Lynn Fredericks's Blog

From the moment we enter this world, our internal cues signal us when we are hungry and when we are satisfied. We are born with a sucking reflex so we can obtain nourishment. Once solid food is introduced, it’s a learning process. Up until now, we have largely considered this learning something that happens in infancy into early toddlerhood and as very intentional by the parent.

New research is demonstrating a more complex picture (Kinzler 2016).  This study identified something that FamilyCook Productions has observed for two decades: food preferences are heavily influenced socially. These research findings explain the phenomena that so many parents lament over, where the so-called ‘good eaters’ at 2, 3, and 4 years seem to become picky eaters at 5 or 6.  Not surprisingly, this can be traced to when a child enters elementary school where the meal is noisy and full of unmonitored child disdain. Socially, our children observe  and then ‘learn’ what is ‘good’ and ‘bad’ by watching other children (Young 2004). These new pronouncements about foods they have previously accepted, are the result, researchers conclude, of a hard-wired human need to avoid foods that are socially rejected.

The researchers hypothesize that such strong avoidance of foods that are observed as rejected by others is a protective attribute to ensure harmful substances are not ingested. So where does this new research leave a society that wants a cure for picky eaters? In our two decades of experience, we have found this answer leads right back to the family table. More than ever, with social cues being such a key factor in young children’s food preferences, the environment around feeding matters.

We have seen the importance of the social and emotional component of food acceptance born out in each session of our Willow program for preschoolers that operates in WIC centers across the US. Over and over again, parents who swear their child dislikes trying new foods watch in amazement as their child gobbles down kale salad, asparagus spears with hummus, rhubarb with plain yogurt, and even raw grated beets. Why? Because the session sets up for a communal and socially accepting group experience with prompters along the way to gradually and even ceremoniously ‘warm up’ the children to new foods.

Parents are then encouraged to use the exact same techniques at home, and are given take-home support to do so. Hence the well-intentioned parents who has spent time and energy into preparing a meal, places it on the table, and is crushed when their child refuses to eat it has new insight into the social and emotional component of food acceptance. Lacking this understanding, the child seeing a pile of new vegetables on their plate cries out for the ubiquitous french fries, ravioli, or chicken nuggets that generally live in the freezer. Mom, concerned her child will go hungry, gives in. With this action, a vicious cycle is triggered. The child has learned that when food he/she does not want is placed on the table, all they need to do is make a fuss and the offending food is replaced by their ‘kid food’ favorite. 

One of Ellyn Satter’s “Division of Responsibility” in feeding key responsibilities for parents is structured meal times in a social setting with other family members (Satter 1995). This is key for both regular meals and snacks. Making mealtime a family time sets a pleasant environment around food and eating. In this way, food is showcased as the medium that brings the family together, to connect, bond, and celebrate happy times. Mealtime is a time to disconnect from technology and media and to become aware of what is in front of you: good company and good food. It sounds so simple; yet, it’s what happened for most of human existence – until the last couple of generations. We can’t turn back the clock, but we can soul search about our own family meal habits with this key new understanding. 

 

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In the late 1980’s, the headline of a restaurant industry trade magazine declared “She’s Outta There.”  “She” was referring to America’s mother, portrayed as hanging up her apron and exiting the kitchen. Where was she going? Well, at the time she was in the workforce in an increasingly professional capacity and was not crazy about coming home each night to cook. In response to this, restaurants created attractively priced children’s offerings.

This supply-meets-demand phenomenon created a perfect storm resulting in the tsunami of “kid’s food” that has flooded every setting where our children eat. Everywhere they go, they are fed this same menu - at school, in restaurants and increasingly, at home. The menu items are easy to conjure up: nuggets, burgers, mac ‘n cheese, hot dogs, pizza, pasta, grilled cheese, etc. They are cheap and they don’t require vegetables or quality ingredients.

As the White House focuses on child hunger and ensuring more eligible children can receive free school lunch, policy makers and advocates are turning to kids menus in restaurants as the next frontier. In New York City, a bill introduced by City Council Member Ben Kallos aims to improve the nutritional quality of kids meals in fast food restaurants. Yet as Michael Pollan and key influencers have pointed out, our hyper focus on nutrients and calories in our policy making does not always help citizens make better choices or ensure that our kids will become better, more adventurous eaters.

