Kids Cuisine

I just got back from seeing Pixar’s latest release, Ratatouille, with my kids and three of their friends. The consensus shouldn’t surprise you, given all the positive press the film has garnered already: They loved it. Like “Toy Story” and “The Incredibles,” this film works because it has a kids’ level that amuses and an adult level that entertains. As my two neighbors and I enjoyed the more mature story line of staying true to yourself and working through adversity to find your dreams, the kids sat in the row ahead of us, guffawing loudly at the scenes of rats cooking in a kitchen while the health inspector and the evil restaurant chef were thrown hog-tied into the restaurant pantry.

But throughout the almost two-hour movie, I found myself wondering – no, hoping — that the film would plant the cooking seed in at least one of my two kids. How cool would it be if, in 15 years’ time, my son tells me that it was this film that inspired him to attend the Culinary Institute of America to train as a chef? Or if my daughter tells me, “I’ve wanted to go to Paris ever since I saw it portrayed in that movie about the rat.”

Indeed, I’m now wondering how many future chefs are being duly inspired as I write this. I’d read on various foodie sites about how this movie would thrill cooks of all persuasions with its accurate portrayal of a Parisian restaurant’s kitchen. And I loved how it managed to demonstrate an elevated sense of taste using art and music. More than a great way to spend a summer Saturday with the kids, I can’t help but think a fair number of impressionable minds will leave the movie theater with a newfound interest in food and cooking.

My kids, at least, were asking me if I knew how to make ratatouille on the drive home. I told them we’d look it up in a cookbook tomorrow.

Two American kids asking their mom, not particularly known for her cooking skills, about a French peasant dish? That’s success in my mind! Pixar has done it again. Any parent with any interest at all in cuisine will want to take their children to this delightful new movie.