The Kids' Meal, Redefined
I've always wondered why kids' food has to be blue and purple and taste like something out of a Harry Potter movie. A recent article in the Chicago Tribune by registered dietitian Janet Helm provided insight as to why all this souped up, artificially flavored food can be a bad thing beyond just childhood obesity.
According to pediatric nutritionist Keith Ayoob, our children's palates are being dumbed down by greasy, salty and sweet foods and drinks. "Once they get used to these flavors, the taste threshold is set so high that fresh fruits aren't sweet enough and vegetables taste too bitter," he said.
The article went on to quote Dr. David Ludwig, a childhood obesity expert in Boston, who worries we're stunting children's taste buds. He said the extra-intense artificial flavors that dominate kids' food interfere with a child's natural tendency to develop a broader palate. "Our taste preferences, by nature, are designed to broaden over time, but we're short-circuiting basic biological pathways and warping children's taste buds," Ludwig said.
Lynn Fredericks, author of Cooking Time is Family Time and founder of FamilyCook Productions in New York City, blames the ubiquitous children's menus in restaurants, where chicken fingers and fries rule.
"The concept of 'food for children' has been one of the most detrimental developments to corrupt the family meal," said Fredericks, who develops culinary education programs and materials for children and their parents. "Restaurants are attempting to define what children will eat, which has changed what parents serve at home," she said. "In virtually all other cultures in the world, kids eat what the parents eat."
The message: parents, take control of your children's diet. Feed them a variety of foods and foods that you eat.
Here's something we eat, and we think kids should too. For more information on kids' diets, listen to our podcasts with Chef Jon Ashton at relishmag.com/podcasts.
Asian Express Beef Lettuce Wraps
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Ingredients
| 1 1/2 | pounds ground beef (95 percent lean) |
| 1/2 | cup hoisin sauce |
| 1/2 | cup jarred peanut sauce |
| 1 | medium cucumber, seeded and chopped |
| 1/2 | cup shredded carrot |
| 1/4 | cup torn fresh mint |
| 1/4 | teaspoon salt |
| Freshly ground black pepper |
| 12 | large Boston lettuce leaves (about 2 heads) or iceberg or romaine lettuce |
| Fresh mint |
Instructions
| 1. | Brown ground beef in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes or until no longer pink, breaking up into small crumbles. Pour off drippings. Stir in hoisin sauce and peanut sauce; heat through. |
| 2. | Just before serving, add cucumber, carrots and torn mint; toss gently. Season with salt and pepper. Serve beef mixture in lettuce leaves. Garnish with mint and serve with your favorite peanut sauce. Serves 4. |
Nutritional Information
Per serving: 337 calories, 11g fat, 40 g prot., 18g carbs., 3g fiber, 641mg sodium.
Recipe adapted from The Healthy Beef Cookbook, by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the American Dietetic Associaton (John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2006).
Other Recipe Suggestions
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