Picky: How American Children Became the Fussiest Eaters in History

by Helen Zoe Veit

An eye-opening investigation into why American kids no longer eat broadly and with gusto

Are children naturally picky? It sure seems that way. Yet, amazingly, pickiness used to be almost nonexistent. Well into the 20th century, Americans saw children as joyful omnivores who were naturally curious and eager to eat. Of course, this doesn't make sense today. Don't kids have special taste buds? Aren't they highly sensitive to food's texture and color? Aren’t children incapable of liking “adult foods,” and don’t parents risk harming kids psychologically by urging them to eat?

But Americans in the past didn’t think any of those things. They assumed that children could enjoy the same foods as adults, and children almost always did. They loved spicy relishes, vinegary pickles, and bitter greens. They spent their allowances on raw oysters and looked forward to their daily coffee. So how did modern kids become such incredibly narrow eaters? The story is fascinating – and about much more than rising abundance. Picky shows how fussy eating came to define "children’s food" and reshape American diets at large. Maybe most importantly, it explains how we can still use the tools that parents used in the past to raise happy, healthy, wildly un-picky kids today.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, History

304 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication February 24, 2026

Reviews

[JanB · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

This is an exhaustive history of the dietary habits of children but there’s nothing here to help parents who struggle on a daily basis with picky children,

I have (now adult) children who have an adventurous healthy palate for a wide variety of foods. So why are my grandchildren Picky McPicky? I don’t know? I was hoping to glean helpful tips. But there’s nothing here that isn’t widely available with a quick google search.

If you are interested in the palates of children in previous generations, this is the book for you.

If you are looking for helpful tips, there’s nothing here that you can’t find in a Google search.

The last 50% of the book is a bibliography

I received a digital review copy via NetGalley
All opinions are my own

[LaShanda Chamberlain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t have kids, but I have four nephews ages 8 to 20, and I’ve seen picky eating firsthand…..especially with the youngest. He’s pushed every boundary when it comes to food, which is what led me to Picky.

This book offers a surprising look at the history of children’s eating habits. It turns out kids used to enjoy all kinds of bold flavors, and picky eating wasn’t seen as normal. Picky explains how that changed and why.

What I liked most is that the book is thoughtful, not judgmental. It shows that picky eating isn’t just something we have to accept—it’s something we can influence. Even as an aunt, I found it helpful and eye-opening.

I’d recommend Picky to parents, teachers, and anyone who spends time with kids. It’s a smart, engaging read that gives real hope for raising curious eaters.

A huge thanks to NetGalley, the author & the publisher for the opportunity to read this advanced copy! It was very enlightening!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I read this book, I considered does the research make sense and does it explain why I am a lifelong picky eater? The book is well researched and well sourced. It is thorough and accessible. It is not jargony or « too academic » and it is easy to follow. The conclusions made common sense and I appreciated the thoughtful analysis. I struggled when trying to see myself in the cultural context presented here. Primarily, except for the end, her view is from a population perspective, as in why is there a generation of picky eaters in the United States? From that perspective, it is very well done. Yet I still wonder why so many of my peers who were young children in the seventies have memories of the table as a battleground and how this dynamic contributed to pickiness? As a picky eater, I seriously dislike certain foods and have never « learned » to like them, as the author suggests is possible, seemingly in a universal way. I would suggest then that this is the flaw in her book. That is, trying to take this cultural perspective and apply it to individual child feeding practices for today’s parents. I’m still giving it four stars because I learned new things and it made me think. Thanks to the author, the publisher St Martin’s Press and #NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Julie Stielstra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first thing you should know about this book is that it is a cultural history written by a historian. Viet is an expert in the history of food and its attendant social, and familial ramifications, with some detours into psychology. Veit has clearly done an enormous amount of research into what people have eaten, and how those practices and patterns have evolved over decades or even centuries. The first couple of chapters are just that: examples of foods eaten by people, largely in North America in the last century or so, but also include reports of diets in communities across the globe. Veit’s premise is that in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, kids ate exactly what their parents ate. They loved vegetables. They drank coffee. They loved spicy, heavily salted or preserved foods. They ate what was on the table and they liked it. There was no pickiness.

