Leah Smith said she knows it is difficult to convince children to eat their vegetables.
The nutritionist and mother of two said she came up with the idea for Kids Kitchen after her children grew out of eating baby food.
“I wanted to get kids excited about the different flavors and the different colors of food and not be scared of them when their parents offered that,” she said.
Smith is one of several Kids Kitchen instructors that teach children ages 3-14 to cook. She said if a parent cooks a dish, a child will not necessarily eat it. But when a child learns to cook for herself or himself, the child takes ownership of the food, she said.
