We're in an obesity epidemic and most people don't know how to cook even very basic meals.
Make space for it, squish other classes if you need. Make it mandatory, everyone has to take it. Maybe even ongoing through multiple grades.
Edit: Rice, beans, and even basic meats are cheap. To eat healthy you don't need your meal to be 100% Bell peppers and tomatoes.
That sounds nice but misses the point of the problem. See the posts about food costs in this thread for one. Another issue is that schools here are woefully underfunded. When you can barely fix the roof, mitigate mold, buy textbooks for core classes, afford to let teachers use the copy machines or have enough basic office supplies, etc, etc, etc, cooking classes and their facilities/materials costs are kind of a (possibly lead) pipe dream. But lets face it, if schools did get funded to the level they deserved too many parents would simply make sure that money got redirected towards the school’s football team.
This is the unpopular part: Do it. Cut whatever else. Increase taxes. This is priority. There is a obesity epidemic.
Man, had to come back around and upvote. Absolutely nailed an unpopular opinion.