Children should be taught to cook from a young age to help solve the growing obesity problem, a top chef has said.
Celebrity chef Neven Maguire said young people could be enticed to appreciate healthy food through learning to cook.
"They should be brought into the kitchen, and given activities to get them involved in helping," he said.
With one in eight Irish people, and 8 per cent of children, obese, Maguire said more could be done to cultivate better eating habits among children in school.
"I do think you could go at it from a younger age, with different tastings of food for younger children," the 32-year-old award winning chef said.
"I think to be able to look well and healthy you have to appreciate the ingredients. They are at an age where they are very pernickety, they are watching TV and picking up different things."
Maguire owns and runs the MacNean restaurant in Blacklion, Co Cavan. There has been a 30 per cent increase in reported obesity levels over the last four years, and more than 300,000 children are overweight or obese in Ireland.
Maguire said people now had far less time to spend cooking but a simple healthy meal could be cooked within 25 minutes. - (PA)