Support for food education high but provision patchy

According to a new poll, there is overwhelming public support for more food education in England’s schools, yet stark inequalities in who actually receives it.

Hungry for Change draws on polling of over 2,000 parents and 2,000 young people aged 11 to 18. It shows overwhelming agreement that cooking healthy meals and making good food choices are essential life skills, comparable in importance to digital literacy or physical exercise, and vital for independence in adult life.

Despite this, access to food education is fragmented, inconsistent, and insufficient. Fewer than half of young people report receiving dedicated curriculum time, with access declining sharply with age and varying significantly by income, school type, and region. State educated pupils and pupils from lower-income households are markedly less likely to receive consistent food education.

As government investment in school food expands, the report warns that without high quality food education embedded alongside increasing provision, the long-term benefits of that investment will not be fully realised.

The report, published by The School of Artisan Food’s Best Food Forward programme, with opinion research from Public First, builds on their findings from the Food Education Mapping Project (Sept 2025) which found that food education is most effective when young people can ‘Learn it, See it, Live it’, embedding learning across curriculum, culture, and practice.

97% of parents and 91% of young people see cooking healthy meals and making good food choices as an important or essential life skill.

Just 48% of young people report receiving any dedicated class time for food education.

Nearly 1 in 4 young people (23%) say their school does not meaningfully promote food or healthy eating at all.
The inequality gap – Current provision of food education is a postcode and income lottery, leaving the poorest children behind.

Children from households with an income under £45,000 are 24 percentage points less likely than children from more affluent households (earning six-figures plus) to receive dedicated time for food education in school (41% vs 65%).

State comprehensive pupils are 24 percentage points less likely to receive food education than those in private schools (46% vs 70%).

58% of young people in London report receiving dedicated food education, compared to just 40% in Yorkshire and the Humber. 

The post-16 cliff edge - Food education vanishes on the cusp of independence, just when young people need it most.
National Curriculum guidance for core food education only up to KS3 means access to food education drops from 56% at ages 11 to 12 to just 32% by ages 17 to 18, thus food education often disappears at the point that young people are gaining independence and would be considering pathways into food-based careers.

Only 22% of parents believe children nationally can cook and prepare meals well from fresh ingredients.
Young people from lower-income households are more than 10 percentage points less confident preparing food independently than the peers from higher-earning households.

In Hungry for Change, Best Food Forward urges the government to act now to close the gap between strong public support and inconsistent provision. As government investment in school food expands through breakfast clubs, wider eligibility for free school meals, and revised school food standards, this is a pivotal moment to embed food education alongside provision. Without high quality food education, the long-term benefits of this investment will not be fully realised.

Food education is most effective when children can ‘Learn it, See it, Live it’. The report calls for a whole school approach that embeds food learning across curriculum, culture, and practice, building on the findings of the Food Education Mapping Project.