Cooking with Family - Healthy Happy Meals?

Can cooking help you appreciate and enjoy your food more?

Michael Pollan, author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food”, certainly believes so - especially if you share the process with others. He recommends involving family by giving them a task (wash, chop, mix, stir, set the table, etc.). As a bonus, he notes that people who cook tend to eat more healthily and weigh less than those who don’t.

So ready for healthy, fun and tasty meals - really truly happy meals? Cook with your family!

It’s Healthy: you control exactly what goes into your dish - what could be better? When you eat out, sometimes you don’t know where your food is from, and don’t know how much highly processed ingredients the eateries use. When you take charge, you can make healthier options and be assured of the quality of your food as well as the way it’s prepared.

It’s Fun: family members make up your closest circle. Kids especially can make cooking a riotous adventure. Sometimes it can be frustrating as much as it is fun, but hey, it’s a great opportunity to laugh even when things go wrong. These are the memories we will cherish and keep with us. Kids too, will have more fun with cooking than with expensive toys. They will pick up critical life skills too.

It’s Tasty: with good and fresh ingredients, you need little else to make a dish shine. I’ll agree that some skills are required with cooking, but nothing that can’t be mastered with a bit of interest and experimentation. Try some one-pot dishes with simple ingredients that you can whip up in a jiffy. You can also season and flavour the dishes to your family’s preferences. Ultimately though, as Alton Brown of the Food Network says, “as long as it’s made with love...”, the family will most certainly enjoy it.




Meanwhile, take some photos while you and family are whipping up your next healthy, tasty dish, and join the “Let’s Cook Healthy Together” photo contest by the Health Promotion Board! Contest details are in my first post here. You could win the top prize of S$3,000 worth of Fairprice vouchers, along with cooking lessons for the family at Cookery Magic!

Share: