Education key to healthy living

Chef Peter Blakeway says if everyone could cook properly there would be no need to buy processed food. Photo / File

Celebrity chef Peter Blakeway said if everyone could cook properly there would be no need to buy processed food.

Unfortunately, it was hard to tell what was contained in food unless it was cooked from raw materials, he said.

"A carrot doesn't need a list of ingredients, it is a carrot. From my point of view, it is all about cooking and we have let down a few generations by not teaching them how to cook."

People needed to revisit what they did with food by cooking from fresh, local ingredients and the theory that processed food saved time was wrong, he said.

"Education will save us time and if we learn how to do things properly we can save that time and eat healthy."

Mr Blakeway will be speaking at the Down to Earth Expo in November and will also talk about the Food Recovery Service and the fact "as a nation we throw away an extraordinary amount of food."

"We have people in New Zealand that are hungry, yet we throw away about a third of our food. The Food Recovery Service does a fantastic job but our supermarkets and retail stores have a lot to answer for. "

Down to Earth - Sustainability & Lifestyle Expo takes place on November 28-29 at ASB Arena, Mount Maunganui.