It's child's play in the kitchen

Teaching children to cook takes patience. It's not just the presence of sharp knives, naked flames and hot pans - although that's worrying enough for me. It's also their clumsiness, wandering concentration and the godawful mess.

I'd never imagined that my kitchen could be made to look like a cross between a flour mill and a tomato canning factory until 15 minutes into one daughter's pizza-making birthday party a few years back.

I have respect, then, for Tomokazu Matsuya as he instructs my eight-year-old son Max how to make a sushi roll. First, Matsuya shows him how to mould a thin layer of cooked rice against a sushi mat made of thin reeds of bamboo - all this in Japanese, through an interpreter. Next, there's a layer of dried seaweed; then he lays strips of salmon and avocado on the seaweed and gently rolls up the package.

Max follows his instructions and, with a bit of trial and error, unrolls his mat to reveal a well-formed sushi roll.

Matsuya must be a sucker for punishment: the head sushi chef at Soho's So restaurant, he is teaching a series of children's sushi classes. He instructs groups of up to 10 seven- to 14-year-olds (parents can come too).

Next, Max moves on to a prawn nigiri - a ball of rice with a prawn laid on top. It is said that a truly great sushi itamae-san (chef) can make all the grains of rice point in the same direction.

Max has a way to go by that standard but his nigiri looks pretty creditable to me. In fact, says Matsuya, the small size of children's hands can be an advantage in moulding sushi.

So's classes are part of a London trend for kids' cookery classes - and they're not designed only to appeal to foodie parents. "We get some really foodie kids too," says Jo Hynes, manager at La Cucina Caldesi cookery school, a spin-off from the successful Tuscan restaurant in Marylebone. "Even with the young ones, they really love it."

Children in Cucina Caldesi's classes might make tagliatelle, gnocchi and sauces to go with them, as well as fish and chicken dishes and desserts.

And the proof of the pudding - or rather the sushi? I helped Max wolf his sushi when we got home and very good it was too. Still, it may be a while before I'm willing to let him try the flashing knives and hot griddle of tepanyaki cooking.

So
3-4 Warwick St, W1
(sorestaurant.com, 020 7292 0767)
Sessions up to two hours long, £50pp.

La Cucina Caldesi
15-17 Marylebone Lane, W1
(caldesi.com,
020 7487 0756)
Morning or afternoon-long sessions for six-to 12-year-olds (£45) and 13- to 16-year-olds (£60).

L'atelier des Chefs
19 Wigmore Street, W1
(atelierdeschefs, 020 7499 6580)
One-hour courses, nine- to 14-year-olds, £20.

Cookie Crumbles
Kensington and Putney
(cookiecrumbles.net, 020 8876 9912)
Classes for various age groups, four to 18, from £25.