Cooking up Healthy Meals With Kids

Some 40 percent of city kids are overweight or obese

, with the numbers even higher in some neighborhoods. The city Health Department, working with Columbia University’s Teachers College and some nonprofit groups, launched a program aimed at getting children to make better eating choices – by learning how to cook.

The Kids Cook Monday, a weekly two-hour class, teaches children 7 to 12 and their guardians how to create simple, healthful meals on a budget. The pilot program, which began last year out of Teachers College, is being expanded, with sessions planned for the summer and the fall.