Children will be expected to master recipes that would not disgrace a dinner party from a new cookbook for 11-year-olds promoted yesterday by the Government.

They should be taught to rustle up a mushroom risotto or lamb hotpot, ministers said, even though university students can supposedly prepare only beans on toast.

Parents were urged to tackle obesity by encouraging their children – particularly boys – to spend more time in the kitchen.

Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, said that £150 million would be used to build new teaching kitchens in schools. In the last 20 years many schools have either closed their cooking facilities or have been built without them.

Cooking lessons become compulsory for pupils aged 11 to 14 from 2011.

Rather than seeing them gorge on fast food, the Government wants young teenagers to learn a love of cooking healthy dishes. It has drawn up 32 recipes – all suggested by the public – that schools will teach. These include roast chicken, rogan josh, chow mein, spaghetti bolognese and apple crumble.

The cookbook is available online and secondary heads will be able to order copies for their Year 7 pupils.

Mr Balls said he wanted all children to be able to prepare basic, nutritious meals, rather than taking pride in being incompetent in the kitchen. He said: “Schools are only part of the solution. It will be great if young people have the chance to make healthy dishes from basic ingredients at home, not simply in the classroom.

“We’ve lost touch with making basic dishes from scratch, even though there has never been a wider range of food in our shops.

“Celebrity chef cookbooks are best-sellers but for too many people cooking is now something they watch on television instead of doing it themselves.”

Mr Balls, who apparently likes cooking lamb hotpot, said: “Cooking is not quantum physics – once you’ve mastered basic dishes and techniques it is a straightforward skill which you can build on for the rest of your life.

“Proper cooking, budgeting and planning means that you can prepare healthy nutritious meals cheaply even in the face of rising food prices. It puts you in charge of your own health.”

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