showing an interest in cooking...what can we do to spur that on besides letting him cook

[ProudGrandma]

My son (age 16) has been trying to figure out what he wants to do "when he grows up".  His older sister has known for years where she is headed...and I think he was putting pressure on himself to figure this out.  So we were trying to give him experiences (over the course of time)  so he could just see what sort of thing he might like to think about.  So we had him hang out with a friend of ours who builds custom cabinets, to see if he wants to work with his hands and build things...no.  He loves music and thought about teaching music...but not really.  We asked him about other occupations...medical...office...Pastoral (like his dad)...none of those seem to be anything that struck him.  Then one day, I needed help in the kitchen and his sister was too busy...so I asked my son...and he came right in and started up...at supper that night my husband in a teasing way said something about being a chef..and for the first time he didn't say "no"....so then I started inviting him into the kitchen more...and he has taken right to it. 

I am not a great cook by any means...I feed my family...but i am not adventurous or exciting...just plain food...so the amount of skill he can learn from me is next to nothing...outside of very basic stuff...so I am wondering what else can we do to see if we have landed on something for him or not.  

We know a lady who is a great cook who would teach him...but she is a very high maintainence, high drama and not the easiest to be around.  My son doesn't seem to mind...but I, personally, do not have time to deal with the level of drama she would bring to our family.  (I know this to be true, because she taught out kids art for many years...did a GREAT job...but when we were done with that, our life became so much more simple and less stressful and I really don't want to invite that back to my world).  

So I am wondering what else we can do to encourage my son.

Any suggestions...

 

[Rosie_0801]

Borrow interesting looking cookbooks from the library and experiment together.

[Annie G]

Maybe he can explore the many ways to feed people. Expand beyond working in a restaurant...look at feeding homeless people, catering events, starting a company that makes ready made meals for people, personal chef services, industrial cooking like at a school or college,  etc.

In my little town of 20,000 people is a family who uses their local church’s certified kitchen and every day they make an assortment of meals and post on their Facebook page what they have for pickup. Pickup is between 3-5 pm and people comment ‘sold’ and which meal they want. It’s genius, I tell you. And during the school year they will deliver the meals to local schools so teachers can go straight home with a meal ready to eat.  They work Monday through Friday only and take days off a few days a month. It’s this kind of out of the box thinking that appeals to young people who might not want a regular job like we were raised on. 

I’d also have him explore food trends like paleo and such. The ability to adapt to new trends is beneficial. 

Does your area have any cooking classes available? some places offer some fun classes that might help him  focus an interest.

The whole time we homeschooled I supplemented our income baking custom cakes and taking on personal chef gigs.  There is definitely money to be made in the food industry- dh worked for McCormick, Nestle, Nabisco and food scientists have interesting jobs. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

At that age he can learn a lot from books (technique books as well as cookbooks), YouTube videos etc. He doesn’t need to always be in the kitchen with another cook directing him. Does your county have extension classes?  There are sometimes free or very low cost cooking and nutrition classes. 

[J-rap]

If you have the extra funds, perhaps you could get a month subscription to Hello Fresh or a food kit service like that over the summer.  (Hello Fresh is my favorite.)  I did that for awhile, and honestly, I learned more about cooking in the few months of doing that than I did in all the years previously.  And, the food is good and your dinner is made!

[vonfirmath]

Does your local community college have a culinary arts department?  My friend's oldest got a Culinary degree from a Community College -- and she started at age 16 or 17.  If they have a culinary department, maybe he could start towards getting that certification. Take the first classes and see how it goes.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Someone had a son here that was “cooking around the world “. I know  he was choosing different recipes from different countries but I can’t remember if it was weekly or monthly and how he was choosing the cuisine. But I am posting this because I thought it was a really fun and creative approach. 

[Junie]

I'm teaching my teenagers to cook.  I got a used copy of Food for Today (a public school text) for my kids to read through.  It teaches various ways to cook vegetables, meat, eggs, etc.  It also discusses equipment, food safety, etc.  There is also a section (at least in my edition) of foods from around the world.  I think it is an excellent resource.

My kids also enjoyed watching episodes of Chopped and Worst Cooks on Food Network.

[gardenmom5]

can he take a cooking class somewhere?  or is there a type of food he is interested in and find a good cookbook and let him "go at"?

NONE of my kids knew what they wanted to do at 16, or even 18 (or even 20 - even "I want to ___"  2dd change her major from what she thought she'd do).

 

[ProudGrandma]

thank you for all of these great ideas....yeah, I don't know if this is where he will end up...and I have told him that most kids have no idea what they want to do...and that his sister is out of the norm by far...and that many kids change their minds multiple times...

but I felt like that since he really showed an interest it would be sad if we didn't at least explore it...

