For his new blog, Oystein Mojord, Scandinavian chef and co-owner of Chef & Yöung, takes a look at why so many people in the UK are unable to cook and asks, how can we encourage younger generations back into the kitchen?

There are more food related TV shows and other foodie media than ever before and people assume that the focus on cooking is also teaching more of us  how to cook. However, the truth is that media is mostly used for entertainment and only half of British adults know how to cook 5 meals or less. 1 in 8 people can’t even cook an omelette without a recipe. The amount of time that we spend in the kitchen has significantly reduced over time and the UK falls behind many countries in key measures such as time spent cooking, knowledge and degree of passion for cookery according to GFK.

This will only worsen as our desire for convenience and ease-of-use in our daily lives increases. This is especially true of the younger generations; research indicates that 16 to 24 year olds spend more on food than any other age group because they know so little about cooking. Much of these costs come from eating out and takeaways.

We are in a time where people are more connected, are more dependent on technology, and have more convenient and resourceful ways of gaining knowledge than before. The problem seems to be that people don’t have the same amount of time to cook. Ready-made (and often unhealthy) meals are easily accessible and very affordable whereas information about food is so spread out across many different sources that it becomes difficult to properly learn from it. Times have changed from gaining our food knowledge from a trusted voice such as our parents, to a more obscure way, which is being watered out.

>>> Read more from Oystein here

How can we bring this knowledge back in-house and get younger people back on the right track to ensure our future generations stay healthy and happy?

Oystein Mojord

Chef & Yöung is a Scandinavian pro kitchen gear brand for adventurous chefs and foodies. Everything started when the Norwegian chef, Oystein, travelled around the world and noticed that there was a high demand for quality chefs in the kitchens; meanwhile his colleagues were constantly switching jobs. He decided something had to be done and Chef & Yöung was born to bring in a new attitude among yöung chefs and promote cooking as a lifestyle. Oysterin co-owns Chef & Yöung with Mattias Nordlander who focuses on the sales, marketing and finance side of the business.

Twitter: @chefandyoung