Kid Chef Extraordinaire: Haile Thomas

Haile Thomas is busy. Between partnering with Hyatt Hotels as their Youth Spokesperson, hosting her own online cooking show, Kids Can Cook, co-founding and directing The HAPPY Organization, launching a weekly blog radio show called Healthy Girl Adventures, speaking at numerous high profile events, as well as representing Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Campaign during 2013’s State of the Union address, you have to wonder how impeccable her time management skills must be.

After all, she’s only twelve. And, she’s a huge proponent of the movement to fight childhood obesity. Talk about driven.

With a resume like that, it’s only natural that Haile will compete on the Food Network’s new show, Rachael Vs. Guy: Kids Cook-Off, premiering September 8th at 8pm ET/PT. Imagine The Voice, but instead of a singing competition, it’s cooking. And, they’re kids.

Haile took a break from The HAPPY Organization’s cooking class she helped put together to sit down and talk with Tucson Foodie.

I hear that you started cooking early on, yet you’re only 12. What drew you into the kitchen?

It was as a five year old, watching my mom cook. Helping out with things like mixing drew me into wanting to do that on my own and experiment. My parents are from Jamaica, so we eat a lot of different types of foods such as oxtail and curry goat. I wasn’t your typical five year old who ate chicken nuggets and stuff like that. I think, not only what I was eating helped get me into the kitchen, but also watching, learning, and seeing how fun it is. I enjoy being in the kitchen.

Not a lot of kids your age are healthy eaters. What has your experience been with friends and classmates?

Eating healthy isn’t the first thing that most of my friends think of. I try to inform them so that they can make the decision. I’ll tell them to look at the bag of candy they’re about to eat to see how much sugar is in it, or see if they can pronounce the ingredients. Sometimes they take my advice and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they’re just like, I want candy!  I just try to educate them and not force anything on them.

What is your favorite thing to cook with at the moment? I hear that you’re really into Quinoa.

I’m always experimenting with Quinoa and looking for different ways to use it. Recently it was a quinoa parfait with fruits and things like that. Quinoa is a favorite of mine. This was like a breakfast dish with coconut nectar. I’m also into using fresh herbs. We have a little container garden at home and we’ve started growing herbs and eggplant, so that’s pretty cool. I like using herbs from our garden. It tastes so much better.

Where do you learn all of these techniques? Do you read cookbooks?

I usually watch cooking channels like the Food Network. They’re always using the next ‘big’ food ingredient. I also learn from the internet, and from my mom. I’ll watch what she makes and put my own twist on that, too.

Who cooks dinner at your house?

With school, it’s still my mom, but I try my hardest to get in the kitchen as much as possible. At least three times per week.

There are so many aspects of food preparation that are exciting to experiment with, such as fermenting kimchi, baking bread, and making cheese, for example. Is there anything you’re looking forward to trying that you haven’t had a chance to yet?

I’ve made kimchi before. There are some things I’ve experimented with in the last few weeks, like aioli. I do want to get better with baking. I think it would be cool to somehow use a quinoa flour. There’s so many new flours that can be healthy and gluten-free. I’d really like to explore that realm. Otherwise, I’m always looking for different things I can try.

Are you gluten-free?

No, but we don’t eat that much bread or rice at the house.

What inspired you to want to help fight childhood obesity?

I watched some food documentaries and learned about the declining state of American nutrition. From then on I was more aware of childhood obesity and how it was taking over our generation. I thought, it could be me who end ups being obese. It could be my friends. So, I quit eating fast food, started our own garden immediately, got more organics, started drinking smoothies and juicing. All of that inspired me.

Tell me about meeting Michelle Obama.

Being at the Kids’ State Dinner for the state of Arizona was amazing. To have my dish served to her was another amazing thing, as well. She seemed to like it, so I’m glad about that. Being at the White House is always really enjoyable for me.

You’ve been there more than once?

I’ve been there five times. Earlier this year I sat in the First Lady’s box to represent Let’s Move at the State of the Union. I introduced her at the second annual Kids’ State Dinner, and I walked her to her plane in Tucson a year ago. That was, of course, fun, as was getting to meet her for the first time at the Partnership for a Healthy America Summit.

Wow. So, tell us about Rachael Vs Guy: Kids Cook-Off

I’m really excited about Rachael Vs. Guy: Kids Cook-Off to premiere. It’ll be exciting for the viewers to see what really happens in the kitchen, and to see that kids can cook under pressure, in different challenges, different situations and different teams. Working with Rachael and Guy was amazing. I learned so many tips from them. It was a dream come true, honestly. I’ve been watching Rachael and Guy on television ever since I could see, really. To actually work with them throughout the entire experience was incredible. It was a lot of fun!

Who is your favorite?

Ummm.. you’ll just have to find out!

Fair enough! Do you think that’s something you’d like to do some day? Host your own cooking show?

It would be cool to have a cooking show on television. Not necessarily a competition, though.

What’s in the future for you? Restaurant?

For now, cooking is a passion of mine, but another passion of mine is fighting childhood obesity. That’s my first priority. Healthy cooking is a perfect match to go along with it. So, I’ll continue to give speeches about how important it is to cook and eat healthy, as well as be physically active at the same time. I’m kind of incorporating all of my favorite things into one. I’d definitely like to be a motivational speaker. Restaurant? That’s years from now.

For more information about Haile Thomas, visit http://about.me/hailethomas. Click here to find out more about The HAPPY Organization. Rachael Vs. Guy: Kids Cook-Off premieres September 8th, 8pm ET/PT on the Food Network.