Oliver and Gerrard team up to fight fat

JAMIE Oliver and Steven Gerrard have joined forces with leading figures in health and education to ask the Government to fight obesity through cookery teaching in schools.

In a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron, they call for a minimum of 24 hours’ practical cooking skills and food education for all pupils aged four to 14, while saying the “pride” of hosting the Olympic Games has been “tainted by the shameful fact that Britain is officially the fattest nation in Europe”.

Using the National Curriculum to teach pupils how to prepare nutritious meals for themselves and their families would be an important step in tackling the rising obesity epidemic, the letter argues.

Without these skills, people tend to rely on pre-prepared or takeaway foods, the campaigners add.

Chef Oliver – who has previously campaigned for healthier school dinners –and Liverpool and England footballer Gerrard teamed up with Dr Clare Gerada, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, and Professor Terence Stephenson, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, to highlight the issue.

Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, Professor David Haslam, chair of the National Obesity Forum, and Steve Iredale, president of the National Association of Head Teachers, also signed the letter, as did academics and charity leaders.

Besides the call for compulsory cookery lessons, they note the need for more sporting role models to promote the benefits of a healthy lifestyle to children.