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Cricket Azima, Children’s Cooking Expert

by JBF Editors

Cricket Azima was planning political events in Washington, D.C., when she decided to follow her love of food—and kids—to create a unique and fulfilling career.

James Beard Foundation: What’s your job description?

Cricket Azima: Writer, teacher, spokesperson, consultant, publisher, and more!

JBF: What made you decide to pursue a career working with kids in the kitchen?

CA: I was at turning point in my life and couldn’t decide if I should become a chef or a kindergarten teacher, so I figured, why not teach kindergartners how to cook?!   One of my fondest memories from childhood was taking cooking classes at the local community center with my mom, so kids’ cooking classes aren’t new, but my approach to teaching about food and cooking is different. I teach kids about math, science, nutrition, social studies, art, nutrition, geography, history, music, reading and following directions, fine and gross motor skills development, and more through food and cooking, which is much more fun!

JBF: What past experiences prepared you for your current position?

CA: I grew up moving and traveling a lot with my family. The one constant interest and curiosity throughout was food and cooking. I have always been culinary tourist, so I guess my childhood experiences laid the initial groundwork.

Practical experiences include my culinary degree from Peter Kump’s [now the Institute of Culinary Education] and my masters in Food Studies and Food Management from NYU. During both of these courses, I focused my papers, internships, and work on the benefits of teaching children how to cook and about food.

In addition, I have taught kids cooking classes at venues all around Manhattan. Some of these places taught me amazing tricks of the trade while others showed me how I should not manage the classroom/lessons.

JBF: What's the most exciting part of your job?

CA: I adore class time with the kids. No matter how challenging the day, I leave the teaching kitchen with a bounce in my step. Every day is different…I don’t like “typical” which is why I created my company.

JBF: How has your job evolved over the years?

CA: I started out teaching kids cooking classes schlepping a duffle bag of pots, pans, and groceries to various schools and children’s centers. I then danced around the idea of creating a children’s cooking television show and a complete brand based on kids and cooking, before I refocused my attention and decided to build a platform for my work through a kids cookbook called Everybody Eats Lunch. I really enjoyed the writing process and started working at Kiwi Magazine as the food editor. All the while, I was consulting for other kids cooking venues, assisting with curriculum development for food companies, developing teaching kitchen spaces, teaching classes, training teachers, and more. I put in my time and met a lot of folks along the way. These experiences opened up opportunities with FoodNetwork.com shooting webisodes, spokesperson work for Fruit Simple, writing as the family and kids editor for the Nibble. Most recently, I have branched out and am working as a publisher for culinary-related books such as Culinary Improvisation (Deutsch and Billingsley).

JBF: Do you feel like you are better or worse off in today’s economy than if you had taken a more traditional career path. Why or why not?

CA: Well, I’ve certainly had to hustle more for new opportunities! Because my line of work is deemed recreational, the current economy certainly has families re-thinking how they spend their money, whether that’s on children’s cooking classes, cookbooks, etc. This environment has simply driven me to reinvent and be creative.

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