Kids and Cooking

I followed Jamie Oliver's advice today. A five year old and a nine year old can learn how to cook in just 5 minutes. The results are immense.

My previous blog was about Jamie Oliver and what he tought about cooking and kids. It was a reminder.

Its Sunday today and my kids tell me they are bored and hungry. I told them to come into the kitchen and lets cook something.

Nine Year Old

I had some left over rice. I asked him if he wanted some some fried rice. 

I helped him chop up some onions, garlic and ginger.
And then some cabbage

Made him switch the stove and pour the oil and mix the ingridients in. He then put in the cooked rice and finished off with soya sauce.

That's it - 5 minutes  and less.


5 Year Old

He wanted some toasted bread. This time I asked him to do it himself with some help from me.

He placed 2 slices in the toaster. And buttered it himself. He does not like the sides and I let him use a butter knife to cut them.







And there were still hungry and asked for instant noodles. It was a good opportunity to teach my nine year old.

He cut out the noodles from the packets. And i said it would normall use one and half glasses of water for 1 packet and tested him on how much he would need since he is making 2 packets.

He placed three cups of water and he and his brother enjoyed a meal of instant noodles.

It was a good Sunday. It does not take long if the dish is simple. They learn lots

- self confidence

- take pride in their product

- they occupy themself

- they are learning a live skill

- they have fun

- they are with you building a family culture which they can take when they have kids

Parents, this is a short post to share my experience today and the joys and the importance of bring the kids into the kitchen. As NIKE says JUST DO IT!

Write in with your experience with your kids. And one more thing, dont nag them to clean up. There is plenty of time for that. Let them have fun and let them experiment.

Happy Cooking and Teaching!

Jamie Oliver on Kids and Cooking

Listen to what Jamie Oliver says about kids and cooking and why is it so important to get kids into the kitchen. He says its all about FUN and OWNERSHIP.

Listen to what he says on this video. He appeared on Oprah Winfrey. I found the video while searching for something else and I could not resist to place the link here. He says so many important things about cooking and kids and why it s so important.

Tried to write some snippets of what he said. Look at the video to listen to all.
http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Jamie-Oliver-on-Teaching-Your-Kids-to-Cook-Video

Every kid and adult is different. Let them have fun. You dont want to be fussy and ask them to clean up and this and that. Let them have fun. And let them DECIDE. Let them take ownership - how much, how long, what do we need and such.

Kids like to be proud. Give them the skills and create a family culture which they will take to their children. Once a week, a meal on Saturday for example - spend it with them cooking. It will also build their confidence.

Dont ask them about whether they want burgers or nuggets. Teaching them about cooking will also help them avoid junk food . Jamie says that life expectantcy in UK and US is now 10 to 15 years less because of the food we eat.

Watch the video by Jamie Oliver. It is quite inspirational

What Cooking Does For Me – Chapter 2

My boy wrote this piece in Chapters. Chapter 1 was about how he felt about cooking. For the second Chapter he wrote about ‘Cooking Technology’. See Chapter 1 on this blog.

Again I have reproduced Chapter 2 here – except for spelling and perhaps some grammar, this is my son’s original piece.

Cooking Technology

If you don’t know how to cook, watch the Asian Food Channel on TV. My favorite show is Restaurant Makeover. It’s very interesting because it turns a bad restaurant into a good restaurant. A Bad Chef to a Good Chef.

You need to learn a few things in school to be a chef. You need to learn math, science, and English. Math is to help you know how to measure like how much water you need to add to your cooking. English is to understand cooking and read recipes. Science is to know about what is happening in cooking.

We learn things from cooking like knowing the right ingredients and making food delicious. You can also make drinks.

The end

P.S. My son's musings got me thinking, about children having ambitions to become chefs. I found some books. I reading  the Chef's story - its about their passion and what got them into the kitchen. Interesting read. There are others, if you are interested. 

Our children are angles, with dreams, creatively and imagination. If adults did not forget these child thoughts, the world would probably be a better place.