The Kids Food Cookbook: 48 Metric Fast Food Favourites

Gwen Zilm was Technical Services Librarian, Okanagan College, Kelowna, British Columbia.

It’s difficult to read my copy of The Kids Food Cookbook now. We’ve had it for two weeks, and, by the number of smudges and drips throughout the book, I know it’s a hit with my kids — just as the author’s two previous works (Kids in the Kitchen and More Kids in the Kitchen) were. As well as recipes for the all-time favourites such as burgers, onion rings, and fried chicken, there are recipes for tacos, falafels, pizza, egg rolls, and two chapters on dessert snacks and ice cream. Recipes are graded “easy,” “medium,” or “hard” and are in metric measure only.

Of the 48 recipes, we have sampled almost half of them and they are “yummy,” “scrumptious,” and a hit with our friends. Eight and nine year olds work easily and independently with the book and quickly develop a fluency with metric measures. Older kids are delighted to find recipes for all their favourite fast foods. I find a minor inconsistency in that challenging recipes such as those for pita bread and pizza crust are included, while recipes requiring cooked beans all refer to canned pre-cooked beans. Why not recipes starting “from scratch” in all cases? All recipes are written with conventional ovens in mind; no reference to the use of microwave ovens is made.

If I find any fault with the book it’s the same fault I find in the diets of young people. They are too high in carbohydrates and highly processed foods, too low in vitamins.