"dinners" news and stories

Many experts say that it takes time for a child to accept a new food once it has been offered to them. The number of times you should offer a food varies according to who you ask. The most recent number seems to be 15 times, but once of the reasons to bring up new foods so often is to prevent the kids from getting into a rut with what they eat.

Pediatric nutritionist Jeanne Cox says that variety is important to make sure that kids are getting all of the nutrients that they need, even if the foods that they like are already healthy ones. New foods add flavor variety and change the vitamins and nutrients the children take in. If they are offered, and allowed to eat, the same foods every day, they may be less likely to try new foods in the future.

Cox tells parents that they should offer children, especially picky eaters, very balanced meals that include protein, starch, vegetables and/or fruits. Each element should be varied, serving potatoes, bread (whole grain, of course), pasta or rice for the starch, for example. Even if a child only eats the protein on one night and the starch on another, in the long run, the child will have eaten a relatively balanced diet and probably tried a few new foods, too - new foods that he or she might just want to eat again.

More about picky eaters:

• The "Cool factor" and picky eaters
• The science of picky eating

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To indulge those who want to protest - in their own, small way - the bans and restrictions on various foodstuffs in the country, the Noé restaurant in the Omni Los Angeles Hotel will be hosting an Outlaw Dinner on July 27th. The dinner will be a 7 course meal based around forbidden, or almost forbidden, foods and techniques, including hemp seeds, absinthe and sous vide. The star of the dinner will be foie gras, as the meal both begins (a trio of foie gras as an appetizer) and ends (a dessert of Foie Gras Hot Chocolate and Toasted Marshmallows) with the fatty delicacy. All the food will be prepared under the direction of chef Robert Gadsby, who will preside over a similar dinner in Houston later in the summer.

The dinner is $95 per person and seating is limited. Contact the restaurant for reservations. 

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Why does the term 'self-heating' worry me now? Maybe it has something to do with the recent recall of Wolfgang Puck's self-heating coffees. Maybe it's that the warnings for Crosse & Blackwell's Hunger Breaks HeaterMeals that say that if you're going to heat one in a car, you'd better crack a window first. Basically a commercial version of the U.S. military's Meals Ready to Eat (MREs), HeaterMeals include a small heating pad that is activated with a packet of saltwater. Get the pad hot by adding the water and then stick it back in its box with the tray of food. After it's done heating your steak and vegetables or chicken curry, the pad can be used as a body warmer, "you can even sit on it!" the manufacturer says. You could probably warm up your dinner by sitting on it too. These seem just a little different than the Kashi meals.

The next year could see lots more of Linda McCartney's frozen vegetarian foods on shelves throughout the U.S. and Europe. The former Beatle's former wife's line of food was recently bought from Heinz by American company Hain, according to The Guardian. Hain produces products like Celestial Seasonings teas, Terra Chips and Soy Dream. The figures involved in the deal weren't made public. Perhaps the best of the headlines to come out of the deal is Newsday's: "Hain Celestial and HJ Heinz 'Come Together' Over McCartney Foods."