The British kitchen equipment firm Kenwood conducted a study that found that 33% of Britons have never cooked a meal. While it's safe to assume that beans on toast doesn't constitute "from scratch" cooking, they didn't specify what level of culinary proficiency was needed to qualify, although they noted that only 34% cook completely from scratch, so there was clearly a middle ground that was taken into account. Cooking aside, it is difficult to ignore the fact that most of their survey respondents said that they prefer to bring in all or part of a meal, rather than cooking it themselves, and that 7 in 10 spend less than one hour on each meal they make.

A nutritionist who analyzed the results said that cooking is perceived as taking time, effort and money, but the fact that 5 in 10 people said they were "happy to spend £100 or more on a meal out" suggests that perhaps people really just don't like to cook -or even that they simply can't, despite the popularity of food programming on TV - rather than that they feel they are spending too much time or money when they do.

When kids are very young, they often want to emulate what their parents are doing. For example, if Mom and Dad are preparing dinner, Junior will want to be involved. Unfortunately, while cultivating an interest in food - especially homemade food, as opposed to fast food - is a wonderful thing for a child, they can occasionally get in the way of the chef.

An easy solution is to assign your child age-appropriate tasks that they can do with little to no supervision once they have been shown how to do it in the first place. Real Simple offers a helpful list of such tasks, sorted by age, so your kids can join in the cooking process. Here are a few of their suggestions:

5 and over

• Retrieve ingredients from the pantry or refrigerator.
• Wash vegetables and fruits.
• Stir together dry ingredients.
• Smash crackers into crumbs.
• Set the table.

There are plenty about, Cookery Schools, I saw an advert for one very local to me (which I should investigate further really) just the other day. These are all in London (bar one). The creme of Cookery Schools -

• Tom Aikens, 43 Elystan Street, SW3 Saturday Cookery courses on Spet 16, Oct 14, Nov 18 and Dec 9th from 1-4pm £120 per person. Wine courses also on the same date for £60 or combine both for £165.
• Almeida, 30 Almeida Street, N1 Head chef at Conran's classic French restaurant runs monthly classes at £75. Includes 4 course meal based on dishes covered.
• Caldesi, 15-17 Marylebone Lane, W1 Wide vvariety of Italina food and wine courses from £40 to £120 a head. [website]
• Chutney Mary, 535 Kings Road, SW10 Monthly cookery courses at highly acclaimed Indian restaurant. £165 includes 3 course meal.
• Fishworks Marylebone, 89 Marylebone High Street, W1 More to fish than battering it. One day courses on Mondays cost £175 per person.
• Floridita 100 Wardour Street, W1 Saturday morning classes, demonstrations and 2 course lunch £95.
• Le Manoir Aux Quat'Saison, Great Milton, Oxfordshire One day courses take in dinner party cooking or fusion cuisine £250, two and four day residential courses start at £1,130. [website]
• One-O-One, 101 Knightsbridge, SW1 Demonstration, five course dinner, chapmagne, wine, coffee cognac Sept 26th, Oct 24th November 21st £95
• Saki, 4 West Smithfield. EC1 Sushi making courses £120 covering the basics in three hours.
• Zilli Fish, 36-40 Brewer Street, W1 Zilli Fish cookery class at Billingsgate Fish Market offers a tutorial on buying fish and cooking class following. £300.

Did you know Lesley Waters runs a cookery school in Dorset?

Thinking about it you might not know who Lesley Waters is. She is a television regular on Ready, Steady, Cook (is that still going?) , Great Food Live and some morning TV that I'll never be up in time to view. She is the author of several cookery books such as New to Cooking: Simple Skills and Great Recipes for Fabulous Food.

The cookery school offers various courses. There are Men Only one day courses, one day master classes (£165) covering such subjects as starters and puddings, bread and pastry and the herb garden and two day courses (£440) covering Christmas, Modern British and By the Sea. Not that expensive when compared to others I have seen.