My kids are foodie kids. Specifically, my kids are Food Network kids. My girls request watching Jamie, Giada and Ina. Now, this might sound like we watch a lot of television. We don’t. It just happens that in our house, we don’t watch regular television shows very often. Instead we watch cooking shows. My daughters don’t watch television during the week and on the weekends our programs of choice involve our favourite chefs.
I remember consciously making this decision many years ago. When I was reintroduced to television programming, that is targeted at children, I discovered that they often contain stereotypes, “dumbed down” language and plain old rude, obnoxious characters. If we were going to spend anytime watching television, I wanted it to be time well spent. The cooking shows we choose to watch teach my children about the value of food, how to prepare food and the language of food. And it doesn’t hurt that I LOVE cooking shows too.
Last year I attended the Delicious Food Show and met my idol…Martha Stewart. I had a moment. This year, I have decided that I want my girls to experience the Delicious Food Show. One of my favourite sessions from last year (aside from the Martha stuff) was watching Chef Chuck Hughes’ food demo. Chef Chuck Hughes shared stories from his childhood, talked about his love of cooking, finding and following his passion. The audience was filled with young adults. Chef Hughes captivated a younger generation. 
This year, Chef Lucinda Scala Quinn will be attending the show. Little known fact, we were going to name our second daughter Lucinda…we changed our minds at the last minute…but our daughter was almost a little-cooking lady. If you aren’t familiar with Chef Scala Quinn, she is a chef after my own heart. Chef Scala Quinn shares dishes that are family friendly…specifically healthy and hearty dishes that can feed a big family. She understands what it is to be a busy, working mom who wants to be connected with her family through food. Such an awesome lady.
Aside from the chefs I am also looking forward to exposing my daughters to all the fabulous food and culinary exhibitors at the Delicious Food Show. It always amazes me how my children will be adventurous with food – when I’m not the one who prepared it. The food show is filled with hundreds of exhibitors, cooking demos, tastings and workshops. I can’t wait to immerse them in this major culinary event. I’m sure we will pick up a cook book or two and try out new recipes when we get home. I look forward to seeing how we can extend the learning from the show into reading recipes and preparing dishes…hands on learning at its absolute best.
