MANY chefs claim their passion for cooking and good food started at a young age, often when they were helping out in the kitchen at home.

But a new survey by veg box company Riverford, has revealed that 70 per cent believe children are not cooking with their parents as much as in previous generations.

Now the company has launched a new family-friendly campaign to encourage children back into the kitchen.

Riverford founder Guy Watson told Taste: “The best conversations I can remember having with my mother were while shelling peas and beans. Keeping the hands busy, and having a reason not to make eye contact, is a great way of taking conversation into areas that you would normally skirt around."

Experts agree that cooking is a wonderful way to spend time with children of all ages; many of the little jobs you do when cooking from scratch really appeal to them, and it can instil a lifelong interest in cooking and eating good food.

Yet Guy believes that there has been a significant decline in activity in the huge majority of the kitchens.

“I am convinced that a lack of traditional cooking skills, time and confidence in the kitchen is the main issue. Indeed, I suspect that two decades of celebrity chefs and primetime TV shows may have made cooking seem unattainably distant. Cookery programmes are a poor substitute for assimilating skills over years of growing up in an active kitchen; as a result we may be conversant with the language of a multicultural 21st century foodie, but many of us are at a loss as what to do with a Savoy cabbage or a piece of brisket.”

To help avert the decline, Riverford has created a generational cooking hub at riverford.co.uk/cooktogether. People are invited to share their tips about how to get kids cooking, along with any photos or videos they may have of their children, nieces, nephews or grandchildren learning how to cook.

Post them on Twitter, Instagram or YouTube, or directly onto their Facebook page (facebook.com/riverford), using the hashtag #cooktogether.

"We think that there is so much knowledge out there about how to share cooking skills with younger generations, so we hope lots of people get fired up by this campaign and get involved,” says Guy.

Everyone who takes part will be automatically entered into a competition to win a family holiday and one of many runner up prizes too, including Riverford recipe boxes and veg boxes.