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Bonding Over Cooking
On teaching my kids to cook, watching cooking shows together, and pouring over cookbooks. With practical tips on teaching your children to enjoy being in the kitchen!
The Frugal Gourmet was one of the first cooking shows I remember watching as a kid. My dad would watch the show, and one day I joined him. I was fascinated by the history, ingredients, and new dishes on the screen. When my dad bought one of the cookbooks, I devoured it cover to cover, then began cooking recipes from it, all on my own. I was in 4th grade.
At some point my dad and I stopped watching the show, but my dad still made dishes from The Frugal Gourmet cookbooks. I recall fondly watching him make some of the recipes and enjoying eating them. My dad and I didn’t actually cook together much, but we watched the show together for a while and ate many of the dishes.
About a few years ago, I began scouring used book store shelves for The Frugal Gourmet cookbooks. I have a collection of the books now. Some of those recipes are now part of my family’s food memories.
Food is an even greater bond in my family than it was in my household growing up. My love for cooking, food history, and cooking shows did begin in my childhood. Those things are ties to my youth and father, and they cross over to my own children.