Article after article in the news shares grim statistics about the widening waistlines and related health problems of today’s youth. Could one of the best (and most rewarding) remedies for these serious problems be lurking in your kitchen?

1. Kids who cook usually end up being more knowledgeable about and interested in fresh, healthy ingredients than those who don’t.

It’s fun for young cooks to work with colorful fruits and vegetables when they first start helping out in the kitchen. Letting your children help out assembling ingredients for a meal, using melon ballers, small ice cream scoops, small cookie cutters, and plastic knives to help put together a delicious fruit salad, etc. can be a great way for smaller children to enjoyably and safely contribute to family meals.

Depending on their maturity level, you may also want to start working with your older children to learn the proper and safe knife skills needed to help with more elaborate meals. Of course, proper adult supervision is always a must.

2. Kids who are comfortable in the kitchen are more likely to make healthier and much more diverse choices in the long run when it comes to their own nutrition.

Not surprisingly, an interest in cooking at a young age often leads to the development of an expanded palate; making meal planning more interesting and less challenging than it is for the parents of children who left to their own devices would happily eat such nutritionally dubious meals as hot dogs and boxed mac and cheese 365 days a year.

Best of all, kids who cook tend to be much more willing to try new and unusual foods than their non-cooking counterparts.

Being raised in an Italian home, I was exposed to a wide variety of tastes not commonly found in mass produced tv dinners. As a result, I now happily enjoy eating the foods of just about any cuisine. Some of my fondest childhood memories involve being taught to cook by my old, Italian grandmother.

Another good way to encourage your children to become intrepid food explorers is to take them to farmer’s markets so they can see what the foods they eat look and taste like at their freshest, meet the farmers and cooks who regularly work with such bounty, as well as to sample a variety of delicious and homemade foods in an inviting, non-stuffy atmosphere.

3. Cooking young helps give children a healthy sense of responsibility and self reliance that can help them build a balanced sense of confidence and independence.

Even small children can be encouraged to make such no-cook snacks and meals as tuna or cheese sandwiches or spread some peanut butter on celery for an after-school nosh, help mix pudding by hand, and use cookie cutters to cut fun shapes out from dough.

Older children can learn how to make pasta and simple sauces, help out with basic food preparation, bake with supervision, as well as use food processors and blenders to make smoothies, shakes, pestos, homemade salad dressings, and salsas.

Later, when they are of college age and/or moving into their first apartments, such early kitchen experiences will help them make healthier and more financially sensible choices than just having Pizza Hut on speed dial or regularly hitting the McDonalds’ drive-thru.

4. Cooking teaches valuable life skills, encourages empathy and caring, and is a fun way to strengthen your family bonds.

After years of cooking meals for your family, you may find yourself stuck in a culinary rut. But everything is new and exciting to the young chefs helping out in your kitchen, and working with food is full of sights, smells, and tastes that will excite your child as they experience everything for the first time.

You may find that cooking with your children helps you rediscover a sense of play and creative experimentation that you’d forgotten about as you teach your children about various spice and flavor combinations.

Additionally, kids who cook learn practical math skills and gain a sense of visual proportion as they learn to use measuring spoons and cups as well as convert and work with solid and liquid measurements.

Cooking also encourages creativity and organizational skills as your child first follows (and later is inspired to improve on) various recipes, assembles ingredients, and helps plan a meal.

5. Who knows, your kid could be the next Thomas Keller.

Many of the best chefs and cooks, including Thomas Keller and Anthony Bourdain started out helping in the kitchen at an early age.

As it says in this CBSNews.Com article about Anthony Bourdain:

“Bourdain’s mother Gladys is a copy editor at The New York Times today, but when Bourdain was a boy, she was a stay-at-home mom in New Jersey, and an enthusiastic amateur chef.

‘He would be curious…we had a great kitchen - and he decorated the gingerbread men at Christmas as a kid,’ she said. ‘So he always had this interest in good taste, good smells. From a very young age, he loved to try new things.’

His first summer in France, visiting his father’s family, a 10-year-old Bourdain ate his first oyster, and his world was never the same.

‘It was an early exposure to eating French that really resonated later,’ he said. ‘The power of those early experiences with a good oyster - in a very visceral way you remember those things.’

12 year old Joey Yarwick of San Diego recently won the Next Gourmet Burger Kids’ Recipe Contest with a burger featuring sirloin and melted brie on a croissant. More than 10,000 kids entered the contest, a sign of how popular cooking has become for the younger set.

England’s 10 year old Rumaanah Patel won Canned Food UK’s kid’s cooking contest where the prizes included a visit to her school by UK celebrity chef James Martin who enjoyed her fusion dish of Yorkshire pudding and curry.

