Ben Mardis knew just what theme he wanted for his bar mitzvah party - all things Food Network. Inspired by his favorite cooking shows, the 13-year-old gave out T-shirts with Food Network emblazoned in Hebrew and decorated tables with food basket centerpieces. He donated the latter to a local food bank, inspired by the network's push to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

He came in third at his own Iron Chef competition, in which kids had 5 minutes to assemble jelly beans, frosting and other foods into an edible scene. Said the Denver teen, who loves to make dinner for his family, "I like to watch people cook. It gives me ideas on new things to try."

He's hardly alone as a food fan. Partly inspired by the boom in TV food shows - and celebrity chefs with the cachet of rock stars - teens and pre-teens are dropping video game controllers to pick up spoons and spatulas in the kitchen.

At Stir It Up Cooking School in Boulder, Morgan Huber explored her culinary prowess on a recent weekend. Concentrating on keeping her thumb and pinky out of danger, she slowly sliced a red pepper in half. The 14-year-old from Arvada hopes to attend the Culinary Arts School in Paris some day. She also wouldn't mind being a contestant on Iron Chef.

"I picked up cooking on a whim," she said. And, as with many of her peers, she's embracing her new hobby as one part recreation, one part future career.

Young people's interest in cooking has led numerous recreational cooking schools to add classes for kids, and boosted high school programs aimed at turning serious teens into serious chefs. Colorado ProStart, a Colorado Restaurant Association initiative, began in 1998 to teach food service to teens at seven high schools. Now it reaches 30 high schools and 650 students.

Demand for culinary education is very high, said Linda McDonnell, vice president and director of career services for the Art Institute of Colorado, which provides cooking demos for ProStart.

"The influence of pop culture such as the Food Network and Hell's Kitchen (a reality cooking show) has been enormous," McDonnell said. "Chefs such as Jamie Oliver and Rachael Ray have been elevated to celebrity status."

Nearly a third of viewers watching Iron Chef America and Unwrapped on the Food Network for the past five months are under age 20, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The network won't give out ratings information on its viewership 18 and under. But Allison Page, vice president of prime-time programming, pointed to anecdotal evidence indicating that Food Network "is a place where kids can watch TV with their moms and dads, without closing their ears . . . . I don't think there are a lot of places left where there's that kind of experience for kids and families." (Food Network and the Rocky Mountain News both are owned by the E.W. Scripps Co.)

Carol Wiggins owns Stir It Up, which offers classes for adults and kids. She estimates that some 1,500 youths have taken a class since she opened in 2004.

Wiggins said kids get interested in cooking these days for a lot of other reasons as well: Some step up to the plate because they want to expand beyond a parents' limited dinner repertoire; some because they want to emulate a cook in their own family; and some because they want to expand their horizons as their tastes mature.

Many kids have a working parent who views cooking as a personal chore, and not a family activity.

"They don't think of it as something they want to do," Wiggins said. "So they don't give their kids any cooking skills. They don't get their kids excited about cooking, because they're not excited about cooking." But a young person, exposed to magazines and TV, may find the excitement on his own.

Italian cooking is Wiggins' most popular class for young people. "I think it's because it tastes good and they have a lot of exposure to Italian food." On one recent day, though, it was sweet and savory dishes, chicken with roasted pepper pastry puffs and white chocolate and raspberry tarts. All kid-friendly.

"I'm not a master chef who can go on Iron Chef," said 12-year-old Hal Boelts. "But I like cooking because, in the end, I get to eat it."Teen chef puts love on paper

Sam Stern took the British publishing world by storm when he wrote Cooking Up a Storm, The Teen Survival Cookbook (Candlewick Press, $16.99). The 16-year-old from London, who's working on a second cookbook, answered questions from the Rocky Mountain News via e-mail. One of Stern's recipes is on page 12.

Question: How did you get into cooking?

Answer: I have been into cooking all my life because my mum got me involved when I was little. Then she encouraged me and gave me the confidence to do my own thing and just go for it. The passion came because I love every part of it, from sourcing the ingredients, the actual cooking and the final product! I love seeing people's reactions to my food and them giving me criticism so I can improve. I was kneading bread as soon as I could stand on a chair, I guess. And I did my first roast chicken and the works for my family when I was 9.

Q: Why do you think more kids are cooking?

A: It's now cool and a great social skill. Dinner parties are quality and a lot of fun. Also a lad who can cook has a lot of points with the girls. No being a couch potato.

Q: What have you learned from your enjoyment of cooking?

A: If you cook for yourself, you learn what's good for you and not to get ripped off by the food industry. Plus you can help yourself. You know what to eat to help at exam time or when you're training for your sport. My granddad used to say, 'You are what you eat,' and if you know what to eat you can always make yourself feel better.

Cookbooks!

Other cookbooks by and/or for kids of all ages:

Cooking Rocks! Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals for Kids

(Spiral-bound, Lake Isle Press, $16.95)

Emeril's There's a Chef in My Soup! Recipes for the Kid in Everyone

(Hardcover, HarperCollins, $22)

Williams-Sonoma Sweet Treats

(Stephanie Rosenbaum, Free Press, $19.95)

Williams-Sonoma Fun Food

(Carolyn Beth Weil, Free Press, $19.95)

How to Feed a Teenage Boy

(Georgia Orcutt, Ten Speed Press, $14.95)

College Cooking, Feed Yourself and Your Friends

(Megan & Jill Carle, Ten Speed Press, $19.95, coming in April)

doligosaf@RockyMountainNews.com; meitusm@RockyMountainNews.com

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