Last Updated on August 27, 2024 by Chef Mireille
This post may include affiliate links.
Cooking Around the World Recipes with your kids is one of the best ways to inspire cultural learning in the kitchen. Cooking international recipes with your kids not only teaches them an important life skill, but also reinforces geography, history and math skills in the kitchen.
Are you looking for a way to get your kids excited about learning? Well you’ve come to the right place. Help your kids explore the world in your kitchen by embarking on a culinary adventure. Dive Deeper at Kids Korner!
What’s more exciting? Reading in some history book or casually talking about it while you cook international food together as a family? Let your kids be the sponges they are and absorb knowledge while having fun in the kitchen.
Add some history and geography learning they may or may not be getting at school to meal preparation. We all know that in the United States education is focused on America and Europe, but there’s a whole big world out there in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America.
Not only are you creating experiences with them that will become their favorite memories when they become adults, but they will learn authentic dishes that they can make when they start their own families. Cooking is a life skill – not just a fun hobby!
So you might be wondering what makes me an expert? Why should you listen to me when I don’t have kids?
Why am I an Expert?
Well, I spent a few years as a nursery school chef, not only creating menu’s and recipes that the kids would eat but also leading age appropriate cooking classes that got them excited to try new foods.
I also had to create special meals for kids with eating challenges that came with autism and other sensory issues.
After that, I spent several years teaching cooking classes to kids from aged 8-13 in an after school program.
So now you know that I know what I’m talking about, let’s get to it.
History & Geography in the Kitchen
Using my recipe index of over 1000 global recipes from every region of the world is a great way to get delicious food on the table and teach your kids about different countries.
Bring learning into the kitchen and let’s Explore the World in the Kitchen.
How do I do that?
Many of my posts include lots of geographical, historical and cultural context for the recipe. Use this for talking points about the country as you prepare the recipe together with your kids.
Once you decide on what recipe you are going to make, have your kids show you where the country is on a map or globe. Older kids can read more about the country online. Ask each of your kids to tell you one interesting fact about the country by dinnertime.
If you homeschool your kids, you can tie these recipes into your lesson plans for learning about the countries. See more information on this in Kids Korner.
To help you with this task, I have pulled some of my recipes that include the most historical and cultural context, Check out the recipes below for some inspiration and practice Cultural Learning in the Kitchen with international recipes.
Not only will your kids learn about history, geography and different cultures, it might help the picky eaters to be a little less so.
One thing I noticed after several years of teaching culinary classes to kids is that when the kids have participated in cooking the food themselves, they are more willing to try new and different foods.
By letting them help out in the kitchen, it can also reinforce math skills. Practice fractions with measuring cups and spoons.
Kid Friendly Recipes
I despise the term kid-friendly recipes, but let’s talk about it.
The reason I find it a problematic statement is that what might be considered kid friendly will vary from one country to another.
In some countries, kids are used to eating spicy foods from a young age. In some countries with large vegetarian populations like India, getting kids to eat vegetables is not challenging because fresh vegetables, lentils and grains constitutes most of their diet.
Don’t be afraid to try new recipes. You just might have to adapt them a little, according to your kids’ palate.
Adapting Recipes
As I always say with all of my recipes, a recipe should be a guide not a Bible. Therefore adapting the recipes for your kids’ palate is necessary:
- If they don’t like spicy foods, reduce the amount of spice and slowly increase it as they build up a tolerance.
- Substitute bell peppers for spicy peppers if it’s better in recipes like these Hungarian stuffed peppers.
- If they can’t eat dairy, replace milk with non dairy alternatives. Coconut milk is the best as it can be used in both sweet and savory recipes.
- If you discover they don’t like a particular spice or herb, omit it.
- If they only seem to like crispy fried vegetables, fry it first before adding it into recipes.
Eating should NEVER be a traumatic experience for them. Adapt to what works for your child!
Frequently Asked Questions
What age should I start incorporating international recipes?
As soon as they start eating solid food. The earlier you start diversifying their diet and adding a variety of ingredients and cuisines, the more adaptable they will be trying different foods. If you only cook the same vegetables week after week, they become used to the routine and less likely to try new foods.
Even something as basic as bread, give them pita bread or Indian flatbreads or tortillas so they don’t get used to eating only loaf breads.
How do I get my picky kids to try new foods?
The best practice is to start them as young as possible. However, if they are a little older and you want to start, institute a 3 bite rule. They have to try every food 3 times before they say no thank you. They are always going to be resistant to the first bite, but many times by the third bite, they start to like it.
Just because they say no the first time does not mean to give up. No one can be more random than kids. They won’t like it, then all of a sudden you give them the same thing a few weeks later and they love it.
