Kids Cuisine

I’ve been pondering lately how I can best turn my kids into food-loving hedonists, or at least passable home cooks. I’m hoping it has something to do with being around food and those who prepare it in the home, but maybe it takes more than that.

I’m also wondering if there’s a difference between preparing food (like a sandwich, for example) and cooking food (like pasta). I suspect one leads into another.

And that’s why I was very pleased to note recently that my six-year-old son insists on making his own PB&Js. As you can see from the photo, these are some mighty fine looking sandwiches. It suggests to me that he’s watched me long enough to know he can take his fate into his own hands (and with my cooking, that’s prudent). Somewhere along the line I must have decided that 7 is the magic number for real cooking instruction, because he cited this back to me the other day.

“You said you’d teach me how to cook when I was 7,” he said.

“I did?”

“Yeah. And I’m almost 7.”

Well, OK then. I suppose I can start with the very basics, like, how to open a can of soup, and progress toward the finer points of boiling pasta. I’ll move on from there. Maybe he can be my own captive sous-chef.

Right. Nothing fancy going on in my kitchen. But that’s not the point. The objective is to keep them interested and curious. Curious enough to venture out there themselves and see what they can cook up.

In the meantime, they can cook for me. My son can now make me a sandwich, which is a very fine start indeed. And my 10-year-old girl knows how to make a mean cup of tea. If I play my cards right, I’ll have a couple of young foodies cooking gourmet for me… under my own roof! Bwaahhhaaahhaaa!

My 10-year-old is already talking trash about living in Paris one day. It’s all I can do to keep from buying her a ticket now.