One of the joys of writing a book is the opportunity to work with some fabulous people. Michelle Stern, the owner of What's Cooking, a San Francisco area cooking school for kids, is one of those people. She was the technical editor for the cookbook, a largely thankless task that involves cleaning up after a tired, stressed writer and making that writer look good. For a book with ~70 recipes (I really should count them someday.) and almost 400 images, this is no small thing, but she does so much more:
- Michelle is dedicated to raising awareness of important issues like hunger, mixing educational efforts with direct action to benefit communities in need. She's a regular participant in events like the Great American Bake Sale and Music for the Hungry, incorporating community service into her work with kids and food.
- She can teach kids cooking classes without a kitchen!
- Healthy, kid-friendly recipes.
- Her garden has an extra row that was planted so that it could be donated to the local food bank.
- She walks the walk when it comes to the environment. Reusable school lunch supplies, homemade egg dyes from food, heck, even her chickens recycle!
- She catered the Celebrity Poker Tournament at the 2006 Emmy Awards, which just sounds like a blast!
- What's Cooking's twitter stream is full of interesting tidbits.
In what I see as a great idea, Michelle has recently started offering consulting services sharing her expertise in areas ranging from curriculum design for kids cooking classes to helping establish a "green" business (What's Cooking is a certified Green business). You can even learn how to throw a cooking party for your child's next birthday, with plans for age-appropriate food and activities, and even food-themed invitations and party favors.
The service that I think is probably going to be most popular, however, is helping families deal with power struggles and picky eaters, which are huge issues for some folks. Michelle's strategies include getting the kids into the kitchen, of course, with Michelle showing how to select recipes, tools, and so on. I can only imagine how many parents would love a few hours of an expert's time to help them have more enjoyable family meals.
Those are just some of the reasons we love What's Cooking. Check out the site and see if you don't just agree.
