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.
For many of us, the dread words conjure one glimmer of hope -- that a delicious carton of chocolate milk could be sipped illicitly, far from Mom's watchful, sugar-phobic eyes.
White, gluey pizza stuck to the plate by "cheese"; burger patties so flat they looked like they'd been stomped on by the gym teacher; the terror of sitting on one of those red shared seats with a classmate of the opposite gender (red means love, orange means friends) -- school lunch, in the best of times, can be traumatic.
When we stumbled upon this Web site of school lunches around the world we felt not terror, but rage.
Look at the French lunch: mussels, a steamed artichoke, baguette, cheesecake, half a pink grapefruit and French fries. Seriously? Was this staged purely to infuriate American diners raised on beaten-down chicken nuggets and gummy peach slices from a can? And French fries? Does a beret come with it, too?
Here at last is the final installment of 5EasterCandiesin 5 Days before we send you off with a sweet adieu for the weekend. It's worth keeping in mind that these treats can be made any time of year. In fact, the darling flowers and bunnies from "The Ultimate Candy Book" shown above are actually found in the "Halloween Candy" section, but are the "Easter" variation. Confusing, we know ... but deliciously confusing. It strangely makes sense because the taste of these pretty blooms will remind you instantly of an autumnal treat -- candy corns.
Regardless, the treats are delish, and this recipe makes a firm sugary mixture that can be molded into nearly any pastel configuration for the Easter basket or springtime candy bowl. Press it into molds for an assortment of cute bunnies and chicks for a perfect family afternoon project. The candies come together much like fondant truffles, but this recipe doesn't take a lot of fuss, just a little help. Four or six hands are better than two, so get some kids, get cookin' and have fun!
Hmm... Is the secret to curing picky eating having family dinners 5 or more times a week?
What's more appropriate for a St. Patty's Day dinner than a recipe from an Irish grandmother, born in Ireland on St. Patrick's Day? The meal: Swiss Chard and Potato Soup, Lamb Pot Pie and Irish Cream Cheesecake.
Forte Bistro at Richmond and York in Toronto: Inconsistent cooking for the Bay Street types and ballet and opera lovers.
Beppi Crosariol shares the rising world of Irish whisky love and how it might be connected to hard times and The Wire, as well as a talk with Jeff Arnett, master distiller of Jack Daniel's.
Chef David Lee talks about the joys of teaching kids the world of food.
Parsimony: How to make the most of your chicken, shrimp, eggs, stale bread, cakes and brownies, rice, cheese, vegetables and wine, as shared by Canadian chefs.
Food writer Regina Schrambling says she's finally found a phenomenon even more annoying than Rachel "Yummo" Ray: Precocious kiddie foodies.
Writing in Slate, Schrambling points to some of her main offenders: New York Times' fawning coverage of 12-year-old "restaurant critic" David Fishman, the Times' new "Cooking With Dexter" feature written by food editor Pete Wells about his kitchen exploits with his 4-year-old son, and NPR's 5-year-old Chef Julian, the world's "youngest celebrity chef." These kids are not just being cooed at for their cuteness, she says, they're actually being held up as inspiration for adult chefs.
Schrambling claims that A) Kitchens are not nurseries - they're dangerous places filled with knives and boiling oil - so we encourage kids to cook only at the peril of their forearms and fingertips, B) Kids have less-developed taste buds, naturally craving high levels of salty and sweet, and therefore are less likely to come up with anything truly remarkable to adult palates, and C) The younger you are, the smaller your food memory bank, so a 5-year-old is probably not going to know a "good" burger from a "bad" burger.
"On a larger scale, the trend emphasizes the worst of the food frenzy today: the celebration of celebrity and novelty over authenticity and seriousness," Schrambling writes. "...Today chefs barely out of high school are competing on reality cooking shows, and the bar keeps being lowered, with Internet exposure for every little Thomas Keller."
I find over-precocious kids annoying in general, and I think that any parent who holds up little Ava or Aidan as a paragon of culinary sophistication is totally silly. At the same time, I think it's great for kids to get in the kitchen and learn a thing or two about food. Better than sitting in front of the X-Box eating Cakesters (I'm sure Schrambling would agree). And if having a few kiddie chefs on TV helps encourage a greater respect for food, that's great. Though I'm unlikely to be trying out any of their recipes any time soon.