So what can parents and nutrition educators do to encourage a shift to radically change menu items in restaurants and in institutional settings? We can start by recognizing that since American culture is far from homogeneous. We, can embrace our immigrant roots and strive to share with our children the foodways of the many cultures that make up our nation. Going to a Mexican or Chinese restaurant? Parents can say a polite ‘no thank you’ to the kid’s menu and explore a more authentic and unusual dish with their children. Parents can also allow children to share menu items that offer ingredients they like; this way the overall cost of the meal will not climb when they eschew very inexpensive kids menus.

By actively seeking out ethnic restaurants of various types for family dining out excursions, parents can treat dining out like a mini vacation. Parents can generate curiosity by doing some Google searches on the culture to find interesting and fun food facts. And once there, why not ask the staff to explain more about the unusual dishes and customs and context of menu items.

In our many years of providing multicultural cooking classes, we have learned that children are fascinated to discover how children just like them eat so differently in various parts of the globe. Japanese children eat fish for breakfast or Thai children thank the “Rice Mother” before each meal. Learning about these differences has helped our children in our classes become more curious and eager to taste the exotic recipes that they prepare each week.

As for nutrition educators and advocates, let’s think through our policy recommendations and consider the wisdom of a ‘win’ at reducing saturated fat and adding extra fruit or vegetables as part of a regulatory measure on restaurant kids menus. Will a few slices of zucchini on the plate or low fat mac ‘n cheese really help children become more adventurous eaters? By merely restructuring the nutritional composition of kids’ menus without moving away from these time worn menus altogether, we sacrifice variety and quality ingredients in our children’s diets. Can we really afford to make do with nutritionally re-engineering these same ubiquitous kids meals? Isn’t it time that we support American families with policies and nutrition education that encourage a cultural shift to embrace the delicious and diverse flavors and ingredients that reflect our American melting pot society?

We offer some intriguing ways to do just that for nutrition educators, public health professionals, parents and even restaurateurs. Explore our Kids Food Reboot: Serving Our Children Better campaign materials and resources. We can do this, and the media can help. Already the Washington Post made this campaign front page story a little over a year ago. Let’s raise our advocacy and policy voices louder and unwaveringly in support of children’s opportunity to enjoy the same quality food as their parents.

Sign up for our  mailing list  and to learn more about our  award-winning programs  click here. 

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In the late 1980’s, the headline of a restaurant industry trade magazine declared “She’s Outta There.”  “She” was referring to America’s mother, portrayed as hanging up her apron and exiting the kitchen. Where was she going? Well, at the time she was in the workforce in an increasingly professional capacity and was not crazy about coming home each night to cook.  In response to this, restaurants created attractively priced children’s offerings.

This supply-meets-demand phenomenon created a perfect storm resulting in the tsunami of “kid’s food” that has flooded every setting where our children eat.  Everywhere they go, they are fed this same menu - at school, in restaurants and increasingly, at home. The menu items are easy to conjure up: nuggets, burgers, mac ‘n cheese, hot dogs, pizza, pasta, grilled cheese, etc.  They are cheap and they don’t require vegetables or quality ingredients.

As the White House focuses on child hunger and ensuring more eligible children can receive free school lunch, policy makers and advocates are turning to kids menus in restaurants as the next frontier.  In New York City, a bill introduced by City Council Member Ben Kallos aims to improve the nutritional quality of kids’ meals in fast food restaurants. Yet as Michael Pollan and key influencers have pointed out, our hyper focus on nutrients and calories in our policy making does not always help citizens make better choices or ensure that our kids will become better, more adventurous eaters.

So what can parents and nutrition educators do to encourage a shift to radically change menu items in restaurants and in institutional settings?  We can start by recognizing that since American culture is far from homogeneous.  We, can embrace our immigrant roots and strive to share with our children the foodways of the many cultures that make up our nation.  Going to a Mexican or Chinese restaurant? Parents can say a polite ‘no thank you’ to the kid’s menu and explore a more authentic and unusual dish with their children. Parents can also allow children to share menu items that offer ingredients they like; this way the overall cost of the meal will not climb when they eschew very inexpensive kids’ menus.

By actively seeking out ethnic restaurants of various types for family dining out excursions, parents can treat dining out like a mini vacation. Parents can generate curiosity by doing some Google searches on the culture to find interesting and fun food facts. And once there, why not ask the staff to explain more about the unusual dishes and customs and context of menu items.

