Confused about what kinds of seafood to buy? What the healthiest seafood choices are? Which ones are free from toxins? Which ones are sustainably caught? You aren’t alone.
Do You Sneak Vegetables?
My kids are just about the least picky eaters I know. Sometimes they declare flat out that they don’t like a food, but they’ll still try it when I encourage them to. Just the other night we went to a friend’s house for dinner. She’s Taiwanese. My kids ate intestine, oysters, Peking Duck, and even piled their plates high with vegetables.
I don’t sneak vegetables into their foods. Instead, I try to make them taste good. There’s nothing like green beans pan-seared in bacon grease, sweet potatoes fried in tallow, or a squash casserole cooked up with melted cheese and diced green chiles.
But what do you do when you do have a picky eater? A child who will only eat hot dogs, pizza, and dessert?
Teaching Teens About Real Food
Thankfully, I discovered the world of Real Food when my youngest was an infant. Translation: it’s pretty easy to get my kids to eat Real Food. They don’t put up a fight when I serve them salads, seafood, or liver. Oh sure, they still beg me to take them to McDonald’s or get them doughnuts from Krispy Kreme, but at least they’ll also eat what I cook. But what do you do when you started eating Real Food after your kids already developed a picky, junk-food loving palate?
I watched an absolutely hilarious video posted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop this morning, and it brought this question to the forefront of my mind.
Marketing Food to Your Kids
Pernicious ads saturate children’s media. Yes, they’re advertising toys (truly a bane to any parent’s existence). But they’re also spending billions of dollars advertising industrial waste products which have been repackaged in colorful containers and marketed as food. Yesterday, the FTC released a report from hearing on marketing food to kids, and my reaction is mixed.
There Is No Love In That Food
“Even though the food is bad, I really like McDonald’s,” my son explained.
“Why is that, son?” my husband asked. He expected to hear something about indoor play places or ice cream. Instead, my soon-to-be five year old continued, “Well, I think it’s special.”
“But they’re not special,” I interrupted. “Every McDonald’s is exactly the same. They all look the same, make the same foods. There is nothing special or unique about them.”
How To Cure A Sugar-Fiend
Have you ever tried to get a child to eat healthy foods, only to have them opt out of eating altogether? The plate gets pushed aside. The tasty smoothies get poured down the drain. Someone stubbornly refuses to eat.
Raising Kids to Enjoy Real Food
Thankfully, my children are young. I haven’t yet had to fight them over food because they’ll gladly eat just about anything I put in front of them. And, thanks to clever, nifty, and fun ideas in cookbooks like Raw Recipes for Kids, my kids are happy eating Real Food. I don’t know how much longer…