Agriculture minister: Teach children how to eat properly

Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat is concerned that parents are not raising children with proper dining etiquette.

He was speaking on Saturday during World Food Day celebrations at the National Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation (Namdevco) Farmers Market in Chaguanas.

Rambharat lamented, “We are raising children who do not understand the beauty, vitality and the importance of food.

“We are raising children who are not exposed to the fact that food and conversation goes hand in hand.”

While growing up, Rambharat said he had to eat food “properly” which included having dinner by a table and using eating utensils like knives and forks on a Sunday.

But in today’s modernised society, Rambharat said such practices do not exist.

“If you were like me growing up in the countryside, on the Sunday we had to eat with knife and fork on a plate and a table mate.

“You had to eat by the table, we had to eat in a plate and not a bowl.

“Now as parents, it’s quick and fast eating in the car, eating in your bedroom, eating with a device…one day somebody will eat a device.”

Rambharat said the ministry has been using World Food Day celebrations to speak about the importance of people being conscious of the food they eat and how they eat it.

“For World Food Day we’ve been around the place. In one year we had a chow competition in Namdevco.

“In one year we actually took about 300 people, particularly children, to the Caroni Bird Sanctuary to expose them to a different type of food.

“I wouldn’t call any brands but these days food is something you get when you walk into a place and you buy in a Styrofoam box or something and you eat with a plastic fork hurriedly.”