In our many years of providing multicultural cooking classes, we have learned that children are fascinated to discover how children just like them eat so differently in various parts of the globe. Japanese children ate fish for breakfast or Thai children thank the “Rice Mother” before each meal. Learning about these differences has helped our children in our classes become more curious and eager to taste the exotic recipes that they prepare each week.

As for nutrition educators and advocates, let’s think through our policy recommendations and consider the wisdom of a ‘win’ at reducing saturated fat and adding extra fruit or vegetables as part of a regulatory measure on restaurant kids’ menus.  Will a few slices of zucchini on the plate or low fat mac ‘n cheese really help children become more adventurous eaters? By merely restructuring the nutritional composition of kids’ menus without moving away from these time worn menus altogether, we sacrifice variety and quality ingredients in our children’s diets.  Can we really afford to make do with nutritionally re-engineering these same ubiquitous kid’s meals? Isn’t it time that we support American families with policies and nutrition education that encourage a cultural shift to embrace the delicious and diverse flavors and ingredients that reflect our American melting pot society?

We offer some intriguing ways to do just that for nutrition educators, public health professionals, parents and even restaurateurs. Explore ourKids Food Reboot: Serving Our Children Better campaign materials and resources.  We can do this, and the media can help. Already the Washington Post made this campaigna front page story a little over a year ago. Let’s raise our advocacy and policy voices louder and unwaveringly in support of children’s opportunity to enjoy the same quality food as their parents.

Sign up for our mailing list and to learn more about our award-winning programs click here. 

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In the late 1980’s, the headline of a restaurant industry trade magazine declared “She’s Outta There.”  “She” was referring to America’s mother, portrayed as hanging up her apron and exiting the kitchen. Where was she going? Well, at the time she was in the workforce in an increasingly professional capacity and was not crazy about coming home each night to cook.  In response to this, restaurants created attractively priced children’s offerings.

This supply-meets-demand phenomenon created a perfect storm resulting in the tsunami of “kids food” that has flooded every setting where our children eat.  Everywhere they go, they are fed this same menu - at school, in restaurants and increasingly, at home. The menu items are easy to conjure up: nuggets, burgers, mac ‘n cheese, hot dogs, pizza, pasta, grilled cheese, etc.  They are cheap and they don’t require vegetables or quality ingredients.

As the White House focuses on child hunger and ensuring more eligible children can receive free school lunch, policy makers and advocates are turning to kids menus in restaurants as the next frontier.  In New York City, a bill introduced by City Council Member Ben Kallos aims to improve the nutritional quality of kids’ meals in fast food restaurants. Yet as Michael Pollan and key influencers have pointed out, our hyper focus on nutrients and calories in our policy making does not always help citizens make better choices or ensure that our kids will become better, more adventurous eaters. Kids become better, more adventurous eaters.

So what can parents and nutrition educators do to encourage a shift to radically change different menu items in restaurants and in institutional settings?  We can start by recognizing that since American culture is far from homogeneous. We, we can embrace our immigrant roots and strive to share with our children the food ways of the many cultures that make up our nation.  Going to a Mexican or Chinese restaurant?  Parents can say a polite ‘no thank you’ to the kid’s menu and explore a more authentic and unusual dish with their children. Parents can also allow Let children to share a menu items that offer ingredients offers ingredients they like, in this way the overall cost of the meal will not climb when they you eschew that very inexpensive kids’ menus.

By actively seeking out ethnic restaurants of various types for family dining out excursions, parents can treat make dining out like a mini vacation. Parents can generate curiosity by doing some Google searches on the culture to find interesting and fun food facts. Do some Google searches on the culture for some fun food facts before you go to generate some curiosity. And once there, why not ask the staff to explain more about the about the more unusual dishes and to explain more about the customs and context of menu items.

In our many years of providing multicultural cooking classes, we have learned that children are fascinated to discover how children just like them ate so differently in various parts of the globe.  That Japanese children ate fish for breakfast or Thai children thanked the “Rice Mother” before each meal. Learning about these differences has helped our children in our classes become more curious and eager to taste the exotic recipes that they prepare each week. This made them all the more curious and eager to taste the exotic recipe they prepared each week.

