Meghan Pritchard was about four years old when she got her first cooking lesson, not that she would have thought it was anything so formal.
For her, baking muffins with her grandmother was something fun to do — and it had delicious results.
“It felt really special to have someone focus on me and show they cared about me,” says the community health specialist.
Pritchard is an advocate of the province-wide Hands On Cook Off, a video-based contest that encourages young people to discover their inner chef.
The premise is simple: choose a recipe that you love to cook, find someone to cook it with, film your three-minute video and submit your entry between April 15 and May 15.
There are two categories: inter-generational and youth.
Pritchard recognizes that in today’s busy world, finding time to cook together can be a challenge. The key is to plan ahead, she says, but, more importantly, it’s to recognize that the goal is more than just the end result.
“Cooking together is a great family time,” she says. “It puts you in the same room, talking to each other, and while you’re learning about cooking, you’re also learning about each other.”
And just as cooking binds family members and friends together, the contest’s video archive is a way of creating a communal kitchen across the province.
The contest judges are David Hawskworth of Hawksworth Restaurant, Vitamin Daily editor Sarah Bancroft, Little Locavore blogger Liam Lewis, Barb Finley, executive director of Project CHEF: Cook Healthy Edible Food, Global TV dietician Melodie Yong and B.C. Dairy Association dietician Rola Zahr. Go to bettertogetherbc.ca/contest for details.
RECIPE: Tasty together
If you want to start cooking with the young people in your life, Better Together has some easy-to-make — and super healthy — recipes to try. Here’s a sample:
Apple, Cheddar and Tuna Melt
- 170 g tin tuna, drained
- 1 Tbsp (15 mL) mayonnaise
- 1 tsp (5 mL) lemon juice
- ¼ cup (50 mL) celery, diced
- ¼ cup (50 mL) red onion, diced
- 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and chopped into small cubes
- fresh ground black pepper
- sourdough baguette
- ¾ cup (175 mL) cheddar cheese, grated
Place tuna in medium-sized bowl.
Add mayonnaise (you may want a little more than my desired amount), lemon juice, red onion, celery and apple.
Grind the pepper in to taste. Combine well.
Slice 8 slices from the baguette, about 1/2 –inch (1 cm) thick.
Cover baguette slices with the mixture, then sprinkle each slice with the cheddar cheese.
Place rack on top portion of oven and turn on broiler.
Place the slices on a cookie sheet and put under broiler for 2 to 3 minutes. You want your cheese to be bubbly and brown but not burnt, and you want the slices to be warmed through.