Then, enter the “experts” – the quotation marks are Veit’s. In an era lacking antibiotics or other effective medications, many children (and adults) died of a variety of diseases. Some children, notably indigenous, minority, or immigrant children, faced poverty and insufficient nutrition. “Nutrition scientists” (again, Veit’s quote marks) began to explore the benefit or dangers of diet. Nursing a sick child seemed to demand special foods: bland, mild foods that would not upset a child’s “delicate digestion,” or “strengthening” foods like liver or meat broths. Children’s digestive systems were seen to be special, different from adults. Nuts and fiber were said to be dangerous; whole grains would “disarrange” a child’s intestines. Vegetables should be boiled into mush. Granted, much of this advice was wrong-headed, so many of these experts deserved Veit’s scare quotes. By the 1930s, parents were subject to an onslaught of advice, warnings, recommendations, and rules about what their kids should eat, how much and when. I especially loved a recommended children’s menu comprising Creamed Calves Brains on Toast, Stuffed Prune Salad, Lima Bean Casserole, Red-Hot Bananas, and Liver-Paste Sandwiches. I couldn’t resist checking the reference on that, which curiously cited an article by Dr. Morris Fishbein (among others), head of the American Medical Association, which said nothing at all about these delicious recipes. Hmm.

There is actually a wealth of fascinating material in subsequent chapters, covering the pressure placed on parents regarding what to feed their kids. One small 2-year study of motherless children living in a hospital for two years laid out an array of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, meats raw and cooked, and let them free feed entirely independently. They ate everything. They thrived. One boy ate liver for breakfast every day, till he got tired of it and switched to something else. The media went wild, shouting that this proved that you should should let your kids eat whatever they wanted and it would be fine… ignoring the fact that the foods offered were all wholesome, healthful choices. So yes, they did well.

On to the 1950s, with the appearance of Dr. Spock and his gentler, more permissive, friendly advice. A convinced Freudian, he urged that forcing a reluctant child to eat something she did not like was cruel and could cause deep psychological damage. What were anxious parents (read: mothers) to do? The advice was pouring in from all sides, and if you didn’t make sure your child ate the right foods in the right way, you were a lousy parent and might be damaging your child irreparably.

Enter the sea change in food availability and marketing. With technological progress, most families had refrigerators and convenient stoves and ovens. Foods that had been limited to certain regions or seasons were now available year round and locally. Choices exploded in expanding grocery stores. Kids were towed along the aisles of A&P. And the marketers starting adding sugars, salt, preservatives, and cartoon characters on the labeling. “Mom! Buy me THAT cereal!” And a whole new wave of “kid foods” poured across the country.

And so, here we are. So many choices, many of them less than healthy. If a kid refused the veggies on the dinner table, he’d be offered snacks to tide him over till morning. If he didn’t like a particular food, it would vanish from the repertoire – he won! As one boy put it: “If I don’t like what Mom buys, she has to eat it herself.”

Veit concludes that the appropriate response to a picky child is to repeatedly offer a disliked food, to the extent of “popping it right into the child’s mouth” until the child “learns to like it.” She believes any kid can be taught to like pretty much anything: witness the huge variety of foods kids scarfed down and loved in the last century. She makes no mention at all of children with developmental disorders, such as autism. Her sources lean heavily on newspaper and magazine articles, historical documents, letters, cookbooks – and comparatively few actual medical studies, while she frequently mentions a lack of studies to support ideas that she criticizes. A cursory search of PubMed (“picky and (eating or eaters)” in article titles) produced nearly two hundred articles, delving into nutritional, health status, management, psychological and developmental aspects of the picky eater. It is not clear that Veit has examined this literature in as much depth as the problem warrants. In this day of scientific evidence being all too readily dismissed or challenged, her final advice in the epilogue is troubling. While there is much to admire in the detailed presentation of the effects of history, culture, society, and corporate and technological developments on the issue of food aversions and picky eating in today’s children, this book is not one that offers much in the way of recommendations to worried parents of those kids. Conversations with knowledgeable pediatricians, psychologists, and nutrition specialists would be an essential addition for those concerned parents.

