Mothers have lost cooking skills, says star of MasterChef

They just don’t pass them on any more – Roux

GROWING up, he watched his mother prepare meals from scratch, and his earliest memories include the smells of pastry baking, sugar caramelizing and stews cooking.

But celebrity chef Michel Roux Jnr, 55, says many youngsters will never experience similar joys because two generations of working mothers have relied on prepared meals instead.

Roux, who has two Michelin stars, yesterday said the trend was fuelling childhood obesity and urged parents to spend more time in the kitchen, stating: ‘We should be teaching our children to eat properly.’

The former MasterChef star said working mothers of today and those before them had failed to acquire cooking skills because their lives now revolve around the office rather than their families.

‘There have been at least two generations of mothers no longer cooking at home and no longer passing on their basic cooking knowledge,’ he told Radio Times. ‘That is part of the problem.’

The knock- on effect is a growing dependency on what he calls ‘supermarket convenience foods’ which are often packed with additives, sugar and fat. Backing fellow chef Jamie Oliver on his public attack on childhood obesity, Roux said: ‘Natural fats, dairy fats, are good for you in moderation. Sugar is the enemy, always has been. Look at the label, if there’s anything with “ose” on the end, put it down.’

He said government health advice was often ‘unclear and unfocused’ and added that ‘chefs who are in the media have a duty to get the message across’. Asked why British food culture is poor compared to France, he points out that the French have ‘childhood obesity as well’, but they appear to be more proactive about tackling the problem.

‘If they advertise sweets on television, there is a line along the bottom of the screen that says don’t eat between meals, eat healthily, only eat X amount of sugar,’ he said.

‘The same with alcohol, there has to be an immediate pop-up on the screen to warn people that alcohol can be dangerous and to drink moderately.’

Parenting expert Sue Palmer said she agreed with Roux about preparing fresh meals, but it was not the sole responsibility of mothers but also fathers.

Mrs Palmer, author of the book Toxic Childhood, said: ‘Unless children learn life skills such as cooking when they are young they will continue to rely on fast food and convenience food and the problems we have will carry on.

‘However, it’s important to recognise that men are perfectly capable of cooking and it is not necessarily the sole responsibility of women.’

Roux, whose father Albert and uncle Michel founded Michelin-starred London restaurant Le Gavroche, left MasterChef: The Professionals and the BBC in 2014 after refusing to renounce his paid endorsement of Bartlett potatoes.

He claims he liked his time at the BBC but makes it clear he had grown tired of its relentless pursuit of producing food shows that are based on competition, such as MasterChef and Great British Bake Off. ‘Beating people is not the best way to approach life. It’s wrong,’ he said.

His latest show, Kitchen Impossible, begins on Channel 4 on October 29.

‘Teach children to eat properly’