Has Gordon got it right about students?

publication date: May 9, 2008

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author/source: Fiona Beckett

According to the BBC website today Gordon Ramsay has attacked Delia for her use of convenience foods (a good spat between chefs always helps the ratings and the F Word is just about to start its new series.)

But he has a sideswipe at students too.""I would expect students struggling on £15 a week to survive eating from a can" he says, going on to say that it's an "insult" for Delia to expect the rest of us to.

Gordon, you're out of date. Some students, obviously, conform to the stereotype and live off baked beans - and pot noodles - but most of the ones I know are a lot more health conscious. They actually care about what they put into their bodies, they've taken on board messages such as 5 fruit and vegetables a day and that oily fish is important aid to mental health and mood stability.

In my home town of Bristol I see them shopping in the local supermarkets and they're not all putting junk food in their baskets.

They care about where their food comes from - witness the support for Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's recent Chicken Out campaign and the strong Fairtrade movement in universities.

Most choose to spend more than £15 on food - £25 a week, according to the latest figures from the student accommodation company Unite, more than they spend on booze (£16.20) or going out (£18.90)

True they don't always find time to cook but that's true of the rest of the population too. And that they may not have the skill or knowledge to cook well but that's where this site (hopefully!) comes in.

So who's right about students? Gordon or me? Do you live out of a can? Let me know what you think.

Comments

Anonymous

It's unfortunate that Gordon has chosen to perpetuate this stereotypical view of students...it's just like saying "all old people like classical music" - a wide generalisation which is obviously not going to be true for everyone...if some students are still eating baked beans straight from the tin, it's because student accommodation doesn't provide what they need to do much better...

Anonymous

I'm not sure where unite's got their figures from but most of the students I know (especially the girls) spend about £10-15 a week on food. However we all eat very healthily most of the time! Of course students rely on tins every now and again but then so do most people.

Fiona Beckett

Fair enough, anonymous (actually you'll probably all appear as anonymous if you don't add your name as there seems to be an odd glitch on the site at the moment. There are certainly tins I wouldn't want to live without including tinned tomatoes, chickpeas, cannellini and other beans and yes, baked beans as well. But the implication of Gordon's comment is that students aren't capable of much else.

 

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