As for nutrition educators and advocates, let’s think through our policy recommendations and consider the wisdom of a ‘win’ at reducing saturated fat and adding that extra fruit or vegetables as part of a regulatory measure on restaurant kids’ menus.  Will a few slices of zucchini on the plate or low fat mac ‘n cheese really help children become more adventurous eaters? By merely restructuring the nutritional composition of kids’ menus without moving away from these time worn menus altogether, we sacrifice variety and quality ingredients in our children’s diets.  Can we really afford to make do with nutritionally re-engineering these same ubiquitous kids meals?  Isn’t it time that we support American families with policies and nutrition education that encourage a cultural shift to embrace the delicious and diverse flavors and ingredients that reflect our American melting pot society?

We offer some intriguing ways to do just that for nutrition educators, public health professionals, parents and even restaurateurs. Explore our Kids Food Reboot: Serving Our Children Better campaign materials and resources.  We can do this, and the media can help. Already the Washington Post made this campaign a front-page story a little over a year ago. Let’s raise our advocacy and policy voices louder and unwaveringly in support of children’s opportunity to enjoy the same quality food as their parents.

Sign up for our mailing list and to learn more about our award-winning programs click here. 

In our 20 years of teaching cooking as nutrition education and family therapy, we’ve found that mixing ages can offer extraordinary group dynamics in the classroom and at home.

Throughout the school day, children are grouped by their age and abilities. But, when it comes to cooking, there are at least 3 major benefits to assigning tasks by level of difficulty for participants of different ages. This can be accomplished in after school settings, community settings, and certainly in the social services setting.

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1. Engagement flourishes with age-appropriate roles.
Parents may be hesitant to invite children into the kitchen if they are unsure how to do so safely and efficiently. Understanding this reality, we build the class experience to highlight appropriate roles and tasks for different ages. By aiming for ‘aha’ moments in each session, parents know just what to do when they get home with each child. This really alleviates parents’ fears because the class shows them how each child can contribute in an authentic and non-chaotic way. Three year olds, for example, can tear up greens and lettuce, while a third grader grates potatoes. Adolescents can be taught to use a chef’s knife and become the family meal sous chef, which makes scratch cooking for parents a breeze. But, the value of combining ages in the class setting extends beyond identifying appropriate tasks for each age.

2. Bonding.
After 20 years of program development and supporting our affiliates across the US, it’s evident that people love to cook together.  Cooking creates a common bond with little ones looking up to older siblings or schoolmates. Adolescents and elementary aged children are equally enthusiastic and proud to be able to support younger children make a solid contribution to a shared meal. There is a huge win-win opportunity created by acknowledging that everyone – regardless of age, has something valuable to contribute.

This point was brought home when our FamilyCook Productions founder, Lynn Fredericks, first began cooking with her own children who are 6 and a half years apart in age.  Back in the 90’s when Stephan was a toddler in the kitchen, Lynn took great pains to make sure he had a very defined role with each recipe, so that he would not feel eclipsed by his older brother. Such role designation plays out similarly in a program setting, where children in each age group take their cues from their peers and know their role well and take pride in it.  Everyone contributes based on their ability and everyone shares in the sense of accomplishment.

3. Practice in class makes for success at home.  
Apart from parents with twins or triplets, most parents don’t have all 3rd graders at home.  By practicing age specific roles and tasks in a mixed age class, family members return home with an understanding of the boundaries around their capabilities and know when to ask for or offer help.  This is an essential development for harmonious family cooking.  If little ones are determined not to ask for help and frustrate parents with their insistence to do tasks inappropriate for their age and ability, parents will not feel motivated to continue to cook with then. It’s really that simple. The class experience should set the parameters in a positive way that celebrates every participant’s contribution. Both parents and older siblings experience the satisfaction of assisting younger family members to help. With each accomplishment the group cheers for the youngest helper’s culinary success.

This is how youth in Teen Battle Chef across the US approach their growing interest in cooking at home. They have learned so much in the program midway into the semester that they are assigned a family cooking activity designed to include ALL family members. Each Teen Battle Chef knows exactly how to safely engage each participant based on their age and ability. The result is a successful demonstration to their parents that cooking can be a happy, delicious and nutritious family affair.

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 Value of mixing ages in cooking-based education programs using multiple ages in cooking classes

Teaching cooking as nutrition education and family therapy – something FamilyCook Productions does for schools, community and social services agencies – offers extraordinary group dynamics. 