[Katy]

See if your local library has these.  If he likes them and wants to work through them, look into buying him copies and possibly classes.

https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America-ebook/dp/B076DMFJR6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528553805&sr=8-1&keywords=CIA+cooking+textbook

https://www.amazon.com/Cordon-Bleu-Complete-Cooking-Techniques/dp/0688152066/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1528553874&sr=1-1&dpID=51CyvZ72ktL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Kitchen-Cooking-School-Cookbook-ebook/dp/B00FEIQ93K/ref=pd_sim_351_6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=M7PGQF2F505GDMP0GXDJ

Also have him watch things like Gordon Ramsey's shows, Top Chef, and different shows on the cooking network.

[katilac]

I personally think the only thing truly relevant to figuring out if you want to work in the food industry is working in the food industry, so I'd say a restaurant job. 

However, I also think that 16 is very young and it's perfectly fine to have no idea of what you might want to do in life. I wouldn't necessarily explore how every interest might translate into the working world. I know it is your son wanting to figure it out, not you pushing him, but I'd make sure to spend an equal amount of time telling him, hey, it's okay, you don't have to have all of this figured out right now. 

I'm not at all saying not to try some of the great suggestions on this thread, I just wouldn't frame it as figuring out what he wants to do in life. Just explore and have fun. At some point, if he does express an interest in it as a career, working in a restaurant would be my requirement before I paid for culinary school. The great thing about the food industry is that it's very easy to get a taste of the real thing. 

[Annie G]

Katilac, I agree. I thought the op’s son was interested in exploring a career in the food industry. I don’t especially like it when parents (or anyone, really) push to turn an interest/hobby into a full time thing. I love to quilt but it’s my happy activity. If I did it as a job it wouldn’t be much fun for me. Gentle nudging is great- I enjoy making cakes and I’m ok with making them for other people. But over the years it means my own family doesn’t even ask for a decorated cake because they see it as adding more work for me.  And it is! So we usually have pie or an ice cream cake for our family celebrations. 

[wathe]

Get a hold of a copy of On Food and Cooking: the Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold Mcgee.  The best book about cooking ever published!

[ProudGrandma]

just to make it clear...we are not pushing him to do anything...he expressed an interest...and I wanted to let him enjoy that interest.  If it moves into a career, great...if a hobby, super...if nothing at all...that is also just fine and dandy.  But he has never really expressed an interest in anything (besides playing music for fun) before...so for him to do so, I didn't want to brush it aside...but he knows for 100% that his dad and I are not pushing him...we are just letting him have fun in the kitchen as he wants.  And I was just looking for a bit of "out of the box" thinking.  That's all.  thanks.

[Emba]

I think it you don't push him, but just find new and fun ways to explore food and cooking, (and there have been some great ideas upthread) that it's a win-win situation whether he actually decides to go into the food industry or not. If he finds a career to pursue - win! If he just learns an enjoyable hobby and life skill that can help him eat better once he's out on his own and bring him closer to friends and family, plus make less work in the kitchen for you - also win!

[ProudGrandma]

2 minutes ago, emba56 said:

I think it you don't push him, but just find new and fun ways to explore food and cooking, (and there have been some great ideas upthread) that it's a win-win situation whether he actually decides to go into the food industry or not. If he finds a career to pursue - win! If he just learns an enjoyable hobby and life skill that can help him eat better once he's out on his own and bring him closer to friends and family, plus make less work in the kitchen for you - also win!

this is exactly what we think....this lady I spoke about before, did let the kids cook with her once in a while and when we had to stop taking art lessons due to time constraints, missing the cooking was the one thing my son said he was going to miss...not the art...but the cooking. (but he told his siblings this...not us...so I didn't know this bit of information until very recently.) So, I guess that is another reason I want to give him the opportunity to explore this a bit further but without pressure...just for fun...to see where it might possibly go.

[Annie G]

8 minutes ago, kfeusse said:

just to make it clear...we are not pushing him to do anything...he expressed an interest...and I wanted to let him enjoy that interest.  If it moves into a career, great...if a hobby, super...if nothing at all...that is also just fine and dandy.  But he has never really expressed an interest in anything (besides playing music for fun) before...so for him to do so, I didn't want to brush it aside...but he knows for 100% that his dad and I are not pushing him...we are just letting him have fun in the kitchen as he wants.  And I was just looking for a bit of "out of the box" thinking.  That's all.  thanks.

I hope my follow up post didn’t offend you. I really didn’t mean you because it seemed clear that your ds is interested in exploring cooking as a career. I was mostly thinking about people I know. One has a kid who has enjoyed doing musical theater and has done 25+ shows since junior high. And his mom is disappointed that he’s decided to go into engineering.  Nothing wrong with either choice but she was mad that she spent all the time and money to let him do theater and considers it a waste. 

