Since 1995, Santa Fe’s Cooking with Kids has educated and empowered thousands of school children to make healthy food choices through hands-on learning with fresh, affordable foods from diverse cultures. Kids who help plan, prepare, and cook meals are much more likely to enjoy a broad array of foods, many more than adults often imagine. With this app, the beloved New Mexico nonprofit organization shares its most enthusiastically kid-endorsed dishes. Included too are Cooking with Kids’ time-tested tips and videos for engaging children in the kitchen.

Cooking with Kids is recognized nationally as an innovative leader in hands-on food and nutrition education. Chef Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution chose Cooking with Kids green and white fettuccine with tomato-basil sauce and accompanying salad as one of the country’s best school lunches. A Southwestern lentil salad created by a 5th grade CWK class was selected as a winner in First Lady Michelle Obama’s Recipes for Healthy Kids competition. The International Association of Culinary Professionals named CWK as its exemplary culinary non-profit organization of 2013. Additionally, the organization has been honored with a national Innovation in Prevention Award by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for its efforts in promoting healthy lifestyles.

The world becomes a little smaller, and a little more unified, when kids immediately make the connection between the tortillas common to Santa Fe cooking and the chapatis of India or injera breads of Ethiopia. Watch with delight as children cooperate in cooking together, mastering simple from-scratch recipes together that will entice them away from those ubiquitous chicken nuggets and fries, at least for some meals. The teamwork builds their confidence, helps them use school skills such as math and geography, and additionally inspires them with practical skills for taking care of themselves and others, for the rest of their lives.

Together we are creating a healthy future!