Chef Tue Oct 23 2007

The Spatulatta Girls

The next generation of Chicago celebrity chefs is hitting bookstores and cooking demos this month. Fourth grader Isabella Gerasole and second grader Olivia Gerasole have a new cookbook for kids based on their web site, Spatulatta.com. Last year the site, which has videos to accompany the recipes, won a James Beard Foundation award in the webcast category and landed the girls on Jay Leno's show and in the pages of Food and Wine. It's a great site for kids interested in food. Right now there are Halloween recipes, including Spiderweb Soup and Spooky Skull Meatloaf. And in the archive are vegetarian recipes for Thanksgiving, as well as recipes for everyday snacks and meals, and even a concentration game with images of cooking utensils. The girls are appearing around Chicago, signing their book and giving cooking demonstrations. I recommend introducing any kids you might be spending Thanksgiving with. Let them do the cooking this year, while the adults keep asking when dinner will be ready and if they can have pie even if they don't eat their Quinoa Stuffing Pilgrim Hats.

— Lori Barrett / Comments (0)