I remember planning my wedding and then a year later preparing for the birth of my daughter and thinking that weddings and babies are two of the biggest money making ventures in this country, with weight loss coming in a close third.  People want to have the most beautiful wedding; they want the best for the children and for their children to be the best; and who doesn’t want to lose a little weight.  But, a more recent discovery of mine is how difficult it has become to feed our kids; we are a country that now has some of the pickiest eaters in the world.  Having my own toddler who has her picky moments I can sympathize with many parents about the trials of getting kids to want something other than Chicken nuggets and French fries. 

When it comes to feeding our kids, especially kids of Foodies, the list of advice is endless. There are now countless books and techniques designed to get our kids to love the foods that we love without having to fight them on it.  But what techniques really work? A co-worker of mine whose only child is now 25 said that it’s the parents that are creating these picky eaters.  I have to wonder if there is some truth to that.  Growing up I don’t remember there being too much discussion or a choice about what was for dinner, I just simply ate what I was given.  I actually remember being most picky when I was a teenager (that would be because my mom was constantly dieting and back then low calorie meals were pretty low on flavor as well). Are we giving our kids too many choices? Are we not being firm enough with them? 

Unfortunately, I don’t think there is one answer to these questions because, quite simply, every child is different. As the parent you have to find ways to see what works for your child and, for some reason, when it comes to feeding kids, toddlers especially, there is a bit of trade off involved.  For example my 2½ year old loves green vegetables, but doesn’t like carrots, corn, or potatoes (other than a French fry) and she’s not a big meat eater either.  I don’t allow myself to get hung up on the fact that she doesn’t like corn on the cob or mashed potatoes. Instead, I tend to look at the positive side of things, look at the vitamins and nutrients that she is getting (she eats spinach for God sake) and see what’s missing in her diet that she really needs. For me, the biggest thing she’s missing is protein so I do make that my mission to try and find ways to get more protein in her.

What I plan to do in this series of articles is do some of the leg work for you, see what’s out there in terms of recipes, techniques, and general advice on cooking for kids.  I’ll let you in on the information that in my opinion is doable or may even work in most households.  I have a panel of kid testers that I will use for various recipes: Jaymi Lee (2½), Amaya (6), Douglas (5), and Jake (11). Hopefully, when I’m done some of you that have picky eaters will have found something that works for you.  Also, feel free to email me any techniques or tricks that you are currently using that work for you and your family.   

Before I go, I do find it necessary to let you know that I do not subscribe to the school of thought promoted by the Sneaky Chef or Mrs. Jessica Seinfeld.  Although I applaud the work of these ladies and envy their level of success following the publication of their cookbooks, I don’t believe in deceiving our children.  I think kids need to know what foods are really supposed to taste like. How is putting pureed spinach in Brownies going to get our kids to appreciate Spinach? Now, before you start firing off the nasty emails to me, I realize that in some extreme cases these techniques are necessary to get any sort of nutrients in your child, but for the most part I feel that with a little research and what little patience we have left there are other ways to get our kids to eat what we want them too without having to puree everything and hide it.  In my next article, I’ll review a few of the more popular kid friendly cookbooks and let you know what my panel of testers thinks about some of the recipes. 

About Chef Heather

Chef Heather (aka Foodie Princess) is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City (formerly Peter Kumps New York Cooking School). She has worked for Gourmet Magazine, TV Personality Katie Brown, and the New York based Indian-fusion restaurant Tabla. Chef Foodie Princess resides in New Jersey with her husband and daughter and is in the process of launching her own Personal Chef Service "The Princess & The Pea".