Nutritionists and eating disorder specialists say they're seeing an increasing number of children who are terrified of "bad" foods, whether that means non-organics, trans fats, or just regular old sugar, to such an extent that it disrupts their daily lives. "We're seeing a lot of anxiety in these kids," says Cynthia Bulik, director of the eating disorders program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "They go to birthday parties, and if it's not a granola cake they feel like they can't eat it"
Some say that "orthorexia," as one specialist has dubbed the extreme obsession with healthy eating, is a pathway to anorexia and other eating disorders. They say the problem is in rigidly categorizing foods as "good" or "bad" instead of talking about moderation - children often take moral categories very, very seriously. Of course kids shouldn't be downing liters of Coke, but nor should they be paralyzed by guilt over eating a "bad" Oreo or forced to binge on potato chips in private because eating fatty foods is "naughty."
I had two friends growing up whose parents wouldn't let them eat refined sugar and who never had anything in the pantry tastier than whole wheat crackers. When they'd come to play at my house they'd plunder our kitchen cabinets for chocolate and cookies, which they would sneak home in plastic bags to eat under the covers at night. I can't help but think that being allowed a small dish of ice cream after dinner at their own houses might have taught them better eating habits.
How did your parents teach you healthy eating habits (or not)? How do you try to encourage your own kids to eat right?
There's one food preference that I could not understand -- dedication to all things crustless. It just never made sense to me -- how could anyone give up the flavorful crust, whether it be crunchy with fresh bread, or brown and thin on that ol' soft white bread?
While other kids requested crustless sandwiches, I would insist that they stay on -- not only that, but I'd prefer my sandwiches be made with the crusty ends, or with baguettes that would give me a whole sandwich of brown crunch. Perhaps this is because my family had a thing for bread beyond that preservative-laden soft stuff. Perhaps it's due my father's love of all things crisp and crunchy. Whatever the case, to this day, I'll grab the end piece off every loaf of bread I buy, to enjoy it at its freshest. It's that good.
And it's not just breads. No matter how many times I see it, I can't believe it when people indulge in pizzas and leave the crust. The thought of one of those center pieces of crustless, square pizza ... it's such a waste and just not the same. But what say you? Weigh in below!
For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
Check out Wendy Copley's cute preschooler bento - peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut into teddy bear and heart shapes, a load of sliced strawberries, cupcake liners filled with sliced string cheese and goldfish crackers, plus a tiny plastic cartoon character (hope the kid knows not to eat it!). Goes to show that bento-making doesn't have to be super-elaborate.
For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
This afternoon's bento, courtesy of Wendy Copley, is a kid-sized creation. A lucky preschooler gets to snack on homemade cheese men with sad, angry and happy faces, lying on a bed of rolled up turkey slices (but how will we teach our children that cannibalism is wrong!). On the side are watermelon cubes, grape tomatoes, a homemade granola bar and a slice of banana bread.
Are you concerned about your kids eating their eggs? The Egg Robot is here to help.
The Egg Robot comes with the robot suit and the spoon, but you have to provide the eggs, of course. It's a newish toy that claims to make eating eggs more fun for your kids, thus they will now eat their eggs (it's really nothing more than a fancied up egg cup). That's assuming you have trouble getting your kids to eat eggs, otherwise it's just a novelty item that'd hang around and clutter up your house.
I know I didn't like eggs when I was a kid, except hard cooked eggs. There wasn't very much my mom could do to convince me otherwise, but I don't remember that being such a big concern for her. Maybe you could put other foodstuff in the robot to make your child want to eat whatever it is, something a little more important, like vegetables. Do you think this is a good idea?
Mlive.com has some great tips for hosting a tea and garden party for children. From the kid-friendly peanut butter or cheese filling for finger sandwiches, to the cupcake decoration station and the small kid-sized gardening projects, this sounds exactly like something I would have loved as a child.
