Does your child have a Ratatouille Moment like Anton Ego?

Does your child have a Ratatouille Moment like Anton Ego? 

ratatouille from www.bonapetit.com

Anton Ego is the food critic in the animated film Ratatouille. He was such a big name in the culinary industry that one good review from him will surely add a star to any restaurant. The irony is that Ratatouille, originally a peasant food, brings out the perfection that Ego was looking for. The simple reason is that it stirs a most touching memory that even a heart as hard of a diamond would melt. No wonder Ego’s palate is hard to please, he has an extremely high standard - mom’s cooking! Watch the film and see if you would have the same conclusion. Never mind if filthy rats cooked the food but the 2-minute scene from Ratatouille should make us reflect on many things that matters in values education.

Three weeks ago, I asked my grade 8 students to record their daily meal for one week. The objective of doing this task is to have firsthand data which we can use when we analyze the interconnections of BMI, eating habits / diet, and physical activity -the usual lesson on food pyramid but with updates on the MyPlate trends. Majority of the students were very diligent and really recorded their daily meals painstakingly; and what they have written directed me to another perspective. To an ordinary teacher, the meal diaries would just be a pile of worksheets to rate. But as I read on my students’ meal diaries, there were questions that keep on popping out of my head, some even pinch my heart.

Out of the 70 students, only one actually wrote a fruit as part of the meal. What does it tell me? Was it either due to economic reason or ignorance about good food? No, it actually made me want to ask if my students’ mothers actually have a regular marketing day on weekends to have enough time to look for fruits in season. Only 15 of them actually mentioned a specific, traditional Filipino dish like singing, nilaga, tinola and adobo. These home-cooked viands were usually eaten during the weekends. What they usually eat on school days-  fast foods, canned foods, fried meat, or they have no idea at all. I wonder how many of my female students actually spend time with their mothers cooking, following grandma’s recipes, or making a kitchen adventure using a cookbook. How many of the girls, when they become mothers themselves, would hand down traditional recipes to their own daughters? How many of the male students look forward to a Saturday or Sunday backyard barbecuing with their father? How many of the boys, when they become fathers themselves, would wake up early on weekends so they can prepare a brunch for their kids. The 21st century learners must be more techie but nothing can replace a meaningful moment with mom or dad. Gadgets become obsolete but a happy memory such as a home cooked meal eaten together is a shared history. 

Seventeen of my students actually skipped lunch and/or dinner at least four times a week,  14 skip at least twice in a week. Why do they skip meals, dinner particularly? Perhaps, their parents come home past their meal time or their bed time. When they come home there is no cooked dinner yet so they make themselves full with snack foods. My worst inference is that their families do not eat together during dinner. I am not an expert on family matters but common sense would tell us that a family dinner is one of the most opportune time to establish good communication and relationships. Eating a balanced diet together is more than getting our nutritional needs. Family meals would teach our children about respect, responsibility, morality, and spirituality. I wonder if my students ever get excited to come home eager to know what their mothers are cooking for dinner. I wonder how many of them patiently wait for their fathers who promised to bring home something special for dinner. I just hope they have as many good memories just as I remember what used to be our traditional home-cooked meals when I was growing up. Until now I can vividly remember what we would always have for christmas, new year, fiesta, and holy week. I can still remember how usual it is for my father to cook kare-kare, grilled relleno, and kaldereta on a Sunday. My mother would make sure there are morning and afternoon snacks standing by on our kitchen counter - spaghetti, turon, mais con yelo [during summer], and all sorts of fruits in season. It was a happy childhood not because we were well-fed but because our meals brought simple joy to a child and happy memories to an adult. 

 

Five students actually skip breakfast at least three times in a week and 13 once or twice even on weekends. As for the snacks, less than 10 listed especially cooked / prepared foods. Majority listed  junk foods with empty calories. Again, I would like to ask, how many of the students actually wake-up with their mother cooking breakfast or at least insist that they take something to jumpstart their day.  As a teacher, I think it is also my concern how many of the boys and girls actually have mothers or fathers who would take time preparing their breakfast and lunch in the morning. The mere act of waking up early and preparing the food is a good indicator of parenting style. Or is it more correct to say that times have changed and that students prefer lunch money over lunch box? 

Why do we need to bother ourselves with what and how our students eat? As educators, we have the duty to make sure that their character building is holistic and that we can assume that they would mature as well-rounded personalities once they leave the portals of our institution. Our school canteen also has the great responsibility to augment whatever is neglected at home. Meal habits, palate preferences, and eating manners are more than nutrition and discipline. What we eat makes us what we are. How we eat determines who we are. 

If you are an educator, have you had a Ratatouille moment?

What about the children in your care?

Do you think they have? will they ever have?