Throughout the school day, children are grouped by their age and abilities.  In afterschool and community settings and certainly in social services settings, there are at least 3 major benefits to assigning cooking tasks by level of difficulty to participants of different ages.

 

1.  Engagement flourishes with age-appropriate roles.  Parents can hesitate to invite their children into the kitchen if they are unsure how to do so safely and efficiently.  They ‘buy in’ with fewer fears after participating in a class where a three- year-olds tear up greens and lettuces, while a third grader grates a potato and adolescents are taught to use a chef’s knife to become the family meal sous chef and make scratch cooking a breeze, But the value of combining ages in class settings extends beyond the distinguishing between different ages and appropriate tasks they can safely accomplish.

 2. Bonding.  After 20 years of program development and support to our affiliates across the US, it’s evident that people love to cook together.  Cooking creates a common bond with little ones looking up to older siblings or schoolmates.  Adolescents and elementary aged children are equally enthusiastic and proud to be able to support younger helpers to make a solid contribution to a shared meal.  There is a huge win-win opportunity to recognize that everyone – regardless of age, has something valuable to contribute.

This point was brought home when our FamilyCook Productions founder, Lynn Fredericks, first started out with her own children.  There is a 6 and a half year age gap between her two sons.  Back in the 90's when Stephan was a toddler in the kitchen, Lynn took great pains to make sure he had a very defined job with each recipe so he would not feel eclipsed by his older brother.  Such role designation plays out similarly in a program session, where younger children chop pre-sliced tomatoes or peppers into a tiny dice on a plastic plate with a plastic knife while older children learn to use a chef’s knife and practice professional slicing and dicing.  Everyone contributes based on their ability and everyone shares in the sense of contribution and accomplishment.

3. Practice in class makes for successful translation to home.  Apart from parents with twins or triplets, most parents don’t have all 3rd graders at home.  By practicing age specific roles and tasked in a mixed age class, all family members return home not only with an understanding of the boundaries around their capabilities, but how to ask or offer help.  This is an essential development for harmonious family cooking.  If little ones are determined not to ask for help and frustrate parents with their insistence to do tasks inappropriate for their age and ability, parents will not feel motivated to have them in the kitchen. It’s really that simple. But the class experience sets up the parameters in a positive way that celebrates every participants contribution. Both parents and older siblings experience the satisfaction of assisting younger family members to help. Everyone cheers for the youngest helper’s success and accomplishment.  

This is how youth in Teen Battle Chef across the US approach their growing interest in cooking at home. They have learned so much in the program midway, and are assigned a family cooking activity designed to include ALL family members. They, the Teen Battle Chefs, know exactly how to safely engage all family members and demonstrate to their parents that cooking can be a happy, delicious and nutritious family affair.

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This is the time of year when food is front and center in our lives. For some, it's a license to indulge. For others, the focus is about their culinary traditions that reflect their heritage through time worn recipes. We connect with our family and friends through gatherings with celebratory food. Then, when the holiday season is over, we make New Year resolutions to become more fit and lose a few pounds. But, could we use this time to be more intentional around the role that food plays in our holiday celebrations, and in our lives? Can this festive season be approached as a tool to bring our family -  or our educational program participants, together to celebrate with local, seasonal, and healthful food?

What does it mean to be intentional around food? Let's explore some ways to approach meals more meaningfully this holiday season.

1. Consider the menu items critically. You don’t have to serve dishes just because you have ‘always had them at the holidays.’  Take a moment to pause and consider whether you honestly love every dish. Do your holiday recipes represent what your region has to offer in terms of seasonal, fresh food? Do they reflect the health profile of how you like or would like to eat at this point in your life?  Asparagus on the menu?  It’s really a spring vegetable, so why not swap with winter greens or root vegetables that will offer a more seasonal approach. Do those sweet potatoes really need marshmallows?  What way to enjoy sweet and lusciously textured vegetables?  The youth from our Teen Battle Chef program are often asked to help prepare Thanksgiving feasts for the elderly or other group settings. Our policy is to ensure that they are also helping to re-interpret ‘typical’ dishes enjoyed over the holidays by providing one or more recipes that has a ‘twist’ on tradition, such as a delectable butternut squash and apple cider soup with feta and dill. 

