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.
Cooking class was mandatory in my school in the 90s. We learned how to make muffins from scratch, some basic (and I mean very basic) meals, and some basic home cleaning. It was better than nothing, but I was able to see who had never been shown any of it before. I had grew up cooking for myself, and I was expected to help with dishes. So none of it was that new to me. But some of the kids had never touched unprepared food before. Some had never washed a dish before. It was obvious which ones were going to grow up still not knowing how to cook for themselves beyond microwave meals and takeout.
A single course isn’t going to do much to help guide a kid into being a healthy adult. Basic life skills should be a graduated course in every single year of grade school. It’s the only way to engrain it into everyday life.