New York City chefs can turn your kids into savvy cooks.
In a city with unlimited restaurants and limited time, making a kid-friendly home-cooked meal can challenge even the most ambitious parents. While young children might not be able to compose a dish independently, their small hands and excess energy make them ideal for the role of sous chef. No matter your child's age, several New York City businesses cater to kid chefs and their developing taste buds. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Young Chefs Academy
With more than 100 franchises across the United States, Young Chefs Academy teaches youngsters who are just getting started in the kitchen basic skills like crack an egg. Serious kid cooks can start training to be the Iron Chefs of the future. Students in the MasterChef program take classes with the goal of earning a chef's coat and diploma. For a 2009 story about the Forest Hills, New York-based Young Chefs Academy franchise, CNN dropped in on the Party at Pennsylvania Avenue Camp, which allowed kids to cook White House-caliber dishes like chartreuse vegetable mold and patriotic petit-fours.
Institute of Culinary Education
You can learn to cook alongside your child in one of The Institute of Culinary Education's 14 professional kitchens located in the heart of Manhattan. On Thai night, you learn to make take-out staples like chicken satay and pad Thai at home. On pizza night, you discover the secret to perfect dough, sauce and dessert pizza. "Saveur" named the Institute's recreational cooking classes on its "2008 Saveur 100" list of culinary gems.
Taste Buds
In a Manhattan-based kitchen studio built just for young chefs, Taste Buds opened in 2007 as Cupcake Kids! with cupcake-making birthday parties. The company soon expanded the roster of activities to include classes and summer camps for all ages, parents included. While cupcake parties remain on the yearly calendar, the renamed Taste Buds added a mix of sweet and savory recipes like lasagna and guacamole to the curriculum. "New York" magazine named Cupcake Kids! the Best Kids Cooking Class in 2009.
Mini Chef
The owners of Mini Chef want kids to get into their food --- literally --- by playing with the dough needed for Razzle Dazzle Ravioli or Sweet & Savory Biscuits. Mini Chef hosts cooking classes and birthday parties at different restaurants throughout the city. Apron-clad children work with trained chefs to create age-appropriate dishes at weekly cooking workshops of no more than 15 students. For parents looking for a twist on the typical birthday party, Mini Chef organizes two-hour events with cooking and a magic show while made-from-scratch dim sum, pizza or cupcakes cook.
Tags: Mini Chef, Chefs Academy, Taste Buds, Young Chefs Academy, birthday parties, cooking classes