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.
They are, all kids do Food Technology in Secondary School in the UK, where we learn to cook various things.
I agree that they should also be mandatory in other countries, cooking is one of those things everyone needs to learn, and if their parents are too lazy to teach them, schools must step in.
Also mandatory in Finland for everybody. In theory it’s a “home skills” class but it was mostly cooking.