She noted that taking a proper lunch break, rather than simply hovering over your keyboard and cramming in a sandwich, is “good for you,” adding that lunch breaks give workers time to “chill out, get your head back together, and enjoy what you’re eating.” Moreover, hovering over your desk with a mouth full of on-the-go grub is, she said, “disgusting”.
The minister also expressed concern that these types of eating habits start so early, and said it was “sad” that many children starting primary school won’t know how to use a knife and fork because they’ve grown accustomed to TV dinners that don’t require utensils.
She added that it was “ironic” that while the populace is obsessed with celebrity chefs, like Jamie Oliver and Delia Smith, they don’t actually cook for themselves anymore.
“We are a weird nation,” she said. “We consume television programmes about cooking, but we don’t as a nation, any more, cook.”
Sourby faced criticism on Wednesday after a controversial interview with the Daily Telegraph where she stated that poorer children “tend to be fat”, adding: “You can almost now tell somebody’s background by their weight.”
Imran Hussain, head of policy at Child Poverty Action Group, said that it was government policy, not poor parenting, that cause poverty and obesity:
“Rather than blaming parents, ministers should look at the piles of evidence that make it absolutely clear that the real reason why our obesity problem is going to get bigger in the years ahead is because our child poverty problem is going to get much bigger as a result of the Government’s own policies,” he told the Telegraph.