Blog from Cheshire Franchise
Remember the days you could spend your weekends perusing stalls and sampling tasters at food festivals. Well, these occasions don’t have to become a thing of the past once you have kids, as they are great places to have fun with the whole family.
Find out why food festivals create wonderful experiences for both parents and their children, so you can enjoy stocking up on homemade pastries and fiery chilli sauces at your heart’s content.
Expose children to different foods
Many kids think that food simply comes from supermarkets; they don’t see the effort and work taken into growing, nurturing and creating something special.
Taking them to different stalls will help them understand how produce is grown, meet local farmers, learn about the food cycle, and appreciate the art of putting different ingredients together.
Try new flavours
There are so many events to experience, from cooking demonstrations to chilli-eating competitions, baking workshops to gardening activities, which means there are plenty of opportunities for children to get involved and have fun.
Many of these allow kids to try new flavours in an unpressurised environment, enabling them to taste ingredients they may never have eaten before or cuisines they wouldn’t have at home.
Thanks to the diversity of foods at these festivals, they can sample everything from Caribbean jerk chicken to Sri Lankan curry, Ukrainian crispy potato pancakes to Greek souvlaki to name a few.
As everyone is willing to talk about their cuisine, this makes it easier and less daunting for kids to give something more unusual a go.
Hands-on fun
Festival organisers realise that in order to attract as many adults as possible, they need to make their events family-friendly too. That is why there are often children’s baking tents where kids can have a go creating a delicious dish of their own.
They might take part in junior baking contests, make a healthy lunch or snack to enjoy during the day, learn a new cooking skill, or watch fun and interactive demonstrations.
These experiences tend to be hands-on, engaging and lots of fun. They encourage better food habits, including choosing healthy ingredients, a sense of autonomy in food choices, important culinary skills, independence, and confidence in the kitchen.
For some children, it’s just a lack of self-assurance that stands in the way of them fulfilling their cooking potential. Food festivals can tap into this, boosting a belief in their abilities and helping them to unleash their creative selves.
Healthy relationship with food in the long-term
Attending food festivals, such as Stone Food And Drink Festival, brings together like-minded people who all have a love and appreciation for everything food-related.
This can encourage your kids to have a good relationship with food in the long-term, as they appreciate ingredients, nature’s role in food production, and the hard work and effort behind each mouthful.
They could become better informed eaters, inquisitive critiques, intuitive chefs, and at the very least, secure and confident around different foods.
Spending time with the family
Food festivals are also a great way to spend time with the family, whether it’s getting involved in the kids’ cooking tent with the little ones, asking them to support you while you take part in eating contests, or choosing different delicacies together to enjoy at home.
Families get to spend quality time with one another, not distracted by chores, daily demands or work, and share experiences that they will remember.
Whether you want to raise your adrenaline on the fairground rides or coo at the animals in local petting zoo pens, you can have lots of fun with your little ones, all while basking in the aroma of freshly cooked dishes, the sound of music and laughter, and, hopefully, the warm sunshine of a perfect British summer’s day.
Kiddy Cook North West hosts children’s cooking classes at food festivals all over the region. For more information about how to attend or to book us for your event, get in touch today.