Mummy, What's This? Easy Ways To Teach Your Child About The Food On Their Plate

The UK's business secretary recently announced plans to set up technology and innovation centres across the country, with the aim of developing innovative technology methods and boosting the UK economy as a result.

Whilst finding ways to boost the UK economy is undoubtedly very important, more so now than at any other time in the last 20 years, if we get lost in money making schemes, we'll likely lose sight of the other side of life's coin – the social wellbeing of the UK population.

It might all seem very dramatic, but it really doesn't have to be. One simple way to ensure that we boost the UK economy and look after future generations, is to teach children about where their food comes from, what seasonal means and what Britain has to offer.

Children soak up information like small but very absorbent sponges and if you're genuinely interested in something, children will pick up on it and they'll inevitably be interested too. Think about how many professional chefs you've heard cite their Mums or Grandmas as their cooking inspirations – this is no coincidence, the life skills children learn at home are just as important as the academic and social skills they learn at school.

A great place to start when teaching your children about where their food comes from is to take them on a farm visit. At least five days before your visit, fill in a food diary with your child, writing down exactly what the family eats each day. When your diary's complete, there are plenty of farms across the UK that offer visits and matching what you eat with where it's come from can be a really fun activity for all.

If you've eaten a vegetable that's out of season in the UK, you won't be able to find it at the farm and this will be an invaluable lesson in buying British for you and your family. Visual learning is really important and as soon as your child knows for example, what a cow or pig looks like, that's when you can teach them that cottage pie, beef burgers and milk come from cows and bacon, sausages and pork chops come from pigs.

The second stage is to get them involved with the cooking – this might fill you with absolute horror when the alternative is keeping them out of the way with cartoons and toast with jam, but in the long run it'll be worth it – promise! Obviously it wouldn't be safe to let a three year old loose on chopping the onion but kneading dough for a homemade pizza base or putting the components of a lasagne together under supervision, are safe and simple ways to get them interested.

Starting with a homemade pizza is a great idea – children love to get messy and when there's floury dough involved, mess and chaos are definitely on the cards! Choosing toppings is a fantastic way of explaining what every day items are, where they come from and what they taste like.

Finally, do another food diary after a few weeks and see how much you and your child have learnt and most importantly, keep it up – doing these things once won't have a great effect but getting your child involved in cooking on a weekly basis will be make for an informed child that will support seasonal British produce and hopefully pass their knowledge and passion for healthy, sustainable and delicious food onto their children.

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