For all those who eat

Hands up if you know how to cook. Sorry, some of you probably need to put your hands down – assuming you are playing our game – because we don’t just mean “heat things up”.

What we mean by “cook” is create healthy meals that aren’t loaded with fat, sugar and salt in the way that all too many ready meals and snacks are.

This is knowledge our parents and grandparents possessed almost casually, but many of the modern generation have lost as fast food, in all its forms, took over our high streets and then our supermarkets too. It has become so pervasive that many of us no longer seem able to spare the time for proper cooking.

But, as a new study in Glasgow has found, a simple cookery class – two hours, once a week for six weeks – can make a huge difference.

Researchers report that people bought fewer ready meals and takeaways, while their healthier eating habits filtered down to their children, who consumed fewer sweets, soft drinks and even, hold the phone, chips!

It just goes to show that a little bit of knowledge can go a long way.