Lea Sørensen
We've been to visit Lea Sørensen. A mother, a home cook, and a woman who has involved her children in the kitchen from day one - not as a project, but as a way of spending time together.
Q: When did you start involving the children in the kitchen, and how did it begin?
"From the start. Because that's where I was. They've always been with me – in my arms, on the floor, on the kitchen counter, in a high chair, or later standing next to me. It didn't start as 'now we're going to cook together,' but we've always just been together."
"Food doesn't become alien. It becomes something they know, touch, taste, understand."
Q: What happens to you when a child is involved in cooking rather than standing and watching?
"My children can't just stand and watch; they want to get their hands in and taste. Sometimes it requires me to take a deep breath and think: what's the worst that can happen? Or remind myself that tidying up won't take more than 5 extra minutes just because they've been involved. So, I try to calm down and rush less. That it's not something to just get over with, but rather to see it as time together. And because I know and can see how much they also learn from it – by being involved and not by me explaining everything to them."
Q: How do you handle things when they get chaotic?
"Chaos is part of it. I guide instead of control. Yes, it takes longer. Yes, it's messy. It's a form of learning. Sometimes I call my husband and tell him he has to be with them instead - that's if I'm busy or lack the energy."
"It's not more time. It's the same time - used differently."
Q: Do you think children who are involved in the kitchen early on develop a different relationship with food?
"Yes, absolutely. Food doesn't become something foreign. It becomes something they know, touch, taste, understand. I believe it creates a sense of security and curiosity, and a completely different respect for our ingredients. My son often asks me in the supermarket if something is organic – for instance, he asked the other day if the strawberries were organic, and they weren't, so he knows we won't buy them. There's never a discussion; I honestly have never had an argument with him in the supermarket or heard him beg for an item; we always find an alternative."
Q: Are there any dishes or ingredients you intentionally introduce early?
"Yes. Eggs, butter, broth, sardines, good fats. It gives them something to build on. And because I want to show that food is more than just filling. When my youngest started on solids, I was very careful to slowly introduce things that can cause allergies – one thing at a time and continuously. I'm really looking forward to having a baby and starting solids again. I will remember how good and important milk still is and that we are not in a hurry. To give fat and nutrition and not rice and corn porridge. But egg yolk, bone marrow, sardines. Food for children is a huge interest for me."
Q: What would you say to the parent who thinks it's too messy or too time-consuming?
"It is, indeed. But this is also where life happens. It's not extra time, it IS the time. You exchange pace for presence. And that gives you something you can't create later. It requires energy, just like everything else with children."
"It provides something you can't create later."
Read more in the journal
En dyb, varm ramen lavet på Bone Broth som base. Med grillet pak choi, oksekød og shiitake.
Ginger is not new. It has been used for millennia: as food, as medicine, and as an everyday ritual. What's new is that we now know more precisely what actually happens in the body when you consume ...
Lea Sørensen has always had her children with her in the kitchen. Not as a planned project, but because that's where she was. They've been on her arm, on the floor, on the kitc...