263: Deanna Cook on Kids and Farmers Markets.
Creating an early love of healthy foods & cooking through fun activities.
Deanna graduated from college and received a Watson Fellowship to travel around the world and collect recipes from kids. This led her to write her first book The Kids’ Multicultural Cookbook.
Keeping her focus on kids and cooking, she has been the creative development director at FamilyFun, an editor at both Scholastic and Disney, and is currently the content director at Kidstir.com, and kids’ book and cookbook acquisitions editor at Storey Publishing.
Deanna, has written dozens of award-winning books for kids including Baking Class, the best-selling Cooking Class, and Farmers Market Create-and-Play Activity Book.
In This Podcast:
Encouraging kids to enjoy healthy cooking and eating is an investment in their future, and Deanna Cook has some activities to help make that a little easier and a lot more fun. Working with kids, learning how they enjoy cooking, and helping them have fun in the kitchen has been a focus of hers since just after high school. She has used this experience to create several fun books to help parents teach healthy lifestyles early.
Listen in and learn about:
- The grant that allowed her to travel and collect recipes for children around the world
- Some memories from her travels
- The benefits of bringing kids to farmers markets
- Some of the cool activities she includes in her book
- How kids can get excited while at the market
- Bringing the Farmers Market home
- More about the books Cooking Class and Baking Class
- Recipes that help kids learn to enjoy kitchen experimentation
As well as:
- Her failure – The time her department was eliminated and she did not have a fallback plan
- Her success – Her first book and traveling around the world
- Her drive – Writing and editing books for kids; feedback from the kids who enjoy her books
- Her advice – Teach your kids to cook and don’t be afraid of the mess
Books written by Deanna:
Farmers Market Create-and-Play Activity Book: 100 Stickers + Games, Crafts & Fun!
The Kids’ Multicultural Cookbook (Kids Can!)
Cooking Class: 57 Fun Recipes Kids Will Love to Make (and Eat!)
Baking Class: 50 Fun Recipes Kids Will Love to Bake!
Horse Play!: 25 Crafts, Party Ideas & Activities for Horse-Crazy Kids
Deanna’s Book recommendations:
Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual
How to reach Deanna:
Website deannafcook.com
UrbanFarm.org/MarketPlay
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