[ProudGrandma]

not offended....just wanted to clarify any misunderstandings. We have always expressed to our children to find a career they LOVE...not just one they do.  And that we will support them in every way possible...assuming that it's moral and legal. :) 

[Liz CA]

1 hour ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

Someone had a son here that was “cooking around the world “. I know  he was choosing different recipes from different countries but I can’t remember if it was weekly or monthly and how he was choosing the cuisine. But I am posting this because I thought it was a really fun and creative approach. 

 

This does sound like fun. Would you be willing to allow him one night of the week to decide on the menu and cook the main meal for the family?

[Rachel]

See if there are cooking classes in your area. Edx also has cooking classes that are free, this one is good but not currently available https://www.edx.org/course/science-cooking-haute-cuisine-soft-harvardx-spu27-1x-0

[Emba]

I also know from personal experience that a whole lot can be learned without classes. Maybe if he's more social he would really like cooking with a teacher and/or other students, but if the money is a problem, there are so many videos now online and blogs, plus of course cookbooks. There are forums devoted not just to cooking in general, but to probably pretty much any sub-category of cooking you want to know about (my thing is bread - I used to be quite active in a bread forum). And if course the money you save on classes can be spent on fancy new kitchen gadgetry and ingredients. Because those can add up.☺

[vmsurbat1]

He is interested in the science of cooking or the producing?  I ask because many of the suggested books are fabulous resources but not necessarily (IMO) a FUN approach.  Cooking has such a broad scope to explore.... Meat!  Veggies!  Cakes! Cookies!  Pies!  Salads! Breads! Mexican! Asian! Cuban!  Paleo!  He could be exploring his interests for a lifetime (like me!)....

I personally suggest he continue to develop his cooking skills and interests as a HOBBY, just for fun, at the present time.  He still has a year or two before he needs to seriously contemplate making it a career choice.  And his current culinary explorations will be a wonderful base to launch into a career if he so chooses.

 

[Carol in Cal.]

I really like cooking, and I also really like chemistry.  They are kind of similar in many ways. 

So I cook for fun, and I got a chemical engineering degree to base my career on.

That might be something to look into for him.  

[SamanthaCarter]

Well, chef is probably not the best choice in terms of earning a comfortable living, but those financially feasible foodservice careers do happen. 

I would do my best to get him tours and shadowing days in all sorts of foodservice areas. Country clubs, homeless kitchens, hospital/retirement home/workplace cafeterias, restaurants, bakeries, meal services, microbreweries, and small batch food processing businesses (ie sauce or pickle bottling, coffee roasting). 

[Katy]

I would still encourage him to learn some cooking.  If nothing else it's an impressive life skill to learn to make some "fancy" but easy meals. Maybe start with something simpler though, like chicken piccata, with all the sides and dessert.

I also would have him do an exploration of which majors at the colleges and universities close to you will lead to a degree that pays a starting salary of more than $60,000 for a bachelor's degree.  And beyond that, which lead to a higher paying job in the long term?

Some fields to start:

• Physics can lead to not only physics, but many analytical fields like tech and Wall Street.
• Accounting is a good job you can do almost anywhere, and there is a wide variety of customer interaction vs isolation and technical orientation depending on which sub field you go into.  You can even get into forensic accounting and work for the FBI or CIA or NSA.
• Computer Science is a well known one, but our good friend who went into that field said if he had it to do over again he would have chosen MIS (which is called something different at other schools, but it's always something to do with Information Systems and Management.  That program is a hybrid between programming and business, and is much easier in college than computer science programs are. In the short term you start in a CS job, programming.  In the long term you end up moving into management.  There are also smaller tech degrees, things like Network Administration, that you can often take at community colleges and start making $60k pretty quickly.
• Engineering has many fields, which he wants to go into is going to depend on personality and where he wants to live in the country.  Don't have him just go into whatever most appeals without looking at long term career prospects though - two similar fields like mechanical and industrial engineering can start with the same jobs, but industrial is more likely to move into management. Other fields, like electrical, are extremely work-heavy and he'd probably have to move, but it pays extremely well.  Even internships can sometimes enable a kid to repay 100% of student loan debt before he graduates.
• Finance can also pay extremely well, but IME this depends on where you are in the country.
• Actuarial Science is a math field that can lead to a $100k job.
• Nursing can often pay that much, but it's often a 5 year degree and obviously there are health risks.

Obviously there are many other fields that pay well with a graduate degree, but we encourage a field that starts with a good salary.  Many people get burned out on school and need a break before grad school.

[Rosie_0801]

Practice recipes too. Scribble notes in the margins of improvements to make next time, then go back and try them to see if they worked.

[Carol in Cal.]

