Your child can learn to cook – from as young as 3 years old!
Keeping children entertained while increasing their life skills is a preoccupation for many, many parents. And, let’s face it, there is plenty on offer; every sport under the sun, dancing and acting, cubs and scouts, brownies and guides, arts and crafts, the list seems never-ending.
But what about healthy cooking?
When Florence Rabattet’s son was small she looked for a healthy cooking club but could not find one anywhere. So, she combined her love for her son and passion for healthy seasonal food and trained as a chef, later setting up her own cookery school for children aged from three to eighteen: En Cuisine – Cooking School.
The benefits for kids of learning to prepare and cook meals are numerous. For smaller children, it helps to hone their fine motor skills and teaches them about using knives, hobs and ovens safely and sensibly. For teenagers, it increases confidence and independence and prepares them for a time when, inevitably, they will need to feed themselves. For all age groups, teaching children about cooking using healthy, seasonal foods gets them off on a good footing to make healthy, responsible choices around food and learn to experiment with and enjoy ingredients they might otherwise not experience.
So, with the summer holidays still underway for many and next term’s after-school activities niggling in the background on parents’ mental to-do lists, maybe it’s time to give cookery classes a thought.
What’s on offer from En Cuisine – Cooking school?
HOLIDAY CAMPS
Over the holidays, foodies can attend either of the two kitchens in Belgravia to improve their culinary skills. Kids can be booked in for a full week or for individual days.
For younger kids, aged 3-5, courses run from 10-12pm and the mini chefs will practice their fine motor skills by cooking with seasonal ingredients. They will make everything from scratch by preparing a different savoury and a sweet recipe each day.
For older students, from 6 to 13 years old, again everything is cooked from scratch with seasonal ingredients and taught by professional and certified chefs. The young foodies will make a main dish and a dessert during the three hours session (10am-1pm).
Holidays camps are priced at £95 per day or £420 for the full week.
MASTERCHEF PARTIES
A children’s MasterChef party is a fun and interactive way to encourage kids (8-15 years old) to explore the world of cooking and develop their culinary skills. The party typically involves a cooking competition in which the children are divided into teams and given a set of ingredients and a theme to work with. They must then come up with a creative and tasty dish that they present to a panel of judges: our chefs and the parents hosting. It’s a great way to teach kids about food preparation and teamwork while having fun and creating delicious dishes.
Alternatively, your little chefs can choose to celebrate their special occasion with an Afternoon Tea Party, Sushi Party, Pasta or Biscuits Party and, if none of those quite hit the spot, just tell En Cuisine – Cooking school what works for your little foodie and they will design the party accordingly.
Parties cost from £60 per child.
PRIVATE COOKING CLASSES
For parents that fancy something more personal, private classes can take place in the comfort of their own homes. Kids en Cuisine provide everything needed for cooking with your children; aprons, chef hats, high-quality ingredients (organic), kitchen utensils, containers, take-home bags, etc. They will also leave your kitchen spotless.
Again, there is a range of options for the private classes: French baking (financier cakes, madeleines, choux pastry), healthy baking (courgette and chocolate muffins, vegan chocolate muffins, gluten-free cakes), pasta (spaghetti, macaroni cheese, ravioli, vegetable lasagna) and savoury specials (stuffed mackerel, ratatouille). However, it is essentially a more personalized cooking experience which allows for a more tailored and customised experience, based on the specific needs and interests of your child.
AFTER SCHOOL CLUBS
En Cuisine – cooking school also run different types of clubs in nurseries, primary and secondary schools, including lunch cooking clubs, after-school clubs and afternoon clubs for nurseries.
So, there are plenty of options for children to learn to enjoy healthy cooking. The only things that’s off the menu is highly-processed or very sugary food. It’s just healthy, seasonal offerings, taught by fully trained chefs who are DBS checked.
Written by Florence Rabattet
ABOUT FLORENCE REBATTET:
Florence founded En Cuisine – cooking school in 2014. Passionate about food and cooking since her childhood, Florence decided to build her own cooking school designed for children and teenagers. For her, it is fundamental to see the new generations cooking from scratch with seasonal ingredients. In 2023, Florence proudly, became, a Disciple d’Escoffier in London, and reached the semi-finals of Gordon Ramsay’s Future Food Stars on BBC1 (season 2). Full of energy, Florence has a unique style of teaching which children find as irresistible as the food they make.
Website: https://kidsencuisine.com/
Instagram: @encuisinecookingschool