"kids" news and stories

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.

Source

A new trend piece in the New York Times suggests that too much parental emphasis on healthy eating could create neurotic kiddies who are too scared to eat a slice of birthday cake.

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?

Source

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.

Source

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.

Source