What kids want in the kitchen?

London children lag behind the regions in cooking skills and three in 10 children over the age of 12 in the UK do not know how to cook, according to a recent YouGov survey.

London children are the slowest to start cooking, with only 22% cooking by the age of five and just 42% cooking by the age of eight.

The YouGov survey, sponsored by Electrolux and kitchen designer Johnny Grey , reveals that while most (55%) children in Great Britain start cooking before they turn nine, a number of our children enter their teens unable to cook a meal from scratch.

However, children in the North East are the most precocious chefs, with 32% participating in cooking when they are under three and 64% by the age of five.

Unsurprisingly, baking cakes and biscuits is the most popular type of cooking, particularly in the North East, where two-thirds of children enjoy this, compared to just more than one-third in London.

Cooking savoury food on the hob was most popular (25%) in Yorkshire and the Humber, compared to only 9% in Wales.

London also has the lowest number of children who learn to cook from their parents, at 54%.

Nationwide, an average of 70% of children learn to cook from their parents, although respondents cited that both schools (31%) and cook books (25%) are influential.

Parents are clearly the most significant in the North East, where 91% of children are taught to cook by their parents. Parents in Wales are also heavily involved with their children’s culinary education, with 84% of Welsh children learning to cook from them.

Schools are an important source of culinary knowledge in the East of England, with 49% of children learning about cooking there, compared to only 17% in London and the West Midlands.

Two thirds of children have regular kitchen chores, with clearing away after eating being the most common task (41%), although setting the table is a close second (37%).

1. Helping to prepare meals is a regular occurrence for 35% of children in the East Midlands, South East and South West while only 16% assist with preparation in Yorkshire and the Humber.

2. More children help cook meals in Scotland (35%) than anywhere else, while just 17% help cook in Yorkshire and only 18% in London.

3. Setting the table is a frequent chore in the North East (57%) and East Midlands (55%) while only 25% do this in the North West and 26% in Scotland.

4. Clearing away after eating is a fairly uniform chore across the country with the children in the North East (53%) again leading here and Welsh children the least likely to clear plates (34%).

5. London children score more highly in chores than they do in cooking, as washing up after meals is most common for London (27%) and Scottish (27%) children, while just 9% of children in the East of England regularly wash up.

British children’s lack of cooking acumen may be traced in part to how little time they spend in the kitchen. Only 10% of British children play in the kitchen and only 9% do homework there.

Electrolux’s category manager for food preparation, Tanya Searle comments, “Today’s modern cooking appliances make rustling up delicious, healthy meals easier and more intuitive than ever before. Intelligent ovens like the Electrolux Inspiro take the guess work out of cooking and really can help cook almost any dish to perfection with the only input being what type of food do you want to cook. Hobs are more controllable than ever, with induction hobs bringing added benefits of unrivalled speed and even greater hob safety - as they do not heat up themselves. They heat the pan up using the principles of magnetism. With adult supervision, children can really enjoy experimenting in the kitchen and can learn at an early age about the pleasure and satisfaction the whole cooking experience can bring.”

Johnny Grey, who started designing kitchens over thirty years ago when his aunt, the British cookery writer Elizabeth David, asked him to help design her kitchen, says the intensity of his childhood memories spent in her kitchen, played a large role in influencing his career.