Where's the healthy food on kids menus?
The other day a little note on one of the many e-newsletters I get caught my eye. The headline read "Even Top Chefs Have Picky Kids". As a menu consultant, the final resolution of a kids menu has always been the hardest part of my job. I've always believed kids will, and do, want to eat what they see adults eating. Somehow, somewhere we (restaurateurs and Chefs) got way off track and have relegated the tots to a choice of fried chicken fingers, mac & cheese, burgers and grilled cheese sandwiches. We tempt them with nothing but fatty and fried foods and we wonder why we have an obesity problem with kids. In a brief review of some of the top restaurants in the Twin Cities I didn't find one menu with fish that wasn't fried, vegetables that weren't carrot sticks or any food for that matter that resembled anything on the dinner menu for adults.
The article I mentioned above was an interview with cooking show "Top Chef" Tom Colicchio who is taking part in a panel this week at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival about the challenges parents face in trying to improve what their children eat. In the interview Chef Colicchio was asked if restaurants should be doing more to promote healthful eating. His answer made sense. "If food is well sourced and well prepared, I don't think the word healthy needs to be brought into it." If more restaurants and Chefs spent time and effort into creating kids menus with the same attention to detail and taste as they do the dinner menu...more kids would know no the difference between good food and bad food.
Fast food restaurants will always be the purveyors of fries, burgers, chicken nuggets etc. But even they have started to offer fresh fruit instead of fries. Why do so many casual and fine dining restaurateurs then feel the need to create kids menus with the very same food. Many have answered my question by saying "that's what kids want to eat". When in reality, its what parents order for the kids because these items are usually priced right and they are the only items parents see on the kids menu. Its a real Catch 22. I would only hope when these kids are at home they have better choices...at least some of the time.
It's time all restaurants got their act together. If they are going to take the time to create a cute kids menu, put some real food on it. Offer the kids a chance to eat mini versions of things their parents are eating. Offer these items at the same price points as the chicken fingers or boxed mac & cheese. Give the kids real food. Many prominent people in the hospitality industry are demanding better lunch programs in our schools. Let's look at our own houses first. Even in our messed up economy, kids probably eat nearly as many meals in restaurants as they do in school cafeterias.
The article I mentioned above was an interview with cooking show "Top Chef" Tom Colicchio who is taking part in a panel this week at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival about the challenges parents face in trying to improve what their children eat. In the interview Chef Colicchio was asked if restaurants should be doing more to promote healthful eating. His answer made sense. "If food is well sourced and well prepared, I don't think the word healthy needs to be brought into it." If more restaurants and Chefs spent time and effort into creating kids menus with the same attention to detail and taste as they do the dinner menu...more kids would know no the difference between good food and bad food.
Fast food restaurants will always be the purveyors of fries, burgers, chicken nuggets etc. But even they have started to offer fresh fruit instead of fries. Why do so many casual and fine dining restaurateurs then feel the need to create kids menus with the very same food. Many have answered my question by saying "that's what kids want to eat". When in reality, its what parents order for the kids because these items are usually priced right and they are the only items parents see on the kids menu. Its a real Catch 22. I would only hope when these kids are at home they have better choices...at least some of the time.
It's time all restaurants got their act together. If they are going to take the time to create a cute kids menu, put some real food on it. Offer the kids a chance to eat mini versions of things their parents are eating. Offer these items at the same price points as the chicken fingers or boxed mac & cheese. Give the kids real food. Many prominent people in the hospitality industry are demanding better lunch programs in our schools. Let's look at our own houses first. Even in our messed up economy, kids probably eat nearly as many meals in restaurants as they do in school cafeterias.
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Comment by Margie Tosch on March 3, 2009 at 12:48pm -
I have friends' whose 2 year old eats hummus, olives, salsa, satsumas, goat milk yogurt, and just about anything else they put in front of her. It's because she has always had these choices (and frankly hasn't ever had the "restaurant menu" choices). Those options shouldn't even be there!
Sometimes it seems the more unhealthy choices are there, the more people seem to take them. When I had a restaurant people talked about wanting healthy all the time, but the fact was that mayo based salads/dressings outsold viniagrettes 2 to 1. Cream soups out sold clear soups and the richer the brownie or baked good was, the faster it sold. Their wallets spoke louder than their voices. If that's how they eat - that's how they will order for their kids as well.
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Comment by Nadine on March 9, 2009 at 5:02pm -
Hear, hear! You're right, Tobie. If parents show kids what and how to eat... they won't constantly be reaching for junk and fast food.
My now 4 year old was eating sushi (the tame stuff), goat cheese, artichokes and curries by the age of 2, and until very recently hated fried food, sweets and chocolate. He reaches constantly for fresh fruit: mango, dragonfruit, watermelon etc. My 18MO twins are the same.
Numerous times we have commented negatively about the choices on a "kid's menu" and often wondered why it would be so difficult to have the choice of veggies, fish and meat that are NOT fried or dipped in grease.
Now that we are opening our own restaurant in June, we won't even have a children's menu. Everything on the menu is available in a kid's portion. We may not be popular with that, but we won't contribute to unhealthy eating habits for our kids, or anyone else's! And we hope to promote that in the restaurant community in Adelaide.
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