Mum and daughters whip up a tasty little world winner

ROSS GIBLIN/The Dominion Post

COOKING THE BOOK: Margaret Brooker took advice from experts her children while compiling a book that has been voted best children's cookbook in the world at Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards.

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A cookbook that started as a way for Wellington food writer Margaret Brooker to spend more time with her daughters has scooped an international award.

It's My Turn to Cook landed a "golden ladle" for best children's cookbook at the Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards announced this week in Adelaide.

But it's not all cupcakes and sprinkles, she says – the book includes fare for sophisticated palates, with everything from kedgeree to spanakopita.

The book got off the ground when Ms Brooker, a Food Safety Authority manager, was working on another project.

"I was feeling a bit guilty that I'd spent so much time closeted away doing that," she said. "I said, `How about when I've done this one, then we do something together?"'

Her daughters, Alexandra and Charlotte Stephen, who were 10 and 8 when the book was written in 2007, became her collaborators.

They cooked all the recipes and read Ms Brooker's instructions to make sure they were child-friendly.

The recipes run the gamut from chocolate mousse and guacamole to full meals such as roast chicken and Moroccan lamb.

There are also guides to the basics of cooking, such as chopping an onion, as well as food safety tips – an obvious addition, given Ms Brooker's background.

The three started off with a long list of everything they liked to eat – then whittled it down according to "appeal and achievability".

Having the book declared the best children's cookbook in the world was a great honour as the awards were the food media world's equivalent of the Oscars, Ms Brooker said.

"It's huge. They're the only global awards."

Getting children to eat well was simple, she said.

"The real trick is if they have made something, they've got something invested in it and they're more likely to eat it."

About 700 publications entered the awards and 24 received "golden ladles", including New Zealand's Cuisine Wine Country guide for best drink magazine and Aaron McLean for best food photographer.

- © Fairfax NZ News