I taught them to cook vidya4 - Flipbook - Page 7
Autumn Term
5
eating. I have to teach them traditional British food. FOR THE
EXAM. They must learn that mint sauce is served with roast
lamb, horseradish sauce goes with roast beef, and apple sauce
with roast pork. These questions are asked in the EXAM and
they must learn the RULES.
The cookery textbooks and exam questions pay no attention
to multicultural Britain, with little opportunity to celebrate
Caribbean cooking and make spicy chicken with fried plantain.
No need to learn how to cook dhal or boil a pot of rice. Stir-fried
vegetables with noodles and plenty of soya sauce – blah. Falafel
with tahini in pitta bread – for goodness sake who would want to
eat that. And as for pizza – ridiculous Italian food.
The textbooks tell us daft things such as ‘a vegetarian diet
has a limited choice and can be bulky and unattractive.’ We make
junket for sick people for our invalid cookery lesson and there is
no mention that some religious groups don’t eat foods like bacon,
pork pies and sausages.
Things need to change.
Pink nylon overalls
My work uniform is a pale pink nylon overall which just skims
the hems of my mini dresses and produces static charge if I’m
wearing a crimplene frock underneath. One sleeve hides an armful
of elastic bands, essential for scraping back the fashionably long
hair of both boys and girls and leads to a few shouty rants.
‘My hair’s clean and that elastic’ll give me split ends.’
The inside skin on the other forearm shows biro notes to
remind me of important tasks for the day like ‘Check car tyres’ or
‘Write a letter to Grandma.’
On rare visits to the staffroom, I must remember to remove
my overall and rubber gloves before I collapse exhausted into one
of the beaten-up staffroom armchairs, and light a cigarette. If