(There are many different child-friendly cooking contests held every year, including the recently announced Jif Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest and this one from the folks at Food and Wine.)

According to this article in The Canadian Press, kids’ cooking camps and classes are becoming extremely popular throughout North America as the children raised watching the Food Network develop a passion for all things culinary.

As this Washington Times article about cooking camps shared:

“Just a couple days into the Deliciously Nutritious camp, A.J. Jones, 9, went home and started a family tradition: eating supper with his parents. He even made the pasta salad.

‘It’s normally my dad in the family room, my mom standing up and I’m at the counter,” he said. “Some nights, my mom will sit at the counter with me, but now, starting a couple nights ago, we’re having family dinners.’”

How to Get Started Cooking With Your Children

Think about ways to get your children more active in the kitchen. What meals do you make or recipes you know can be easily adapted so they can participate in age appropriate ways? This is also a great way to make memories and pass on family recipes to the next generation.

Here’s a few kid appropriate cookbooks and recipe websites that may spark a few ideas…

Books:

• Kitchen for Kids: 100 Amazing Recipes Your Children Can Really Make by Jennifer Low

• The Family Kitchen: Easy and Delicious Recipes for Parents and Kids to Make and Enjoy Together by Debra Ponzek

• William-Sonoma: The Kid’s Cookbook: A Great Book for Kids Who Love to Cook! by Abigail Johnson Dodge

• Passport on a Plate: A Round-the-World Cookbook for Children by Diane Simone Vezza

• Cooking Essentials for the Young and Novice Cook by Neena N. Langevin, Kathy Ishoy, and Christine Dyer

• Kids Can Cook: Vegetarian Recipes by Dorothy R. Bates

Websites:

• About.Com: Cooking For Kids

• How to Cook With Kids: Three Approaches to Cooking With Kids

• Recipe Goldmine: Childrens’ Recipes

• ChildrensRecipes.Com

• My Summer Camps.Com: Children’s Cooking Camps

(Photo Credits: Photos courtesy of the Yorkshire Evening Post, the Canadian Press, and The Washington Times.)

Please join us tomorrow where we share 2 turn of the century childrens’ cookbooks as part of our Free Cookbook of the Month feature and this week’s special Young at Heart Series.

Note: This article is also available in the following convenient format(s)…

Courtesy of Travel Industry Wire.Com:

A recent Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) study, showed that 58% of all American leisure travellers say they are somewhat/very interested in taking a trip to engage in culinary or wine-related activities.

With this in mind, editors of the website Travelocity say they scoured the globe to highlight unique foodie finds.

Due to its access to top-notch chefs and fresh ingredients, Charleston, SC made the list

Travelocity’s 10 Delicious Destinations for Foodies: (in alphabetical order)

• Barcelona, Spain

This Spanish city started getting recognition just within the last five years. Catalan influences dominate both the culture and cuisine with French and Mediterranean inspired dishes more prevalent than traditional Spanish fare. Catalan cuisine features a unique combination of ingredients such as red meat and fish; poultry and fruit; and pork sausage with white beans. Each dish is unique, original and utterly impossible to put down.

• Boulder, Colorado

It’s no secret that Boulder is about as eco-friendly and earthy as it gets, but what may come as a surprise is how the recent addition of urban dwellers has led to a more sophisticated and trend-setting approach to organic dining. Take The Kitchen Café for example, which offers an eclectic menu with superior organic ingredients, but moreover, is completely green-they even compost all of the kitchen scraps and use wind power. On top of this green approach, Boulderites have access to some of the country’s finest boutique ingredients, such as hormone-free Colorado lamb, local cheeses, and even organic microbrews.

• Charleston, South Carolina

Some may call it soul food, but in Charleston they call it Low Country cuisine. Prevailing as the undisputed local favorite, this culinary specialty infuses restaurant menus with dishes such as Frogmore Stew, She-Crab Soup and Hoppin’ John. Rice, grits and fresh, local produce play an integral role in the creation of these truly Southern meals, and the waters that surround South Carolina’s Low Country inspire local cooks more often than not with seafood dishes found on just about every menu.

• Las Vegas, Nevada

In the spirit of Liberace, Vegas’ recent restaurant boom is completely over the top-and we mean that in the best possible way. If you want your foie gras topped with shaved truffles and dusted with gold, it’s a sure bet it can be found here. Top chefs from NYC, Paris, and London are opening namesake outposts in hotels and casinos with much fanfare, so keep an eye out for Emeril, Thomas Keller, and Bobby Flay. Fortunately for our wallets, Vegas’ famous buffets are still a beloved part of life on The Strip.

