10 year olds eating quinoa and two year olds cutting tomatoes… for Lisa Fontanesi it’s just another day in the kitchen.
Fontanesi is the creator of Kidding around in the Kitchen, an organization that encourages children to get involved in making the food they eat. This weekend she was part of the Japanese American Museum’s “What's Cookin'” festival, focused on healthy eating.
Armed with a recipe for “Mexiterranean Salad” complete with peppers, cucumbers, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, tangerines, feta and green beans, Fontanesi said she knew some parents would be skeptical but she had a little secret for the salad’s quinoa base.
“If you add a little orange juice it changes the flavor just a little and makes it more palatable to the kids,” she said. “ I always try to make it fun, healthy and about five colors.”
Cheyenne Myles said she brought her daughter to the event because she wants her daughter, five-year-old Gavienne, to be exposed to healthy foods at a young age.
“I was looking for activities for us to do on the weekend and I saw that this was focused on giving her the cooking experience and the healthy meals was something that I thought really was the best part.”
Myles said her daughter doesn’t learn much in school about what’s involved in healthy eating and finding time to teach her at home is difficult.“Even when I cook at home, I try to incorporate her in some of the stuff that I do but because I’m always pressed for time its hard to incorporate her,” Myles said. “This was perfect for showing her what has to be done and that there are steps to creating a meal.”
Fontanesi said that’s precisely why she started Kidding Around in the Kitchen. After marrying into a large Italian family, Fontanesi said getting her nieces and nephews in the Kitchen at family gatherings was essential but when her own daughters were born she realized how difficult it can be.
“I knew it would be better if I put them in the kitchen but I thought ‘oh no the time, the mess’ then I realized wait they’ll be my helpers,” she said. “They’re advocates as opposed to adversaries.”
Fontanesi asked if she could begin teaching an afterschool cooking class at her daughters’ elementary school. Afterward she said she would get calls from parents eager to share their excitement at having made one of the recipes with their children. Fontanesi and her daughters soon began traveling to farmers markets and doing easy cooking demonstrations. Soon the business began to grow. Fifteen elementary schools asked Fontanesi to teach afterschool cooking classes and Kidding Around the Kitchen was born. In the nearly ten years since the program began Fontanesi said her motto has remained the same.
“I always say if they cook it they’ll eat it and that’s what’s happened,” she said. “One of the reasons I started the idea of doing cooking classes at events or museums or farmers markets was to get parents to see if they allow their children to make choices they actually will really make good choices.”
Still, one thing parents seem to have a problem with, knives. The idea of children using or even being around the sharp Kitchen utensils terrifies most parents, she said. So she created her own plastic knife set that is safe for children to use. She now sells the set at events and on her website.
Jamika Gay purchased one of the Knife sets for her 11-year-old Son Tyree whom she says has already shown an aptitude for cooking.
“I’m always in the kitchen but it’s usually to find food.” Tyree said, pointing to his mother. “She won’t let me do much else.”
But with his new knife set he hopes things will start to change. For Tyree, cooking runs in the family.
“I have a cousin who is studying to be a chef,” he said. “I don’t know if I want to go to culinary school but I do like to cook.”
Regardless of whether or not children end up in culinary school, Fontanesi said it’s important to remember that education doesn’t begin or end with the school day.
“Education outside of the classroom is where it should happen,” she said. “When the classroom is full of so many different things we have to do its great if we can support doing fun things at museums or farmers markets. Education can happen anywhere. “
