The other day my daughter put a surprising addition on her Christmas wish list: the Top Chef Cookbook.
“Grow It, Cook It” is one of several new cookbooks aimed at kids. I’m not much of a cook, but my daughter sure wants to be. I was raised in a home where a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken was considered a wholesome, hot meal. Fortunately, my 9-year-old daughter is working hard to convert me to the joys of cooking. She loves cooking shows, likes to flip through cookbooks and prefers to eat at home rather than at a restaurant.
Cookbook publishers have caught on and have introduced a number of kid-themed cookbooks this year. While the push to get kids in the kitchen is fueled by marketing, it’s also backed by a health message. Studies suggests that when kids cook, they are more eager to try new foods. To read more about the kid cooking trend, check out my latest Well column “Beyond Cupcakes: Children in the Kitchen,” from Tuesday’s Science Times. Then join the discussion below.
Do your kids want to cook?
Healthy living doesn't happen at the doctor's office. The road to better health is paved with the small decisions we make every day. It's about the choices we make when we buy groceries, drive our cars and hang out with our kids. Join columnist Tara Parker-Pope as she sifts through medical research and expert opinions for practical advice to help readers take control of their health and live well every day. You can reach Ms. Parker-Pope at 
The easiest and most pleasurable way to eat well is to cook. Recipes for Health offers recipes with an eye towards empowering you to cook healthy meals every day. 
From 1 to 25 of 39 Comments
My kids love to cook. So do I!
I grew up in a family that cooked, grew lots of fruit and vegetables, and thus spent a fair amount of time involved with food.
Its terrific there’s lots of cookbooks to help folks without cooking experience get into cooking with their kids. Your related article is right on target–cooking is so multi-dimensional its like cross-training in terms of learning. Cooks need to read, measure, plan, observe and taste, cooperate…among many other skills. Even more importantly, its spending time together, creating something for the family to enjoy. There’s a huge sense of accomplishment (for young and older cook alike) in that.
In addition to helping children (and adults!) to try new and more foods, the experiences also help to dispel the notion that all food comes ready-made in packages, bags or takeout containers. That in turn helps kids to not be squeamish in terms of eating or cooking with various foods. (Its hard to cook if you’re skeeved by looking at or having to clean or prepare food).
Kids have such a natural curiosity about all kinds of things, and we all need to eat fairly regularly–its a great combination! Let ‘em help! (and set the table, and clean up, too!)
— let’s eat!Both of our kids (now in their 20’s) can cook quite well. I also like to cook, and when the kids reached about 8 years of age, I let them pick out one meal a week that they would help me with. Initially they would just pick the meal and help me cook. As they got older they had to make the shopping list and do the whole thing on their own (I’d be their sous chef ). They even cooked us special meals as birthday and anniversary gifts (they came up with this on their own when teens!!).
Our son got an early start. He went through a yearlong phase where he would only eat grilled cheese sandwiches at age 4. I had him prepare them himself if he wasn’t going to eat the family meal. Luckily he could do this with just a toaster and the microwave (and adult supervision)!
— LeslieMy 2 1/2-year-old daughter loves to cook, and since she has been able to stand she’s been at my side, on a chair, almost daily while I prepare meals. Initially she just played with vegetable scraps, or poured water in and out of a variety of cups and bowls. But as she gets older she wants to do more—she’s great at whisking, and pinching butter into biscuit dough, and the other night when I was rolling enchiladas, she said, “Can you show me how you put those together?” (I did.) Being involved in food prep might make her a better eater in the long term; right now she’s still a fairly picky toddler. I think the real value is the creative play; she’s able to experiment with shapes and textures and volume etc. Of course if I made dinner by myself it would be on the table quicker, but she would be begging for attention and I would feel harried. Instead, she’s totally content and absorbed; once, after a pie went into the oven, I pulled a chair of my own up to the counter and sat next to her reading a magazine while she played with leftover pie dough for half an hour. Thirty minutes of leisure, for the price of a little flour and shortening—you can’t beat it. I will be a very happy mom when she cooks something on her own for her dad and me.
— CherylI have fantastic memories of my mom turning my sister and me loose in the kitchen. As very small girls, we once made a batch of cookies containing about half a cup of salt - inedible of course, but such a fascinating shade of blue!
