Cooking with Ben
By Debra Alvarado,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Experiments in cooking with trial, error, and humor.
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What’s It About?
In COOKING WITH BEN, 13-year-old Ben Pfaller demonstrates his interest in expanding his culinary horizons. Ben and his occasional guest host, Jackson, create a variety of offerings from lemonade to meatloaf and learn to deal with the unexpected on the fly. Parents should know that Ben learns knife skills the hard way in one episode, pausing to clean and bandage a cut before persevering to finish making his fried rice. Ben's cooking journey takes him from the slimy to the crumbly, and from the sweet to the over-salted. Each episode concludes with a taste test and a review of the dish in which Ben reflects on any technique and flavor challenges that came up, what he has learned, whether he would attempt to make it again, and, if so, what he might do differently the next time. Ben's preparedness and ability to explain his recipes improves over the course of his podcasts but if you, like Ben, are a novice cook and your goal is to re-create Ben's recipes, you will likely face a challenge.
Is It Any Good?
In Cooking with Ben, Ben explains in his first episode that he has been curious about learning many new skills since the start of the pandemic, including cooking. Though he has little culinary experience, he is long on enthusiasm and humility, determined to finish what he starts in every episode (and eat it). Ben has a genuine friendliness and confidence in his voice that is inviting and relatable. Kids and parents will enjoy Ben's sense of humor, as well as his honesty when pointing out when something has gone wrong while attempting to correct the problem. He is humble without being self-deprecating, which is an important lesson for both the young and the old.
Though Ben's shows become more organized and detailed as he gains experience, his unfortunate lack of preparedness, explanation, and definition of cooking terminology would make it difficult for a listener to duplicate his dish. Ben is charming and determined to make his recipes work, but the title of the podcast, Cooking with Ben, is a little misleading; Ben is cooking and his audience is hearing about his experience. There is not much guidance for the novice, and there are no precautionary warnings for the young.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the different kinds of foods prepared in Cooking with Ben, and how he chose foods that he likes and that others may like. What are three foods you are most curious about learning to cook? What do you think is one of the first foods that all beginning chefs should learn to make?
What else might you need in order to be able to cook what Ben is making on his show? What would help you learn to cook in an audio-only lesson?
Ben hurt himself while making fried rice. What are some ways to stay safe in the kitchen? Why (and when) is it important to have an adult with you when you are cooking?
How does Ben demonstrate being perseverant? Why is that an important character strength? Can you think of a time when you were resilient and persevered through something difficult?
What does it mean to demonstrate humility? Can you think of a time when Ben demonstrates humility?
Podcast Details
- Release date: May 20, 2020
- Genre: Food
- Average Run Time: 33 minutes
- Host: Ben Pfaller
- Production Company and Network: Independent
- Pricing structure: Free
- Topics: Cooking and Baking , High School , Middle School
- Character Strengths: Curiosity , Humility , Perseverance
- Last updated: October 19, 2022
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