DANIELSVILLE, Md. (AP) -- Drop the s'more and take that hot dog off the stick -- one of the hottest trends in summer camp has kids whipping up haute cuisine.

From rec-department lunchbox cooking classes to $2,650-a-week chef training for teens, camps nationwide are offering cooking alongside -- sometimes in place of -- canoeing and other more traditional camp activities.

"All of a sudden, everyone's interested in cooking," said Melissa Owens, a former restaurant owner who started the Deliciously Nutritious camp this summer in suburban Maryland. Her first session filled up with 11 kids, ages six to 11, without even being listed in the county's initial camp guide.

"I want to be a chef," declares 10-year-old Asya Proctor, whose grandmother signed her up for the camp because Asya calls Food Network star Rachael Ray her "hero."

The camps are part of an overall trend of children becoming serious consumers of foodie culture. The microwave generation is giving way to children raised on the Food Network and celebrity chefs.

"Kids are really interested in food," says Hilleary Kehrli, spokeswoman for kitchen good retailer Williams-Sonoma, which started a line of cooking tools for children last year.

"They're seeing it on TV, and it continues the tradition of kids learning to cook from their parents and grandparents," says Kehrl.

The kids' interest has caught even some professional chefs off guard.

"I don't know if it's the Food Network or what, but there are kids that show up already knowing how to make a hollandaise sauce, and 10 years ago, they wouldn't even know what that was," said Kelly Dietrich, founder of Kids Culinary Cooking Camp in Highgate, Vt., where parents spend up to $2,650 a week to send their kids to learn advanced techniques.

The trend has been noticed by traditional summer camps where culinary skills once were limited to roasting weiners or marshmallows over a fire.

"Many of our camps are adding cooking as an elective," said Peg Smith, CEO of the Indiana-based American Camp Association, which includes 2,600 camps. "Cooking is a great opportunity to have fun with your friends. And you get to eat what you make."