This is one of the better 'methodology' cookbooks I have seen.  It has recipes, but also discusses how to apply those recipes and techniques in other situations.  It's kind of like this book teaches an alphabet and some good words, while most cookbooks teach each recipe individually like Chinese characters for words.  But it's conversational in style and short enough not to be overwhelming.

https://www.amazon.com/Julias-Kitchen-Wisdom-Essential-Techniques/dp/0375711856/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1528575724&sr=8-8&keywords=julia+child

[Emba]

I am not familiar with the cookbook referenced above by Carol, but she brings up a good point. There are different types of cookbooks. Some tea to a bunch of recipes, and some teach you how to cook. The real secret to being a good cook is not just knowing how to follow recipes, but how to improvise And get creative.  A  lots of cooking you just learn by doing, and sometimes by doing poorly.

When I was about 16 and first learning to cook I tried a lot of experiments in the kitchen that didn’t turn out. It was immensely helpful to me that even my very picky father made a point of not criticizing my cooking. Though sometimes a Gentle suggestion of what might be better done next time is helpful. There was one rice dish that even the dog wouldn’t eat.?

[cintinative]

When I was in high school my mom let me pick recipes and make dinner some nights, especially during the summer because I had more time and it was something for me to do.  Back then I just had the cookbooks we had on hand (Betty Crocker, Better Homes and Gardens, etc.). 

I was thinking it would be fun to put a culinary arts type class together for my boys in high school based on "I'm Just Here for the Food" by Alton Brown. It's all about techniques---how to braise, how to sear, etc. Sort of the fundamentals of cooking. I think that would definitely be worthwhile to get from the library and see if it interests your son. There is a baking book called "I'm Just Here for More Food."  

Good shows for methodology would be America's Test Kitchen (PBS) and Cooks Country (PBS) and Good Eats (not sure what network it is on now--Food??).  For food competitions, we love to watch Chopped and Top Chef.  

ETA: Our local kitchen stores offer semi-annual or so "knife skills" classes. That would be a fun thing to do together.

ETA2: Any of the skills in the books listed above will benefit him overall regardless of his career.  It will also help him as he evaluates recipes to determine if they are well written or not.  I can tell you there are tons of recipes on the internet that are not worth making. ?

[ktgrok]

Can you access any of the Jaques Pepin shows on PBS? He's GREAT. He doesn't teach recipes, he teaches how to cook, and in such a fun way. Totally non intimidating. His biography is great too. My favorite of his shows and a good beginner cooking show is "Fast Food My Way". All easy recipes but so good. 

[ktgrok]

Also, episodes of Good Eats with Alton Brown!

[katilac]

On 6/9/2018 at 5:11 PM, StellaM said:

You sound like you have experience, so I'm gonna hijack a little - sorry OP! - and ask a question. Same for pastry chef ? Just get any restuarant job first ?

 

I have observational experience - family and friends in (and out, lol) of the business, a local culinary program that was big in the homeschool community for a while, two chefs I met through work who were adamant about real experience. They didn't oppose formal education in the business altogether, just felt that you would get much more out of it if you already had some experience, and that 90% of the people who got that experience were no longer interested in the field.  

imo, it would be ideal to get a job related to your actual interest, and I think that would be relatively easy to do for someone with even a bit of skill - but I do live in an area with a lot of restaurants, bakeries, and so forth. If I couldn't get anything related directly to my interests, yes, I would start with any job and angle for the one I wanted. It's an industry with huge turnover. You could also start with a job at a bakery, even one within a grocery store. 

One of our local high schools has a culinary program that actually runs their own restaurant. Limited hours and offerings compared to others, but still a great feel for the business. They get to see that you can't just cook great food, you have to cook food that people want to buy, that doesn't cost so much in terms of supplies and work hours that you don't make a profit. It's a cool concept. 

[Pen]

My son — who was interested in perhaps being a chef, though the interest faded—liked the Great Course video set on cooking   With a chef from California Culinary Institute I think. 

 

He has used the Good HouseKeeping Step by Step Cookbook and all the recipes in it he tried turned out good. 

[vmsurbat1]

On 6/11/2018 at 9:23 AM, Pen said:

My son — who was interested in perhaps being a chef, though the interest faded—liked the Great Course video set on cooking   With a chef from California Culinary Institute I think. 

 

Great course with Chef Briwa!  He is a household name for us. ?

 

[Scarlett]

Dss17 has wanted to be a chef since he was 9 or younger.  He just finished his junior year being DE in a culinary arts program at vo-tech. And he got his first job at a resort type restaurant a month ago.  I think by the time his senior year is up he will know for sure he wants to keep going in the chef direction.  He is washing dishes now....I think a job in a restaurant is a great way to figure it out.