I thank NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Kelly Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an exhaustive historical exploration of how children were weaned and expected to eat through time and what cultural shifts changed all that. It was all very intuitive and almost obvious, but to get the confirmation from this highly-sourced and researched book really helped drive home the point. I think all parents who are weaning or have young children should read this to remind ourselves how humans and families lived before we let capitalism and marketing take over. It was easy and had a logical flow, a great read.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC; these opinions are completely my own.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this ARC through NetGalley.

This was a really interesting look at what picky eating is, and where it originated a concept. I found the sections about what was considered a proper diet (no raw vegetables?) in the past to be really cool. Also, as a daily pot of coffee drinker, I was relieved to know that it probably won’t stunt my son’s growth if he gets his hands on some.

[Chandler Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Helen Zoe Veit for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an informative and helpful read! A decent amount of the information was familiar to me, but it still gave me a lot to think about—especially around our family’s mealtime habits. I’ll admit, I usually feed my kids separate dinners most nights instead of offering them what we’re eating. Part of that is just a matter of timing—planning to cook early enough so they can eat too—but for the meals I know they’ll eat, we do make it work earlier… which means, really, we could probably do that for every meal.

My 3-year-old can be picky, but this book had me asking how much of that might be because I’m not consistently putting our meals in front of her. It really made me reflect on our routines and how small changes could make a big difference.

[Ryo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book for free in a Goodreads giveaway.

I don't have kids and plan to never have any, but I was still curious about why American children are considered "the fussiest eaters in history" and entered this giveaway. And I certainly learned a lot from this very well-researched book that goes into detail about the history of children's food in the United States. It gets quite repetitive at times, though, and I found the epilogue containing advice on how to raise children to be non-picky eaters to be a bit radical and jarring.

The book goes into a lot of history about children's eating habits in the United States, starting in the nineteenth century, when kids used to basically just eat what adults did, and they were much more adventurous in their eating habits. The author discusses an impressive variety of factors that have led to today's children's eating habits, including the rise of milk and refrigeration, influential child-rearing advice from Dr. Spock and other so-called "experts," food advertising aimed at children, convenience foods that have led to an increase in snacking and a decrease in hunger at mealtime, and so many others. I learned quite a few interesting facts, like how the myth that caffeine stunts children's growth came from coffee consumption among kids being associated with less wealthy families, where kids were also less nourished than in wealthier families, or how people used to fear raw fruit in the past. The book introduces a lot of interesting facts about children's eating in American history, and it presents convincing reasons about how children's eating habits have changed to where they are today through a complex combination of psychology, marketing, and technology.

The book does get quite repetitive at times, however. The author presents example after example, and often even presents additional examples in the copious endnotes. There were times where I just wished that the book would move onto the next topic instead of presenting even more examples of the same thing. There was certainly a lot of research that went into this book, and it shows, but it would have helped to edit it down a bit so that it wasn't quite so overwhelming in driving the same point home over and over.

The epilogue also felt a bit jarring to me, as the author suggests things like repeatedly encouraging a child to eat a certain food, going as far as putting some of it in the child's mouth, until they learn to enjoy it. The author mentions earlier in the book that even in the nineteenth century, when children were much less picky about what they ate, there were still some foods that children and adults did not enjoy. Yet the author makes it seem like getting a child to enjoy a certain food is an inevitability in the jarring advice she gives in the epilogue. Other pieces of advice in the epilogue, like limiting kids' exposure to processed foods and food advertising or not letting them snack too much, seem much more reasonable, but it seemed quite unreasonable to expect that every child can grow to like every food their parents want them to.

This is certainly a very well-researched and often interesting book about the history and evolution of children's eating habits in the United States. It's a bit repetitive in the large numbers of examples given for many things, though, and some of the advice given in the epilogue seems a bit extreme, as if the author just wants things to go back to the way they were in the nineteenth century.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: I received an Advance Reader Copy of Picky: How American Children Became the Fussiest Eaters in History by Helen Zoe Veit in exchange for an honest review.

This book provided me with an incredibly enjoyable and fascinating romp through US history.

