A Chat With Top Chef Marcus Samuelsson On Kids & Cooking

There’s no time like the upcoming holidays and winter break for parents to introduce their children to the joys of cooking. Cozying up in the kitchen has many merits on blustery, chilly days, not least of which is enjoying the delicious fruits of your labor.

For some inspiration, we caught up with local dad Chef Marcus Samuelsson, of “Top Chef” and Red Rooster fame, who teamed up with rice company Uncle Ben’s earlier this fall to launch a national campaign to encourage kids and parents to get cooking together in the kitchen. The restaurateur, an impassioned cooking instructor of kids himself, helped to celebrate the second annual Ben’s Beginners Cooking Contests, in which children grades K-8 submitted videos of themselves cooking a rice-based dish for the chance to win $15,000, a “Rachael Ray” appearance, and a $30,000 cafeteria makeover for their school. While submissions is now closed, aspiring mini chefs can still vote for their favorite cooking peers and perhaps even take a pledge to cook with their parents this winter.

In the meantime, here are Chef Samuelsson’s thoughts on why cooking with kids is important, his suggestions for dishes young chefs can help make, and, of course, a delicious Swedish Roast Turkey with Spice Apple Rice recipe to share with hungry New York Family readers.

What’s your background in cooking with kids, and why do you think it’s important?

I teach cooking classes for free in my restaurant every month. I feel like I can include kids and teach them about flavors and foods, whether it’s dessert classes or meatballs or appetizers, it doesn’t matter. I just want people to be engaged while they’re cooking.

There’s a lot you can do with kids by cooking a lot, by eating foods at different stages and talking about foods at different stages, like “there’s a carrot, you can eat the raw carrot; now you’re going to cook it, and it’s going to taste like this.” There’s a transformational part of cooking that’s very exciting for a child.

Why were you inspired to get involved with this Uncle Ben’s project, and what do you like about it?

The whole idea of getting kids involved with cooking is something that’s been with me for all my life. My grandmother was a cook and she brought me into the kitchen, and anytime I can give that back—it’s a great to encourage kids to have lots of choices, and being in the kitchen is fun.

With Uncle Ben’s [rice], it can be very diverse. You can do Chinese recipes, Moroccan recipes. You can go and do a Spanish paella. Rice is something that can take you around the world depending on what vegetables and proteins you use. And submitting videos of you cooking is fun—you have to connect with technology. Kids want to be cool. It’s a super easy way to commit to cooking as a family.

You’re a champion of using leftovers in creative ways. An example?

I don’t call it “leftovers”…You have to plan your week. You can start with a roasted chicken, then do a great chicken soup with a little bit of rice and vegetables. You can on the third day do fried rice. There are so many ways that you can recreate a meal.

What are some things parents should think about in regards to creating healthy eating habits? Any tips?

I think it’s key that you’re not just eating the same things at home. You want to get your vegetables in—corn in the summer, root vegetables in the winter. And the protein can be steamed, grilled… Tacos is hands-on and fun, and you can have everything on the side, so you can decide yourself what you want in the meal. Eating things that are fun increases the chance of eating better.

What other dishes would you recommend for new young (kiddie) chefs?

Meatballs are great—then next day you can maybe do a meatball sandwich with it.

Any advice for introducing picky eaters to new foods?

It’s gotta be fun, it’s gotta be inviting. Sometimes it’s something like using tomato sauce as a way to get kids to eat fish. So pairing vegetables and sauces that we know and like can be a wonderful way get over this. Usually a medium like pasta can be a way to add in the broccoli.

In the spirit of the holidays, can you tell us about some of the food-related charities that you’re involved with?

At City Harvest, what we do is collect food from restaurants around the city, taking all that leftovers and providing millions and millions people with meals a year. It’s been a wonderful journey that I’ve been involved with for several years. More on the global side, there’s the Snowflake Ball and working with UNICEF as an Ambassador. With Three Goat, which my wife and I started, we’re working with helping young girls in Ethiopia to get clean water, education, and food.