written by: Mary Brown Malouf
Your first reaction may be that teaching children to play with knives and fire is not a good idea. But you’d be wrong. You’ve heard all about our increasingly obese and sedentary kids, sipping their giant sugar-bombs while assisting Link on his 20-somethingth attempt to save Zelda or somebody. And it may sound counterintuitive that a fix for that would be to get your kid into a kitchen. But, cooks are on their feet all the time. Cooking tests your memory, challenges your fine motor ability, forces you to focus on the task at hand—all while improving your math skills, especially fractions. Consider signing your kid up for a cooking class at Sur La Table. The week-long camps are designed for different age levels, but even young children learn knife skills by making a rainbow salad with toasted sesame vinaigrette, ginger and veggie yakisoba and pineapple and lime sorbet with fresh mint. That’s just on Day One. And if you think that sounds like more vegetables than your child would eat in a lifetime, remember research has shown that kids are more likely to try—and even like—unfamiliar food if they have prepared it themselves. Each day of Cooking Camp has a theme—measuring and baking, sauces, pasta, etc. By the end of the week, they’ll be making souffles and snacking on sugar snap peas. For teens, the curriculum is similar but more complex, each day’s lesson ending in a complete meal. And/or, look into the week-long course all about baking. Think raspberry mousse-filled layer cake with vanilla buttercream and carrot cake cupcakes with cream-cheese frosting and marzipan carrot decorations. Or chocolate eclairs.
Hands-on
This is how humans learn best. And that’s what the kids and teens cooking classes at Sur La Table provide in summer cooking camps.
Oh yes. You want your kids to learn to cook. Find out more at surlatable.com.
