New Generation Dons Aprons And Chef's Hats

An e-mail arrived containing the latest photos of our grandchildren. Their smiling faces stared back at us from the computer screen eliciting the normal sappy grandparent responses. "Awww. Aren't they the most beautiful children you ever saw? Look how Kylie loves her little brother!"

Fellow grandparents get the picture. No pun intended.

Of all the snapshots in the recent e-mail package, we chose to print and frame an image of the two nestled close together. There's a rather large book on Kylie's lap. The back cover is visible. It's heading "Have A Blast!" screams from a familiar background of large red and white diamonds.

Grandma immediately recognized it as a Better Homes & Gardens Junior Cookbook. Upon calling our daughter, we learned that Kylie is a huge Food Network fan. She watches Paula Deen, Giada De Laurentiis, Rachael Ray and Emeril Lagasse.

Apparently, Kylie is not alone. She seems to be one of the growing numbers of kids with a passion for cooking. Kylie is a pre-schooler, but chefs like Rachael Ray often draw more tween fans at public events than they do 35 to 45-year-olds.

The kids' cooking movement is big. The advantages are gigantic. The initial positive is the extra special bonding of children with grown-ups who cook. Kylie has always wanted to help her mommy in the kitchen. She mastered the art of cracking eggs into a bowl as soon as she was able to climb onto a kitchen stool.

We're sure however, that her mommy would love to have Kylie just take over the cooking responsibilities entirely. Her mommy isn't glued to the Food Network and has never had much interest in cooking beyond the obvious necessity. Yet, somehow Kylie can't get enough of it.

The active role and interest of children in foods and cooking have the far-reaching advantages of fighting obesity, improving overall health, and properly educating a generation about nutrition. Through food television, community-cooking classes for kids, children-friendly recipes, junior cookbooks, popular kids' cooking clubs, and countless Web sites, a new generation is growing up cooking. The souls of cooks who view food as a life passion are being developed at very early ages.

Programs like the Junior Leagues' "Kids In The Kitchen" are designed to help communities address the urgent issues surrounding childhood obesity and poor nutrition. They provide cooking demonstrations in schools and community centers, which include hands-on grocery store tours for the purpose of learning how to select healthy recipe ingredients.

Youville Centre of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada has a wonderful website with everything needed to start a kids' cooking club. Coincidentally, their resource manual is also called "Kids In The Kitchen." It's a free downloadable guide with lesson plans, kid-friendly recipes, nutrition activities, discussion ideas called "Food Talk, and "Strange, But True" food trivia kids love.

A number of children's cookbooks include drawings of the steps, as well as words. Grown-ups are generally urged to be safety managers and assistants to the budding young chefs.

A book published by Tricycle Press recently caught our eye. It's "Salad People and More Real Recipes: A New Cookbook for Preschoolers and Up." To name just a few more; Annabel Karmel's "Mom and Me Cookbook," Williams-Sonoma's "The Kids Cookbook," and Emeril's "There's A Chef In My Soup!"

Have a blast, kids. Bon appetit!

Lyn and Bill live in Highlands Ridge. Visit their Web sites www.boomersandbeyondthecolum.com and www.thecaregiverscaregiver.com