Yes, we reaping the result imo of some significant changes. One being the emergence of convenience foods in supermarkets. I'm the first to admit that I depended heavily on M&S ready to rock'n'roll main meals when I worked fulltime and had a long commute; I still cooked fresh veg, and M&S convenience foods are by and large a healthy option although expensive, but I can understand people on a lower budget but in a similar position wanting to use the cheaper convenience options .. but I think that results in less children learning how to cook from scratch in the home. At the same time schools seem to have largely dropped it from their education. I remember many years ago the daughter of one of my friends coming home saying she had been told to bring in shop bought pastry and a jar of jam or lemon curd to make tarts, and was mortified when her mother insisted she made the pastry and curd at home .. but Chris's view was as she couldn;'t afford to buy ready made pastry for family meals, why the hell were the school advocating it, rather than teach the kids how to do it. Then of course we are bombarded by TV ads for food that isn't that healthy; they far outweigh those advocating the five a day, and business has hopped on the bandwagon advertising their stuff in a way that suggests it's healthier than it is; lurid coloured cereals heavy in sugar don't imo make the best start to the day for kids as opposed to porridge, plain cornflakes or wheetabix with a just sprinkling of sugar for eg.
My mother taight me to make pastry and cakes when I was very young .. she died before we got to main meals, but I watched my father (who'd never cooked a meal in his life up til then
) teach himself from cookery books, so just followed suit. Cooking from fresh ingredients was to me, like you, just how I saw it done. But that's eroded, and the educational system needs to step in. I do agree with Jamie Oliver it needs to start with children in schools when they're young. Nitricious healthy meals, and learning how to budget and cook as well as how to open a bank account and claim benefit .. and as you say, if enough get started that will make a difference.
Caryl