The article mentions having caffeine-free teas for children, and I think this is an excellent idea as well. When having a party for children, it's generally not a good idea to pump the kids full of anything that's going to very suddenly make life stressful for you as the host, and caffeine-free is usually a good policy for kids in general. Fruit or mint-flavored tisanes (herbal teas) would be an obvious choice for refreshing flavors that won't be too far outside a younger child's typical flavor palette
I also think that for kids, painting their own personalized tea cups at a place like Color Me Mine (most of you probably have a similar "paint your own pottery" studio in your local area) would make a tea party a lot of extra fun. Most kids love an art project, and then they can all drink their tea while showing off their one-of-a-kind painted tea cups. Keep in mind that the pottery takes time to complete after being painted, so remember to plan two separate afternoons: one for painting and one for drinking tea out the finished artwork.
I don't have any children, but I like to think that I'd be a good mom if I did. I'd read to them, try to get them interested in many different areas, and most of all teach them about food. Of course I'd want to try and raise sophisticated eaters, but I'd also teach them about eating healthily.
There are lots of ways to go about doing that, but I think that healthy eating websites would be a good tool to have in the bag. As I don't have any kids, I have no idea what's out there, but this website was brought to my attention recently. Playnormous is an online community for parents and kids to learn about healthy eating. There are games and animations, as well as a blog in which the posts talk about basic web lingo.
I looked around Playnormous and played the Food Fury game. I have to say, the site is really cute, and, even though it's for kids, I had fun playing the game. If you have kids, check it out. It may be a fun way to help teach your kids to eat well.
It's obvious after reading posts like Marisa's ode to Philly Water Ice that the treat is a well-deserved one after a long, hot day in the city.
But should we be using it - along with pizza and candy - to bribe Philly youth?
In West Philly's 19th District, police will begin an initiative called "positive ticketing," in which they will award prizes (see: candy and junk food) to kids they see doing "good deeds" like helping elderly citizens across the street, or cleaning up a neighborhood block. So far, local businesses like 7-Eleven, Applebee's, Lucky Pizza, and Rita's Water Ice have donated food or gift certificates to the program.
It's important to encourage kids to do good deeds. But there are several problems I see with this method.
This week's Philadelphia Weekly, one of the city's two alt-weekly papers, features a fascinating story about a chef who decided to take a job in a juvenile day treatment facility, teaching kids to cook.
The author, a teacher who hailed from RI's Johnson and Wales Culinary Academy, isn't exactly a wuss (he had a rough childhood, barely making it out of high school, and as a line cook, once was the victim of a stabbing), but his challenges are immediate and immense.
The kids were the products of all sorts of difficult upbringings, and often brought their fears, anger, and frustration into the cooking classroom. Several admit to drug use (the author cites a study: "between 2002 and 2004, at least one in every six full-time food service workers used illicit drugs in the month prior to the survey, while 12.1 percent of restaurant industry workers had used alcohol heavily.") And upon the presentation of a hummus platter with pita and roasted red peppers, one boy yelled, "That's rich people food, and I ain't eatin' it!"
The story is definitely worth a read - it's a testament of the combined power of dedication, determination, and the joys of cooking and food.
The old story was that expectant mothers should eat fish to help their growing babies' brains. Then we heard that eating fish was dangerous to the health of the baby. If you're pregnant, no fish!
Obviously, fish was never really bad for expectant mothers; it was simply that some certain types of fish that had high levels of mercury. All the news about "fish," "mercury," and "pregnancy" must have been confusing. The most recent research doesn't seem to sound like anything new, just a reminder that fish is, in fact, good for the brain, as "Preschoolers whose mothers regularly ate low-mercury fish during pregnancy may have sharper minds than their peers...Researchers found that among 341 3-year-olds, those whose mothers ate more than two servings of fish per week during pregnancy generally performed better on tests of verbal, visual and motor development."
Just remember that it's fish with low levels of mercury, so make sure you do your homework.
Hmm... Is the secret to 
Food writer Regina Schrambling says she's finally found a phenomenon even more annoying than Rachel "Yummo" Ray: 
Are you concerned about your kids eating their eggs? The Egg Robot is here to help. 
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