come out of the way, I'll do it". Sorry, but there are.

Far too many men are totally reliant upon women, without good reason. I'll accept that the reverse is probably true, also! :p:p

Alec.
 
Bertieb123 said:
Bring back Home Economics to schools!
Click to expand...

I was amazed when my 14 year old son came home to say he was starting to do cookery in school then announced that they were making a 'bacon sandwich' so had to take in a roll and some bacon! It gets better, they were then going to make sausage rolls and had to take in ready rolled pastry and some sausage meat. It's laughable, they take in ready to make cake mixes which they add water and eggs to make the cakes. Luckily my mum is a great cake maker and has taught my son to do it, he makes the best welsh cakes and pancakes. I have taught him the savoury side of things and he makes a great chilli. One day he will make someone a good husband, he hoovers the house too but does draw the line at ironing. I will work on that.:D
 
Clodagh said:
LOL!

When my youngest was about 2 or 3 we were at the farm shop which is attached to a slaughterhouse. I was telling him what all the different cuts were and which animal they came from, we had already walked round the yard and seen the bullocks waiting to go in and so on. A lady in the queue behind me was horrified, how could I tell him that gammon was a pig and so on... bizarre! And tragic.
Click to expand...

I haven't kept up with the Law but it used to be illegal to allow any child to see slaughter below the age of...... thirteen I think ... a strange age to choose but I seem to remember it.

I was, of course, slipping bunnies' coats off and generally being an Angel of Death to anything that walked, crawled, swum or flew from a much earlier age and cooking it in the open.
 
Last edited:
Crugeran Celt said:
I was amazed when my 14 year old son came home to say he was starting to do cookery in school then announced that they were making a 'bacon sandwich' so had to take in a roll and some bacon! It gets better, they were then going to make sausage rolls and had to take in ready rolled pastry and some sausage meat. It's laughable, they take in ready to make cake mixes which they add water and eggs to make the cakes. Luckily my mum is a great cake maker and has taught my son to do it, he makes the best welsh cakes and pancakes. I have taught him the savoury side of things and he makes a great chilli. One day he will make someone a good husband, he hoovers the house too but does draw the line at ironing. I will work on that.:D
Click to expand...

Though my mum used to get very flustered by my constant questions and general getting in the way out in the kitchen - I learned how to do most stuff early - almost precociously! So by the time she had my baby brother at home when I was ten and a bit - I cooked the family's entire food for a week including making her an iced birthday cake with confectioner's custard cream filling - all from basic materials.

I never did pursue a career in cooking but could have easily done so I think and to my father's eternal credit - this despite being hugely bigoted, homophobic and partly fascist with very set opinions of "proper" jobs for boys - he actually encouraged me and said "the best Chefs in the world are men son." That was just before he complained about some of his food being cold so it wasn't all junket!
 
I grew up on a farm in the west of Ireland and virtually anything with fur feathers or fins was eaten. My brothers entertained themselves in winter by trapping snipe curlew blackbird and thrush. Last two taste delicious btw. I would sit and watch big brother strip and clean rabbits and my mother never worried about chopping off the heads of hens or ducks while we watched. Oddly however I was not allowed to watch cows give birth. Must have though it would lead to akward questions:D don't know if my lot would be quite so happy about doing same but they will eat just about anything and Bambi is our favourite :)
 
MurphysMinder said:
I saw that girl on Come Dine with Me, frightening. She also was amazed that cows had ribs! I have to confess to being a little vague about what my daughter was eating for a while. After we had seen Babe she flatly refused to eat pork, so for a few months pork became "meat". She was happy with that, and soon reverted to eating all meat with enthusiasm.
Click to expand...

Gosh that really is frightening that not only can someone over the age of 8 years old be so stupid, but also so disinterested in the world and nature.

My hubby (a farrier) once had an owner ask him what the stuff was coming off the sole that he pared with the knife - she honestly asked 'is it plastic' ? Any horse owner that believes their horse grows plastic should be sent back to school for 10 years. He loved that one - she surpassed the stupidity test :D

I agree with young children one doesn't want to emphasise that it's a 'lambkin' or 'piggy' they are eating :)
 
My aunt is the absolute worst for that kind of thing. I think her eldest son (14) now knows where meat comes from, but when he was ten we were in the supermarket and after looking suspiciously in the meat aisle, said "isn't it funny that chicken the food and chicken the animal are the same shape?" We all had to pretend to be amazed at the coincidence. :rolleyes:
 
The trouble is that big food companies and supermarkets have taken away our contact with the food we eat. You can't really blame the parents, it's not their fault if they grow up in that environment. The same goes for teachers, they don't know either; millions have lost touch. There are a couple of generations in Britain who've been brought up on processed food Birds eye, Pot noodle, Bisto, Spam, Findus, luminous green peas frozen pizzas the list is endless.

