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.
I’ll even say it’s worth paying more …… instead of a textbook, every kid should have a subscription to one of those meal kit services. Yeah, they’re expensive, but worked really well for teaching my kids a lot about cooking.
Every week, they chose among a dozen or so choices, instead of being overwhelmed with infinite choice or stuck in a rut of what you know. Every week, they know to expect to make a meal. Every week, they have all the ingredients together in one place. Every week, they have a well-written recipe card organized for efficient preparation and with little assumption of experience. Every week, the6 learned something about prep or a cooking strategy or an ingredient or a cuisine. It worked great for my kids and I wish they were affordable for all kids