Legendary Australian chef, author and TV personality Donna Hay says the solution to childhood obesity epidemic is to teach children to cook.
The most recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data showed that in 2022 more than a quarter of Australian children and adolescents aged two to 17 were either overweight or obese, with 66 per cent of adults over 18 also either overweight or obese.
But Hay said a way to tackle the issue, was to teach children to cook with healthy ingredients.
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“You need to grow up and be an adult who knows how to cook,” Hay said.
“Kids need to be involved in their own dinner. I often like to make rice paper rolls and prep the ingredients and get the kids to make their own,” Donna explained.
“Kids love baking and sweets but getting them involved in creating healthy meals is a good way to get them eating healthier.”
Hay said she did not understand why people walked into the supermarket and focused on the meat component of their meals first, rather than the vegetable section.
“Why do we go to the most expensive section first, vegetables are cheaper and better for us?”
She said shopped according to what products were in season and centred many of her meals around vegetables — such as a roasted cauliflower salad with meat on the side — rather than making meat the focus.
The celebrity cook was raised on a heavy vegetable diet growing up due to her grandmother’s vegetable patch.
She said that vegetables could be exciting and delicious and suggested people start designing their dinner around vegetables rather than the animal protein component.
Hay’s comments come as she released her new cookbook Too Easy, which is about the simple shortcuts you can make while still creating delicious food.
Her 27 books have sold more than seven million copies worldwide, been translated into 10 different languages, and her television cooking shows have brought her signature style to life for viewers in more than 14 countries.