2. Who will prepare what?  Do you take on too much when the holidays come along? Are you tempted to just ‘order out’ because it’s so much work?  Or from a program perspective, does making a group feast before the holiday vacation seem too daunting?  This only has to be the case if you are taking on too much yourself and not involving other family members or young cooks in your program. When our founder, Lynn Fredericks’s children were young, she re-evaluated the holiday menus and offered each of her two sons an opportunity to create their signature dish. She helped them select and cook it. This became their new tradition that continues to this day. It was their special ritual and having her boys’ participation took the pressure off of Lynn to do all the cooking by herself.better and in season during the months of April and May, so why not swap traditional vegetables with winter greens or root vegetables that will offer a more seasonal approach.  

3. Establish new traditions. In addition to new recipes, what new traditions  could you create around cooking or eating together?  Does one child or age group in a program take on table decorations? Can someone take the lead in planning music and songs to be apart of your celebration?  What about shopping? Can your students (or children) help you make the shopping list and then go with you to the farmers market and/or the grocery store? Offering ways to enhance your meal with creative additions that make it festive and special can also add to your enjoyment.  Whether it’s Kwanza, Christmas or Hannukah, you can find special paper decorations to make from

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Picky eaters are not confined to children alone. Many finicky children grow up into adults who are averse to eating anything beyond the ubiquitous mac ‘n cheese, hamburgers, pizza, spaghetti, etc. In nutrition education, a common school of thought is to only choose program recipes that reflect the cultural background of the participants. But, there is another approach to broadening the palate of a picky eater that is not an uphill battle.

 

For many years we’ve effectively used multicultural recipes in our school and community programs, inviting participants of all ages to have an ‘open mind’ and an open mouth.  A sense of adventure is stirred up in participants when an announcement is made that the experience will be an exotic culinary exploration. This approach ignites curiosity and prepares participants to ‘think different’ and expect radically new flavors as well. In fact, when we surveyed elementary and middle/high school students about their favorite aspects of our program, over 75% report they love the opportunity to broaden their horizons about the kinds of foods that are ‘out there’ and learn how to cook with them.

 

During one of our typical family cooking classes, Thai Inspired Fish Chowder was on the menu. A parent was shocked and asked why we were not teaching his kids to make something they would enjoy, like ‘mac n cheese’. He was adamant that his kids would not eat fish, herbs or lima beans. We had confidence in our approach and by the time his children squeezed the last lime, chopped three types of herbs and helped season their soup, they were excited to enjoy it. That same dad was thrilled and surprised to let us know his kids had three helpings!

 

So let’s explore this strategy by breaking it down into four steps.

 

Collaborative Planning
Who says the primary cook or program leader has to do all the planning too?  Instead, invite picky eaters to help select the cuisine and culture that everyone will explore together. If possible, include them in the entire planning process, such as shopping for ingredients, looking up cultural references and discovering the ‘whys’ of how a culture’s cuisine and recipes evolved the way they have. Families (or groups) can rotate among members to choose the cuisine for the next meal. It’s clear that at regular intervals, each participant can choose a culture they would like to explore. After a few weeks of unfamiliar cultures and ingredients, you can then begin to draw on the heritage of the participants.  Ask them to share their family recipes and together discover ways to enhance their dishes by adding more flavor through additional vegetables. Learning about nutrition becomes more exciting and interactive when highlighting their own cultures.

Strategic Recipe Selection
Choose (or suggest others choose) a recipe that has a bold flavor profile; the goal is to wake up the palate of the picky eater in a pleasurable way. If the end-product is delicious, then the picky eater will eat it. Ask yourself what flavors do your picky eaters typically like (e.g. if they like tangy things, choose a sweet and sour soup or something that has lemon or lime flavors). Make sure the seasonings in the recipe can be adjusted to taste (e.g. make it more or less spicy), and teach your picky eaters to build the flavor and seasons to their preference - the more control they have, the more comfortable they will feel.

 

Make it a Routine
Expanding the palate of a picky eater takes time, so it’s important to be patient and to have fun while exploring new dishes and cuisines together. Create new habits and build and maintain progress by gradually awakening the palate meal by meal in a predictable way, rather than a once-off occasion or class. The more often a picky eater is exposed, the more likely they will begin to enjoy new flavors and textures.  

