Cooks & Kids
The Cooks & Kids initiative is the brainchild of the National Fostering Agency Group (NFA) and challenges children and young people aged 6-18 to create their favourite recipes for a chance to cook them with a top chef and have it featured in the Cooks & Kids cookbook. The project is both a great way to get kids involved in the kitchen and teach them about cooking and healthy eating, while at the same time making cooking fun.
Last weekend I was very lucky to be invited to the launch of the latest cookbook, Cooks & Kids 3, and to have a chat with the lovely Gregg Wallace about this latest project which he heads up. I was keen to know what part of the project Gregg enjoyed the most.
“While the whole project was great fun, the best bit was seeing the chefs being nervous about creating the children’s recipes. I tasted nearly one hundred amazing creations and, do you know, I loved them all.”
So, what would be his top tip for young people who want to start cooking? “My tip would be to start with the food you really like to eat.“ he said “ If you like it, it will be easier to make, so start with that and develop from there!”
This summer, the children and young people from NFA teamed up with an amazing range of chefs, namely, Tom Kerridge, Michel Roux Jr., Cyrus Todiwala, Chris Lee, Aldo Zilli, MasterChef winners Simon Wood and Ping Coombes, and previous Celebrity MasterChef contestants Wayne Sleep and Sophie Thompson to cook up their winning recipes and offer MasterChef style feedback on the meal.
At the event, I also managed to have a catch up with Wayne Sleep and he took time out from signing copies of the book to write a personal message in the copy that Eating Ideas will be giving away to one lucky reader. He also happily posed for pictures and kindly signed my friend Molly’s pointe shoe. Molly is a regular presenter on the Eating Ideas YouTube channel and she was thrilled to meet her ballet hero- what a gent! (You can check out the YouTube channel and subscribe here)
Cooks & Kids 3 has a range of delicious, nutritious and creative recipes including Teriyaki Chicken, Cheesy Burger Bird Nests, Handmade Tagliatelle, Paella, Strawberry Cheesecake and Ginger and Lime Cake. Children can now re-create these dishes at home, with over 50 easy-to-follow recipes, full instructions and colour photographs to help them on their way. Never mind the children, I definitely plan to try a few of them myself!
All royalties from the sale of Cooks & Kids 3 will be donated to Place2Be, a charity which provides emotional and therapeutic services in 257 primary and secondary schools nationwide. For more information about the project or to buy the book, click here
You can also buy a signed copy of the book on the Graffeg website here
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That’s such a lovely idea and who knows where it might lead those young people in the future, having their names and recipes in a printed cook book is such a buzz! It’s good to hear of projects like that, and the charity it’s supporting is hugely important at this time in kids lives. Hope it does well.
Thanks for the comment Dee. I was very impressed with the project and hope that they sell loads of books!