As we got older, we’ve both become quite good cooks who enjoy fixing new things for fun or to entertain our families and friends. I’m so glad our mom was relaxed enough to let us “play” in the kitchen, especially when I see how simple cooking intimidates my friends who didn’t do the same early experimentation. All kids deserve the chance to make a few batches of inedible cookies.
— ErinElderly friends of my mom have apparently hit paydirt offering cooking classes for little kids. They claim to have a waiting list with close to a hundred names of prospective students. Frankly I find the potential liability problems of a kitchen full of seven-year-olds with oven mitts and knives a little scarey, and I’ve been trying to dissuade mom from joining in this adventure.
FROM TPP — Why on earth would you discourage it? Kids have so much to learn from the older generation, especially in the kitchen. The better idea is to look into some of the kid-friendly cooking utensils. At the Rutgers nutrition preschool, kids only cut with plastic knives.
— JudyNothing against kids cooking, it is an enjoyable activity that is a necessary part of life and can foster nice memories and all that.
It’s just the professionalization of small children in all areas of their lives, and the pushy undercurrent of parenting today that is so distasteful. The cloying writing, i.e., I thought Red Lobster was haute cusine…now Suzie wants the Top Chef Cookbook…Please.
Yet another untapped marketing niche for publishers to exploit as you point out — but what ever happened to playing with mud pies? Why is precocity such a prerequesite for children these days? Creating a Jr. foodie sounds too much like Yuppie parents dispensing with childhood folly and turning one of the great joys of childhood into an outcome-focused production.
When will it end?
— maryGee, I cooked the family dinner when I was nine. I think not teaching children to cook is weird. I don’t really like many of the cooking shows because they are pushing processed foods.
Good food doesn’t transition well into mass production. Healthy eating habits need to be a part of the family and that won’t happen until people have time to spend with their kids and enough money to buy healthy food.
— swpCookbooks for kids sounds like a great idea. Growing up in another era, my parents thought it a good idea that their daughters prepare the family meal from time to time. The most memorable dish: a casserole of peanut butter, hot dogs and marshmallows by my youngest sister. Forty years later her husband does much of the cooking now.
— BruceAlma Schneider, A CSW and mother of four living in Montclair, NJ has a website/blog and book in the works called Take Back the Kitchen in which she deals with the psychologial aspects of the fear many have of producing meals for their families. Ms. Schneider tackles the phobia while simultaneously guiding these individuals into healthy cooking and eating habits through instructional videos and recipes involving friends and family members. It is highly humorous, Alma is a native New yorker and 1 of 7 siblings raised in a 2 bedroom NYC apartmemt, who’s mother, although not a good cook, provided nutricious albeit small meals every evening.
— peggy schneiderIs the decline in newspaper revenue affecting the NYT’s research?
This trend kicked up not very long after Tony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential” made publishers revisit food-related books.
“Super Chef” online magazine has been tracking this trend since 2005 and even started a bi-weekly “Kids Cookbooks” review column last year. The chefs that magazine covers have been writing kids cookbooks for quite some while. (Emeril, anyone? hello?)
— A. D.FROM TPP — Well of course chefs have written kid’s cookbooks before. But it’s the shear quantity of new kid-themed cooking books and the shift to family cooking beyond sweet treats that has pushed this beyond a niche market into the mainstream.
There is nothing greater than letting kids cook! Though I don’t have kids yet, I plan on having them there with me in the kitchen the way my mother did.
I can remember helping her making dinner about 75% of the time growing up — so much so that, at the age of 10 or so, when I started was home alone in the summers (yes, I’m not that old, but it was a different time then!), I could competently cook my own lunches. Ah, and the joys of being able to cook well are lifelong.
Comment #5 — I agree with Tara, there are ways to make the experience safe for kids. And I would add, it’s probably BETTER to teach kids how to properly use kitchen utensils, and to teach them how dangerous they can be than to try to avoid having them come into contact with them at all (which’ll never happen). After all, I’ll bet every parent has had these dangerous things in their kitchen: boiling water, knives, glass bowls (that can shatter), salt (salt poisoning), potato peelers (ugh, those will take your skin right off), food processor, etc. I think kids benefit when they learn that these things have their purposes, but can be dangerous and should be used only under supervision.