When I was younger Dad had loads of chickens and bred rabbits. We grew up with him regularly using the kitchen table as a butcher's bench. Me and my sister used to chase each other with chicken feet, pulling the tendons to make grabbing claws :o
I now live in France and rear a few ducks for the table. In France it's quite normal for people (young and old) to prepare your own. My neighbour keeps a couple or pigs for home consumption. In my area I occasionally see a handmade sign propped up outside a house "Pig killed today". My youngest Daughter went over to one of her friend's about a month ago, they all sat down to wild boar heart casserole. Things like this are just part of every day life in France and no way considered 'a bit odd' or a novelty. They are much closer to their food. It was like a home coming for me. I assume it was like this everywhere in the UK not so long ago.
 
On a visit to the farm shop, my youngest aged about 5 pointed to the dear little pink piglets and asked "how long before they're bacon?" The butcher and myself laughed and told him, the lady in queue behind drew a sharp breath and gasped "oh no!". I was really impressed with him actually!
 
When my girls were toddlers,they were helping us feed the cade lambs.Sadly,one had died so I told the girls what had happened,hoping we wouldn't have tears,and the eldest said 'Are we going to eat it'. There wouldn't have been much on it.:D

My youngest is very proficient at plucking pheasants and isn't too squeamish to drop the crayfish she has caught into a pan of boiling water.

My mum tells me that when I was small,I opened my gran's fridge and was surprised to see milk in bottles.I asked why her milk didn't come from cows, like ours did.I didn't drink bottled/pasturized milk until I started work.
 
When I was very small, my Dad used to come home with dead things and make them into food. My parents, tried to shield me from this reality and would send me to bed before he did anything to them.

It was only when they caught me climbing out the window to watched, aged something like 4, they gave in and let me play. I've been cutting up internal organs of animals ever since.

It's amazing how many people I can put off meat for life by pulling out a dead animal and turning it into food. But I say to them, if you can't start with an animal and end with something a supermarket would sell, you have no right to be eating it at all.

Harsh, but I think this thread proves what happens when you don't!
 
One episode of come dine with me a man asked what mangy tout was...

It was mange tout!!!! I now call it mangy tout as found it so hilarious, although have recieved strange looks from fellow shoppers when discussing it with OH.
 
If you had asked my 3 year old granddaughter what her favourite meal was she would have replied dead lamb and tatties. Now she is 10 and still knows what her food is and where it comes from. Grandpa milks cows for a living now
 
Alec Swan said:
I agree, and though this is a shift of axis, a plea to ALL MOTHERS, please, don't do as your forbearers, and just teach the girls how to cook, teach the boys too.

I left my home, when still a child, and a frying pan was a mystery to me. As for cooking, well that was beyond any comprehension. I muddled by, I married, the wife at the time took off, and the void was unbelievable.

I was 36 before I was forced, through necessity, to learn how to cook a proper meal.

The current DG taught both of her boys how to cook, from when they were in their early teens, and believe me, they are nifty around the kitchen.

There are still too many mothers who say "Come out of the way, I'll do it". Sorry, but there are.

Far too many men are totally reliant upon women, without good reason. I'll accept that the reverse is probably true, also! :p:p

Alec.
Click to expand...

This is so true (for both sexes). My mother was professional and over zealous housewife, who wouldn't let us near the kitchen, and we were all useless (male and female) when we left home. Best advice I got was that children love to help, and not to stop them (which we tend to do because it's easier to do it ourselves).
 
Crugeran Celt said:
I was amazed when my 14 year old son came home to say he was starting to do cookery in school then announced that they were making a 'bacon sandwich' so had to take in a roll and some bacon! It gets better, they were then going to make sausage rolls and had to take in ready rolled pastry and some sausage meat. It's laughable, they take in ready to make cake mixes which they add water and eggs to make the cakes. Luckily my mum is a great cake maker and has taught my son to do it, he makes the best welsh cakes and pancakes. I have taught him the savoury side of things and he makes a great chilli. One day he will make someone a good husband, he hoovers the house too but does draw the line at ironing. I will work on that.:D
Click to expand...

Same here -My son spent his first two hour session on milkshakes - mixing branded powder & milk and another session on sausage rolls as above.
I refused to supply ingredients after those lessons as we could not eat the products (intolerances). I was told they did not have the equipment or resources to cook from scratch so I wrote out and gave them some recipes and worksheets they could use which would allow techniques to be taught. Pastry is easy & cheap to make and jam tarts from scratch easily fit in a lesson -if they don't have tart tins make jam pasties instead or use apple slices.
Of course it helps if the teacher has any clue.
As a helper I took in salad produce and we made salads - many children had never seen a lettuce.
 
A few weeks ago I was putting a chicken in the oven when our 3 year old daughter asked what I had done to Albert (Albert is our cockerel) explained it wasn't Albert, was amazed myself she knew that the dressed bird was a chicken, she alway's helps me in the kitchen also helpins look after animals, and watches me gutting and dressing Game. She would put some adults to shame
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top