Shokuiku- What is Food Education? Why it is so important for Malaysian?

When I was still in middle school, one of my most memorable memories would be the annual children’s camp where we would encourage children to prepare a meal from scratch. I still remember how picky-eating children would enjoy their meals even if it doesn’t taste good because the dishes were their hard work.

During the olden days, child would need to know how to plant vegetables and cook themselves. In contrast, children nowadays are being pampered so well that their parents would only want them to study well. The lack of involvement in the food preparation in turn made them into picky-eating children that does not how to appreciate food.

Does your Child Have Picky Eating Habits?

Many adults tend to complain about how their children being picky-eaters and love to eat junk food over fruits and vegetables. However, they did not know that this behaviour is actually highly affected by their parents, as parents are their children’s role model. For instance, children that don’t eat breakfast likely would have parents that don’t eat breakfast themselves.

Instead of telling your children about the benefits of eating their veggies, try to involve them in the “from farm to table” process. This is what we know as food education.

What is Food Education?

The so-called “food education” is to educate children and parents to understand food from its source, processing and cooking process. It also covers nutrition, how to identify food packaging, the relationship between food and disease, and more. Education in different countries emphasizes different parts. For example, Japan puts special emphasis on the health of traditional ingredients, France emphasizes sensory identification of food, and Taiwan focuses on parent-child relationships. Ultimately, there is only one purpose: to let children know the importance of healthy eating from an early age.

How important exactly is food education? Let us look at Malaysia’s data. Do you know that the prevalence of childhood obesity has been increasing over the years? Not to mention that the trend of individual having chronic diseases has slowly become younger. Now look around your friends and relatives how many of them actually practice a balanced diet? It is not exaggerated to say that if food education imparts from young it can help the nation to reduce medical expenses. This is because they are more health conscious.

According to the information we found, many people around the world have already discovered the importance of food education. Broadly speaking: Food education is all education about food. From food production, collection, purchase, processing, cooking, eating process, nutrient absorption to waste recycling, they are all part of food education.

Food Education Should Cover the Aspects of

1. Nutritious Meals in Schools

For example: Japan experienced economic depression after post-war. The school found that the children did not bring their lunch boxes, so they prepared lunch boxes for the children. The bento at that time consisted of rice, pickled vegetables and fish. Later, while the economic conditions gradually improved, the meals provided became more nutritious and ingredients such as milk, eggs, and bread were gradually included in the bento. Not only that, nutritionists would also visit the campus regularly to review and evaluate the effectiveness of nutritious meals. This practice enables the children to cultivate the spirit of cherishing food from an early age.

2. Country of Origin/Food Processing Factory Experience

In Taiwan, more and more schools are focusing on parent-child food education camps. During holidays, parents and children will visit the farms for several days. They get to experience the whole “from farm to table process” where they are involved in the process of growing vegetables, handpicking them, washing and cutting them, and eventually preparing the meal. After this experience, children tend to appreciate fruits and vegetables more. Although such courses are also held in schools, but many parents tend to miss out such opportunities to spend time with their children due to their busy schedule.

Malaysia’s Scenario

In 2010, the Malaysian Ministry of Health and the private sector collaborated to launch a series of health awareness activities to tackle childhood obesity. Such initiative includes incorporating correct dietary concepts into teaching activities. Unfortunately, the official website of this project has disappeared and the latest information cannot be found.

In recent years, we have seen that some primary schools have begun to carry out food education. For example, small vegetable gardens in the school were provided to involve teachers and students in growing vegetables at school. Some schools have also begun to provide nutritious meals on campus. The campus milk program in the 1990s, the breakfast program for poor students, and the law prohibiting the sale of snacks on campus are some remarkable efforts that the government has initiated. Unfortunately, it is a pity that these initiatives were not being treated seriously as the funding for these plans is insufficient and the enforcement is not strict.

There are also examples of private companies supporting food education in Malaysia. Unfortunately, these programs have received little attention and have not been implemented sustainably. It is often just one of the company’s public relations tools. This is something worth learning from: Is organizing food education just to promote the company or is it really for the benefit of students?

In 2018, the Ministry of Education regulated that operators cannot sell 13 “unhealthy” foods in canteens. These 13 categories include expired foods, toys, processed foods, candies and chocolates, pickled foods, sugary foods, foods containing rice noodles, instant noodles, kway teow, porridge, jelly and ice cream, and three-in-one instant drinks. Energy drinks, alcoholic foods, tea and coffee (for students only). However, we think that the Ministry of Health has a vague definition of processed food. For example, fish balls and crackers were both processed food however they should be treated differently. For example, traditional fish balls are made from fish and are rich in protein and DHA. Also, while sugary foods are prohibited from being sold, sugary chocolate drinks however, are allowed in schools.

Why Is It So Difficult to Promote Food Education in Malaysia?

From the Perspective of a Restaurant Owner

Healthy and balanced food requires cost. According to our observation, the cost of a balanced, nutritious and healthy lunch box is at least about RM 5. If parents are only willing to pay RM 2, how do we expect the school cafeteria to cook a healthy and nutritious meal? Some canteen operators are struggling to survive under the maximum price imposed by campus food regulations. (For example, a bowl of noodle soup is priced at RM1.60).

Attitudes of Parents and Teachers

I have seen some examples myself, when children eat nutritious meals at school. Teachers and parents were instead eating unhealthy and unbalanced meals such as fried kway teow and sweetened milk tea. Being your child’s role model how are you going to persuade your kids to fall in love with balanced, healthy food if you don’t lead a good example?

Complex Procedures

Another reason is that the food education program involves the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health. As it involves complex procedures and involves a lot of departments, it often discourages school personnel from proceeding with plans in food education.

Summary

We believe that teachers can regularly take children to visit farms and food processing plants to understand the process of “from farm to table” and participate in the entire learning process with students. In addition, the school, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, catering operators, and farmers can work closely with each other to make a sustainable food education system.