Youngsters get cooking lessons at Oxford pub

3:44pm Monday 23rd February 2009

The owners of The Black Boy pub in Oxford are hoping to inspire a future Jamie Oliver or Nigella Lawson – with weekly cookery classes for four- to 12-year-olds.

Abi Rose and Chris Bentham took over the gastropub in Old High Street, Headington, last October, and one of their first projects was setting up Kid's Kitchen.

Mr Bentham, 32, explained: "Abi and I are both passionate about food and, as well as providing our customers with great dishes, we also wanted to pass on our passion to the younger generation.

"Children are no longer taught Home Economics in school like we were, so we decided we would invite them along to the pub to learn about cooking, in the hope they would continue cooking at home.

“It's really caught on."

Asked whether the classes were attracting new custom during the tough financial climate, Mr Bentham said: "It is a difficult time for pubs and restaurants, and although we started the classes out of a love of food, rather than as a way of attracting new custom, we have found that some families do come along, watch their little ones cooking and then stay for lunch.”

Kids Kitchen is held in the pub every Sunday, from 10-11am, with two groups, four- to eight- year-olds and eight- to 12- year-olds, creating simple, easy recipes ranging from pizzas and lasagne to cheesecake and muffins.

Mrs Rose, 33, said: "We put a lot of thought into what we cook with the children.

"Firstly, it's about the enjoyment factor – techniques like bashing or creaming make it fun and interesting.

"Last Sunday, for example, we all made passion fruit cheesecake, and the bashing of the biscuits was a definite favourite.

"But we also choose recipes which involve new skills, such as the kneading technique in making pizza bases.

“These are simple skills which can be repeated again and again in different recipes.

"Taste and ingredients are also important. If it's not hugely healthy, we at least make sure it’s partly healthy!

"Trying to get some children to try new things is difficult – but I do tend to slide things under the radar, like Calzone pizza with a spinach and ricotta filling, which the kids loved making, and because they loved making it, they loved eating it.

"All the recipes have to able to be repeated at home, and not take too long to cook. I guess what I'm trying to do is establish a foundation in food and recipes for the kids to build on when it comes to their own cooking in later life.

"I haven't heard of any other pubs doing this, but it's something I've always wanted to do since my own son Henry, who is four, was tiny. It was he who actually inspired me to attempt to do this. His favourite is Banana Bread – he loves the mashing and the mixing!

Eight-year-old Maisie Wilson lives in Marston, Oxford, and has been attending Kid's Kitchen classes for a month.

Her mum, Gillian, said: "Maisie enjoys cooking with her friends and tasting things she normally wouldn't want to try – like spinach, and passion fruit which she liked.

"I think it is a good idea to get children interested in food preparation and to help them feel confident to try food they may reject at home.

"Abi gets them to interact with her, so they are thinking, not just doing, and Maisie felt inspired to give me a shopping list from memory and then made her own cheesecake at home, which was delicious!"

Mrs Rose added: "Getting children intrigued in food at an early age has the potential to help their diet in the future, without the preaching."

Classes cost £10 a session and can be booked online at: theblackboy.uk.com or by phone on 01865 741137.

dwaite@oxfordmail.co.uk