• London, United Kingdom

London is shaking its reputation for having mediocre cuisine (we think it was undeserved anyway!). Celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsey have built on the English penchant for exquisite service and fine surroundings, and have made the current restaurant scene world famous. All the while, specialty gourmet shops have continued operations for nearly 300 years, as in the case of Fortnum & Mason, known for its fine teas, and Paxton & Whitfield, cheesemonger to the royal family. Choose from afternoon tea, Indian curries, and classic pub fare, like shepherd’s pie-then wash it down with a black and tan before hitting the museums.

• Montreal, Quebec

Known ubiquitously for its French cuisine, the Montreal culinary scene also boasts imaginative carte du jours from more than 80 countries. Dine at one of the city’s 5,000 restaurants, or spend the day meandering through local markets in search of the same culinary treasures used by Montreal chefs. While there, sample a Montreal-style bagel topped with cream cheese or a smoked meat sandwich, two local treats.

• New Orleans, Louisiana

Many first time visitors head to New Orleans to experience events such as Mardi Gras or JazzFest, but they return time and time again for its food. NOLA’s most famous restaurants include Emeril’s, Commander’s Palace and Antoine’s, but local favorites such as Jacques-Imos and Port of Call deserve a spot on the map of culinary treasures as well. Cajun and Creole dishes throughout the city tempt the taste buds, and no visit to Crescent City is complete without indulging in a beignet dusted with powdered sugar and a cup of café au lait laced with chicory at Café Du Monde.

• New York, New York

Cabbies and billionaires alike clamor for the city’s famous slices, pretzels with mustard, and roasted chestnuts in paper bags, but beyond streetfood, NYC boasts more restaurants per capita than any other American city. Whether one is looking for a neighborhood Italian joint or sweeping views of Central Park at Per Se, there’s something for everyone. The city is also home to some of the best foodie souvenir shops around, including DiPalo’s homemade mozzarella, the Doughnut Plant’s pistachio glazed version, and Vintage’s Long Island wines.

• Rome, Italy

Dining in this Italian capital is an experience that’s arguably just as pleasurable as seeing the sites the city has to offer and surprisingly, finding the best fare is as easy as pie. While Northern Italy is famous for its pesto and truffles, Tuscany for its olive oil and beans, Sicily for its sweets, and the south for its seafood and spice, Roman cuisine boasts all of this and more. From home-style Italian cooking in charming trattorias to innovative fare in designer restaurants, the old streets of Rome will have you savoring la dolce vita.

• San Francisco, California

Alice Waters is credited with changing the way Americans eat, and now her local, seasonal approach to cuisine is now an integral part of San Francisco’s venerable restaurant scene. With Wine Country vintages at hand, Bodega Bay oysters on the half-shell, and Northern California’s bounty, visitors are able to try ingredients they wouldn’t have access to at home. As if that weren’t enough, the City by the Bay is a hotbed for artisanal products, such as Cowgirl Creamery’s Mt. Tam cheese, McEvoy Ranch olive oil, and Scharfenberger chocolates, all of which can be found at the foodie mecca known as the Ferry Building.

From the British newspaper, The Independent:

“For decades it was merely a slightly exotic option for holidaymakers in Spain, Italy and Greece, but a growing number of cooks experimenting with recipes involving tentacles and black ink have turned squid into a fashionable dish in British kitchens.

Although still less popular than other seafood such as prawns, the amount of squid sold in the UK has risen by 49 per cent in the past 12 months, according to the industry body Seafish.

The cephalopod’s new-found popularity owes much to the growing appeal of fruits de mer and to the promotion of a Mediterranean diet popular in Italy, France and Spain, where it is cut into rings and fried.

Among the chefs who have encouraged the eating of squid is Rick Stein, whose gastronomic tour of the Mediterranean was televised by the BBC last year. He suggested serving sautéed squid and chorizo with garlic, rocket (arugula), tomatoes and chick peas.”

You can read more of the story here:

One of the most popular ways to eat squid in America is as fried calamari, long a favorite of Italian cuisine. Squid is also commonly used in the cuisines of Spain, Japan, and China.

Here’s a recipe for fried calamari from Giada De Laurentiis of the Food Network.

In Japan, shredded, dehydrated squid is a popular salty snack and sold in small bags (it’s far tastier than it sounds). You can also get squid flavored ice cream (as well as a variety of other unusual ice cream flavors) in Japan.

Here’s one more squid recipe: Andalucian Fried Squid With Alioli from Tapas Recipes Andalucia…enjoy!