Involving kids in the kitchen

The SCA is a family affair, right?  We encourage people with children to participate in the Society!  We even have created offices and activities which specifically aim to get children involved in Society.  We have Youth Combat.... Youth Ministers.... Page School.... but rarely, RARELY, do I see kids in the kitchen or serving at feasts during SCA events.  I think this is skipping over an entire category of volunteers, and cheating the kids out of a really great experience!

Part of the issue, I think, is that a lot of people don't involve their kids in daily cooking.  (to be fair, I think a lot of people in general don't engage in daily cooking.... I have worked in a lot of feast kitchens where the ADULT help was unsure and unskilled.... I think it's just a factor of modern life, to some degree!)

And so, while it's a little scary/daunting to teach your child to use a knife properly in the confines of your kitchen at home, when you add the stress and chaos (and yeah, fess up, there's plenty of BOTH in feast kitchens!!!) of an event there's a tendency to ship the kids off to Youth Pointe and pray to whatever Kitchen Gods are handy that they're occupied long enough to let you get that last batch of ~whatever~ started with enough time before Court is done...

There are a lot of tasks that don't require Advanced Kitchen Authorization skills, however.  Peeling vegetables, washing fruit/vegetables, grating cheese, mixing honey into butter, filling salt cellars, arranging food on plates/platters, carrying pitchers of water, and so on. And there are lots of non-basic tasks which can easily be done by children, if you take a few minutes to explain what it is you want done.  (I do like to pair up adult and youth kitchen staff, just to observe the due diligence of safety concerns.)

My kids like to cook.  My kids like to cook so much that 9 times out of 10 if they're watching television it's Food TV and they're discussing the merits of plating dishes in various ways, and I frequently come home from running errands to find that my 9 and 11 yr old daughters have created (yet another) dessert recipe by combining ingredients and techniques from already-tried faves into a new (and usually quite edible, and even tasty!) dish, and my 13 year old son is known for creating entirely new recipes altogether!  (This is the boy who two years ago served tomato slices which he put under the broiler with bleu cheese and salt and pepper and olive oil... I personally believe tomatoes are poison, but his younger sisters said they were delicious!  So peer review by sibs being the stringent and vicious thing it is, I believe them... lol)

When I'm doing a feast, I like to get my kids involved.  For one, I simply trust them as capable assistants.  They know to wash their hands (a lot....) and how to use a knife safely...(most of the time...)  and not to nibble out of the bowl of chopped veggies... ;)  For another, I believe whole-heartedly that there is something very valuable in the concept of "learning by doing", and what is more "historically accurate" than children in the kitchen?  In addition, there is a definite charm added to a feast when you have children in their garb carrying food and drinks to the Good People Of The Realm who have gathered there.  They add a certain "Awwwwww...." factor which is useful for ambiance... and, in return, it is almost guaranteed that toasts will be made to the cooks and serving crew at the end of the feast, a prime opportunity to teach children that service is a valued part of What It Is That We Do in the SCA. 

Engage the youth, and you'll have kids who have a reason to play in the SCA, rather than complain that they are bored, and flop in a corner with their video game or cell phone while you attempt to recreate your chosen era of history.  Combat is not for everybody, nor is it The Only Avenue Worth Exploring, for youth OR adults.  I believe in making as many opportunities as possible available to *everybody* in the Society, no matter what their age... the kitchen *is* my battleground.... I fight against boring food!  Kids help add a fresh perspective!  (and, pssssssst.  Kids who help COOK vegetables are often more likely to try EATING them, too... but you didn't hear that from me!)