The future of cooking is in great hands, if a recent cooking class for kids at Cakebread Cellars is any indication.

In a mid-July class under the guidance of Cakebread culinary director Brian Streeter, seven young home cooks, ages 11-15, turned out an impressive array of Asian dishes. The class, titled "Far Out in the Far East," featured a demanding menu of miso soup, sushi, Vietnamese salad rolls and chicken satay with peanut sauce, topped off with homemade mango sorbet.

The four boys and three girls attending the class were more than up to the challenge. All of them cook at home and are comfortable on their own in the kitchen.

"I like to make full course meals for my parents," said Jeremy Giaquinta, 11, of Yountville. "I made lobster for my mom on Mother's Day." Jeremy started cooking with his mother "when I was maybe 2." He started cooking by himself around age 9.

Andrew Abdalla, 12, of St. Helena, said he makes "mostly desserts, and Italian and Japanese food." His background is part Japanese, so some of the foods were not new to him. "I've made the miso before. (After taking this class) I'll probably make the sorbet and the Vietnamese salad rolls."

Although he started out making tight, small rice paper rolls as instructed, he had fun experimenting during the class. The "gordito" roll he made was so large it prompted Streeter to offer him duct tape to hold it shut.

Vendela Aguayo, 11, of Napa, said her specialty is pasta with homemade pesto. But she was impressed with Asian food, and will probably try it at home. "I like a lot of different types of food," she commented. She didn't mention her piemaking, which her mother, Nicole Aguayo, says is fabulous. "She makes so many pies from scratch -- I don't even go into the kitchen."

Taylor Silleman and Sarah Hayes, two 11-year-old friends from Yountville, like to cook for their families --and often cook together. "Their play dates are cooking dinner for us parents," said Sarah's mom, Angela Hayes. "They have made us some fabulous dinners." Sarah was happy to be taking this particular class. "My mom really likes Asian food and so does my dad -- I wanted to make something that they would like too."

Taylor says her specialty is parmesan chicken; Sarah's mother cited the orange chicken the two girls make together.

At 15, Ryan Hayden, was the only teen in the group. Prompted by a grandmother in the Bay Area, he had also come the farthest, from Scotts Valley near Santa Cruz. Although this was his first cooking class, he was also an experienced cook, making "soups and chicken and stuff like that."

Kie Wambaugh, 12, of Morgan Hill, was equally modest about his cooking, saying that he took the class "just for fun," and that he cooks when time allows. But his knife skills mincing garlic were impressive enough to stop chef Streeter in his tracks. "You could be a (food) TV star," Streeter told him.

"He cooks with an adult friend. She loves to cook and has really shown him a lot," said Kie's dad, Bob Wambaugh. "We're trying to maintain his interest in cooking," he added. "He's learned how to bake. He can make bagels Š he's a good bread baker."

The Cakebread class grew out of Streeter's interest in working with children. For the past seven years, he has taught a monthly cooking class during the school year to fifth graders at Mt. George Elementary School in Napa, as part of the national Adopt-a-School program started by the Chefs Collaborative.

"(That program) is about the importance of people cooking for one another, realizing that we all lead very busy lives Š that we're doing take-out and eating on the run. Š There are a lot of health problems associated with our lifestyle -- so this is our little small part of it."

With the Cakebread class, though, he was preaching to the choir. All of his students were adventurous eaters, bumping up the chile heat in the peanut sauce, and gamely measuring out the "stinky" fish sauce. Vendela admitted she likes eating in restaurants more than cooking, but not because it is easier. "I like tasting other people's food," she said.

The willingness to experiment seems to come more easily as kids get a bit older. At another class the previous day, younger cooks, age 7-10, concentrated on making gourmet hamburgers.

"Yesterday, we didn't do anything green," said Streeter. There was a Caesar salad, but it was eaten "mostly by the adults." Even though the kids prepared a variety of toppings for their burgers, they all headed straight for the ketchup and nothing else, he noted.

Cakebread offers the children's classes once a year. "We should do it more often," said Gorgina Zahradnicek, who assists Streeter with his classes. Comparing the kids classes to the adult ones given at Cakebread, she said, "The kids are more into it, and they really want to learn. (They have) more passion. They're fun, they're very natural."