Diane Muldrow – Dish: Stirring It Up

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Do you remember the first time you cooked a meal for your family? Maybe it turned out well, maybe not, but it didn't matter since you were hooked on cooking. Being hooked on cooking means reading cookbooks, learning about new ingredients and maybe appreciating hospitality. Diane Muldrow captures that moment perfectly in Dish: Stirring It Up (Grosset & Dunlap 2007). It is the first book in a series for young readers (9-12 or a bit older) about a group of girls who start a cooking club and then a business. The main characters in this first book are twin 11-year old sisters, Molly and Amanda, who are on summer holiday with not much to do, and bored of take-out food. As the story starts, they decide to make dinner for their over-worked parents and little brother. They print a recipe for chicken piccata of the internet (how subversive not to use a cookbook!) and shop for ingredients, learning about capers along the way. They make a successful meal with the last minute help of their mom and are hooked on cooking. That's the story in the first three chapters. The twins join their best friend and other kids at a cooking class, they learn about safety, proper knife skills, ingredients, and how to work together to make meals. There is plenty of teen-age jargon, text messaging, and descriptions of outfits, blushing in front of cute boys and their moms, and the nasty girl Natasha. The joy they feel cooking in class, with their parents and with each other is palpable. The twins are kind, thoughtful and enthusiastic – not enough to make a kid gag, but just enough to make parents pleased. And they eat and enjoy it. There is not a word about dieting, or needing to change how they look. This is all about being positive and excited about food and friendship. At the back of the book are selections from Dish: The Amazing Cookbook by The Chef Girls, an imaginary cookbook with real recipes. Kids can try Mrs. Moore's Easy and Delicious Pesto Sauce (p. 140) or Mom's and Amanda's Favorite Cobbler (p. 142) made of blueberries and nectarines. There is also a handy chapter with cooking tips from the chef girls. (p. 146). Stirring It Up and the next three Dish books have been re-released with new covers. This one shows a girl looking threw a slice of pineapple. Books #5-8 will be re-issued in June followed by the rest of the books this fall. This October Diane Muldrow is publishing a new Dish book, #12 Deep Freeze. Kids have summer reading – a book every week or so – until October. If you are looking for a book to inspire your kids to cook, enjoy food, and get along better, this is it. They might even end up starting a club of their own. Who knows…they might end up helping women chefs finally even up the numbers in top restaurant kitchens. Father's Day is coming up on Sunday, June 17th: let the kids cook! Previous articles: [Kids' Cookbook Reviews – complete] [Cookbook Reviews – complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to Super Chef