Bring Back Home Economics Education

HOME ECONOMICS, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS DOMEStic education, was a fixture in secondary schools through the 1960s, at least for girls. The underlying concept was that future homemakers should be educated in the care and feeding of their families. This idea now seems quaint, but in the midst of a pediatric obesity epidemic and concerns about the poor diet quality of adolescents in the United States, instruction in basic food preparation and meal planning skills needs to be part of any long-term solution. About 35% of adolescents are overweight or obese, a prevalence that approaches 50% in minority populations. Excessive weight among youth affects virtually every organ system and, according to a recent study, increases the risk of premature death. In addition, obesity adversely affects selfesteem, academic accomplishment, and future earning potential of children. Programs meant to address obesity in youth have achieved limited success. Some localities have begun to screen students with body mass index (BMI) “report cards,” formed innovative relationships with farmers to supplement the school lunch with local produce, and enacted moratoriums on locating new fast food establishments in their neighborhoods. But powerful forces undermine these efforts, such as the ubiquitous advertising of foods and beverages high in calories and low in nutrient content. Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign—with its emphasis on improving the quality of food and beverage in the schools and the community—is a welcome and historic step. However, better choices in schools will ultimately have limited effects if children do not have the ability to make better choices in the outside-school world, where they spend the majority of their time when young and which they inhabit when older. If children are raised to feel uncomfortable in the kitchen, they will be at a disadvantage for life. Two recent reports underscore the urgency of this situation. One story focusing on impoverished areas of the South Bronx identified a novel phenomenon in the United States: the coexistence of food insecurity and obesity in the same families and sometimes in the same individual. This “obesityhunger paradox” arises not only from lack of nutritious, affordable alternatives to fast food, but also from lack of knowledge about how to prepare nutritious food at home with inexpensive basic ingredients. At the other extreme, highend kitchen appliances now feature “smart” options for cookies, chicken nuggets, and omelets, allowing those with minimal cooking skills to prepare dishes or entire meals with the push of a button. Although the optimal diet for obesity and chronic disease prevention remains the subject of investigation, broad consensus exists regarding the benefits of home-prepared meals. Research suggests that frequent consumption of restaurant food, take-out food, and prepared snacks lowers dietary quality and promotes weight gain, and that food preparation by adolescents and young adults may have the opposite effect by displacing poor choices made outside the home. The increase in consumption of meals and snacks prepared away from home, now exceeding one-third of total calories among children and adolescents, appears related to the obesity epidemic. Even more than before, parents and caregivers today cannot be expected or relied on to teach children how to prepare healthy meals. Many parents never learned to cook and instead rely on restaurants, take-out food, frozen meals, and packaged food as basic fare. Many children seldom experience what a true home-cooked meal tastes like, much less see what goes into preparing it. Work schedules and child extracurricular programs frequently preclude involving children in food shopping and preparation. The family dinner has become the exception rather than the rule. To improve education about food, it is not necessary to bring back the classic home economics coursework, replete with gender-specific stereotypes. Rather, girls and boys should be taught the basic principles they will need to feed themselves and their families within the current food environment: a version of hunting and gathering for the 21st century. Through a combination of pragmatic instruction, field trips, and demonstrations, this curriculum would aim to transform meal preparation from an intimidating chore into a manageable and rewarding pur-