There is no such thing as kids’ food.

There is just food. It’s up to adults to make sure that kids eat good food, a balanced diet of predominantly fresh produce that we make taste as good as possible without adding too much fat, salt and sugar.

To get kids to eat and enjoy good food we need to teach them to celebrate it, to create a lasting culture of good cooking and eating.

We also need to make sure that how much our children eat is balanced by how much they exercise.

The best way is to show kids that good food means good fun and good times together. Cooking helps kids absorb knowledge and nutrients from everywhere. It also encourages conversation, makes kids ask where ingredients come from and gives them an appreciation of people who work with food, from farmers to supermarket stackers.

I’ve cooked with kids at festivals, I’ve cooked in my sons’ classrooms and I’ve cooked with kids at The Kids Cookery School Charity where I’ve been patron for seven years.

ve taught kids of all ages, abilities and backgrounds how to cook fresh food from scratch and I’ve yet to come across a kid who doesn’t enjoy cooking. Some kids are less keen to eat certain foods, but more often than not, they’ll try anything if they’ve cooked it.

They are proud when they recognise an ingredient, delighted when they discover a new one, and fascinated by which vegetables grow above or below ground. When kids cook they read, use maths, learn science and discover new cultures. We all like a naughty treat sometimes, but for many the naughty treats have become everyday diets.

As a nation, we now have households with two or three generations who have never cooked. Similarly we are getting more obese at an alarming rate and at an alarming price.

Studies claim that on current trends, by 2015, 36 per cent of men and 28 per cent of women will be obese and obesity will cost the NHS £6.4bn. I have the recipe to reverse this… 1) Teach kids how to recognise, prepare and cook fresh food. Inspire them to want to eat it. 2) Give them somewhere safe to get plenty of physical exercise. Inspire them to want to do it. 3) Combine the two with great teachers and vigorous enthusiasm every day.

These will not be studies, they will be action. The results will not be instant but they will be long lasting.

This recipe needs good adults and places for them to work. Good adults can inspire kids to want to cook and eat good food and to want to be fit. Inspired older kids will inspire younger kids, I have seen this work brilliantly at The Kids Cookery School and at Tiddington Cricket Club. Cooking comes back on to the primary curriculum in September 2014, according to the latest report I have.

We need to train and pay cooking teachers properly, to invest in their wellbeing and motivation. Good people can do a great deal with very little equipment, but we need to make sure that there are school kitchens to teach cooking in and fresh food.

Where will the money for the kitchens come from? Giant food companies, perhaps, those who make the most money from selling food to families. Some already sponsor sports events. Let’s ask our ministers to look at those who advertise to kids, mums, dads, families and persuade them to unconditionally pay for kitchens and fresh ingredients in schools.

Surely these companies who stress that their food and drink should be part of a balanced diet would be delighted to subsidise kitchens where kids could learn what a balanced diet is. School and home educations have to feed off each other. T

o involve everyone, the food, knowledge and enthusiasm that kids bring in either direction is vital. Yes, time is tight, so re-define home cooking, it’s not just messy baking. Do something every day, get kids to help choose your fruit and veg at the shop, market or supermarket.

Try a new fruit or veg every time, make it an adventure. Get kids to grate cheese, peel veg, measure with spoons, butter bread, grind pepper, break eggs, mash potatoes, wash salad or open a tin of tomatoes.

If kids ask what’s in the saucepan, always show them, feed their curiosity. Teach kids to cook and the benefits for them and society go far beyond the food they eat.

It’s not about making kids eat well and exercise under supervision, it’s about making them want to forever.