The Boy and the Spoon (a story to encourage children to discover the kitchen)

Once upon a time there was a boy who absolutely loved books and stories. He was always going from place to place looking for books he hadn't read and he asked everyone, whenever he had the chance, to tell him a story or make one up to entertain him. He didn't care if it was more or less complex, whether it was a short story or a long one; anything was fine, he just wanted them to search their memory or improvise to invent a tale for him.

One day, he ran into a lady who, when he asked her, said:

- Wow, I'm very sorry because I love stories: I love adventure books, romantic stories, I'm fascinated by and very entertained by mystery stories... but I'm completely lacking in imagination, so I can't tell you any story, because I can't invent one. But do you know what always inspires me? This!

And the woman pulled a kitchen spoon out of the front pocket of her apron. It was a colorful, cheerful spoon, finished with a sweet little duck at the end. It was a very jovial and sweet spoon.

The boy was super surprised; he didn't know and couldn't imagine how a spoon inspired that woman. A spoon inspires you?, he wondered. With strong doubts he took it in his hands and went home.

Once there, in his room, the boy kept looking at his tales and books, but since that day he hadn't found any new ones and he knew well all the ones he had, he felt a bit bored. And that spoon... Oh, that spoon! It seemed to call to him, and the little boy couldn't help his eyes going to it again and again.

Finally he decided: he grabbed the spoon the woman had given him and went straight to the dining room, where there was a bookshelf full of that which he loved so much, books. On the third shelf were the cookbooks and, after looking a bit through that selection of reading, he found one that claimed to be easy recipes to learn how to cook, a book for kids. Clearly they were meant to be!

With the book and the spoon in hand, he sat at the table and began to look at the recipes it contained. One for making bread caught his attention. "Bread? Can I make bread? With only 4 ingredients?" I'm interested!", he thought.

So decided, he went to the kitchen, put a stool near the counter to reach better, and proceeded to follow the recipe exactly as the book described... A little water and yeast here... we mix with the spoon and let it... let's put water and flour in this bowl.... spoon that you will spoon, come make magic we have to mix... mix and mix... we add the water prepared earlier... mix and mix and play with that ball we've made... let's add salt to give it a kick... keep on mixing...

The boy began to knead that ball that looked like clay. More than cooking, it felt like a game... How fun it was! So he didn't stop kneading, stretching, flattening and rolling that sticky ball of flour which, surprisingly, by the moment was less and less sticky.

- Honey, we have to go!, he heard his mother say from the house entrance.

So the little cook left the ball of dough in a bowl and covered it with a damp cloth, as the book indicated, and left it there to rest.

He returned home a few hours later, and his eyes (nor his mother's) could not believe it.

- But, but, but… what happened?! What did you do, my son?

The boy didn't know whether to cry out of fear thinking he had ruined the kitchen, or smile with the joy of seeing that there was a huge, bubbly and super fun mass coming out of the kitchen door... Created by him!

- I... I... I just took the cookbook and that spoon that woman gave me... I'm sorry mom... I didn't know this would happen.

- What spoon? What woman? How do you take things from strangers? And what on earth were you thinking of doing? What have you done!? -replied the mother, who was frantic thinking what it was and how to solve that monstrously large, bubbling mass she had before her eyes and that was already beginning to gain ground to invade the dining room.

- Well, bread... I just wanted to make bread... And honestly it was super fun, mommy! Listen, you just have to...

- Are you going to tell me how to make bread now? Look at what we have before our eyes!

- Remove the air, mommy; I remember well what the book said, we must remove the air -said the little boy determined.

With that said, the little one took a run and threw himself at that enormous dough that wouldn't stop growing. Just when he was about to reach it he made a leap, turning onto his back in midair, and fell onto the dough, fully on his bottom. The dough let out a lot of air everywhere (yes, you're probably imagining it, like the monster Boo when he got angry). The boy threw himself against it once more, and the dough degassed again. So, little by little, the little cook reduced that gigantic ball until it was considerably smaller.

When he had finished removing the air and the ball was now a manageable size, he turned it over and shaped it into a nice round form, and then began to remove small pieces to make fist-sized balls, balls he could play with again, now like playdough. He molded them and left them round and pretty. They were super smooth and perfect!

- Mom, I want to turn on the oven, because this is just right!

The mother was amazed at how the little one had solved the problem —which in fact wasn't a problem, but a super risen mass of bread— and she set about preparing some bread rolls for snack, with that calm and joy that so characterizes children.

The mother, now calm and happy, helped him place the lovely rolls on the oven tray, and they baked them in batches. There, the two of them together, mother and son, elbow to elbow and oven on.

They tried them, they were delicious! Real good bread in the form of perfect rolls for snack time.

- How do you want them, sweetie?, the mother asked him.

- Mom, I've earned it... Today, without a doubt, with chocolate!

While the mother set the table with the whole snack, the father arrived home with his two siblings.

- It smells great!

- Freshly baked bread? I want some too, mommy!

So they all gathered at the table, happy with that improvised, homemade snack, undoubtedly as simple as traditional and so delicious that they had made.

While the little protagonist of the story took a bite of that delicious bread he had prepared, he felt as if the smiling duck drawn on the end of the spoon the woman had given him winked at him. The boy looked around, astonished and thoughtful, and seeing that family scene and the bread he had made, he understood why that woman always seemed inspired by that spoon: the kitchen spoon was not just a spoon, but a true magic wand, capable of making the most delicious recipes, bringing smiles to the whole family and giving stories to tell, his most treasured treasure.

With love, Clàudia

19/07/2023

This tale came from my imagination one day when a boy I knew loved stories very much was about to be left without a gift. So I gave him the children's cooking spoon along with this story.

Recently I read it again, and I thought it might be nice to leave it here, on the Claudia&Julia blog, hoping it can be a story to read to little ones, a tale to encourage kids to try things in the kitchen if they see how fun cooking can be and, yes, also to remember the lovely moments I've had with my little ones preparing pastries and other recipes at home. If you read it, I hope some of this happens or, above all, I hope you like it. Thank you for joining me on this little adventure!