Most families these days do not spend enough quality time together, due to the prevalence of screens in households…
According to a recent study, about 59% of Gen Alpha prefer watching movies and series on TV as their favourite weekend activity, and 50% of them name it as their favourite after-school activity.
Meanwhile, brand developers understand that the world is changing and that children in most families are the household CEOs, often deciding what the family will eat. Nelly Jelly, a beloved children’s character, and pioneering Lithuanian brand (locally known as Kakė Makė), together with country’s celebrity chef Alfas Ivanauskas just released a unique interactive cookbook titled “Kakė Makė. In the Kitchen with Alfas Ivanauskas” that revolutionizes traditional children’s books.
The brand recently aimed to get youngsters more involved in gardening.
Now the attention turns to food. Dishes featured in the cookbook are designed specifically for children – each one looks like an easy DIY art project in the kitchen. The recipe list includes Halloween spiderwebs from popcorn, edible fruit paper, invisible hotdogs, two-layer love soup, stuffed pineapple, Lithuanian flag color treat, floral lemonade, painter’s cast pancakes, colored porridge, etc. All of them are categorized as experiments, multicultural cuisines, and beloved desserts.
In addition to bringing families together, the new project takes a social stance: it emphasizes that both men and women are excellent chefs. “Unfortunately, the stereotype that girls should be more interested in cooking than boys persists in many countries. By inviting a male chef as the main protagonist of our interactive book, we aim to demonstrate that cooking is for everyone,” Krausauskienė added.
This isn’t the first cookbook released by Nelly Jelly. The brand began working on culinary projects during the quarantine, firstly releasing the children’s recipe book “Kakė Makė. Recipes” with well-known local food bloggers Kristina Pišniukaitė-Šimkienė and Indrė Trusovė. This book goes beyond food, emphasizing quality family time, cherished memories, and new flavors. With recipes for all meals and healthier desserts, it also offers tips on aesthetic serving, tasks that children can do on their own when cooking, and positive guidance on teaching proper cooking techniques. Due to its popularity, the book is on its way from the native market and will be available in other Baltic countries soon.
Nelly Jelly brand (native Kakė Makė) plans to release 17 more books this year, covering topics like education, emotional intelligence, self-knowledge, and creativity. The brand has 3 book categories based on children’s age and characters and will introduce a new category in 2024 called “Learning to read”. All of them are unique because they come in different interactive formats, including “touchable” books, the ones with a QR code, and audiobooks.