What age should kids start using knives in the kitchen?
This really depends upon the child and no one knows your child better than you. You can start with kid friendly knives with as young as 3 years old, but ALWAYS under your supervision. As they get older and exercise proper knife safety, they can be allowed bigger knives with less supervision.
What if my child is neurodivergent or has ARFID?
If your child has ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) or is neurodivergent, introducing new foods can be more challenging, but it’s important to approach it with patience and understanding. Start by incorporating small amounts of new ingredients into familiar dishes, and let your child explore these foods at their own pace without pressure.
Involve them in the cooking process, which can make them feel more comfortable and curious about trying new flavors. Always prioritize their comfort and consult with your therapist who specializes in ARFID or neurodivergence for individual strategies as no 2 children present these conditions in the same way.
Pay attention to textures, colors and odors as they can be hyper aware of these attributes when it comes to liking food.
Now let’s get to the tasty recipes to inspire cultural learning with these traditional dishes!
Most of these are easy recipes that can be made for dinner any night of the week – full of fresh flavors and good food. However, there are a few more complicated and time involved ones like the Picarones from Peru. Save those for when you’re stuck inside on a rainy day – much more productive than them wasting the day away on their tablets.
You can explore more recipes in the Recipe Index. These introductory international recipes are just a crash course in cooking around the world.
50 International Recipes from Around the World
African Recipes
Asian Cuisine
Caribbean Cuisine
Authentic European Recipes
Traditional Indian Recipes
Middle Eastern Cuisine
South American Recipes
Let’s waken up those miniature taste buds with favorite recipes from around the world. These classic meals will be enjoyed by the whole family.
Travel
Since I also write about travel, here are a few of my travel posts that will also give you and your kids additional historical and cultural knowledge.
Don’t forget to visit the RECIPE INDEX with over 1000 recipes from around the world including lots of Vegetarian Recipes and Gluten Free Recipes!
Very nice post about the food and history of recipes and how you involve kids in it.
thank you – yes kids can learn so much more than how to cook in the kitchen
What a great breakdown and history refresh! Thanks for sharing this info.
yes now is the time to bring history into the kitchen!
Completely agree that now is not the time be strict about authenticity, will definitely be tuning in to you live! 🙂
yes now is the time to become the mothers of invention and substitute as necessary.
These are great ideas. Thanks!
Your welcome. I hope it is useful to your family in these hard times.
What a great way to incorporate learning and cooking in these challenging times! Thank you for sharing!
Your welcome. I hope you find it helpful.
Informative and useful post Mireille. With families all together, its best time to teach the kids other life skills that they do not learn at school, e.g. cooking and helping in the kitchen. I invoked my kids at a very young age to help in the kitchen and I too am an example as I use to help my mum from age 6 as we were a huge family. My cooking passion is born from there. Even if parents cannot cook elaborate dishes, its fun to just open the links and read and discuss about different cuisines and cultures.
Agreed however the recipes selected here are not very elaborate so that most of them the kids can probably whip up on their own, depending on the age of the child.
You have such an amazing variety of recipes from all over the world in your blog dear .. Great job !
thank you – yes I think they are useful to not only learn cooking but about peoples around the world
Your Post is very informative and all your recipes are exciting. Teaching kids cooking can be very rewarding. It’s teaching them to cook and enjoy a range of foods. I find that kids are so willing to try dishes they have helped cook.
This is an ideal time, as we have time. Time to explain and make these dishes instead of running around.
yes now there is nothing else to do so you can have the time to educate while cooking a meal together
I don’t have any kids, but this strikes me as a very sensible approach. I still remember my mother teaching me fractions with after-eight mints – of course, I got to eat the bits of minty chocolate if I got the fraction right!
oh I would have loved learning fractions that way 🙂
I LOVE this post so much! Cooking covers every subject out there – history, geography, math, science, reading – and as a dietitian, I always tell moms that getting kids involved in the kitchen and having family meals pays off in all areas of life!
I couldn’t agree with your more. So many parents focus on math, business and sciences, but cooking is a life skill that will carry them forward. I have met college aged kids who couldn’t boil a potato. When they are on their own, this means they are spending so much more money eating out for meals that can have serious financial repercussions for them. Also when they help prepare the meals, they also become less picky and willing to eat healthier foods.
At this time when we can’t travel, it’s great to travel virtually with recipes from different countries and cultures! You’ve certainly inspired me to widen my home cooking range.
I hope you do. Right now it’s about celebrating the little pleasure in life. We can at least travel on our plates, even if we cannot get on a plane right now. So what’s the first globally inspired meal next on the menu?
What great ideas for homeschooling right now, thanks!
Thank you Stephanie – I hope you find them useful!