Would taxing junk food work?

[Andy HB]

Because when they go home there uneducated parent has chicken nuggets and chips on the table waiting for them,I say tackle the parents when there kids are at a early age,they after all will be cooking for there kid for the first 10 years or so of there lifes.

Good point. Perhaps both kids and parents need to be tackled in different ways.

Andy 🙂

 

[Steff]

as there is no way i want him to end up like me! He loves his veg and fruits and thankfully is not at all keen on chips.

Jeni thats exactly why i make sure my son has a balanced diet,I look at myself and think look what you have done to you dont do that to your son.Despite my other half dispising anything remotely green looking my son loves his veg and fruit and thats through me and his m.i.l distilling it into him about good foods.

 

[Andrew]

Junk Food

I ended up in McDonalds the other morning - early, (left my phone at home - accelerator cable broke) a woman walked in with 3 kids and said what do you want this morning, from the staffs greeting it would seem that they are there evey day at the same time - this is education! she was driving a new BMW.


by the way the letterr 'R' does not always work on my computer - one day my finger is going to hit the table!

 

[Andrew]

Education

When I was at school --- after we came out of the caves,
boys did wood work and metal work
girls did domestic science (my wife goes nuts at the food technology term) and needle work, tasks divided by sex.
however I knew a gorgous gil who could burn anything - I know that she lives out of take aways - she has a Phd in chemisty of some form so she is not thick but can not cook to save her life!


(A food technologist can tell you the alteration in the chemical state of the food they are treating - domestic science teachers only know how to cook and make ill conceived statements) sayath my wife

 

[Northerner]

I ended up in McDonalds the other morning - early, (left my phone at home - accelerator cable broke) a woman walked in with 3 kids and said what do you want this morning, from the staffs greeting it would seem that they are there evey day at the same time - this is education! she was driving a new BMW.


by the way the letterr 'R' does not always work on my computer - one day my finger is going to hit the table!

I have that problem with the letter 'o' Andrew!

I think your story illustrates the excuse/reason a lot of people seem to give - that they don't have time (often coupled with the comment that it's too expensive). My grandma had 11 brothers and 11 sisters, yet my great grandma managed to feed them all on a shoestring. My great aunt was still doing a full bake at the age of 88, including making her own bread which is quite physical work. The children would help! It seems nowadays that a lot of children just get convenience food and do not participate in the preparation of the food, whereas this is something they could surely do from an early age and the whole process becomes much more manageable.

I saw a young mother on the tv last night realling off a list of conveninece foods and prices and you could tell she honestly believed that pre-prepared food was cheaper than food she could make herself, and moreover that she had no choice because how else was she going to manage to feed her family? 🙄

 

[Andrew]

Childhood treatment and education

I sufferd from Asthma very badley until age 17, to the point where I went to Brompton hostpital 4 times a year for years - testing Asthma drugs - Intal was the first.
But my mother encouraged me to rest every time I had an attack - and taught me to read -- I was then left to read rather than play out and exercise -- because my asthma was so bad and getting worse- Age 12 I was about the same weight I am now, 14 stone, and a bit round.

My mothers educational level was little betterr than you would leave primary school with now (lived in a rural area just out side bristol though the war) - but I have to assume that she was doing her best with what she knew, and was advised to do at the time
(she will take as gospal anything a vicar or Dr say).
cooking style basic english and vesta! now I feel there is little excuse for lack of knowledge, even if you can not read you can watch ready steady cook!!

I guess this is a contribution towards diabetes

 

[Andrew]

Supermarke shop

Hi

you saying that reminds me - the other day coming out of Morrrisons I was behind a woman who had a large trolley full of frozen ready meals 150.00 worth, enough to fill a freezer

another one was saying to her kids no you can not have a bar of chocolate - we can not afford it - then to the shop assistant on the counter 200 cigarettes!

I have that problem with the letter 'o' Andrew!

I think your story illustrates the excuse/reason a lot of people seem to give - that they don't have time (often coupled with the comment that it's too expensive). My grandma had 11 brothers and 11 sisters, yet my great grandma managed to feed them all on a shoestring. My great aunt was still doing a full bake at the age of 88, including making her own bread which is quite physical work. The children would help! It seems nowadays that a lot of children just get convenience food and do not participate in the preparation of the food, whereas this is something they could surely do from an early age and the whole process becomes much more manageable.

I saw a young mother on the tv last night realling off a list of conveninece foods and prices and you could tell she honestly believed that pre-prepared food was cheaper than food she could make herself, and moreover that she had no choice because how else was she going to manage to feed her family? 🙄

 

[vince13]

I saw a young mother on the tv last night realling off a list of conveninece foods and prices and you could tell she honestly believed that pre-prepared food was cheaper than food she could make herself, and moreover that she had no choice because how else was she going to manage to feed her family? 🙄

Saw the same young lady interviewed, Alan, - how very ignorant she came across I felt. I'm sure she really believed what she was saying but - well, words fail me (well, almost - that'll be the day eh ?)

 

[Nicky1970]

I'm not sure that taxing junk food would work. Duty rises on cigarettes and alcohol fail to deter the diehards, so why would taxing junk food have any effect?
As for the whole convenience vs homemade meal debate I think it's probably cheaper to cook from scratch and freeze but then I work from home. Time, as well as money is a factor in many households.

 

[RachelT]

The only way you can stop people from eating junk food is to stop selling it full stop. I'm as guilty as anyone, cooking and tidying up afterwards seems like an awful lot of effort for just me. I like vegetables, but i can't work up the enthusiasm to prepare or cook them. I work full time and i'm tired when i get home from work, it's much much easier for me to pick up a ready meal on the way home rather than cook food from scratch. I'm not alone, i bet there's lots of people out there who have the same routine. (I'd like to point out that i haven't been near McDonalds in months...i've missed my chip ration this week due to illness too, i'm also off chocolate bars thanks to this annoying problem i have with regulating my blood sugar...grrrr.) I'm not likely to change my habits drastically unless all the ready meals suddenly disappear off the shelves, or i win the lottery (which i'll have to enter first) and employ a chef/personal trainer.
But Northy's right (oh, how may times have i written that? 🙂) there isn't enough, free, accessible support for people who would like to have a healthier lifestyle. Weightwatchers and slimming world cost money, as doe gym memberships, as well as requiring the right kind of motivation, they're not for everyone. The supermarkets all have diet clubs/schemes too, but they take time and money and organisation to follow, as well as will power. Busy parents might not have the time for this when they've got kids to look after.
Even if you are cookery loving foodie it's not much better. Weirdly i quite like watching cookery shows on tv (after all, i don't have to do any work in preparation, clean up afterwards and i don't even have to eat the stuff!) and we've got a constant supply of cookbooks sold at work. It's all made with the best possible quality fat, sugar and god knows what else. Yes, Nigella, i'm talking to you, you're terribly glamourous and i admire your enthusiasm but you never cook with Splenda! Does Jamie Oliver ever break out a jar of Canderel? Does Gordon Ramsey ever use low fat spread when he could use butter? Ever seen semi-skimmed or skimmed milk on Delia Smith? I don't think so.
But if you ban junk food you're curtailing people's rights to eat what they like, and putting a heck of a lot of people out of jobs.
I think the best solution would be for somebody to create a chain of fast food take-aways which served healthy, fresh food. I don't care who, maybe Jamie Oliver's up for a challenge?
Incidentally i did "Home Economics" at school, as did the boys, but the healthiest thing i remember cooking was goulash.

Rachel

 

[grufflybear]

Eating habits and perception of food is an issue, a problem, which will only truly be dealt with by instilling a sense of the importance of good diet and a basic understanding of how to create a balanced diet. We have had many years of celebrity chefs prancing about telling us how to cook and it seems to have an inverse effect on the eating habits of Joe Public, I almost feel that some people think they will be healthy eaters through some osmosis via the telly which will magically transform the mulch they shovel down their necks.
I am, just, past my middle years and my friends and I are from the "old" world where we sat on chairs at mealtimes and ate with a knife, fork and spoon, we ate food at appointed times provided by a traditional female parent who worked hard to hunt down this food at local shops, chop it up, prepare it and feed it to us. This much loved female parent learned her trade at the apron strings of her her own much loved female parent. Now that didn't work for everybody but people had to find a way round it because you just couldn't buy prepared meals, packaged food was thus in order to preserve it rather than present it for consumption.
As a culture, despite all the stuff on telly we have lost our instinct and respect for food in the daily desperate gallop through lives filled with everything else.
Oh dear I am rambling on in a rosy memory of my own fortunate, if simple, upbringing.
To get back to the question I have to say no, I think it would be a disaster to tax "unhealthy" foods, all that would happen is a manufacturers race to package the same muck processed in a different way so that it met regulations. OK that could help some people but would it ever really restart the cultural habit of eating decent basic ingredients in moderation in the context of everybody's insanely busy life... remember all the mums who threw burgers over the wall to their children at one of the school trying Jamie's new system. There is a huge cultural resistance and I suspect that a great wail of complaint would arise that the government is taxing their childrens' food.
My mum was not the world's cleverest cook but she was proud to be a home maker and feed her family properly on a very tight budget, and it very often took no longer to prepare than it does to open a ready made trough of fatty gunge and microwave it.

