My name is The Cook and I am Middle class. There we are, I’ve admitted it. I am a graduate who works in a salaried profession. I am the son of a Teacher and a Master Mariner and I went to a minor Public (Meaning “private” for those who don’t speak fluent UK education systemeese – mad I know!) school. Just to re-enforce my Middle class credentials all four of my Grandparents were clearly Working class. Aspirational social climbers or what?
In truth I’m not entirely sure that the terms - Working class and Middle class mean much unless they are used to argue a social or political point which carries no other justification. What I do know is that income and, what most people would call, class are inescapably linked.
I came across some statistics recently that set me thinking. Between 2007 and 2011 a period of economic instability and recessions, those in the lowest 10% of income dropped their spending on fresh fruit by 15%, on fresh vegetables by 12% and increased their spending on “non carcass meat” (i.e. processed meats) by 14%, cheese by 7% and, most surprisingly of all their spend on confectionary went up by 5%. I found these numbers more than a little bit worrying. The one strange number in this report was that the same group had increased their spending on flour by 20%. I would like to think that this was caused by a massive national increase in bread making but I suspect it had more to do with the increase in the cost of flour. (Statistics are taken from the DEFRA publication “Food Statistics Pocket Book”)
The new food movements are often criticised for being the preserve of the middle class, inaccessible to those on a low income and, when I look around Farmers’ markets or even Borough Market, it is hard not to agree. These places throng with those who have a reasonable disposable income and, in the words of their critics, can afford to care where their food comes from.
The questions we need to ask ourselves is “Why is high quality, sustainable, ethical food not available to all?” and “What are the barriers to those on a low income enjoying the benefits of the slow and sure move towards more sensible food production?”
My Grandmother, a working class woman if ever there was, would no more think of buying a ready meal than of flying unaided but she always fed my Grandfather (a Foundry worker)well through the depression and through wartime rationing. They were, for most of their lives, on a very low income. Grandad would turn up to work and only then find out, at the foundry gate, if he was needed for that day. Incidentally, in her later years, by dint of very sensible financial opportunities taken, she had a substantial disposable income but she would still buy sweets from the Jar by the quarter pound - “I’m not paying for all those wrappers” she would say.
Many observers would point to the fact that many of those on a low income lack the skills and knowledge to cook from scratch and there is more than a grain of truth here but it is not just those on a low income who cannot make a simple meal. As a nation, we are increasingly regarding cooking as a spectator sport. It is aparently fine to watch chefs and cooks who have come from very different backgrounds cooking healthy and delicious meals from sustainable, seasonal ingredients and not then expect anyone to cook with love and invention for those who they are feeding - much better to reach for the ready meal made goodnesss only knows where containing goodness only knows what. This is not a class or income issue this is an issue of national culture.
Formal education has a part to play – first we need to take Food out of the Technology syllabus and use the fabulous Food (Technology) teachers we have in nearly every school in the country as the awesome resource that they are. These are people who love food so much that they have decided to make a career out of helping others to cook and feed themselves. We need to set these teachers free to teach about the love of food as well as the technical aspects like nutrition and food safety.
In combination with this we need to re-engage with our food history. We have an amazingly rich food heritage in this country and we need to tap into this or it will be lost. There must be a weath of people (of a "certain" age) in the UK with the knowledge and skills to cook well which will be lost as they pass away.
Finally a return to an understanding of seasonality would mean that we not only get more local produce but we would get it at its best and at its least expensive. You really don't need stawberries at Christmas, and if you do want to eat them at Christmas, make jam or better still, a Rumtopf.
This is all acheivable and will cost less than the Public Relations bill after the next food scandal.
If you still believe that some outdated notion of "class" is the barrier to enjoying real food and engaging with the growing passion for knowing about what we eat then I just need to mention one name: Natalie Coleman. This young woman is brilliant, a self taught cook and self confessed "proper cockney" who has recently won Masterchef ("The quest to find Britain's best amateur chef"). She cooked with passion, sophistication, skill and love, oh, and did I mention she was brilliant!
