Big Fork, Little Fork iPad App Review

Kraft decided to tap their test kitchen and extensive recipe database to create an iPad app with cooking tutorials, nutrition articles, and, yes, a ton of recipes for American standbys. The $1.99 app is meant to be the ultimate kitchen tool for moms trying to serve up healthy food, and they’ve done a pretty good job of creating an intuitive, rich one-stop-shop for busy moms.

My favorite section of Big Fork, Little Fork is how-to videos, which feature a chef and a kid in the kitchen learning age-appropriate skills, like how to crack an egg. I’ve never seen a cooking show or videos geared to mom and kid together—and these are fun and fresh ones.

The one place you will find the Kraft brand to be a little too in-your-face is with the 300 recipes, which push the company’s products whenever possible. (Add the chicken to the Shake and Bake, etc.). What I did like about the recipes is that all of the classics are there and that they are labeled for both “picky eaters” and “adventurous eaters.” (I like that second one—don’t see enough of that!)

The games are the only part of the app aimed squarely at kids—and they have a sly nutritional bent. Check out the Space Picnic, in which kids use the food pyramid and math skills to catch and put together a balanced meal—intergalatically, no less! It has an old-school Nintendo-esque aesthetic that kids will dig.

I don’t know about you, but I never bring my laptop in the kitchen: I’m a get-messy kind of cook, so I run back and forth from the office, forgetting most the measurements in the meantime. I think the iPad can usher in a whole new world of interactive cooking, though, and I’d recommend Big Fork, Little Fork as a starting point.