I am so blessed to have a husband who cooks up healthy, diverse, ethnic meals for our family. As a child, my father did all of the cooking and it’s apparent that I’ve taken after my mother when it comes to culinary skills. One of my goals this year has been to increase the amount of meals I prepare at home and decrease the number of meals eaten out. When my husband isn’t traveling, I’ve actually been quite pleased with the simple meals I’ve managed to create.
Whenever I’m in the kitchen, my son wants to be my little assistant. Most of my ventures include baking, however, slowly I’ve been involving him more in simple meal preparation. Last week, we spent a few hours with Maite Gomez-Rejón, who combines her love of fine art and culinary history into a series of classes called Artbites. Maite, who is an art historian and trained chef, founded Artbites “to satisfy the senses of the young and young-at-heart by combining art and culinary history with fun, hands-on cooking instruction.” Her classes are held in museums, schools, and a variety of artistic venues across Los Angeles and include everything from reading a children’s food-inspired book and baking to learning about a museum exhibit and cooking dishes from that time period.
Introducing my children to a variety of diverse activities is important and the combination of art and food intrigued me. The class begins with a children’s story, read aloud while children sit on funky retro-patterned cushions. Maite is lively and animated and engages and captivates children. The story we read, Caps For Sale, was unfamiliar to us, which meant the entire experience was new and exciting for both of us. The storytime was appropriate in length and short enough to hold a my son’s attention without boring him.
We talked about the story and then proceeded to work on cooking a meal based on the theme of the story. Caps For Sale is clever little tale about a mustached cap salesman who wears his entire stock of caps on his head. Naturally, he goes around the towns and villages attempting to sell his caps (hence the title of the book). One particular day, the peddler sits down under a tree to rest only to awaken and find that his caps have been taken by a troop of monkeys. The takeaway from the story is Monkey See, Monkey Do. It seemed fitting that we would create a Peddler’s Salad and Monkey Business Bread Pudding, recipes that were developed by Maite.
The recipes were simple enough for a child to help prepare. She obtains fresh, wholesome ingredients for use in the recipes and enables children to engage as much as possible. The tables the children prepare the meals on are low and she makes it easy for children to “chop,” pour, and mix in the ingredients. For example, she uses colorful plastic cutting boards, plastic knives, and small bowls filled with ingredients to make it easy for children to measure out. While Maite leads and facilitates the class, she also engages parents to help participate with their children. I was right alongside my son helping to prepare the meal. My son, who enjoys helping me out in the kitchen, was completely engaged in the meal prep. He would have completed every step if he was able to.
One of the things I failed to discuss with Maite ahead of time was my son’s food allergies. If you’re planning on attending the classes, she will work with parents of children with food allergies to create or alter meals accordingly. My son obviously was not able to eat the Monkey Business Bread Pudding as we prepared it. However, she creatively whipped up a dairy, egg free version by adding mashed bananas, to the bread and including brown sugar, vanilla, and the spices. After it was warmed, my son did not even realize that he was getting the allergy-free version. I wish I would have taken a picture because it very much resembled the original.
After we prepped the meals, Maite assisted in demonstrating a craft that she thought up based on the theme of the book. Naturally, he made a colorful cap. Because the bread pudding had to bake, this was the perfect time to work on the craft. What was interesting about the craft is that Maite put an eco-spin on it by using food containers as the caps and then had my son decorate them with feathers, beads, paper, pastels, and more.
After the craft was complete, we sat down together to eat. I honestly didn’t think my son would touch some of those vegetables. Surprisingly, he ate 2 servings. Maite explained that when children have an integral role in preparing a meal, they are more likely to consume it (lesson learned!). My son tried vegetables he’d never tasted before and I was reminded of how important it is to a. involve my son whenever possible and b. continually introduce both of my children to new foods. At the end of the class, each mother/child receives a small book with the recipes showcased in the class. I’ll be referring back to those recipes for meal ideas (with a Vegan twist, of course).
Thanks to Maite, we had a unique culinary art experience that my son didn’t want to end. If we lived closer, I would have signed him up that day. Maite’s Mommy & Me Mondays are from 11 am to 1 pm in Los Angeles. A single class is $55 or you can attend the entire 6 week series for $300. The classes target children ages 3-6 and include one adult. Here is the schedule for April and May.
4/4 Olivia
4/11 The Velveteen Rabbit
5/16 Are You My Mother?
5/23 If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
5/30 Pinkalicious
For more information about Maite’s culinary art classes for adults and children, just visit the site.
No compensation was received for this post. We were invited to attend a class which helped facilitate this review.
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