Sep 02,2021
Unlike in the past, the kitchen is now a place for everyone regardless of gender or age. Many dads and moms are eager to develop their children’s interest in food, which is essential to survival. They want their children to learn the joy of cooking at a young age.
“Familiarizing your child with cooking from when they’re little develops their sense of taste, so they know how to obtain the right balance of nutrients their body needs,” says registered dietitian and culinary expert Nakamura Miho. Her cooking school brings out the fun of cooking with recipes that incorporate culinary basics — and that children as young as two can make.
Here Miho tells us the secret to having fun with your toddler or lower primary child cooking together for the first time. She also shares two of her favorite recipes for fermented dishes you can easily try out at home.
When making a meal with your child, it can be difficult to decide how much to let them do. It would be too much to get them to do everything. On the other hand, only giving them a few things to do would take away half the fun. Quite a few parents therefore think twice before letting their child do any cooking at all. Miho recommends trying recipes that involve a few simple steps and fully engage all five senses.
Registered dietitian and culinary expert Nakamura Miho
Miho’s mini pizza recipe is a great way to experience the basic steps involved in completing a dish: mixing, kneading, cutting, flattening, coating, topping, and baking. Moreover, your child can have a go at each on their own, giving them a tremendous sense of accomplishment once they’re done.
“Mini pizzas are a classic dish to start making with your child at home,” says Miho. “The process of shaping the dough and putting on toppings stimulates the senses and nurtures creativity. Almost nothing can go wrong, and your child will find the experience rewarding. It’s a surefire way to boost their appetite. These mini pizzas harness the power of fermentation and contain vegetables, and they’re bursting with nutrition. Why not have a go at making a batch with your child on your next day off?”
Your child gets to experience mixing and kneading the dough in Step 1, cutting it in Step 2, flattening it out in Step 3, and coating, topping, and baking it in Step 4.
Your child should bring the dough together by repeatedly opening and closing one hand. Make sure they remove all the flour around the sides of the bowl. Use a spatula to help them with any flour they can’t remove themselves. If your child doesn’t like getting their hands sticky, it’s fine to let them mix the dough in a plastic bag.
If your child is using a kitchen knife for the first time, it’s a good idea to start with ingredients like okra pods or cucumbers that are long and slender and not too soft or hard. Give them a children’s kitchen knife and get them to hold it straight. Teach them to protect the fingers holding the vegetables by curling them into a cat’s paw. Then have them actually cut the vegetables by drawing the knife toward them in a stroking motion.
When it comes time to divide up the dough, tell your child to cut it into three pieces of equal size. That will give them practice developing a sense of quantity, helping them with their arithmetic at school. It’s killing two birds with one stone.
Once the dough is divided into six equal portions, form each into a ball, then arrange them on a sheet of non-stick foil (or parchment paper if using an oven) and flatten them out with the fingertips. If you like your pizza crispy, make the dough thinner.
Leave the toppings to your child’s imagination, using whatever ingredients you have at home. Let them come up with ideas for their own original pizza. They can have fun with the colors and shapes of different vegetables, for example, or use the toppings to make a face. That develops their imagination and ability to think creatively.
When your child reaches a certain age and starts showing an interest in cooking, they may offer to help in the kitchen. As a parent, it would be nice to let them. If, however, you feel they’re still too young to be using a knife, Miho suggests starting by letting them tear ingredients by hand.
“Even if your child is too small to seriously help out in the kitchen, it’s vital to give them time to engage with different ingredients. Why not start with something simple? That way they’ll come to enjoy cooking one day and take an interest in the food their body is made from. They’ll learn to avoid getting too much or too little nutrition.”
Cabbage is perfect for practicing tearing by hand. Cucumbers are a good way to practice using a knife. As for the process of mixing and kneading, leave it up to your child. They can tie a plastic bag closed and press on it, for example, or toss it back and forth between hands. It’s simple, and the ingredients won’t fly everywhere, meaning less work for you as a parent. And it will delight your child and give them a real sense of accomplishment. They’re doing it all on their own, without relying on daddy and mommy. They’re preparing food themselves.
“Having cooking skills is bound to serve your child well one day,” says Miho. But as with academics, you can’t force your child to learn cooking. Unless you child has some success at it and thinks, “This is fun!”, they won’t feel like doing it of their own accord. It’s important to develop your child’s interest naturally by giving them opportunities to make food alongside you.
“If they enjoy cooking, the day may not be far off when they start preparing meals in your place. At my cooking school, we get a lot of testimonials from parents about the change they’ve noticed in their kids. ‘My child now helps out without being asked.’ ‘He’s now more interested in eating.’ ‘When she sees me preparing a meal, she’s now appreciative of the work that goes into it.’ For the sake of your child’s future, you should gradually get them into the habit of cooking.”
Nothing tastes as good as a meal made together!
As a dietitian at a preschool, Nakamura Miho prepared meals for babies and small children and taught about nutrition. She was also involved in community parenting support programs. Since striking out on her own in 2009, she has run her own cooking school and taught classes in making baby meals. Her motto is “making mealtimes more delicious and enjoyable.” Besides giving seminars on nutrition, she also supervises recipes for books, magazines, and television.
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