Cooking classes for kids in London

It seems a common belief that "today's kids" can't recognise a carrot, think milk occurs naturally in plastic bottles, and see no connection between meat and animals. Of course, busy parents can't always spend extra time in the kitchen passing on culinary lore, even when they're keen cooks or food lovers themselves and so, particularly in the school holidays, cooking classes begin to look like a great idea. More and more are becoming available as producers, restaurants and chefs realise the importance of educating the next generation of food lovers.

Here are some of London courses for you to check out with your little helpers!

The Billingsgate Seafood School could be one of London's best kept secrets. Run as a charity, it offers training to the fish and catering industry and paid courses for civilians with the proceeds funding educational outreach to schools. The instruction on every aspect of choosing, preparing and cooking fish is top-notch and it's great to think your money is helping other children who ordinarily couldn't afford this kind of opportunity. On children's "Fish Discovery Days", groups aged 8 to 11 and 12 to 14 learn piscine anatomy, watch a professional fishmonger preparing fish and then work with a chef to cook lunch. Depending on the daily catch, this could be salmon nigiri sushi, stir-fried squid, roast sea bass or fish pie, and they get to bring home a second dish. Throughout the year the school also runs Family Fish Days where a parent can also get involved in gutting, scaling and wielding knives.

Splat Cooking, Home Counties, London, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire

The superbly-named, Splat Cooking website is choc-a-bloc with ideas and events for children’s cookery from Saturday Morning Children’s Cookery Club for 5-11 year-olds (£75 for a month) to cooking parties for kids and teens (ranging from £3 – £30). Many of the courses are run by children’s food expert Beverley Glock from her farmhouse kitchen in Princes Risborough, Bucks. 

The Fun Food Academy, North London and Chichester

The Fun Food Academy was established in 1998 and has since cooked with more than 2,000 4-11 year olds in and around London. As the name suggests, culinary thrills and spills include games and taste tests, two-hour cooking parties with foodie magic tricks and primary school sessions on themes such as the Ancient Greeks, Victorians, Aztecs and Egyptians. Workshops are an impressive six hours long and offer good value at between £20 – £25 per child.

MunchkinsKids Cooking, Blackheath, London

Munchkins Kids Cooking offer summer holiday workshops for kids age 4-11, inviting children to have fun and make a mess! With appealing titles such as ‘Food from the stories of Roald Dahl’ and ‘Cooking the Rainbow’, classes are themed over the course of a week but individual days can be bought separately. Held at the brand new Blackheath Cooks shop and school, there are additional after-school classes for teens and ‘munchkins’, which are all very hands-on and offer technical tuition in the making of sushi rolls and lamb koftas.  Also on offer are cookery workshops held at primary and secondary schools across London and the South East.