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01: Welcome to The Kids Menu · The Kids Menu

• Chef Mark: so when I was a kid, we would go to this local Mexican restaurant quite a bit with my family. And I remember being kind of in this certain age range when I could start ordering not on the kids menu. And I remember they had a special mini menu that had quesadillas on it that were from different regional parts of Mexico. I don't even think I understood that's what was happening at the time. I just thought they were just different quesadilla options. And there was this one I remember distinctly, it was called the Sonora Steak quesadilla. and it had a kind of golden tortilla and I'm wondering if it was through maybe like annatto seed because I know more about cooking nowadays that's the same color they use to color cheddar cheese for example and then it was just so thick and I think they kind of tri-folded it so it wasn't just one giant half circle it was like more oblong rectangular and it was really thick stuffed with so much cheese really nicely spiced steak And I just remember this like a very clear memory. Like I can summon that exact flavor almost right now. I could taste it if I'm just thinking about it and looking at the visual of the color of the tortilla. Like I can taste that and I could probably recreate it pretty closely right now. So that was just one of my like really distinct fun food memories as a kid. Christiana Cortina: That's so amazing, it sounds amazing. Are you gonna try to recreate it? Chef Mark: Now that I'm talking about it, yes, I'll set myself up for that challenge soon. Christiana Cortina: can't wait to see what happens. I'm so curious if like, you'll try to, you'll make it exactly and it'll taste like your childhood or there'll be things you tweak about it. Chef Mark: Ooh, that's a good question. I think my goal would be to try to make it as close to that memory as possible and then to see what ends up resulting. Christiana Cortina: And does the restaurant still exist? Chef Mark: The restaurant still exists and that's a great question. I was thinking maybe I could even go there and ask them if they remember or if anyone has been around since they had that on the menu and if they could give me any hints. Christiana Cortina: Yeah, that'd be so cool. Chef Mark: Well, tell me about your favorite food as a kid. Christiana Cortina: when I was a kid and we would go out to Outback Steakhouse, which we didn't do super often, but it was like a chain restaurant. So you can go to them pretty, you know, pretty much anywhere, a lot of places on the East Coast, I would say. And I was a pretty picky eater as a kid and I usually liked buttered noodles, but. At Outback Steakhouse, they had a kid's mac and cheese, and it was penne pasta, and it wasn't like smothered in cheese, and it wasn't like stringy. It was like the bare minimum of cheese. It almost looked like butter noodles, but it had like this little bit of extra flavor, cheese flavor. And I can definitely taste that right now. And then also something that was always... my favorite thing at Outback Steakhouse was the brown bread. So if you've been to an Outback, you can probably picture it, but it's this little cylinder, like significantly small, like a hot dog bun size. Chef Mark: Mmm. Christiana Cortina: And it's like a dark brown, like a walnut brown color. And they would put it on a cutting board and then a ridged steak knife in it. And like, Chef Mark: How fun. Christiana Cortina: Yeah, and they would like bring it out like that. well, I guess it was a bread knife, but it looked like they'd had like the black candle, like a steak knife. So yeah, and they, it was so good. It was warm and it was soft and there was butter. So it was like the butter and the bread and the noodles and the cheese. mean, what more could you ask for? Chef Mark: That sounds amazing. I actually do need to seek out an Outback Steakhouse just to have like one experience being there. I've never been to one. I'm Chef Mark and I'm a kids cooking instructor. I've been teaching for over 20 years, starting with music lessons back in the day and then transitioning to cooking as an adult. My journey was going from being a music teacher to discovering cooking as an adult and I completely fell in love with it pretty instantaneously. And after pretty seriously pursuing it as a home cook for about six years, I decided that I wanted to try it professionally. So I got a job as a line cook in a fine dining restaurant. And within that year discovered that it was a really hard path and not really aligned with my personality. I really wanted to be home with my young children more. I have three little kids at that time. And I also wanted to be able to connect with people more through my work and also teach others. And then I was pretty lucky to discover a job at a cooking school and everything kind of came into focus all at once. I was able to be teaching cooking and that's been like my life's epiphany. Those two words together to sum up everything that I wanna do in the world. So I started teaching after school programs and working with kids and I wanted to expand my audience to just be able to reach more people. So I created an online program where I do that very thing. I teach kids cooking in weekly live stream cooking classes and families can join me online from their home kitchens and the kids can cook with me in real time in their home kitchens watching me on the screen and we make the exact same thing at the exact same time and come out with a beautiful yummy dish at the end of it that they can share with their family. and be really proud of what they made. And the really big discovery that I made during all of that work was that if kids are hands-on in cooking themselves, they'll actually end up eating whatever they start to put their knife to or put their hands to. They'll actually put it in their mouth. They might not necessarily like it, but they'll be way more open to trying it. And I've just discovered that it's engaging their curiosity. So that's been kind of all the work that's led up to where I am here. And I'm excited to be doing this podcast together with you and hear your perspective on teaching kids cooking food and nutrition. Christiana Cortina: am Cristiana Cortina and I have my master's in clinical nutrition and I'm so excited to be here with Chef Mark and starting this podcast together. So I am a former elementary school teacher. I taught third grade for two years and I really loved it. I've always loved working with kids but it didn't feel like something I wanted to do forever so I decided to go back to school and get my master's in nutrition. I've always loved food and I've always loved cooking. I started cooking with my grandma when I was really young and I really credit her for my love of cooking. And a similar experience I had is still wanting to work with kids, so trying to figure out how everything was going to come together. I started teaching cooking classes and hosting workshops for kids to try new foods. And now I have a private practice with one-on-one nutrition counseling for kids, teens, and adults who are hoping to cultivate a positive relationship with food or experience disordered eating. so one of our main missions here on our podcast on the pod is to keep food fun. So do you want let everybody know how you're doing that Chef Mark? Chef Mark: Yeah, I mean, that I feel like is the core tenet of this podcast and why we connected as friends and as colleagues now is because we see how that is just maybe missing in a lot of spaces nowadays, especially in like internet and like nutrition influencer kind of spaces online. And so like for me, like I just think food is fun. Like that's something that I've always believed in and gotten so much excitement and joy out of. And so that's just something that I want to share personally in my work. And so that's what I'm doing with kids is like bringing my like fullest fun kid energy to everything that I'm doing. And then remind reminding everyone, myself included, that there's space for every kind of food and like dessert comes to mind. Dessert is super fun and there should be space for that. And like every person's diet and any foods that you want to eat and that you find a lot of joy from like that should be absolutely prioritized. not missed out on for the sake of just trying to hit some sort of fitness or nutrition goal. just you want to share like what that means to you. What does like food and fun mean for you? Christiana Cortina: Yeah, I agree. mean, just going off of what you said, I think there's a lot of noise and talk in the nutrition world about foods that are best or the most nutritious or that should be restricted or not in your diet. And I also believe that there is a place for all foods and food is so much more than nutrients. and food is tradition and connection and memories. And it's meant to be fun. And I think that we are so lucky to have a food environment where we are able to have fun. Chef Mark: second part of our mission is to help people reconnect to our bodies through food. What does that mean to you? Christiana Cortina: So I could talk about this for such a long time, but to me this means that I think for so long, mean, historically and now, a lot of people rely on listening to external messages to know what to eat, how much to eat, when to eat, why to eat. And I really believe that We're born intuitive eaters and we know all of those things. And when we can truly reconnect with our body, if we are privileged enough to be able to do so, I think that we have that innate ability to be able to know exactly what we need. Chef Mark: I completely resonate with that. Like I've historically not been super in tune with my body just in general and especially around food and eating. It took me years to recognize like, there's times when I'm like very hungry, but it had not been connected and like tuned in, like busy working, playing, distracted. And then times when I'm just eating arbitrarily every single thing that's on my plate. Even as a full grown adult, like I just happened to grab that tongue full of the meal and I happened to have two pieces of chicken and then I... think, well, now that it's here, I have to eat the whole thing way beyond the point where I'm full. So that's something that I'm working on doing is just connecting into my body in general, but especially with food and recognizing, like I am hungry for this thing right now. And like, what am I craving? And then learning to like kind of dial out some of the noise sometimes if it's just like junk food, but I'm like, what is my body actually asking for? And there's so many times now in recent times that I'm at like interested in eating some sort of like. fiber-rich vegetable. like, think my digestive tract just needs to get a little help just cleaning everything out. Christiana Cortina: Yeah, I really think that, you know, one of the questions I get a lot with parents is, well, if I just give access to these foods that are deemed as not as nutritious, I'm worried that my kid will just eat as much as possible. But wouldn't it be so special to allow kids to learn how to listen to their bodies and give them that access so that they can understand? yeah, when I eat a whole sleeve of Oreos, I might get a stomach ache. Or, you know, when I ate this broccoli and chicken and pasta, I had really good energy for my soccer game. So I think it's really difficult to