Food board in a stew over fall in cooking skills

CAN’T cook, won’t cook — that’s the attitude of a growing number of Irish people who are over-dependent on ready-to-go meals.

A Bord Bia study has found that 6% of people could not boil an egg, 19% said they could not cook a basic snack, such as beans on toast, and only 32% were confident of cooking a simple dinner.

Bord Bia director of client services Muiris Kennedy said attitudes to cooking were changing. A 2001 survey showed 33% of people regarded cooking as a chore, but that figure had increased to 43% by 2003.