Jamies Ministry of Food

Is anyone watching this series had the first two epsiodes recorded and watched them last night - its hard to credit that there are people out there who dont have the most basic of cooking skills - so sad watching the young mum feeding her kids take away every night - she seems to have really taken to the programme and wants to rectify the damage she has done to her kids - for anyone not watching it basically Jamie has gone to Rotheram in England and has taken on 8 students to teach a few recipes on the condition that they teach each recipe to 2 more friends and they in turn much teach another two and so on - think its a good idea but feel so sad that cooking is not taught in schools as its about the one element of schoold curriculum that will stand to you for life and is so important

Would love to watch it but it's on so bloody late!

It is taught in some schools (home economics), but I didn't do that class, and wouldn't have in a fit. I can still cook though.

i'm hooked on it too - its repeated a few times in the week too so you'll never miss it - i was shocked that they didnt even know the basics, so frightening something i took for granted and luckily my mum is a brillant cook so picked up all from her too. the girl is brillant now she's even growing her own herbs and veg!!

i know home ec teaches you to cook a few things but not everyone takes that class - think you should leave schools with a basic knowledge of basic home cooking - some of them didnt even know what boiling was - think soups, casserole and stews, meat & 2 veg dinners would stand to people -

Just saw the book in the book club in work, 18 euro, very good though, simple receipes, fairly foolproof! I ordered a copy anyway!

I saw this the other night for the first time and thought the miner (called Mick?) was great, he had never cooked anything in his life and Jamie was invited to his house, the wife and son looked stunned that Mick was cooking for them I have actually logged on to the website and got a couple of the recipes off it so I am going to try them at the weekend. I have the basics of cooking alright, I never did home ec as a subject but my mother worked a full time job when I was growing up and I suppose I never really had much interest in learning how to cook so maybe the girl who was feeding the kids junk food is similar. I also think people don't realise what is in food and they just have an attitude that diabetes/obsesity/clogged arteries won't happen to them. What I liked about the recipes is that they are relatively simple so I can do them during the week when I come home from work, rather than reaching for the frozen potato wedges or whatever. DH eats at work too so there is no incentive for cooking a nice meal for one

I love it & so does H2B, especially Mick the Miner, its amazing how proud he was of himself. Its so hard to believe people can not cook basic food, I never did Home Economics, I was a Tech Drawing & Woodwork girl (& good at them too) but I still can hold my own in the kitchen. I couldnt believe that girl giving her kids takeaway every night, shes really into it now though & growing her own veg, it is brill. He needs to get that Julie Critchlow out of his class though, she will really stir things up & bring down it down...she is just dying for the experiment to fail.

yeah Julie Critchlow is def an stirrer - trying to stretch out her 15mins!!! what kind of recipes are in the book - is it worth getting or would you know them yourselves?

It depends really if you can cook or not, theres a lot of easy stuff aimed at people who have never cooked before. I bought H2B Jamie At Home Cookbook for Christmas last year & he said the other night when watching Ministry of Food that we would like that book, hes a great cook but he said he likes that Jamie makes it easier & adds his own twists etc.