look at it that way, but I think it's something really special that people can reframe. as I'm helping my child learn about their bodies instead of trying to teach them by giving them rules around food or restriction. Chef Mark: I so resonate with that. And I didn't mention up top that I have three children. I have an 11, 12, and 14 year old currently. And I've really tried to exemplify these lessons that I'm learning as an adult, share that with them when they're younger so that they can have a head start on where I am currently at. And I've been so proud of them at different times, especially I think routinely of my youngest, just quitting dessert midway through pushing it away is like, oh, I'm so full. I just, I don't want to eat more of this because I don't feel like it. I'm like, that's incredible. I struggle with that and that is not something that comes easily to me at all. And there's times when, you know, my kids have been with their mom and they've eaten, you know, different kinds of foods. Like we had In-N-Out Burger today and we had leftover pizza like for lunch. So now we actually, could you just make your like kale Caesar salad today? We just want that. So that's been really cool to hear them be in tune and kind of dialed into what their body's asking for. Christiana Cortina: Yeah, that's so special that you were able to teach them that skill. And I love that you were saying, you know, that your son's able to do that, but you're still working on it. And I think it just shows like we all have these deep rooted relationships with food that have been ingrained into us, whether that be by our parents, our grandparents, our culture, social media, you know. we all bring something different to the table. So it really is an opportunity to reflect and think about, well, what do I want to pass down? Chef Mark: Those roots run so deep of those habits and beliefs that we internalized when we were young. And so it takes time to, if you're interested in observing them and kind of just checking in with what you believe and do, it takes some time to maybe make some changes. Christiana Cortina: I think we're making it sound so easy and it's really hard and it's really challenging and I just want Chef Mark: Hmm. Christiana Cortina: to recognize that people do have really challenging relationships with food because of different reasons. So I think just to say it's definitely not easy. Chef Mark: I appreciate you highlighting that. I think that is a core tenet of our podcast and our work together is that there's space for every person's experience and we're not here to like prescribe, pass judgment, and say that something's way easy that's like very, very hard. Christiana Cortina: Okay, so something that's really important to me is how food helps us connect with each other. And what that means to me is, you know, cooking for someone you love, cooking for somebody that you want to show you care about them, and then sharing a meal together and being able to not only bond over eating, sometimes the same things, sometimes different things, and talk about the food together. But just that sensory experience of eating helps you feel so connected to somebody else. Chef Mark: It's so magical and out of all of the things that we're trying to do with this podcast, this might be one of the things that I'm most passionate about and just have the best experiences with is just sharing food with people. And I love cooking for people like you mentioned. And I'll just briefly mention that I, know, a lot of times we'll hang out with one of my best friends like once or twice a month. And I always cook something that brings into consideration our shared history of 30 years together. Christiana Cortina: Mmm. Chef Mark: We realized we've been friends for 30 years. so subconsciously or consciously, I bring that into the equation. And I just talked with his mom recently and she was just like effusive in telling me how much he says the food that I make for him is the best food he's ever had in his life. And I was like, that is the highest compliment I could receive. And I also feel like I'm cooking at my best when I'm working for him, because I'm taking that all into consideration and like I'm infusing that love and that shared history and friendship into that food and it's different if I'm cooking for someone else. So I think that's kind of a magical element that we can touch on at different times is like communicating something that's ethereal into the food and having that actually translate to the person who's receiving it. Christiana Cortina: Yeah, that's so special. And I think that when you're cooking for someone that, and you have all of those feelings, like it's definitely going into the food and they can taste it or feel it or something beyond our understanding is happening there. That is just such a special experience that nothing else brings. Chef Mark: Yeah, completely agree. It is feel magical. There's something kind of like otherworldly or spiritual about it. Christiana Cortina: Definitely, and I feel like it's just that common thing of like when you're, I mean, I'm gonna bring up my grandma again, but she always made us chicken noodle soup when we were sick and we all have the recipe for her chicken noodle soup, but it does not taste the same as when she made it. It never Chef Mark: Mmm... Mm-hmm. Christiana Cortina: tastes as good when you make someone else's recipe when they're making a recipe for you to show they care about you, in my opinion. Chef Mark: Yeah, and I think that's completely true. And I've actually done a lot of thinking about this. So think there's a lot of just like life experiences and subconscious little details that we put into it that only one individual can make it that