This week has been amazing as the media have encouraged kids to learn to cook…

As a finalist in the NZ Post Children’s Book Awards there has been a fair bit of media interest… the highlight has been her interview on Breakfast TV and her chat with Coran Dan  - follow the link and you will see her explain why she wrote the book. The interview focussed on her age (or lack of it!) and that a cookbook had never made it this far in the awards before – she also has a major grovel to get votes in the Children’s Choice award which is really funny! from my perspective I think the potential impact on teens and parents if a nutrition book could win is so huge – so if you haven’t already – please vote!!

The other exciting thing this week is her debut on the the Smalls Blacks in Kak’s Kitchen. This is now a regular event every Sunday morning at 7.30am for the next 25 weeks (and average about  10 times on Sky Sports and the Rugby Chanel) – it is pitched at younger children and the intent is definitely to encourage kids to have a go at cooking. I will load these to YouTubes but in the meantime just follow the TVNZ link and she is in Chapter one.

Success teaching cooking with children is much more likely if you start off with foods that they really like. In my experience I have found that it is ideal to start with easy kids recipes using familiar foods, like potatoes, which have a wealth of redeeming features. The vast majority of teenagers love the taste of potatoes so you are pitching to a receptive audience.

Taste, ease, nutrition and budget may be high on an adult’s radar of what influences a decision to cook. However, issues like being able impress friends, being able to make yourself look good by having healthy skin, being at a healthy weight, choosing foods which are sustainable, even having recipes electronically rather than on paper – are likely to be jamming the radar of a teenager.

Potatoes have many positive features, being the worlds third biggest food crop their availability and acceptance is well entrenched. The huge advantage of potatoes is that no matter where you live you will always be able to buy locally grown – a feature which has much appeal for our environmentally savvy teens.

From an international perspective potatoes really shine out on a whole raft of environmental issues. The potato plant produces more nutritious food more quickly, on less land, and in harsher climates than any other major crop. Potatoes also require significantly less water to grow than other carbohydrates. On average, it takes 3,000 litres of water to grow 1kg of rice, 500 litres to grow 1kg of wheat and 75 litres for 1kg of potatoes. Plant utilisation is efficient as up to 85% of the potato plant is edible human food, compared to around 50% in cereals.

So when you consider production capability, sustainability and use of world resources it is little wonder that teaching teenagers to cook by using this remarkable food is so effective. For those keen to do their bit for the planet, eating locally grown potatoes is a step in the right direction.

Perhaps of more relevance to adults who want to teach healthy meals for kids is their nutritional status. If you had to write a nutritional CV for potatoes you’d have a rather bulging document. The assets of this rather plain-looking vegetable which is sometimes referred to as humble, show clearly that in nutrition terms they are clearly anything but.

Put succinctly, potatoes are amazingly nutrient and phytonutrients rich, bursting with vitamins and minerals, are virtually fat free, contain no cholesterol and when served in their skins are a great source of fibre. Potatoes have a high satiety index which means they have a key role to play in weight control as they make you feel full for longer.

Versatility also stands out. Whilst a child likes familiarity of foods, they do not want to be bored. Many dishes have potatoes in them, from awesome filled baked potatoes, scrummy soup, to-die-for wedges, to a huge range of salads. Additionally there is the universal attraction that children have for roast, boiled and mashed potatoes.

So why should you start teaching easy kids recipes with potatoes? It’s simple really.

1. They like the taste.
2. No matter where you live, they are readily available at affordable prices.
3. They are great for the planet.
4. They are great for them.
5. They are familiar and able to be cooked in many ways.

The most important thing is that once a child gains confidence with a food that they like, they will venture on to other foods. Let’s get these kids having some fun, enjoying what they cook, feeling the benefits of eating healthy food and racking up a few successes!

Over the past few weeks, and for quite a few to come, Claire has been presenting really easy kids recipes on after school TV. Amidst the cartoons and lively banter of kids TV presenters Claire has a two minute segment called Claire Cooks .

I believe this is perfect positioning – cooking is being portrayed as fun and easily achieved by everyone. The presenters really support Claire and encourage their viewers to ‘have a go’. A lot of basic food skills  are covered and and nutrition messages delivered in a relaxed and  fun way. To me this is nutrition education in action! The role modelling is awesome.

The recipes we selected have been incredibly simple and all have come from Claire’s collection of recipes in the ‘nearly’ released book Who’s Cooking Tonight? (Out very soon!!)

The programs that have screened are all loaded to Claire’s website in the video section. New ones are  added as they are aired.

I am delighted that there has been a lot of media interest recently  in cooking with children and presenting easy kids recipes that can teach children to cook.

Last week Claire was on The Erin Simpson Show on TV2 where she discussed her philopshy of food ( do as little work as possible but get as good tasting food as you can) and prepared one of her favorite recipes. It was great to see the presenter so  enthusiastically encouraging kids to get into the kitchen and have a go.

Over the weekend we had another TV film crew filming in our kitchen for another after school kids TV show Studio 2. For this show Claire was  filmed doing  six step by step recipes.(You can imagine the juggle this has was around her school work and family life – the photo will how you just how invasive this is!!!!) and these will screen over a 12 week period.

In both of these cases I was impressed and heartened by the enthusiasm and fun way they wanted to impart cooking skills to the kids and also deliver nutrition messages as well. If we have any hope at all of inspiring kids to go the whole ‘have fun – let’s make it cool’ concept has to be paramount.  Pop over to Claire’s site and follow the links if you are interested. I will let you know when the series of six segments begins so you can see what I mean.