LET'S COOK
Penguin Books - $30

In 2005 Heinz Wattie’s Ltd launched Project Cook, a teaching resource developed by Wattie’s in association with food, nutrition and teaching experts that was distributed to 1600 schools throughout New Zealand. The aim was to get kids cooking in a fun and interactive way via classroom and home-based activities. It was designed to be used within the Technology curriculum and targeted children in Years 7 and 8 (10–12 year-olds) as research shows it is at this age that children are the most receptive to learning this important lifelong skill.

Let’s Cook! Tasty Recipes from Wattie’s Project Cook features over 70 recipes, all specially written for budding cooks, with simple instructions, a colourful, easy-to-follow layout and loads of tips and variations. The recipes can easily be made by kids from about 8 years and include a wide variety of healthy snacks, satisfying meals and delicious desserts.

About the authors:
Julie Dick (Nutritionist):
Julie is a NZ Registered Dietitian, with a BSc(hons), and has held the position of Nutrition Manager for Heinz Wattie’s for the past seven years. She is responsible for ensuring that nutrition and health are appropriately considered in the product development and marketing of the many foods the company provides. She is actively involved in government advisory groups; including a strategic review of Healthy Eating Healthy Action, and the Food and Beverage Classification System for schools. Much of her focus is on infant and child health.

Lisa Loveday (Home Economist):
Lisa Loveday is the Home Economist at Wattie’s and Food Editor for Food in a Minute. Trained at Otago University as a Home Economist and later Professional Cookery (City & Guilds AUT), Lisa has worked in the food and hospitality industry for over 15 years primarily creating recipes and new products for a number of food companies, websites and publications. Lisa taught for many years through community education and is very passionate about teaching young and old to enjoy cooking.

A note from Lisa Loveday and Julie Dick . . .

Project Cook is all about getting kids into the kitchen and enjoying learning how to cook. It is a school teaching resource designed for use within the Technology curriculum. It teaches a range of cooking skills, food safety and basic nutrition.

This book provides over 70 recipes with many variations and is a great introduction to basic cooking and techniques. We focused on classic Kiwi recipes to teach many of the fundamental skills that will set kids up to enjoy cooking well into their adult years.

We have used inexpensive everyday ingredients and provide a variety of recipes for any time of the day and week. Healthy eating is important to us also so we have analysed the recipes to ensure they meet government guidelines for appropriate foods for schools. Most of the recipes are healthy everyday foods and we have added in some treat foods for special occasions.

Cooking is a life skill which not only teaches you how to feed yourself but helps you save money, be independent and be healthy. Food and cooking are an important part of enjoying life, friends and family.
We hope you enjoy cooking and eating these recipes as much as we enjoyed putting them together and testing them.