Parents need to teach kids about food

A lot of times when talking to people about food, I get told that food education should be part of the school curriculum.

As much as I agree, it doesn’t absolve parents and grandparents of doing their part to show children where food comes from, how to prepare it and how to respect the growers and producers of the food we so enjoy.

In my humble opinion, the best way – and it is the way I learned a lot about food – is to grow it at home. You can grow even if you don’t have a garden – window boxes are basically mini gardens and you and your child can start the journey together by growing herbs (I personally never got lucky with growing basil – it is in my opinion one of the hardest herbs to grow in Ireland) such as thyme, parsley and chives.

Little plant pots can be used to grow cherry tomatoes (you can find varieties that don’t need much height to grow) and chillies. If you have a backyard, planting bags are a great alternative to a raised bed and you can grow beetroot, small cabbage etc easily in a small space.

Your child will learn about growing conditions, seasonality, natural taste and will experience the satisfaction of harvesting the produce.

Peas are a perfect starter vegetable to use. Take a plant pot of about eight inches deep, fill it with soil (peas prefer well-draining potting mix) and give it a support structure. Most pea types prefer to be set out in cooler temperatures so now is a good time to do it (just make sure that we don’t get frost during the nights) and the wonderful things about peas is that you don’t have to pre-set them but the little darlings can be placed directly in the soil in your pot one to two inches apart and one or two inches deep. The soil needs to be kept moist (apologies if you hate the word) but not soggy wet.

It takes about up to 14 days to germinate but after that it grows nicely up the support structure. Another plus for growing peas it that they can be eaten directly out of the pods and kids will love the fresh sweet taste – you might not see any peas in your kitchen but seeing kids enjoying freshly grown vegetables is worth it.

Growing your own food also allows you to raise less fussy eaters as they will be more willing to try food they have grown themselves. Also, cooking with your child will lead them to try different food that they might turn up their noses if you just serve it.

Now, you might be asking what is the best age to get kids cooking – I don’t have an answer to that as I don’t have children. But I remember that my mum put me in charge of cooking a family dinner of a stew when I was nine years old.

Also, I was one of these fussy eaters and my mum refused to cook special food for me, so I took the opportunity to cook for myself at the same time.

I handled knives, heat (it was gas we cooked with at the time) and the choice of ingredients to use (ps. not every spice in your spice rack needs to go into one pot – I learned that very quickly). But I learned and was able to fend for myself when I finally moved out from the family home.

Is nine too young these days? Start teaching your child easy things like measuring and so on and make it fun and you might grow the next gourmet chef!