When I grow up...

I've got it. I FINALLY know what I want to be when I grow up.

As some of you know, I've been writing a cookbook that specializes in good food - cheap, fast and easy.

What I WANT is to help people.

As I was cooking dinner the other night, my 7 year old asked me why I like to cook - and why I like so many different kinds of food. That question took me back to grade 5, my 1st generation Canadian teacher Ms. Lee, and her Mum. Mrs. Lee used to come in once a month or more and cook for the class - she made all kinds of foods that we'd never heard of, never mind tasted, and it sparked a life-long love of food in me.

So, when I grow up, I want to be just like her. The plan is to gain sponsorship from a major grocery chain, the school district and the province; and go into the classrooms (kitchens) of our elementary schools and try to share that experience and love of food with grades 3,4 and 5 in an effort to introduce the world of food to children that would otherwise go home to a fast-food dinner - or something equally unhealthy. What I would LOVE to do is get the kids cooking. The grocery sponsorship would (hopefully) be in kind food donations - enough to perhaps even send the kids home with the groceries to make the chosen meal. The School District sponsorship would (hopefully) be in support and possibly partial payment; and the Provincial Sponsorship, possibly from MSP, would be in the form of a small stipend to enable me to do this as a job. What I would also love to do, is to give these wonderful little people a copy of the cookbook to take home.

Why as free as possible? Because I've just read a report that states that my school district is the poorest in the province. Now, I have to admit that this surprised me greatly because so many of the kids that my children are friends with tend to be in the same income bracket as us; firmly in the middle class.

If we can teach our children to change the way they eat and see food, we'll begin to change medical outcomes in the very near future. Can you envision an end to Type 2 Diabetes? or Obesity? or High Cholesterol and Heart Disease? I can. I think it begins with the education of our children.

Any suggestions?