To Market, To Market
Sometimes I love cooking with my kids. I find they are more likely to eat what’s cooked if they’ve had a hand in making it and I like hearing the questions they come up with about ingredients, why things are done a certain way and seeing them piece together parts of other recipes we’ve made before. Other times I just want to get dinner over and be done with it.
When I learnt that our local market conducts kids market tours with a little cooking demo (Cooking Fresh at Newcastle City Farmers Market with Stephane Pois I was excited. But then I wondered if my littlies would be up to it, especially the two-year-old, who makes a bee-line for the jumping castle every time we visit. So I accompanied my friend Carol’s children to see what it was all about.
An easy entry to the market tour, tasting Bulga oranges || Getting kitted up
James and Alexander are precocious boys, who through proper training (have them try anything once) by their mother are adventurous eaters. Every child who was part of the group donned a chef hat and apron like seasoned experts. They followed Stephane as if he were the Pied Piper, past stalls of seasonal fruit and vegetables and homemade produce.
Imagine Stephane’s microphone is a recorder and he’s the Pied Piper.
A goodie bag each from Rainbow Mushrooms.
The first time you will hear kids shout and enthusiastic ‘YES!’ when asked, “Who wants to try terrine?’
As if cast under a magic spell, every child happily sampled mushrooms, Stephane’s own terrine and Binnorie labna. Some mothers gasped in amazement that their child was trying foreign foods without hesitation. Such is the power of peers and Stephane’s French accent.
A helping hand and willing taste tester for the cabbage soup.
By the time we got to the cooking demo (cabbage soup), the kids were playing a scrum to get their hands on raw fennel and cabbage to eat. I left well and truly sold on bringing my kids along for the next Cooking Fresh tour.
A scrum forms to try fennel.
Share this on:
When I read mushrooms I gasped, my kids hate them. But looks like Stephanie had them under his power. I think the lesson sounds great. Now to talk to my kids about joining in.