Kids Cuisine

As you can tell from many of my Friday posts, I’m a huge proponent of educating children about healthful eating. Here’s another collaboration between professional chefs and the non-profit organization KidsLife (www.kidslifehealth.com) that’s doing just that.

KidsLife helps to prevent obesity in children and promotes healthful eating with a variety of proven food, exercise, and counseling programs for kids and their parents. The organization has put together two educational and entertaining books for kids and parents. The first book is “Will and the Nutrition Tribe Cook With the Greatest Chef (and Kids),” which includes stories and recipes about nutrition, as well as hands-on education for parents and kids. Will is “Will Power” (your child) who’s teamed up with a star-studded lineup of professional chefs (Wendy Brodie, Bert Cutino, Michael Mina, Joachim Splichal) who work together in the book to show how cooking can be simple, fun and rewardingly delicious.

The second book is “Will and the Nutrition Tribe.” This book also includes stories about nutrition, but it has a coloring book about nutrition. This time Will (Power) is working with the Nutrition Tribe, who includes Patty Protein, Casey Carbohydrate, Frieda Fats, Dakota Dairy, Felicia Fruits and Vinne Veggie, who take your child on a journey through the exotic world of food with fun activities to encourage healthy eating.

These books can be read with your own family, but if you’re a teacher they would make a great addition to your classroom. Maybe your school’s nutritionist (I hope you have one) would be interested in learning more and making the books part of his or her toolkit.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… children cannot be left to their own means to eat nutritious meals. It’s the parents responsibility to set a good example at home, which will then be followed (at least we hope) when your child is out and about on their own.