We’re always encouraging you to get the youngest members of the family into the kitchen to make a mess of themselves mixing ingredients together, trying things out and decorating food. We firmly believe that it’s important for them to explore their senses and learn about nutrition from an early age by forging emotional ties with the kitchen. They’ll thank you for it later in life—here’s why:
Knowing where the food that appears on the table comes from
Chickens are not shaped like nuggets and spinach doesn’t grow in tins. This might seem obvious to us, but perhaps not to today’s children, who have much less contact with nature, vegetable gardens and where food comes from than previous generations. Before cooking together one afternoon, they can start to learn about the different ingredients for that day’s recipe: how to grow them, when to pick them and what they look like before cooking are just some of the questions to answer.
What are proteins? And carbohydrates?
Another step in discovering the secrets to food is finding out more about their nutritional makeup. By teaching kids about the different food groups and their role in our body, you’ll help them understand their own future nutritional needs, as well as the importance of a balanced diet and the recommended portions of each food group.
Homemade cooking vs. supermarket readymade food
If you cook regularly at home and get children involved, they are far more likely to do so themselves when they are older. Flavours will become etched on their memory and they’ll long to recreate their childhood favourites: a homemade tomato sauce or vegetable soup that’s a thousand times better than any supermarket version. They’ll also get a better understanding of what to buy when shopping and how to judge the time they’ll need to cook food at home.
Good health for tomorrow
We never tire of telling you that good food and good health go hand in hand. If you make cooking a game for children—and the kitchen a place where they can learn, ask questions, get messy, try things out and let their imagination run wild—you’re investing in their future. Not only by tackling the worrying rise in child obesity, but also by helping prevent cardiovascular disease caused by a poor diet, as well as behavioural difficulties and other health problems such as diabetes and cholesterol.
