They say, learning how to cook, puts you on the road to eating healthier. Even if you’re trying to make a big fat juicy burger, at least you know exactly what’s going into it. You can't be wrong with homemade meals, even when you’re being a little overindulgent. That’s why you need to see this as something your children cannot do without. Showing them how to cook will set them up for life. Cooking is a life skill, something that you want to pick up nice and early in your life because it will help them when they’re away at college, when they are living by themselves, and when they have a family of their own. The trouble comes when you have to try and get them excited about learning just how to prepare and cook the ingredients.
Choice by cuisine
You can get your children to fall in love with cooking, by first, falling in love with the cuisine. Food is just a blanket word for lots of different styles of cooking, recipes and cuisines. If you want to get your children to fall in love with food, allow them to explore a type of cuisine they like. Go online and browse for different cookbooks with them by your side. Do they like Italian food the most? Morrocan? Middle-Eastern? British? Do they like classic American food? When you show them all the different recipes of a particular cuisine, they understand their own palette more. This means they are becoming comfortable with the types of flavors, textures, consistencies and ingredients they enjoy.
Picky eaters?
Every child is different, and one of the things that parents have to tackle is a fussy eater. But how do you help someone who is picky in their food, get over it? Go onto the kurbo website where they have a blog post about this very same thing. They recommend trying new foods out, every two or three weeks because it allows the child to properly taste and digest foods before seeing if they like it or not. Another strategy they recommend is taking your children to do grocery shopping with you. This way they can learn about the different options out there, see what kinds of flavors they would like to mix and generally, open their eyes to different flavors. Find a new recipe online, something totally different. If you have never cooked Chinese food before, start now so you can give your picky eater son or daughter, something new to try out.
Taste semi-cooked ingredients
Cooking is all about, intensifying natural flavors by reducing the water content in the ingredients. But you should give your children some of the semi-cooked ingredients to taste. If you’re putting courgettes in your stew or quiche, let your son or daughter taste it while it's semi-cooked. Give your children some roasted parsnips to taste before you put them into your dish. This allows them to taste the uniqueness of each ingredient and become familiar with what they add to a dish.
Children can be difficult when it comes to food, but you can get them excited about what they’re eating if you include them in the whole process; from buying to cooking to eating.
