I ran across this New York Times article from last year all about cookbooks for kids. As a new Mom (okay, Darcy is 15 months old, maybe I'm not such a new Mom anymore), I can attest to the obsessive compulsive aspects of feeding children. You just want to give them the best possible thing, but the Lord knows I don't want to spend an hour cooking something that Darcy sticks in her mouth and immediately removes with a grimace! She's still just learning about food, but I am really looking forward to getting her involved in cooking as soon as she's ready.
Apparently, I'm not the only one interested in this. Rachael Ray is among a group of chefs who are creating cookbooks for kids. Rachael has two: Cooking Rocks! and Yum-o! The Family Cookbook.
The Times describes the Yum-o! Family Cookbook this way: "The recipes are written for adults and experienced teenagers, but each one outlines special tasks designed specifically for 'itty bitties,' like breaking spaghetti for soup or flaking tuna for a salad." Apparently, 500,000 copies were originally printed, which is less than half of what was printed for Rachael's last book, but "the figure is huge by children’s cookbook standards, where 20,000 is considered a strong first effort. Royalties will go to her Yum-o organization, which is aimed at helping families eat more healthily."
Here's what Rach had to say about why she created the cookbook:
Ms. Ray said she wanted to write for children because of their enthusiasm. She said that at book signings, “the kids tell me over and over again that they’re the ones who are changing the eating habits of the whole family.”
If you are interested in the kid cookbook trend, here are a few others mentioned in the article:
Well, Rachael Ray's nightmare of not being able to speak for a few weeks appears to have come true! People reported that Rachael underwent vocal cord surgery last week. Her rep said: "After several months of vocal therapy and on the advice of her doctors, Rachael decided to have a benign cyst removed from her vocal cord. According to Rachael's doctors the minor, non-invasive procedure was a success and she is already resting at home." You may recall that this procedure was supposed to happen before the holidays, but Rachael hoped to be able to fix the problem with therapy. We wish Rach a speedy recovery!
