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Thread: 5 year old chef gets his own TV show (local, For now)

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    Senior Member boogieman's Avatar
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    5 year old chef gets his own TV show (local, For now)

    By age 3, Julian Kreusser was making "secret potions" out of food. He woke up early to scramble eggs while his parents slept. He invented "toasted olives" (green ones) for a neighborhood snack. For the record, they were a success.

    At age 4, he saw a cooking show on Oregon Public Broadcasting and thought, "I should be doing that."

    He can't reach the counter without a stool, and sometimes he has to ask his mom the name of an ingredient

    But at age 5, Chef Julian has his own TV show. "Big Kitchen with Food" airs frequently on Portland Community Media.

    The blue-eyed blond is home-schooled, or rather, unschooled. That's a brand of home schooling that has the kids direct their learning. If Julian wants to learn how trees grow, he does. If he wants to learn which ingredients make the best cake, he does.

    "So everything I see, I can learn about," Julian says.

    "Big Kitchen" offers a chance for math and science lessons, but his parents say those are just a byproduct. Mostly, they want him to listen to his heart.

    "It's great that he gets to do what he wants to do," says his mom, Kristen McKee. "We want him to do what's in his heart, to follow his interests."

    Filming is a family project. Julian's 2 1/2-year-old sister, Eva, works the lights, mostly turning them on and off. His mom, a librarian, directs and sometimes shoots footage. His dad, a producer for the community station, runs the camera and editing software.

    His dad's connection helped get the show on the air, but Julian came up with the concept. "We are just enablers," says his dad, Ben Kreusser.

    The recipes -- and the theme song -- are Julian's own, but sometimes he needs a little direction.

    Episode 2 opens like this:

    "Today on the 'Big Kitchen with Food,' we're making chocolate chip zucchini muffins, and we'll use ... um," he says, holding up a bottle of vanilla and turning to whisper to his mom, somewhere off camera, "What is this?"

    He can use a knife, but he prefers using the food processor he bought at an estate sale. In Episode 2, he pushed fat zucchini into the food processor.

    "Look! It pulverized one out," he says, looking at the food processor with a furrowed brow.

    He's learning by experience. Cast-iron skillets don't make good scrambled eggs. Corn cakes need baking soda. But mostly, he just has an innate sense of what will taste good.

    A spaghetti sauce he created for his first episode is the best his mother has ever eaten, she says. And a persimmon smoothie he created still has them talking.
    Casey Parks/The OregonianJulian Kreusser, a 5-year-old with his own cooking show on cable access, plays the theme song he wrote for "Big Kitchen with Food."

    Viewers love him, says Portland Community Media executive director Sylvia McDaniel. The station wants to include more young people in its shows and Julian was a particularly good find, she says.

    "It even has potential to be a national program," she says. "It's a wonderful show. We're just thrilled. He actually understands what he's doing. He's not just following orders."

    But recipes don't always work out how the young chef imagines. He wanted to make Christmas cookies with a twist, for instance. The family had a box of clementines. He decided to mix their juice with a gingerbread man recipe. The concoction -- Yummy Yummy Citrus Boys -- will be featured on the third episode of "Big Kitchen," but Julian says it's not his best.

    "I did like them at first," he says. "But then I pushed a bunch of cookies into my mouth, and I didn't like them. It was kind of yucky, really."

    Next on his agenda: an on-location spot at his grandparents' home in Michigan.

    "It's funny, my grandpa doesn't know how to make fried eggs," he says. "I'm going to show him how."
    http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2008/12/post_2.html


    Click the link to watch the video of his 2nd episode.


    A 5 year old with more talent then me... Maybe i should have been "unschooled" as a kid. :lol: :lol:

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    Re: 5 year old chef gets his own TV show (local, For now)

    Aww how cute is that??

    "This time, I don't want you to help me ok Mom?"

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    Senior Member Circe's Avatar
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    Re: 5 year old chef gets his own TV show (local, For now)

    I find it a bit disturbing that a 3yr old was using a stove while his parents slept. My kid would be in time out quicker than shit.

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    Re: 5 year old chef gets his own TV show (local, For now)

    I like when he said "Yuck!" at all the shredded zucchini.  :lol:

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    Re: 5 year old chef gets his own TV show (local, For now)

    It's good to see other children have this gift early on!

    I started cooking when I was 2!

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