 

Success with One Pot Meals
At FamilyCook Productions we swear by one-pot disheslike a stir fry, curry, or stew instead of a segmented meal format like meat+vegetables+starch. There are two major reasons why: 1) it helps overcome intimidation factor of a pile of vegetables;  and 2) this strategy addresses the negative feelings that kids might have about certain foods touching each other (e.g. cold slaw touching meat loaf). One pot dishes usually offer plenty of ingredients that need to be broken down, making for lots of jobs to keep children engaged and feeling proud to contribute.

 

Try This

To start putting these ideas into practice, check out this favorite FamilyCook recipe and from our founder’s primer for families dealing with picky eaters and one from Jamie Oliver - happy exploring!

 

Scandinavian Barley Salad with Apples

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Super-tasty miso broth

 

 What are some solutions your family or program have used to satisfy picky eaters?

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We all learn new skills differently. Some of us learn by listening, while others learn by doing. Most of us learn best with a combination of learning methods. Food, with its numerous multi-sensory properties, is a fantastic tool to enhance learning about anything.

Since we began to pioneer hands-on nutrition education 20 years ago, we became curious about why food could effectively convey complex ideas. For example, third graders grasped very abstract concepts about Japanese culture after performing the Japanese tea ceremony. We asked ourselves, what exactly is going on that makes learning ‘stick’ so well when food is involved? We began researching what the brain needs to learn. What we found is five ways that food can enhance the brain’s natural learning mechanisms. Not just by eating it, but by looking at it, thinking about it and preparing it through cooking.

1. Food Engages the Brain 

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It’s been long established that multisensory learning is an effective technique to help students retain new information. We use cooking as a means to teach nutrition because it engages all of the human senses, and is an ideal activity to support multisensory learning of new information. But what we’ve found is that learning through cooking goes beyond seeing, smelling, touching, hearing and tasting the food. Where the senses originate in the brain also have an impact on our ability to absorb new information. The part of the brain that processes our sense of smell is directly connected to the part responsible for memory and emotion. This is why a familiar smell can trigger a past memory or strong feeling. The same can be said for taste, which is largely dependent on our sense of smell. What’s interesting is that auditory and visual information don’t pass through these same areas. When applied to pedagogy, this suggests that engaging smell and taste can better support learning than the traditional ways of teaching auditory and visual information. 

2. Food Sharpens the Mind

As it turns out, peeling a pound of carrots may stimulate the brain’s natural learning processes. The human brain learns best with repetition, especially when an activity is repeated with the right frequency, intensity and duration. Cooking has its own set of methodologies, like preparing a mise en place of ingredients before sauteing them. In our programs, we’ve found that repetition encourages students to think logically and independently about the next steps in the process. “I’ve observed many young children memorize how to cook a recipe from start to finish, and be able to repeat it at home from memory.” says Lynn Fredericks, FamilyCook Productions’ founder, “Many tasks in cooking are repetitive, and repetition is so integral in how children learn.”

3. Food Makes Learning Fun

We’d all learn new things more easily if we were in a fun, relaxing environment. Neuroscience research shows that students achieve higher levels of cognition when they’re more engaged, motivated and feel minimal stress. This doesn’t always apply to traditional school settings and directed lectures. Bringing food into the classroom is a unique way to engage students and break up the monotony of sitting and listening.

4. Food Supports Collaborative Learning

If cooking is done collaboratively in a group setting, it provides another dimension for learning. Collaborate cooking applies the principles of cooperative learning, where students work as a group to help each other accomplish a task. Cooperative learning is effective because students can observe their peers and correct themselves if they’re completing a task ineffectively. In fact, we’ve found that cooking classes taught in group settings require less didactic instruction from the teacher. This translates to less required time and resources, because the brain’s natural learning mechanisms are more efficiently utilized.

5. Food Is Relevant

One reason that students lose focus in the classroom is that they don’t feel like the concepts are relevant to their lives. Food can help abstract concepts come to life. At Manhattan International High School, we’ve partnered with their 9th grade math teachers to teach statistics within the context of food. In one assignment, students take on the role of a food critic by rating their recipes for taste, and then charting the statistical average of these ratings over time. Food engages the students and utilizes all of their senses, while cooking supports collaborative learning and repetition. This provides new dimensions to teach math concepts, both in and out of the seat.

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Written by Bobby Maknoon, dietetic intern at City University of New York.

 

The 'One Mama's Daily Drama' blog reviews 'Get Your Family Eating Right', and talks about the impact it has had on her family's healthy eating habits.