— ToriTPP-I realize you can’t endorse any particular book over another.
Having said that, if you or anyone else has a suggestion for the “best” book for a family of 4 kids (ages 9, 7, and 4) whose mother (my sister in law) isn’t much of a cook, I’d appreciate it. I’m vegetarian and lean in that direction where my involvement with cooking with the kids is concerned, and have been looking for Mollie Katzen’s books but they seem to have gone out of print (?). At one point they were the best of the “non baking” kids cookbooks but there are so many others available now that I’d appreciate any recommendations for a nice holiday gift for the family.
FROM TPP — My suggestion is to go to a bookstore and see what books appeal to you and your kids. If you know the mom is a fan of a particular celebrity — like Rachael Ray or Paula Deen — then those books might be a good idea. I find, personally, that I have an immediate response to certain books — visually, etc… — so i’m not sure my endorsement would mean anything. I think you should go to the bookstore and see what appeals to you. Like I said — my daughter wants the Top Chef cookbook and that’s certainly not aimed at kids. I’m thinking about getting her Grow It. Cook It. She would have fun with that.
— bethIf I could start all over again, I would install an induction stove. Safe to use. Then you have to teach your kids that not all stoves are like that…
— SusannaFROM TPP — So what is it exactly and why would you opt for one?
My son first started asking to cook at the age of 5. I told him he could if he learned how to read. A win win situation for both of us. He made homemade pasta for his kindergarten teacher and then went on to make home made sausage and pasta as gifts for friends in high school. For his high school graduation he an a friend (who is now a professional chef) cooked for their graduation party. When he went off to college I got a phone call one day. He asked “remember what you promised me when I got my first apartment? A copy of the Joy of Cooking.” Needless to say he was very popular in college. Daughter is now moving into a house where the rest of the housemates said they would not charge her rent if she would be in charge of dinners.
— nmmomWe couldn’t afford to eat out much. My parents cooked. My brother cooks. I cook. I am often and repeatedly amazed by how intimidated some people are by even basic cooking (and how little they know about food).
No, we never seriously burned or cut ourselves. We were supervised, but we were also taught that things are sharp, hot, slippery, and may sting.
There used to be an ad on TV where two little kids bring their parents a pancake breakfast in bed. The dad takes a bite, but the mom whispers, “We don’t have the stuff to make pancakes,” implying that goodness only knows what he’s eating.
That drove me crazy: Who doesn’t have the stuff to make pancakes?? Flour, sugar, milk, eggs, baking powder, and butter? Or do you eat literally EVERYTHING out, or prepackaged?
— EmmyHi Tara,
— Carol DannhauserThanks for pointing out that kids who are more invested in the preparation of a meal are more likely to actually eat it. It’s great to hope that moms and dads can be around to supervise the prep of healthful meals, but unfortunately they’re often off earning the dough (!!) prior to mealtime, resulting in all manner of processed stuff that is heated in a hurry when they get home.
There’s an untapped resource that can help magic up great food for the family, though - teens, who are more adept at handling the dangerous stuff in the kitchen, and who aren’t afraid to be creative with their food. Many teens tend to find cooking fun, empowering and creative, especially when the meal ideas are their own. Sites such as http://www.CookinTeens.com harness their energy and their interest and provide free, fun, teen-friendly tips and ideas for meals and snacks. A small investment of time and encouragement by parents, even if it’s just on the weekends, for their young chefs can pay off in a few years with a delicious and healthful meal awaiting when the parents get home. Buy your daughter the cookbook, then pick out something you can make together. Could be fun - and delicious - for everybody!
I’ve had my daughter help me measure and mix baking ingredients from the time she was two. She has always loved being a part of this creative process. I’ve never insisted that she help; there have been times when she and her younger brother have had something more interesting to do and passed on my invitation to cook together. But I do think it’s a great way to spend extra time with your kids. And who wouldn’t be excited about numbers when they ultimately translate into something scrumptious?!
