Salad People and More Real Recipes

Written by the Mollie Katzen, author of the Moosewood Restaurant cookbooks and the children's cookbook Pretend Soup, Salad People is a book of recipes that have been selected and tested for creating with preschool-age and older children. Each recipe has two parts: the part for "the Grown-ups" and

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the part for the kids. The grown-ups' pages include a traditionally-written recipe, plus tips for creating the recipe with kids such as safety guidelines, what should be done before bringing the kids into the kitchen, and what types of jobs are good for different aged children. Grown-up pages also include quotes from some of the children that Katzen tested the recipes with, such as "It's like raisin bran, except it's salad," and "I covered a rosemary with some dough. It's gonna be hiding."
The kids pages make this book really great. Following each grown-up-style recipe is a two-page spread that fully illustrates each step in the recipe. The steps are numbered, which can help teach young children how to read from left to right down a page, and include captions such as "add 15 basil leaves" under the picture of 15 basil leaves.
Salad People is a wonderful cookbook for adults to share with the young children in their lives. It encourages the development of a healthy relationship with food and can help teach young children math, prereading and beginning reading, fine motor skills, patience, cooperation, and many other skills, not to mention developing and encouraging creativity and confidence. The pairing of traditionally written recipes with child-friendly step-by-step illustrations allows children to take greater ownership of their culinary creations, unlike most kid cookbooks which either expect an adult to read the recipe to the child or are written for older children to read on their own. Salad People is also unique in the types of recipes it contains. All of the recipes are relatively healthy, centered on whole foods, and vegetarian. Some contain sugar, and a few contain questionable store-bought items like pre-made pizza dough, pie crust, and tortilla chips, but adaptations can be made and many recipes are suitable for dairy-, wheat-, gluten-, and soy-free diets.
Salad People is highly recommended for purchase by all libraries, community centers, preschools, and other organizations serving children and their parents. It is a great choice for young children with an interest in cooking and a wonderful way for grown-ups to encourage and guide children toward a healthy relationship with food.

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