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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Pesticide, organic and other dirty words

May 20, 2010 Brainy

“Organic” was an early word in my now 6-year-old’s vocabulary. (She pronounced it “ga-nan-ic.” Tell me that’s not adorable.) It’s also one of the first words she learned to spell, which is why we have progressively more readable versions written on random bits of paper and newsprint. So when we go grocery shopping, Tess takes pride in pointing [...]

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“Two Angry Moms”: Still too true (redux)

May 7, 2010 Brainy

As I posted earlier this week, I was planning to watch the school-food movie “Two Angry Moms” for the second time. Saw it last night, and I was struck again by the similarities between these moms’ battle and the drama that played out on Jamie Oliver’s show in Huntington, W.Va. It was disheartening, honestly, given that [...]

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“Two Angry Moms”: Still too true

May 3, 2010 Brainy

The school-food movie “Two Angry Moms” was released in 2007, and I saw it probably two years ago, but its message still resonates. That’s both good and bad. Sadly, school food in the United States remains a mess (no surprise to anyone who watched “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution,” or, frankly, to anyone who’s walked into almost any school [...]

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Retire Ronald? Or reclaim responsibility?

April 29, 2010 Bureaucratic

I first heard about the “Retire Ronald” campaign on April 1, so I assumed it was an elaborate April Fool’s prank. The website looked legit, and famous foodies were listed as advisers, but I couldn’t believe that anyone would spend so much time and energy trying to bring down a clown.                  Of course I’ve since learned that it’s real, a project of [...]

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“Food Inc.”: Family viewing?

April 21, 2010 Brainy

In honor of Earth Day, PBS is showing the movie “Food Inc.” tonight. So I’m pulling out a review I wrote for one of my columns last spring. Are you planning to watch? Or recording it to watch later with your kids? (See our plans below.) You’ll never look at food the same way again. I promise. [...]

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The art of local food: kindergartners, Kahlo and kale

April 15, 2010 Brainy

It’s April. Not exactly high time for local foods in western New York. But there we were with my daughter’s kindergarten class at the public market, counting dollars (five each) and loading up on produce for an art project later that afternoon. I’d stumbled across a contest called Be Aware of New York Agriculture, which asks kids [...]

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Let’s ban the phrase “picky eater”

April 13, 2010 Brainy

It goes like this: Kids are picky eaters. They won’t eat food that’s green, brown or good for them. They are strong-willed little creatures who cannot be swayed. We must give up, give in, and feed them nothing but juice, crackers and white-bread sandwiches with the crusts cut off. Sigh. Is anyone else as tired of the term [...]

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Color me annoyed

April 9, 2010 Consumeristic

I’m working with my daughter’s school on a project about local food, so Wednesday I stopped in for a little show-and-tell about the sort of food that grows in New York vs. elsewhere. (Apples and grapes, natch. Pineapples and mangoes, nada.) I’ll admit I had visions of doing my own Jamie Oliver-style Q&A, complete with a dramatic reveal and confused kids. But thankfully my 5- [...]

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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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