— DeepikaYes, kids need to know how to cook. It’s a basic survival skill. Everyone needs to eat — so children need to grow up knowing how to find and fix food.
Kids are amazing in the kitchen. Messy, yes. But they enjoy measuring, stirring, smelling, tasting, and pouring. My 7 and 11 year old granddaughters make complete meals. My 9-year old grandson has made his own homemade bread since age 6. They love simple recipes that they can make themselves.
They have cooked with adults who showed them basic safety skills and provided them with special utensils that were age appropriate. When they were only 3-4, they cut up fruit with a plastic serrated knife.
What I think is important is to balance cooking unhealthy sweets (family traditions and holidays treats are great fun) with how to cook foods that provide nutrition. No reason that kids can’t be taught to use more whole grains, less sugar, more fruits/vegetables and healthier fats in their recipes.
Buyer beware - be very selective about which kids cookbook you pick!! Many are full of “cute-looking” or clever high calorie, unhealthy foods that kids shouldn’t be eating.
Avoid using the words unhealthy or healthy, however. These terms sound like “good” or “bad”, or “avoid” vs “acceptable”. I prefer Empty or Smart - or In-Between (mostly Smart with some Empty ingredient like sugar for flavor). These terms are from http://www.FeedingTheKids.com. All foods should be eaten with gusto and joy - but there are some foods that we should eat more often so we stay healthy.
Kids also LOVE to read labels and to search the grocery store for the healthiest version of ingredients. This include some math skills and creates thoughtful consumerism.
So — if you have a kid in your life, this grandma says — please pull them into the kitchen. Suck it up and let them be messy. The joy, self-esteem and confidence they develop will be your reward (not to mention the amazing breakfasts-in-bed and gourmet dinners they will fix for you over the years!).
— Ellie TaylorI’ve always invited my kids into the kitchen. I have only one rule: What I say, goes. Safety first. My kids were cutting with real kinives at age 5, stirring hot soup at 3, and always wash their hands before starting. On the other hand, creativity is rewarded, I’ve put cinnamon on chicken (prettty good) and my roast chicken is a result of suggestions from my then 8 year old. Now 13 years old, he’s confident enough to make himself eggs, put together a salad, even to try something new.
My niece, a precocious and energetic child, is calm and engaged in the kitchen. She may spill everything, but she has great spirit and enthusiasm.
Kids in the kitchen ROCK!
— PamTara, # 13,
Now I have plenty of pots and pans that are incompatible with induction stovetops. But it is safer, as the burner does not heat until a pot is placed on it and cools down almost immediately after the pot is removed. With an electric hotplate, you cannot tell if it is hot or not, unless it is really red-hot.
I remember way back visiting a company that made appliances for huge industrial kitchens. They had huge induction stoves with concave landing spots for huge pots. I pointed out they would be nice for consumers too, especially those with kids. “Nah, these are not for consumers,” was the reply them.
Now, of course, they are all the rage in Europe.
From Wikipedia: “An induction cooker uses induction heating for cooking. This heat is the result of magnetic field hysteresis loss. A conducting pot is placed above an induction coil for the heating process to take place. This type of cooktop does not work with cooking vessels that are constructed from non-conductive materials. Unlike alternatives such as electric hotplates and open-grills, an induction cooker creates no heat; only the vessel used for cooking is heated.
Induction cookers are faster and more energy-efficient than traditional cooktops. Unlike traditional cooktops, the pot itself is heated to the desired temperature rather than heating the stovetop, reducing the possibility of injury. Skin can be burned if it comes into contact with the pot, or by the stovetop after a pot is removed. Unlike a traditional cooktop, the maximum temperature in the system is that of the pot, which is much less capable of causing serious injury than the high temperatures of flames or red-hot electric heating elements. The induction cooker does not warm the air around it, resulting in added energy efficiency.
Since heat is being generated from an induced electric current, the range can detect when cookware is removed or its contents boil out by monitoring the voltage drop caused by resistance in the circuit. This allows additional functions, such as keeping a pot at minimal boil or automatically turning off when the cookware is removed.”
— Susanna“What ever happened to playing with mud pies? Why is precocity such a prerequesite for children these days?”
