Jamie's Little Library

I believe that cooking is just as important as reading and writing. It’s a skill that you use every single day, for life. If you can cook, you’re in a position where you can properly take care of yourself and give yourself choices, no matter what life throws at you. So, pairing a first-word book with food seemed like a no-brainer! These are fun, creative, optimistic books that I hope parents and kids alike will adore.

Food was simply a part of everyday life. I grew up in a pub, so I started cooking at a young age and helped my dad in the pub kitchen, making everything from beautiful fish dishes to roast dinners. I was lucky to discover my passion for cooking so early in life, because I found school a real challenge. I was constantly dragged out of class to go down the corridor to my ‘special needs’ class, and my peers constantly took the mickey out of me. But I was OK, because out of school I had cooking. Cooking was the thing that gave me drive, gave me confidence, hope, and made me believe in my very young self and my worth in the world. I was lucky. What school eroded away, I found in the kitchen.

It’s got to be my mum’s roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings. I’m talking crispy roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, lots of lovely veg, all the sauces and lashings of gravy. With the whole family sitting around the table, you can’t beat it.

Kids aren’t born wanting to eat chicken nuggets and chips. It’s called marketing. So, for me, these books are really about marketing, celebrating and educating kids about different ingredients, about what things go together, and how to make something that’s going to be delicious to eat. As simple as this might sound, it’s profoundly important. The earlier parents and caregivers can start making real food for and with their kids, the better. I hope these books spark a curiosity for food and cooking. Kids are our future – nurturing their young minds couldn't be more important.

Get them involved and get them confident in having fun with food – think
bashing, ripping, tearing, stirring, squishing and squashing. That’s what you’re going to see in these books – plenty of action words. As a dyslexic kid myself, I also wanted to make sure they’re super visual. The books feel optimistic and fun, and I think there’s power in that.

The more kids interact with food, the better. If you can get to a farmers’ market or a local greengrocer, that’s a great place to start – you don’t even have to buy anything, just take a walk and let the passionate sellers explain their wares and inspire interest in your kids. And when it comes to the supermarket, make it an adventure and let your kids have choices, just make sure they’re choices between good and good, not good and bad.

Before you even get into the kitchen it’s about celebrating the shape, form and colour of raw ingredients, especially veggies and fruits. Just the exciting act of
being able to prep them and eat them or use them to create something is a
beautiful thing, and in this world of convenience where so much is done for you, it’s so important. Having the confidence to cook is so crucial when it comes to our health, and to hopefully living a long, productive, happy life.

If you’re a parent and you feel curious or worried about what to do to make your kid more confident around food and ingredients then you’re already an amazing parent just for thinking about it. You don’t have to be an expert and, to be honest, you can still be on your own journey with food alongside your kid. It’s all about finding things you love, introducing new things, and variety. Even something as simple as having a different veg on the table each night can have a huge impact, whether that’s simply raw veg cut into sticks, a simple dressed salad, a little grated slaw dressed in lemon and olive oil, or simple steamed veg with a little knob of butter. It’s about normalising a varied, colourful diet. Sure, they might not eat it the first few times, but generally I find the more a kid is exposed to something, the more curious they get, particularly if they’re hungry!