I am often stunned by the amount of picky or non-adventurous adult eaters I encounter regularly, and I always wonder if it’s because they never grew out of their habits from childhood.
If you’re a parent trying to ween your kids off a diet of only crackers and fruit snacks, then there’s a helpful resource for you. Food Fight: For Parents of Picky Eaters (Koehler Press, $18.95), which I accepted an offer to review, is a hands-on guide to understanding and reprogramming how families deal with picky eating.
Author Gigi Gaggero has unique insights, as she is the founder of a professional culinary school for children. She provides tips on what to do and what not to do. As an example of the former, Gaggero suggests leaving snacks such as salted edamame or avocado with pita chips out for children to graze on their own, without any pressure from their parents.
As an example of the latter, she says to stop offering bribes–like “eat this vegetable, and I’ll give you dessert”–because it creates lists of negative foods (e.g. veggies) and positive foods (e.g. desserts) in the child’s mind. Instead, “the child should look at all foods as equal,” Gaggero writes.
She also provides more than 60 recipes that she recommends parents and children prepare together. I’ve got my eye on the homemade ketchup (p. 103), the cinnamon honey compound butter (p. 120) and the purple tie-dye unicorn muffins (p. 140), which get their color from smashed blueberries.
Food Fight should inspire readers that mealtime battles are not a lost cause. I appreciate that Gaggero’s tone of voice is sympathetic, not judgemental, and in her vast experience, she has pretty much seen it all.
In addition to launching Kids Culinary Adventures, Gaggero also is the former academic director of the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu. She also is a frequent contributor to parenting and health magazines.
