Jamie Oliver and his food crusade

You know, some people hate him and other love him - and today Jamie Oliver is in the Sunday Herald talking about his Ministry of Food project. Well, I like his recipes but at the same time can only take the chirpy chap for so long but one thing he said hit home. And that is that nowadays sitting down and eating dinner as a family at the table is seen as 'middle class'. I don't know how true that is but if there is any grain of truth in there it makes me worry. Along with everyone else there are times when flopping in front of the tele with a pizza is exactly what you need but since when did tables become middle class? I mean, I can see that owning microwaves and having a TV in every room could be seen as the trappings of the middle classes, where every kid has their own bedroom and box to sit in front of to have their tea.

If anything sitting round a table would be, to my mind, working class. Although I concede if the table is half the length of a football pitch and has more cutlery than John Lewis on show then it may be more upper class. But your basic kitchen table and eating your weekday meal - I don't get it. Then again, my family always had tea at the table, but we are a talkative lot and while we like our tele we are all so keen to tell everyone about our day that the tele is in a losing battle. Unless Corrie Street is on in which case my Mum demands silence.

In our house the kitchen was and still is the hub of the house. It's where all the action is. And, in these credit crunch times, doesn't it make sense to have your tea in teh warmest room in the house, toasty from eth oven and hob being on the go?

Well, whatever 'class' dinner round the table is now a part of my own thought is that sitting at the table for tea is, for me, definitley a good thing. Life is so busy that sometimes we forget to take some time to just sit and savour our food and find the time to catch up with one another. Some nights we sit down to dinner and are still yabbering on long after the meal itself has been devoured. We get to really talk with one another. And, of course, we are often talking about what we have eaten, gluttons that we are, but we are also talking about all the wee things that otherwise you wouldn't say because of time and other pressures.

Mind you, I love a night in front of the TV as much as anyone and I can remember my Mum making us our 'Saturday Night Tea' which would be something like egg and chips or macaroni cheese, and we would sit in front of the TV to have it. I stil like to do that too.

So a wee ramble from me and a plea for everyone to have their tea at the table once a week or so. It's amazing what good company your family can be and how much funnier and more interesting they are than whatever third rate soap is on (of course, I do not include River City, shining beacon of Scottish talent and all round modern Shakespeare, in that assessment!). And if that makes me middle class then for once maybe they are right!!