Cookery lessons in Polish education.

I've just read this article about cookery lessons in English schools and it made me think about how, gradually, cooking lessons in schools all over the UK have faded out of the curriculum.

How much does home cooking/cookery lessons feature in the Polish school curriculum? Is it more than the one hour per week like suggested for English schools? Is it an optional lesson? Do the schools provide the ingredients for each thing to be made or are students expected to provide for themselves?

One of the reasons I ask is that I wonder how much of an influence cooking in schools actually has on cooking at home. Most of the Polish people I know here still cook mostly everything from scratch. I haven't asked any of them these questions yet, I thought I'd ask here first :)

It doesn't.

I should say that I've never heard about it in Wroclaw.

i used to do Home Ec. classes in school

Now that does surprise me, I wasn't expecting that answer. It used to be here that the girls did cooking (and sewing etc) and the boys did woodwork/metal work but that stopped (years ago) because it was sexist apparently.

Do you think there's a reason it wouldn't appear as part of the educational system, even as an optional subject?



In Poland?

I used to have them here in the UK but they were never up to much. Now I cook because I like it.

here they cut it out mainly because of $$$. i cook even though i have never had formal training.. i just love to cook and eat. :))

I find it very sad to fail on exams on bigos.

Possible reasons:
Schools can't afford it
It doesn't fit into the already intense curriculem [sp?]
It's one of those things that can be taught at home

Because this thread isn't quite what I wanted it to be about, I'll post something along the lines of what I was thinking of.

I saw in a local college brochure (prospectus is a bit too grand a name for this particular establishment), they have a course called 'Speak Italian - Cook Italian' If only the word Italian had been Polish instead.


With hindsight, I should have done cookery - years later I found cooking to be one of my favourite things in life, I was terrible at woodwork, and blah blah blah something about the young donkey being surrounded by girls blah blah blah! No, I wouldn't have done needlework.

Can this stuff really be taught at school?
UK - home economics (silly name) > bad food
Poland - no home economics > very good food

The first two I imagine are true. Budgets get spent on other things but are they really as important as a practical skill like cooking? The same goes with the curriculum, more academic subjects suddenly become more important but I don't think that's a good thing. A practical skill like cooking has many uses.

In the UK I think it is rarely taught at home now. Quick foods like oven cook pizza and micro meals become the norm.

Hopefully it is still something taught at home in Poland, if not, then it's something that should be put back into school education.

Here I have to agree.

i disagree... that's not a subject for school unless one wants to be a chef and then they have plenty of those type of academies.


i agree there though. teaches one flexibility, attention to details, experimenting etc..

Yes, really I meant that it should be taught from the basics up. Becoming a chef is something more.



I agree.

and that's the part i disagree with... there are way too many things to be learned in school as it is.. cooking could possibly be an elective but it boils down to budgets. i think it should be tought at home just like sex ed. and it ain't happening. :(

There are far too many things to be learned, the curriculum becomes congested. I find it sad that in order to bring in more "modern" subjects, basic cooking loses out. Cooking should be taught at home, I agree with that, however, it doesn't happen, like you say. Why does that happen? Parents are too busy with other things? Careers?

So it's probably a good thing that they try to re-introduce it to English education, but I think Poland (and other countries) should learn from this.

is cooking useful in furthering a kids knowledge? to some extent yes but then some other important subject will suffer. i learned cooking by cooking.. anyone can do that.. i can't even fathom how boring a class about cooking would be.


you nailed it why it won't really help.. the kid (eventual adult) will not have time to cook either.

Well, yes I think it does. I won't deny, cooking classes when I had them at school were not exciting but I think that at school kids find a lot of subjects boring. I basically learned cooking by cooking too but many kids won't do that. School would give them a basic start. I hope.

OK, other subjects may suffer but who really says they are more important. The current English idea is one hour a week for one term. I think that's a start at least.



I work a long, hard week but still have time for cooking on my days off. Plus sometimes in the evening after work, it's relaxing to cook something from scratch, concentrating on cooking something can break the stress of the day. Anyway, that's slightly off-topic.

I think there's a place in education for learning the basic skills of cooking.

nah in UK i chose to take the subject in the choices you undertake hun..

why not in extracurricular activity instead? i often cook for my boy scout troop. they all love it so do i. dual purpose and no time from other important activities is sacrificied. :)