Not sure if I am clever enough to express in writing what I feel passionately inside but will post anyway, if for no better reason than to remember mum and be grateful for the era into which I was born. 🙂

 

[Northerner]

...Not sure if I am clever enough to express in writing what I feel passionately inside but will post anyway, if for no better reason than to remember mum and be grateful for the era into which I was born. 🙂

Nonsense, you're on good form! 🙂 Same in my household, plus my dad would make his famous stew about once a month! 🙂

 

[grufflybear]

Thank you Northerner, my birthday today and they seem to be coming thick and fast these days so I am very much reflecting on all that was, and is good in my life, and very thankful for my own little slice of it and those who add to it.

 

[Northerner]

Thank you Northerner, my birthday today and they seem to be coming thick and fast these days so I am very much reflecting on all that was, and is good in my life, and very thankful for my own little slice of it and those who add to it.

Happy birthday! Hope it's a good one! 🙂

 

[Steff]

Many happy returns Gruffly have a good day x

 

[grufflybear]

Thank you, having very healthy picnic at a favourite country haunt to celebrate

 

[Robster65]

I'm a bit late into this debate but I agree with several comments. I'm always sceptical about how accurate nostalgia is. We tend to believe that things were better in our day, but I suppose the absence of convenience foods made healthier cooking a necessity rather than a choice. We had fish fingers and burgers which were probably full of more muck than they are these days but we also had 'good, wholesome food' too and played out a lot. Something else that's needed to process the extremely high calorie intake of pre packaged food.

I suppose there are just too many other things to be doing (TV, internet, etc) rather than stand cooking. I don't think lack of education is an excuse, nor the seemingly lower costs. It's just more convenient to open a packet, wait 5 minutes until you hear the 'ping'.

As has been said, there's a lot of cultural resistance and I think Jamie has done a lot to try and break down that resistance but the industry is too big and lucrative to let things change without a fight. As has also been said, while ever it's on sale, at whatever price, it will always be bought.

Rob

 

[Robster65]

ps. Happy Birthday Gruffly !

Rob

 

[Steff]

I'm a bit late into this debate but I agree with several comments. I'm always sceptical about how accurate nostalgia is. We tend to believe that things were better in our day, but I suppose the absence of convenience foods made healthier cooking a necessity rather than a choice. We had fish fingers and burgers which were probably full of more muck than they are these days but we also had 'good, wholesome food' too and played out a lot. Something else that's needed to process the extremely high calorie intake of pre packaged food.

I suppose there are just too many other things to be doing (TV, internet, etc) rather than stand cooking. I don't think lack of education is an excuse, nor the seemingly lower costs. It's just more convenient to open a packet, wait 5 minutes until you hear the 'ping'.

As has been said, there's a lot of cultural resistance and I think Jamie has done a lot to try and break down that resistance but the industry is too big and lucrative to let things change without a fight. As has also been said, while ever it's on sale, at whatever price, it will always be bought.

Rob

Yeah Jamie has always been an advocate for getting kids off junk food and on to healthy food but as you say i think junk food will always come out on top.I remember watching one of his shows where he showed kids some veg half did not know what cabbage was for example,but show a kid a Mcdonalds wrapper or a Burger king sign and they will spot it from 1000 miles.

 

[Blythespirit]

Thank you Northerner, my birthday today and they seem to be coming thick and fast these days so I am very much reflecting on all that was, and is good in my life, and very thankful for my own little slice of it and those who add to it.

Happy Birthday Grufflybear. I hope it stayed dry for your picnic.

Can I just add here how much I enjoy your posts? Always sensible, well thought out and hearfelt.

I too come from an era of home cooked meals and everyone sitting down together to eat the same thing. My mum was a very basic cook and not the most adventurous, but she taught me good habits that I hope I've passed on to my 3 children. In turn my eldest daughter is now teaching my 3 year old grandson the basics so hopefully it will continue. I've had many happy hours making tasty meals with my mum, children and grandson. The readymeal and takeaway families don't know what they are missing. In more ways than one. XXXXX