specific way and communicate their love through it in that way to the other people around them. Christiana Cortina: Okay, well something that is really important to me that I'm sure is really important to you is that food tastes good. There Chef Mark: my gosh, yeah. Christiana Cortina: is a common misconception that if food is nourishing to your body, it's not going to taste as good that is definitely not the case. And I think that that mindset can be super defeating when it comes to making changes if necessary, or thinking about food in a way that is supportive and fun at the same time. So that's just something really important to me to make food taste good and to really be able to appreciate all foods for what they are and what they bring. Chef Mark: Yeah, this might summarize everything that I care about in the world. Even as Christiana Cortina: I'm Chef Mark: I was a young child, tasting good food, having things that are yummy in my mouth. That's what I spend most of my time doing now, and I'm so grateful that I found work to support that. And I think a lot of it is just being there in the moment. There's nothing that's like that. It presences you. Sometimes I'm daydreaming. If I'm doing other kind of work, I could be not very present. But if I'm eating, I am all there. And I think this actually happened recently. I forget if I told you this story, but we had the pizza that we had cut into a certain number of slices. Each person was supposed to get the right amount of pizza. And I was like, I'm pretty sure I only had two slices. But I was like, as you kids know, I kind of black out when I eat food and they're like, yeah, yeah, you totally do. And I may have just had the third slice and been completely unaware of it. I still to this day don't know. But I'm hyper present when I'm eating food. And so I think that's like something that we really want to encourage and like celebrate and like food tasting good. And like you said, Food can be delicious and nourishing simultaneously. And I think that's really amazing when you can make those things happen. They don't need to be mutually exclusive. They should coexist more frequently than they do. Christiana Cortina: at the end of each episode, we're going to start a special tradition because we talked about how we love that food brings traditions. And Chef Mark's going to give me a recipe to make until next time. And I'm going to make that recipe and then I'm going to give him my feedback. Chef Mark: I'm excited about this, I it's gonna be so much fun. And I have a huge backlog of recipes that I've created myself and will also be sharing these to listeners. And so you can actually access a copy of these beautiful kind of IKEA instructions-inspired recipes that I developed. And the one that we're gonna start with this week is pickle slaw. So I really love the flavor of pickles. I'm obsessed with pickles. And you just told me that you are too. I didn't even know that going into it. So I'm so excited about that. Christiana Cortina: obsessed with pickles. Love them, love everything about them, and I love everything pickle flavored. So I am beyond excited about this recipe. Chef Mark: This is gonna be so good. And I'll just briefly tell you about how I kinda came up with it. I just shared to you earlier, but I'll tell our listeners. We were talking about wanting to eat something that was a kind of maybe lighter side dish to a really yummy burger that I made on the 4th of July. I made the best burger. But I Christiana Cortina: Bye! Chef Mark: was not really feeling like my stomach was gonna be up for fries. I wanted to invent something that was yummy and satisfying, but also light. And so the pickle slaw came to mind. And so I started with cabbage as the base. And then most cabbage slaw, coleslaw, has some sort of grated carrot in it. And so I just by default started with that as one of the ingredients. And every time I tested the recipe, it was bringing kind of too much sweetness from the carrots. And it was actually dying the mayo dressing orange from the beta carotene that's in the carrots. So I was like, okay, let's go back to the drawing board. And after three times of doing that and having it be unsatisfying, I finally was like, what are pickles made from? Cucumbers, so in addition to pickled cucumbers, pickles, I added fresh cucumbers. And so we have a really simple, just kind of three base ingredients and then a really nice dressing. And it comes out as a very, very good cold, crunchy, tart, savory, very dill-forward pickle slaw. Christiana Cortina: Love that. I love dill. Dill might be my favorite herb. Chef Mark: I love that, it's probably one of my favorites too, it's so good. Yeah, Christiana Cortina: So good. Chef Mark: I love all herbs and I think I've never had too much of any herb, period. Maybe rosemary. Rosemary is kind of strong. Christiana Cortina: Okay, I agree. Time, I don't love either. I really not Chef Mark: Mmm. Christiana Cortina: like it, but like it can be like overpowering. Chef Mark: and get strong, but dill, feel like you can just dial up and it never really gets too much. So I really hope that you enjoy this recipe. Christiana Cortina: Yeah, I'll be honest. I'll let you know. Chef Mark: Okay, great, yeah, I'm looking forward to honest feedback. No punches pulled. Christiana Cortina: Nope, none. Well, thanks everybody for listening. Chef Mark: Yeah, thanks for listening to our first episode. This is exciting. We're happy to have you here and looking forward to having you on this journey with us as we all explore food together and to see how we can continue making food more fun in our own lives. Christiana Cortina: Perfect, see you next time. Chef Mark: See you next time. Christiana Cortina: Okay, yeah.