From the category archives:

Tricky

Etiquette, eating out and other forays to the dark side

Send me your children’s menus!
(Because it’s one step forward, 25 steps back.)

July 23, 2010 Brainy

Just when I was feeling good about children’s menus, this depressing round-up crossed my desk. In it, the Daily Beast names the 25 worst meals from kids’ menus at chain restaurants, analyzed for calorie count, saturated fat, carbohydrates and sodium. I’m not into counting calories for kids. And I think standard dietary guidelines like the USDA food [...]

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Creating a better children’s menu: A chef speaks

July 2, 2010 Brainy

So this is fun. A month ago I wrote a diatribe against children’s menus, calling them out for being unhealthy and insulting. A lively discussion ensued. Then Brian Van Etten, the chef at The Owl House, a new restaurant in Rochester, N.Y., got in touch. He wanted input on his children’s menu. I posed the question to readers. Another lively [...]

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Hate children’s menus?
Here’s your chance to create a better one.

June 14, 2010 Brainy

Two weeks ago, we had a raging discussion here on the topic of children’s menus. In a nutshell: They’re loaded with unhealthy food. They’re insulting. They perpetuate the false and damaging notion that “kid food” should be its own distinct (junked-up and deep-fried) category.  Brian Van Etten, the chef at a new restaurant about to open in Rochester, N.Y., took note. [...]

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Real food on the road

June 6, 2010 Grassroots

Summertime. When the living is easy, road trips entice, and that road is paved with fast food and greasy spoons. What to do, what to do. As a longtime vegetarian, I’ve been bringing food on the road for years, if only a few bananas and granola bars to get me through the gauntlet of golden arches. When [...]

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The assault (and insult) of children’s menus

May 29, 2010 Brainy

One of our favorite local restaurants lists grilled cheese on both its regular menu and its children’s menu. Same price. Same bread options (wheat, rye, sourdough). But where the regular menu touts “aged” cheddar, the kiddie version offers “mild” cheddar.   The first time I noticed this, I asked the server about the difference, thinking [...]

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Preachy little foodies (and how not to have one)

April 7, 2010 Brainy

Sure it’s great to teach kids where food comes from and why healthy eating matters. But how do we make sure they don’t morph into pint-sized proselytizers who lecture other kids and make them feel bad because mom didn’t pack an organic apple? I thought about this last week after a comment on my post about teaching kids about industrial [...]

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Blue no more. I’m blogging it.

March 15, 2010 Brainy

A year ago I e-mailed friends with the idea for this blog. I was already bouncing around names, and I wanted input. But none of the names clicked. Then life got busy and paying work took priority. Still, the blog was always there, nagging at me, tempting me, taking shape in my head if not [...]

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