Louise Lennox may be known for her desserts on The Restaurant, but the chef is on a mission to improve children’s knowledge of food.

“I’ve been working with children and schools for the last 12 years,” she says. “A lot of people don’t know that, because they know me as a pastry chef.”

Getting kids in the kitchen is important to Louise, given that her culinary abilities provided her with a lifeline as a child.

“I am dyslexic and I struggled in school. My fifth class teacher, Mr Banville, used to give me homework to bake cakes, because I read cookery books. I was lucky to have a very forward-thinking teacher. For me, it was proving that I was good at something,” she says.

“That gave me self-belief from the age of 10, because I was made go to remedial classes for reading. I felt very out of place, and that I wasn’t good at anything. I was so lucky to have found food.”

After studying culinary arts, Louise went on to become head pastry chef at a top Dublin restaurant at the age of 22. She then set up her own pop-up bake shop, where she started to receive requests from parents who wanted her to teach their children how to cook.

“I didn’t know if it would be for me. Then, from doing it, I realised I had a love for it. They would get excited over weighing out flour. I didn’t give out to them for spilling, because I’m the messiest person in the world, and I realised I had a certain way of relating with children.

“I don’t know if that goes back to me being in school, being dyslexic and that teacher seeing something in me and nurturing me,” she says.

Louise now works with her business partner and friend Aisling Larkin to make it easier for parents and children to learn about food. Aisling, who set up a children’s cookery school in the Village at Lyons, shares Louise’s passion.

“We have a whole generation of parents who missed out on learning home cooking, so there is a disconnect. But when children get engaged from such an early age, they see how fun it is,” says Aisling.

the time is now

“The time is now. Everyone understands that children need to connect with food – especially with children in Ireland who are overweight or obese.”

The pair has set up an online resource – Foodoppi – with easy-to-follow recipes for parents and their children to work on together. They are also involved in Cook & Play with Ben’s Beginners, which aims to get children involved in the cooking of daily meals and introduces them to different flavours and textures. The courses are available online through www.bensbeginners.ie.

“With the online course, we’ve built it into three modules. They are for ages three to six, seven to nine and 10-plus. We have broken down each module into age-appropriate skills. It’s all about developing their fine motor skills as well as getting them to love food and have a fun, enjoyable experience,” explains Aisling.

Louise firmly believes that teaching children how to cook should be a priority for parents.

“Children get taught how to read and write – why don’t we teach them how to cook for themselves? It’s so important,” she says. “I think the course breaks it down in a lovely way. It’s user-friendly and the children progress through it, so they really get that sense of confidence in their own ability.”

And the pair aren’t just focused on the home: they believe that schools should provide food education as a mandatory subject.

“There absolutely should be something available [in schools]. We need food to live, and if we don’t eat the right food then we aren’t going to have a healthy life,” says Louise.

“It’s not about restriction, but understanding what you put into your body. If you learn that at a young age, it’s a life skill that stays with you.”

The Restaurant

Louise is also kept busy with The Restaurant, which has been on air for 10 years. Will it be returning to our screens soon?

“Well, I was told to keep my diary free because Marco Pierre White is going away to film Masterchef beforehand and we might need to do a bit of filming. Until I sign a contract, I never say 100%, but I mean it’s incredibly popular. Last year, when the final episode aired, people were asking when it was coming back,” she says.

Working as a chef has changed, admits Louise, with many people complaining of food allergies or intolerances. “I was talking to my chef friends, and they said they have never known as many people to come in with issues that they have never heard of before,” she says.

“When I was working in restaurants, we made bread twice a day, eight different flavours. I used to make gluten-free bread, and it was so occasional that you would be asked for it. Nowadays, you couldn’t be without gluten-free bread. It’s amazing how quickly – in 10 to 15 years – all this has changed.”

However, Louise believes in the enjoyment of food and stopping the nonsense around fad diets. “Every couple of years we are anti something, or there is a new super food. I think, if you want to bake with your child, that’s fine. If you want to make dinner with your child, that’s fine too. We want to cut through the noise and bring it back to the basics.”