Kids in the kitchen

12 July 2013 Last updated at 16:33 By Ramona Andrews BBC Food Children love grating cheese and tearing basil leaves to make pesto Schoolchildren’s packed lunches could be banned in an effort to boost take-up of school dinners and promote healthy eating. But perhaps the best place to start children off eating well is in the kitchen.

“It looks disgusting, but I’ll try it,” says eight-year-old Ben, while he inspects the pesto that he has made with his classmates.

He’s at a Bristol school doing a course run by Let’s Get Cooking, a lottery-funded organisation of school-based cooking clubs set up by the Children’s Food Trust.

Its approach is to make every element of the cooking process fun and experimental, so children search for the ingredients in the kitchen and talk about where they are stored and why.

They touch and smell the ingredients beforehand, then they read the recipe together and work out what to do with each ingredient in advance.

They face mini-challenges along the way, from putting all the food waste in a waste bowl, to doing the washing up.

Getting children to ditch junk food is tricky, and the school holidays are looming. Learning to cook is a great way to encourage children to think about the quality of their food.

Georgia, who is eight, recently completed a term of cooking classes.

She got excited about making smoothies, designing her own sandwiches and having a dips party – and she knows what’s healthy.

“Things that can grow on trees are normally healthy, like apples and things,” Georgia says.

“But sometimes it’s things that come out of the ground too. Things that you can grow.”

Putting food at the heart of school life is a view advocated by the School Food Plan, a government-commissioned school food review by two founders of the Leon restaurant chain, Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent.

It says take-up of school dinners is low at 43% despite huge quality improvements.

The report advises head teachers to ban packed lunches, which it says can be unhealthier than school dinners, or at least forbid sugary drinks, crisps and confectionery, although many schools already do.

It’s a hard road for parents whose children may turn their noses up at healthy food, but some experts think teaching children to cook at a young age is the answer.

Henry Dimbleby has worked with a number of children’s cooking schools, who teach children as young as two.

He recommends getting them stuck in as soon as possible.

“Get them cooking. There are families where for two generations there hasn’t been much primary cooking in the home,” Mr Dimbleby says.

“Some people might say cooking should be learned in the home. School is there for academic results.

John Vincent (left) and Henry Dimbleby (right) assessed schools’ food

“But what’s happening in this country is that we’re not cooking and people are being made ill by the food they’re eating.”

The key is experimentation.

In BBC Two’s Food & Drink, chef Monica Galetti reveals how she encourages her daughter Anais to eat and cook well, by setting out appropriate ingredients and then empowering her to make what she likes.

“My secret is to get my daughter to choose to eat healthy foods,” she admits.

“The basic rules haven’t changed. Eat less of the bad stuff and more fruit, veg and unprocessed food, and keep the portions small.

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If you’re going to cook with children don’t just cook flapjacks and fairy cakes”

End Quote Fiona Hamilton-Fairley Kids’ Cookery School founder “For me it’s about nutrition, but for Anais it’s just good fun. It’s quality time. She could just be sitting in front of the television, but instead this is what we want to do together when we get home.”

Henry Dimbleby agrees with the idea of experimentation and risk.

“As a chef I still make all sorts of mistakes and that’s to be celebrated. With the right supervision it’s really important to take risks.”

But safety is also important with young ones in the kitchen.

“My five-year-old handles a sharp knife with supervision.

“With the three-year-old, because he sees his older brother handle a knife, I will hold the knife with him as he cuts with it.”

Up to the age of eight he encourages children to try cooking a simple tomato sauce, scrambled eggs or chicken thighs with a salad.

“Between nine and 12, they can move onto make meatballs or bolognaise, and from 13 onwards you can move onto more complicated, multi-step things like cottage pie.

“Things that take more planning and thought and time.”

The Kids’ Cookery School is a registered charity that has worked with over 35,000 children in London and beyond, including many children who have severe physical and learning disabilities, behavioural problems or have been excluded from mainstream education.

Fiona Hamilton-Fairley founder of the school is adamant that cooking with children should not all be about baking sweet things.

“If you’re going to cook with children don’t just cook flapjacks and fairy cakes. That’s the icing on the cake.

“Cook a pizza from scratch, a family meal. Make something that everyone can enjoy around a table together, communicating, having fun.”

However she is wary about handing over the knives too early.

“In general, you need to be sensible. From aged three to about seven or eight, we don’t let the children go near the cooker or use sharp knifes – maybe just a round-ended knife.

“We have what we call the ‘up, up, up method’. Constantly keep their fingers up rather than out.

“We have a good saying ‘you can buy an onion from a supermarket, but you can’t buy your fingers’.”

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Kids in the kitchen