The answer’s in the chocolate chips

Our interest in all things food-related has never been bigger, but the amount of time we spend in the kitchen diminishes more every year. That said, how are young people going to learn to cook? The answer lies in a bag of chocolate chips.

I hear it all the time. People don’t cook like they used to. Zatarain’s Director of Sales Dudley Passman mentioned to me the other day in an interview that die-hard Louisianans continue to cook less, driving the New Orleans-based food company to aim for more quick and easy products. One of the most robust subsectors of the restaurant industry in the last few years has been prepared food items. And bagged lettuce and pre-marinated meats continue to be a big seller for grocery stores, reported former Associated Grocers Vice President of Perishable Procurement Michael Bove in a Business Report story I recently wrote.

We talk constantly as a society about the need to sit down at the family table and the need to cook rather than bring home fast food. That’s true, but there’s something else at issue–the erosion of skills. From the looks of the blogosphere, Pinterest and cable food networks, everyone knows how to cook, but the truth is, plenty of people are launched into adulthood without a lot of kitchen experience. Later, it becomes a frustrating hurdle because life really is easier with some culinary skills.

So, make it your 2013 mission to share a bit of cooking knowledge with a child or young person. Kids are too picky to appreciate real food, you say? Then start with that great equalizer: dessert. A bag of chocolate chips presents endless possibilities for busy families, and I’m not talking about cookies. Melt a bag’s worth in the microwave or in a double boiler, pour it in a bowl and whisk in one and a quarter cups of heavy cream and a teaspoon of vanilla. In a few minutes, you have mock chocolate mousse. Or drizzle the melted chocolate over fruit kabobs. Or dip strawberries or cookies in it, perching them on parchment paper to harden. With one ingredient and a stove, you’ve begun to cover principles of melting, whisking, assembling and hardening. Sure, it’s a small thing. But it’s real, and it means something.