There is no greater battle in our household than the battle over dinner. Our four (4) year old gives us just about every excuse; she's not hungry, she doesn't like that (despite having either never tried it or devouring it non-stop just the day before) and for a long time we found ourselves at a loss as to what to do. Until one day while meal prepping for the week, she caught us looking through a cookbook for ideas. This kid loves books, so learning that she could get recipes out of them was a game changer. Now, once a week she gets to choose a recipe out of a book, and we'll cook it. The stress and negotiation of "please, please just try one bite" has all but disappeared.
As if that wasn't enough of a reason for her to cease the suppertime hostilities, a recent trip to the Library saw us bringing home Gruffalo Crumble and Other Recipes inspired by children's classic The Gruffalo. Never did I think I would watch a four year old willingly eat celery, but now, all I have to do is serve "Snake's Log Pile House". Olives? No problem as long as they're the eyes on her Mouse Toast.
Having something familiar to her also encouraged her to get into the kitchen. We worked on some basic number and letter recognition, food literacy, and even started working on fractions! It was so much fun, and the food turned out pretty well too! We're looking forward to checking out more cookbooks - especially if they feature familiar characters and recipes! Check out our list below of literary and pop culture inspired cookbooks, perfect for a fun activity and discovering the joys of cooking!
~LP
Encourage more involvement and whimsy in the kitchen with these literary and pop culture inspired cookbooks.
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