KITCHEN CULTURE: In an extended family of noncooks, pizza is one of the house specialties.

Macaulay Culkin plays Kevin, a boy from a large, energetic family, who accidentally gets left behind in all the commotion when they head off to Paris for the holidays.

As Fishbein points out, Kevin is a resourceful kid and spends a lot of time in the kitchen, but he doesn’t know how to cook. Instead, he draws on his family’s eating habits—namely, ordering pizza and microwaving ready-made entrees. In fact, before the family leaves for vacation, their pizza and soft drink delivery bill totals $122.50.

In her book, Fishbein offers kid-friendly recipe ideas that young cooks can prepare. Of course, Macaulay Culkin’s character had other distractions to deal with, when two inept burglars, played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, set their sights on his neighborhood. In between making popcorn, sundaes, microwaving dinner and calling the neighborhood pizzeria, he also had to hold down the family fort.

Podcast with Susie Fishbein:
Susie Fishbein, author of Kosher by Design: Kids in the Kitchen, discusses the film Home Alone, a movie about a kid who is accidentally left home alone when his family takes off for Paris

Photo by Twentieth Century Fox/Photofest