Mardi Michels - In the French Kitchen with Kids: Easy, Everyday Dishes for the Whole Family to Make and Enjoy

Reading Mardis book, it was impossible not to think of this well-worn proverb: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Its true that if you learn to feed yourself, youll never be hungry. But learning to cook goes far beyond the elemental. I believe this deeply and I know it personally and practically.

I didnt learn to cook until I had to, which was when I got married and took on the responsibility of feeding myself and my husband. At that time, all I wanted to do was get a meal on the table without mishapand I wasnt always successful. Its a good thing the pottery dish I put over a direct flame didnt hurt anyone when it crackedno one was hit by the shards or the boiling water, and the frozen peas werent really needed for dinner anyway.

Teaching myself to cook was frustrating for a whileand then it wasnt. Once the fear of failure (if not a missed meal) subsided, I began to understand what it means to cook. Theres the enjoyment in the work itself: whether chopping, blending or baking, the basic actions of transforming ingredients touches all our senses. I still smile whenever I see my ingredients lined up on the counter, ready to be turned into something good. Theres the satisfaction of being competent, the fundamental pride when we know theres a job to be done and that we can do it. And theres the pleasure, the wonderful sense of joy, when we share what weve cooked with people we love.

It took me years to come to this. The lucky boys in Mardis Les Petits Chefs club, and you, the lucky readers of this book, dont have to wait. You now have everything you need to set yourself and your children on the path to a lifetime of happiness in the kitchen.

There are many people who are passionate about food; some are knowledgeable as well. What is rare is to find a person who cares and knows about food and who can pass that along. Mardi is that rare person. That she is generous and shares everything she knows is our good fortune.

I have followed the progress of Mardi and her Petits Chefs for years now. I have delighted at what theyve cookedI admit to melting every time I see a picture of those little fingers crimping dough or scooping cookies. And Ive marveled at the complexity of what theyve done. As Mardi says of her students, they have a can-do attitude. They have it because theyre young and they dont know whats supposed to be too difficult for them. And they have it because Mardi encourages them to have it. As this book proves, French home cooking is simple, nourishing and absolutely doable for kids.

Heres to more good food from more petits chefs. Merci, Mardi.

Twice a week during school terms, our school science lab takes on a bit of a different look. If you look in, youll see about a dozen boys slicing, dicing, mixing, kneading, sprinkling and tasting, the evidence of their experiments all over the lab benches. Yet, unlikely as the setting may be, what is taking place in the lab is a cooking class thats now been running since 2010.

In 2005 I started teaching French at an all-boys school, where one of my responsibilities wasand still isto run an after-school club. Initially I offered technology-based clubs, taking advantage of the resources we had available and, of course, catering to the boys interests. But in the fall of 2009, I heard Jamie Oliver speak in Toronto about the Food Revolution and his Pass It On campaign, which focused on getting people back into the kitchen and cooking. Throughout his talk, all I could think about was that I, an educator, had a duty to contribute to this campaign in some way. I knew I wanted to pass on my knowledge and love of cooking, and with the opportunity for a new after-school club before me, it seemed like the time was right to try something new! I figured that it would not only teach my students valuable life skills, but also be a great way for me to get to know them (and them, me) outside the classroom, doing something I really loved. French as a Second Language is not always everyones favorite subject, and I was excited by this chance to show the boys another side of me! I put the idea to my boss, and the next thing I knew, I was standing in a science lab with 15 boys, aged between 9 and 12, eager to learn how to cook (and me, a little like a deer in the headlights!).

The past few years have been quite the learning experience, both for the boys and for me. One thing that has become extremely clear to me is that kids CAN cook and that they love it. When I first started teaching cooking, I used recipes I thought would be simple to make in less-than-ideal conditions in under an hour. While I was spot-on with my assessment of those recipes, somewhere around Week 4 of the club I realized the boys were whipping through the recipes and that they were too easy. And the boys were getting bored. I switched to using Jamies Food Revolution cookbook with them, and I immediately saw much more engagement. The recipes, though still basic, were ones that would be invaluable resources for growing boys who would be cooking for themselves in a few years. Sure, we made burgers and pizza, but we made them from scratch. I have no problem with the boys learning how to make their favorite takeout or store-bought foods, because if it tastes good and they know how easy it is, they might be more likely to make it themselves than to buy less nutritionally rich takeout or store-bought versions.