On January 22, Kyoto Co-op* held a parent-child online cooking class as a dietary education project with the support of Japan CO-OP Insurance (Kyosai) Consumers' Co-operative Federation. Mr.TAKIMURA Masaharu, a cooking expert, was invited as the instructor for the online cooking class to encourage parents and children to think about the importance of cooking together and to spend more time around the table with their families. Parents and children of 61 families (150 people in total), participated in the cooking event from home, using their own kitchens, smartphones, and computers.

Under the theme " shumai (Chinese dumpling) cooked in a frying pan," he taught the participants a simple recipe so that children and parents, who usually don't have a chance to cook due to school or work, can take the lead in cooking.

Using ingredients prepared in advance by the participants themselves, they challenged the process of cutting vegetables, kneading meat, and wrapping them while watching the screen streaming from the cooking studio in Kanagawa Prefecture.

  

The lecturer, Mr.TAKIMURA Masaharu, as a cooking expert gave an easy-to-understand presentation on how children should help their parents when cooking with them. While cooking, he also talked about food and dietary education, the importance of seasoning food lightly, and using the right amount of salt to bring out the flavor of the ingredients.

Mr. TAKIMURA continues to work towards creating an environment where children can participate in cooking, and to increase the number of households where everyone in a family knows how to cook.

 

I've never made shumai "steamed meat dumplings" before, but I learned how easy it is to make, and it was so delicious that I decided to try making it again! It was also a good experience for me to be able to make it with my children and have them help me!

This is my first time participating in an online cooking class, and I had a great time cooking with my five-year-old son, feeling a sense of unity as we made shumai together with many other participants.

We participated in this event as a father and son, both of us are not used to cooking, so we had a hard time keeping up with the speed. However, it turned out very tasty and my son was very satisfied. He said he would like to participate again with a different dish.

It was very refreshing to see my husband and eldest daughter chatting and cooking together while watching the live cooking on ZOOM. My eldest daughter was a little embarrassed to see herself on the screen, but once the cooking started, she enjoyed many of the cooking tasks for the first time. Parent-child cooking is ideal, but it's hard to find the time in our daily lives to do it, so I'm glad we were able to do it today.

*Kyoto Co-op is a primary consumer co-op with a membership of 559,944 (as of March 20, 2021), engaged in home delivery, stores, welfare, electricity, and funeral services in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan.