The Kids I Know Are Delighted by This Cookbook

Fanny at Chez Panisse by Alice Waters was one we cooked from when my daughter was young. She’s now 31 and still has the book on her shelf. She recently made the 1-2-3-4 cake for a family party.

What’s the age range this cookbook would be good for?

I love kid’s cookbooks!
I once read about one (maybe even here?) in which cleaning was included in the cooking process. Now that I have a messy 4-year old son that loves to cook and bake, I’m very much interested in that one! Anyone knows what book it is?

When I was learning to cook around Toby’s age, I devoured the DK Children’s Cookbook, it was an amazing resource for learning cooking skills one level up the the Pretend Soup style.

I had Pretend Soup as a child (I’m in my mid thirties now), and I loved it then, too! So glad a new generation of young readers are enjoying it :) Now, I need to go find my copy!!

Your niece has amazing strong hands!
(probably weird to say, but literally the first thing I noticed) x

Sneaky truth – I never cook with my child. I am not much of a cook – I can follow a recipe, even a very complicated one, and I make amazing cakes but the thing is, I don’t have even a tiny bit of love for it. Luckily my husband does most of our cooking. I cook like I do my taxes – under the greatest duress.

I recently came across a series of Swiss children’s books with Globi (a parrot!) that includes a few kids/family cookbooks too (breakfast recipes, vegetarian cooking, Swiss cuisine, etc.) with nice illustrations. Even as an adult, it was fun to learn some traditional but new to me recipes and I can’t wait to share it with my nephew! Most books are in German, but at least one of them, “Globi’s Swiss cookbook”, is available in English too. Maybe something fun to try?

Soooooo I’m one of the kids in this cookbook!!! I said the bagel faces tasted happy I think? I’ll have to ask my mom, but they tested all the recipes out on my preschool in Berkeley.

It brings me so much joy that the book is delighting children all these years later.

My six-year-old has been subscribed to Raddish for a couple of years now. It is similar in that it visually shows you step by step how to make the item His specialty is chicken tagine!

We loved cooking with this book when my kids were younger! Now that they are tweens/teens, we bumped up to some more great books: The America’s Test Kitchen Cookbooks for Kids! They are so approachable and failproof.

Also, our local university offered zoom camps over the summer, and my son took a week of zoom cooking classes. He prepared 12 recipes of all kinds in our own kitchen and he learned SO much! He has so much confidence and I’m excited to sign up my other two kids next summer. I can’t say enough how great this was for my son! And the rest of us eating his food!

When I was 8, my Dad went on strike with his company. So he was home and cooking dinner. Anything in the fridge was fair game for a salad – cold spaghetti, old lunch meat – it was a horror. So I proposed that I do the cooking. I had to do a kitchen skills test with my Mom, but I passed. The first meal I made them, I became head chef. I was the youngest Bon Appetit subscriber in history. Those skills now serve me well at 47.

I think I had this when I was a kid?? Thanks for sharing, it was one of my favorites and I was wishing I knew the name to get it for my daughter!

Thank you all! Those posts had great ideas as well and am interested in an update. :)

I was a little horrified the other day when my son (10) informed me, “When I grow up, I’m going to make my wife do all the cooking.” I said, “Oh, really? Is that fair to her? And what if you don’t have a wife?” He said, “Then I’ll make my husband do all the cooking.”

Ahh I loved pretend soup as a kid! I also had honest pretzels which I was fascinated by as well. I remember making “pretend soup” with my friends as a fun sleepover activity. I also loved helping my mom make the spunky chili recipe–she still makes it regularly. glad to know that kids these days are still enjoying these cookbooks haha

We had Kidscooking: A Very Slightly Messy Manual (I believe by Klutz) as children. It is very similar with lots of fun recipes – including playdough! But mostly edible ones. I love looking at it even as an adult.

My teenage sons like to cook – eldest does fancy meals, middle son mainly likes to cook brunch style stuff and the youngest loves baking. Middle boy (16) recently invited his friends round and cooked them lasagne, a big green salad and his little brother baked brownies which he served warm with ice cream. He was delighted that all his friends asked for seconds!
Eldest son has asked me to make him a book of all the family recipes so I think I might make the boys one each for Christmas. Warms my heart to see them able to cook healthy (mostly!) real food rather than living off snacks and takeout.
I think cooking is a great life skill and such a nice way to look after people you love and make them happy

We love Foodie Tales Cookbook, a children’s cookbook authored by my friend Desiree. It’s whimsical (the “creepiest carrots” is a big hit here), each recipe is based on a children’s book, and the food is delicious. And she is donating her proceeds to the Greater Chicago Food Depository and World Central Kitchen. Link here! https://www.foodietalescookbook.com

OMG Mollie Katzen’s ‘The Enchanted Broccoli Forest’ was pretty much my first recipe book. My Mum was the quintessential 70’s mum – five kids, lots of animals, big veg garden and an obsession with fermentation and weird veg recipes. This was one of her go-to books and it was one of the first I learnt to cook from. These days its Ottolenghi and Heidi Swanson, but in the 80’s it was Mollie Katzen. I must revisit her recipes, thanks for the reminder.

Love this! If they like illustrated recipes, try nomsterchef.com- it’s a website I created with recipes for kids 3+ and their grown-ups. Completely free, hope you and your readers enjoy!

I love this so much! The names make foods sound so fun, I mean…carrot pennies?! bravo copywriting…

I got my son this book for Christmas last year, and it was a big hit! He’s almost 8 and is quite the foodie, which I largely credit to always involving him in the kitchen. I also ordered the Waffles & Mochi cookbook for his birthday this year – can’t wait for him to check out that one!

I got this when my daughter was a baby now she’s 26! We loved it then and now!

I had this cookbook as a child! The popover recipe is AMAZING! They are great warm out of the oven with jam. mmmm