Last week British Chef, Jamie Oliver, won the 2010 TED prize for his vision to “create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.” The food blogging community was alight with words of praise, support and respect for Jamie’s campaign. But they were just that—words. We need to take action, bring our support to the next level and help make Jamie’s TED Wish come true. After all, he’s been working on this campaign for over seven years!
As a blog about a mother and two daughters cooking together, I think we can take on at least one aspect of this challenge: to inspire families to cook again. Sharon and I may not always have been avid students during Mom’s impromptu cooking lessons, but after years in Mom’s kitchen, it finally sunk in. We caught the cooking bug and now we’re dishing up delicious and healthy food every day. With any luck, this is something we’ll pass on to our kids.
Three Many Cooks wants to know what’s cooking in your family kitchen. Put on your best apron, cue your favorite music and cook a healthy, delicious meal with husbands, wives, children, extended family or dear friends. Breakfast, lunch or dinner. Take a photo and e-mail it to maggy@threemanycooks.com. Tell us who’s in the picture and what you’re cooking. Give us the recipe if you like.
Those who send in a photo will be entered into a competition to win a Kyocera Ceramic Santoku knife and peeler set (ERV $90). On Sunday, we’ll randomly select a winner and some of the best photos to feature on the blog.
Watch Jamie Oliver’s TED talk outlining the problems and the solutions: http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html
Now let’s hear your ideas. What can we do to inspire families to cook again?
Love this idea! It’s just me at home, but even with just me, I tend to cook more than going out and do try to cook healthy for the most part (because obesity hits the 40+ somethings, too!).
I think the best thing we can do to inspire people to cook is to show them that it doesn’t have to be time consuming or expensive and that it’s tasty. Maybe the best way to do that is like Jamie Oliver suggests in the book: pass it on. Teach someone a favorite recipe. I think he suggests teaching or sharing with three people.
I’m a single and I’ve found that sharing with other singles is easy for me to do (it’s amazing how many people I know who cook for only 1 or 2 people). I’m not a huge fan of cooking something like a big pan of lasagna and freezing it in single portions. I am a big fan of making my own marinara, for instance, and freezing that to use in recipes in the future. Just recently I’ve started cooking bigger roasts or making things like meatballs and freezing them in single portions to be used for various dishes. I’m amazed at what I can do with a brisket or chuck roast,shredded chicken or pork, not to mention the meatballs.
I love to cook with my little girls ages 5 and 2 1/2. They both love the feeling of accomplishment they get from helping me and I get to cook dinner without worrying about what they are doing to each other in the other room. My older daughter can break eggs (not directly into the bowl with the other ingredients), measure and level flour and other dry ingredients, mix with a spoon, and lick the spoon (her favorite part). My younger daughter can mix the bowl too. If I am chopping ingredients such as vegetables, I let them put the chopped ingredients into a bowl for me. I try to let them do as much as they can. Nothing makes me happier than to pass along my love of cooking with my kids. I make sure to mention to dad that my girls have helped with the cooking while we are eating dinner and the girls look so proud. BTw- I have four of Pam’s cookbooks and my most heavily used is How to Cook Without a Book- love the soups and stir fries, steam sauteed veggies, and more.