Jenny Ridgwell

Tag: cookery lessons

  • Which countries study Home Ec?

    Which countries study Home Ec?

    Food teaching has so many titles around the world, it’s hard to know where it is taught. It’s called home economics, home and consumer studies, food and health, food & nutrition, consumer studies, and food technology as part of Design & technology.

    ChatGPT says ‘It’s reasonable to estimate that at least 100 countries teach some form of home economics/domestic science (or equivalent) at some level.

    In Sweden the subject is known as Home and Consumer Studies

    Finland has a long history of home economics/household economics education

    Austria offers Nutrition and Household

    In Japan, the subject Home Economics appears in school curricula.

    In India many education boards offer Home Science

    In Indonesia, home economics is described as Family Training and Welfare

    Canada does not always have a clearly labelled Home Economics subject

    Other countries teach some food studies – Iceland, Denmark,

    Singapore – Food & Consumer Education / Nutrition & Food Science

    New Zealand – Home Economics

    Mauritius – Home Economics

    Ghana – Home Economics

    Tanzania – Home Economics

    Namibia – Home Economics

    USA – Home Economics

  • Cream horns – the precis

    Cream horns – the precis

    Cream horns and Vol au Vents is the follow-up from my I Taught Them to Cook book.
    It’s about teaching cookery in an east London comprehensive school in the 1970s. I’m twenty-four, in charge of a department, single and live in a grim bedsit.

    Readers asked

    ‘What happens in Jenny’s love life?’
    There are three men in the mix.

    ‘What happens to the students? Did they pass their exams?’
    Some did some didn’t.

    We hurtle into the second year.
    -I arrive at school to find my cookers stolen.
    -More boys register for my classes.
    -The head wants exam improvements from last year.
    -There are new, surprising initiatives to teach – Anti-Smoking and Sex Education – challenging for a young, single teacher with Benson and Hedges cigarettes hidden in my handbag.

    London in the 70s bursts with new foods, unusual restaurants, ever-changing fashions, and energetic music. I need to shed my pink nylon overall, get out and find a partner.
    But 1974 is the year of the Three-Day Week, electricity blackouts, and soaring inflation. Does that matter? Not really to me – young and on a mission.

    Reviewers said of I Taught Them to Cook –

    ‘I read this book all in one greedy gulp’

    ‘This wonderful memoir transports you back to London in the seventies’

    ‘I loved it. Can’t wait for the next instalment.’

    ‘The descriptions of the food are tremendously evocative.’

  • Corned beef story

    Corned beef story

    Anyone ever lost one of these?

    Boys were especially good at breaking the keys on their tins.

    You can read the story on this link.

  • Cooking with stork

    Cooking with stork

    Have you noticed Stork is not called margarine?

    My story of teaching with Stork is on this link.

    It was the start of the famous All in one method, which exam boards didn’t like – not skillful enough!

    It’s one of the stories in my next book

    Cream Horns and Vol au Vents – ready November 2025

  • Peas please

    Peas please

    Teaching Peas and making Pea risotto.

    Remember the Bird’s Eye advert?

    Sweet as the moment when the pods went pop.

    Read the full story on this link

  • Drinka pinta milka day

    Drinka pinta milka day

    The Drinka Pinta Milka day campaign was launched in 1958 to encourage every adult in Britain to drink a pint a day. The ads emphasized milk’s nutritional benefits – providing calcium and protein for growth, and strong bones and teeth. It was seen on TV, in magazines, and on billboards. 

    In 2025 in the UK we drink 170 ml a day of milk compared with 400 ml in 1974. Do you know why?

    • We eat fewer cereals for breakfast,
    • Plant based milks such as soy, almond, and oat plant milks are popular
    • The cost of milk is rising and people are concerned about health and animal welfare issues.

    For my book Cream Horns and … I’ve written about my class trip to the National Dairy Council. Big posters lined the wall encouraging milk and cheese consumption. It’s on this link.

  • Dave Smith and his drawings

    Dave Smith and his drawings

    Dave Smith has done some wonderful drawings in the hardback edition of I taught them to cook and for Cream Horns and Vol au Vents

    These some images that food teachers like:-

    ‘No help in the Practical exam’
    Fodd teacher Simon said –
    It reminds me of running so many catering exams with half classes of 12 students making 3 dishes each in 3hrs! I felt like a fireman on standby, a paramedic waiting for his first patient and a counsellor consoling students in tears when their gateaux came out as flat as a pancake and would double up as a spare tyre for a Go-cart. Such Fun!!!
    Sara wrote
    ‘This reminds of me and my best friend in school when we did A level food and so much of many of the girls I’ve taught over the years.‘
    Liza –
    ‘It’s got to be Angel Delight!!! A favourite in my house and for me growing up. ‘
    Elizabeth –
    ‘Angel Delight is my favourite – it takes my straight back to my teenage years and I can almost taste the butterscotch. ‘
    Food Teacher Manda –
    ‘I’ve had a really tough half term and this is exactly how I’ve felt for most of it! I loved your book! I found it inspiring. I read it over the summer and it gave me great motivation to persevere with the new phase in my teaching career.
    Food Teacher Andrea –
    ‘Having had no practicals last year I am truly exhausted each night after running round all day doing back to back practicals!‘
    ‘We want to cook – not do theory!’
    Food Teacher Heather
    ‘This is my favourite image in your book and made me laugh as it sums up what kids are like most of the time in the classroom when you tell them they are doing theory.
    So many people have the impression that Home Economics is easy and you just do cooking.
    So they think it is ideal for those who are not academic, whereas we actually do as much theory as practical and you end up with pupils looking like the person in the picture.‘
    ‘A mouse was watching me cook’
    Food teacher Adele –
    ‘A couple of years ago my school had all of the heating pipes & radiators replaced .
    They left holes in walls where they shouldn’t have been. We got some new pets in the form of mice.‘
    Food teacher Bea – liked the mouse story and said
    ‘I wonder how many circles we have gone around and how many things we are starting to do that you used to and then went out of fashion!!!‘
    Food teacher Becky
    ‘I love the drawing of the mini. I just adore them – I’ve got one now.‘