Want to know what I think of _The Sneaky Chef_ and _Deceptively Delicious_? Raymond Sokolov has it covered:
> Very few childhood bedwetters go off to college with rubber sheets. Picky eaters also mature, into omnivores. Judging by the crowds at restaurants I visit, they grow up into beef-cheek-gobbling yuppies with a yen for lemongrass ice cream.
Well, but to the credit of Jessica Seinfeld (I don’t know about the sneaky chef lady)–Raymond doesn’t mention this, but I saw her on the Today Show explaining that parents should continue to serve their kids vegetables out in the open, so that eventually they’ll start eating them the normal way. I assumed she covered that in the cookbook, but maybe she didn’t. Anyway, at least she has one foot in reality.
I heard about fifteen seconds of Alice Waters commenting on these books just the other day, on KQED. The point she made was that the whole idea of these books is awful — they stigmatize a whole raft of foods in the guise of trying to find ways to “encourage” kids to eat them.
I would pay big money to see a debate between Alice Waters and Jessica Seinfeld. Think of the comedy potential.
I think the Waters/Seinfeld smackdown has the potential for a drinking game. If we got Rachael Ray to emcee, it would be Yum-o! (sorry)
Seriously, what is the point? How much nutritional value can be left in a spoonful of cooked, pureed, frozen, recooked cauliflower?
Actually, picky eaters do mature into picky adults. I know a whole raftload of people who I think are losing out because they either don’t eat vegetables, run screaming from a whole bunch of different textures, or won’t eat anything that’s “weird” or “spicy”.
As a very un-picky eater, these people baffle me.
I know people like that too, Kris, but some picky children grow into picky adults and some don’t, and there is no way to distinguish them when they are children.
I think the books are fine. I’ve read both. They are (overall) healthy dishes trying to have some kid appeal, to be served along side/alternating with “real” vegetables. If the books don’t appeal, don’t buy them, but I don’t see the need for Alice Waters to comment on them. And kids, along with many adults, stigmatize veggies all by their very own selves, with out help from these gals.
Jenny, I’ve read both books, too, and I have two problems with them: the recipes are (to me) unappetizing, and they are loaded with nutritionist scare stories. Also, Missy Chase Lapine is prejudiced against lard.
We’re with you 100%. We have had no Picky Eaters in our house. Eat or else!
Great
I’m all for making foods healthier. I’ve used pureed sweet potatoes in bread and black beans in brownies. But in most cases, I don’t see the need to lie to our children. Disclaimer: I do not have children, so I am certainly prepared to be proven horribly wrong when or if I do.
I’ve seen some of the recipes in question and I definitely agree that some of these recipes are not as “healthy” as they would like readers to believe.
I have met many a picky adult. I am always thrilled if I can get them to try a new or previously hated food.
Don’t you think that some of their pickiness developed as a result of their culinary upbringing? I can see it with my two older brothers. Although we were raised in the same house, I spent more time with my grandmother who encouraged me to eat things that they did not and still will not.