It’s a direct result of income inequality. Parents want their kids to be above-average as early as possible so that they can get into above-average schools and earn above-average wages.
When it’s no longer possible to support a traditional middle-class family lifestyle on an average income, who is willing to be satisfied with “average”?
— Cathy-in-CantonFrom the time I was very little, my mom let me mess around in the kitchen with her. I always got my own lump of dough to make a little pyrex-dish pie or loaf of bread…and I was always very proud to eat “my” creation. Knowing how messy kids are in the kitchen, I have even more respect for my mom for letting me learn alongside her…As a result, I don’t have the fear of the kitchen that a lot of my peers have–nor do I think making dinner has to be a big chef-fy production with lots of special equipment. I feel strongly that if mom/dad cooks, the kids will cook…
Having written a kids’ cookbook (Williams-Sonoma Kids in the Kitchen: Fun Food) that’s all about “real food” (baked chicken, hummus, pad Thai, sesame fish sticks), I’ve had a great experience watching my nieces and nephew use the book to cook for their parents. They seem to especially like that the illustrations are photos of kids just like them doing all the work–not teddy bears or penguins making pizza!
— Stephanie RosenbaumMy Italian grandmother expected all of us to be comfortable in the kitchen. We were allowed to play with pots & pans & bowls, etc. We were allowed to help & were encouraged to participate in the big Holiday meal preparations.
My daughter will be 3 in March. She loves to help in the kitchen and I love the fact that she loves it. We prepare the foods the family will be eating; no kiddie meals, because she eats the same things we do. She likes chicken & duck, salmon & scallops, carrots & broccoli & spinach and peas & beans, etc.
Safety is #1 but the skills she’s learning are invaluable; patience, structure, discipline, counting, measuring, biology, chemistry, agriculture, weather, etc.
We go to a farmers’ market every Sunday from June-November. She’s learning what real food looks like, where it comes from and who grows or makes it. We buy most of our bread at a local bakery so she already knows it doesn’t grow in a plastic bag.
And she insists on carrying her own canvas bag when she goes shopping so I hope she’s also learning how to take better care of the earth.
We’ll be starting our own garden in the spring, as my grandfather did for me at age 3. I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she pulls her 1st radish.
— CharlyWhen I was 4 years old, my mother taught me how to peel potatoes with a simple straight paring knife. One Christmans, when I was 9 years old, my parents won a hare at the Christmas Bridge drive. My mother was quite sick for some reason, and I ended up preparing the hare, wine marinade and all, with instructions from her bed.
I have offered my 3 sons to cook with me since they could sit in a high chair (dump cut up potatoes in the pot, pour milk into the batter, etc.). My oldest now entertains his friends by cooking for them at college, and got his airfair paid by offering to cook for my handicapped sister during his winter vacation. My youngest wants to have an Iron Chef party for his upcoming 10th birthday. “Learn my mother’s pizza and pancake recipes”. He also loves “developping” new recipes with his friends. Some are edible, some are not. Making them, certainly provides him with a wonderful activity.
— Sascha van CreveldAs a former child of the kitchen (and now a 20-something of the kitchen) I cannot begin to express how grateful I am that my parents let me be part of meal preparation.
My mom ran a baking business out of our home before I reached kindergarten, and as a toddler I loved helping to measure and stir ingredients. Seeing my interest, my parents also let me help prepare dinner on a regular basis. As my motor skills and understanding of safety grew, I was given more and more responsibilities. While I’m sure I slowed my mom down, and made things a bit messier, I learned basic cooking skills at an early age, and they are now second nature to me.
In high school, my parents asked my brother and me to each prepare dinner for our family one night a week, splitting responsibility, introducing us all to new recipes and ingredients, and giving us yet another reason to sit down to dinner together as a family.
As an adult, I have far more skill in the kitchen than the majority of my peers, and have the confidence to go “off recipe” and work with ingredients and flavors that suite my tastes. As a moderate health-nut, I think my ability to cook also helps me nutritionally– because I have the ability to cook quick and delicious meals, I’m less tempted to buy nutritionally sparse and processed prepared foods.
Being a kid in the kitchen can be fun, and a great way to spend time with your parents, teachers, etc– but the perks as an adult are great too!
— Emily