Looking for delicious, quick, easy recipes? Look no further. Click here.

What Can I Get You Folks? -- Minor Diners Pipe Up


kidsmenu
A modern kids' menu. Photo: Ed Kohler, Flickr.

Hanna Raskin's first waitressing job was at a small Greek diner in Michigan. In the 15 years since, she's worked at a chop suey joint in Mississippi, an exclusive Arizonan country club, a vegetarian eatery and an Irish pub. She currently picks up odd shifts at a seafood eatery in the North Carolina mountains, where she cracks crab legs for helpless tourists. This is the sixth in a series of posts.

One of the coolest things about the now-defunct Bill Knapp's restaurant chain was the children's menu, on which every dish bore the name of an animal. Grilled cheese wasn't just a sandwich at Bill Knapp's: It was a giraffe.

But what counted as cute then is apparently considered out-of-touch today, as an increasing number of tykes shun menus designed just for them. To the delight of their beaming foodie parents, restaurants' youngest diners are now eschewing coloring pages and chicken nuggets for crab claws and caviar.

For servers accustomed to sweeping up puddles of Cheerios and apologizing to other customers for the screaming baby seated at one of their tables, the prospect of a junior epicure sounds promising.



Unruly children -- and a few overly permissive parents -- have long posed a problem in restaurants: The only customer complaint I ever received came from a mother who was upset that I asked her rowdy young daughter not to dance where the cocktail waitresses were walking.

As many servers have discovered, however, the culinarily ambitious child can prove nearly as troublesome.

As earlier posts in this series have established, there is no clear ethical code governing server and customer behavior. And in this server's experience, many modern diners assume their gratuity covers most anything they'd ask of their servers -- including providing their offspring with an edible education.

To be sure, parents who consider food and beverage knowledge an essential component of the canon deserve all restaurant workers' deep appreciation, since they're rearing the next generation of free-spending guests. The question is how much instructional responsibility lies with servers.

Is it fair to expect busy servers to explain the origins of foie gras to toddlers or show them how to peel steamed shrimp? Should a server's job include patiently coaching children on the correct pronunciation of "tiramisu"? While such a mentorship sounds charming, not all kids are equally easy-to-teach – and very few servers are trained pedagogues.

But what do you think? Are parents outsourcing a task that's rightly theirs? Or should servers be the ones teaching very young eaters about food?

How much special attention should kids get from servers?

Related Headlines

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br> tags.

New Users

Current Users

Tip of the Day

December may have peppermint bark, but have you thought to incorporate the taste of autumn into white chocolate with a rich pumpkin swirl?

RSS NEWSFEEDS

Slashfood Features


Seasons
Spring (74)
Summer (300)
Fall (272)
Winter (77)
What is it?
Beef (635)
Bread (83)
Candy (520)
Cheese (585)
Chocolate (838)
Comfort Food (807)
Condiments (265)
Dairy (567)
Eggs (321)
Fish (378)
Fruit (1064)
Grains (623)
Herbs (10)
Meat (359)
Nuts/seeds (318)
Organic (5)
Pork (404)
Poultry (464)
Rice (57)
Sandwiches (34)
Shellfish (192)
Soups/Salads (122)
Spices (322)
Sugar (434)
Tea (7)
Vegetables (1414)
Holidays
Christmas (133)
Easter (37)
Halloween (99)
Hanukkah (56)
Memorial Day (15)
Mother's Day (37)
New Year's (41)
Passover (11)
St. Patrick's Day (14)
Thanksgiving (205)
Valentine's Day (50)
News
Food Politics (4)
Bakeries (151)
Books (810)
Business (1287)
Celebrities (242)
Coffee shops (194)
Edible Gifts (39)
Farming (467)
Fast Food (385)
Food News (587)
Health & Medical (873)
How To (1433)
Lists (836)
Magazines (509)
New Products (1589)
Newspapers (1632)
On the Blogs (2522)
Raves & Reviews (1189)
Recipes (2495)
Restaurants (1473)
Science (742)
Site Announcements (186)
Stores & Shopping (1023)
Television/Film (736)
Trends (1440)
Vegetarian/Vegan (96)
Features
Cheese Course (74)
Diary of a Distiller (30)
Dining at Our Desks (8)
Festive Family Feasts (9)
Guilty Pleasures (83)
Quizzes (22)
Raising the Bar (23)
Taste Test (18)
The Hungry Bride (34)
The Skinny Chef (67)
Tinfoil Swan (26)
Tip of the Day (379)
Wild Edibles (22)
X Marks the Spot (1)
Back to School (14)
Cocktail Hour (133)
Cocktail Revolution (0)
Cookbook Spotlight (573)
Cooking Without a Recipe (5)
Culinary Kids (235)
Did you know? (458)
Fall Flavors (138)
Feast Your Eyes (411)
Food Gadgets (485)
Food Oddities (1044)
Food Porn  (892)
Food Quest (176)
Foodie Flicks (65)
Frugal Food (95)
Garden Party (28)
Hacking Food (109)
Happy Hour (212)
Head to Tail (44)
In Sixty Seconds (738)
Ingredient Spotlight (60)
Leftovers  (53)
Light Food (189)
Liquor Cabinet (186)
Our Bloggers (34)
Pop Food (146)
Pumpkin Day (12)
Real Kitchens (85)
Retro cookery (154)
Slashfood Ate (206)
Slashfood Talks (4)
Slow cooking (55)
Super Size Me (121)
The History of... (72)
What's On Tap? (44)
Wine of the Week (53)
YumSugar (55)
What Time Is It?
Breakfast (757)
Dessert (1371)
Dinner (1388)
Hors D'oeuvres (319)
Lunch (1041)
Snacks (1128)
Where Is It?
America (2663)
Europe (515)
France (178)
Italy (174)
Asia (552)
Australia (158)
British Isles (875)
Caribbean (38)
Central Africa (8)
East Coast (582)
Eastern Europe (45)
Islands (59)
Mediterranean (131)
Mexico (42)
Middle East (63)
Midwest Cities (232)
Midwest Rural (74)
New Zealand (63)
North America (95)
Northern Africa (21)
Northern Europe (66)
South Africa (36)
South America (101)
South Asia (125)
Southern States (307)
West Coast (938)
What are you doing?
Baking (833)
Barbecuing (112)
Boiling (130)
Braising (21)
Broiling (37)
Frying (190)
Grilling (212)
Microwaving (40)
Roasting (105)
Slow cooking (34)
Steaming (45)
Choices
Fairtrade (16)
Artisan Foods (163)
Local Eating (149)
Additives
Artificial Sugars (42)
High-fructose corn syrup (21)
MSG (7)
Trans Fats (58)
Libations
Hot chocolate (27)
Soda (175)
Spirits (425)
Beer (535)
Brandy (13)
Champagne (120)
Cocktails (474)
Coffee (419)
Gin (115)
Juice (126)
Liqueurs (81)
Non-alcoholic (27)
Rum (103)
Teas (185)
Tequila (23)
Vodka (164)
Water (90)
Whisky (119)
Wine (765)
Affairs
Celebrations (108)
Closings (14)
Festivals (89)
Holidays (305)
Openings (51)
Parties (246)
Tastings (163)

RESOURCES

Powered by Blogsmith

Featured Stories

 

Most Commented On (60 days)

Twitter Updates

Updates From

Sites We Love

Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in:

Also on AOL