It’s wonderful when books build on knowledge we already have, and I thought the author did an amazing job of referencing back to common knowledge or myths or understandings (whether correct or incorrect). In that way, the new information felt incredibly relevant and easily accessible: something noteworthy for a book that centers history.

Something I particularly loved about this book was how much new information I learned from reading it! I already had a decent background in the history of parenting and food, and the author’s accessible writing style meant that I was able to easily make connections between what I knew already and the new information.

I appreciated the mostly-chronological telling of the big picture of pickiness. The historical cycles of stern parenting and relaxed parenting; controlling parenting and permissive parenting, plus the alleged experts’ reactions to these cycles, were clearly outlined.

Each type of parenting seemed to feed (ha!) directly into other social aspects of their respective time period in ways that only served to increase children’s pickiness and fuel parents’ anxiety over their children’s distressing lack of interest in eating.

Before reading this book I did suspect that the rise of processed foods played a large role in the rise in pickiness, but I had not previously realized how intense and pervasive the advertising directed at children used to be.

I kept thinking of that scene in A Christmas Story (spoiler) where Ralphie is eagerly decoding a secret message from Little Orphan Annie’s radio show. He’s frantic with excitement because he’s been waiting weeks for this decoder ring to arrive in his mailbox and then when he finally finishes decoding the message it reads: “Be sure to drink your Ovaltine!”

*It was all just an advertisement after all. How disappointing.*

Most of all though, I love how reading the ARC of this book gave me the confidence to reassure a close friend of mine that it’s not her fault that her kids are picky! Kids’ pickiness is not simply their parents’ fault because it’s actually a whole systemic issue with the weight of history behind it.

Having picky kids is not an individual failing, it’s an enduring legacy.

And only by learning about the history of that legacy, learning how we arrived at this place in time when children are expected to refuse to eat green vegetables and demand chicken nuggets at every meal, can we ever hope to break those patterns and move forward in a healthier and more balanced way. Otherwise, it appears we will just continue harmfully reacting to the myths and behaviors handed down to us, built upon previous generations’ mistakes.

Which is why I think that any parent who’s ever worried about how much their child is eating or about what their child is eating would benefit from reading this book!

Excellently presented, thoroughly referenced, easily accessible: this was a nonfiction book that I hated having to put down.

Trigger warning: if you have food issues from your childhood, read with caution, but also read to learn more about why you have those food issues. Some of the older parenting methods mentioned in the book are considered abusive now, so read cautiously for that as well.

Thank you for reading!

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 4 out of 5]

E ARC provided by Netgalley and the publisher

I'm a huge fan of histories of everyday subjects, and particularly love books like Bundy's A Century in Food (2002). Veit, who has written histories of food in the Gilded Age, Civil War (North AND South), and the really intriguing sounding Modern Food, Moral Food: Self-Control, Science, and the Rise of Modern American Eating in the Early Twentieth Century (2013), doesn't set out to tell parents how to feed their picky eaters; she's here to tell us the history of the US diet and explain how changes led to children being picky eaters. Since I am not currently dealing with any small people who won't eat dinner, I found this fascinating.

This also delves a lot into the changes in how parenting has been viewed over the years; I particularly found the idea that "good parents are nice parents" interesting. My mother, who was born in 1934 into a family of 11, thought that two chocolate chip cookies were a fine breakfast, although when the doctor told her when I was in third grade that I needed to lose weight, she cut me back to a thermos of tomato soup and a slice of baloney (no bread!) for lunch. Nutritional advice was apparently in short supply in the 1970s, when marketing snacks to children really took off. There's also an entire chapter on Overbearing Mothers.

Even though there isn't really a prescription for dealing with picky eaters, there is a short epilogue entitles "Happy Meals" that discusses how the author has used her knowledge of food history to encourage her own children to be decent eaters. Basically, it comes down to not letting children snack, and not offering them other options is they don't like what is being served. No bribery, no arguments, just "this is what you're eating, or you're not eating". Not perfect advice, but not a bad place to start.

This is the sort of book I eat up (sorry!). I loved reading that even in 1955, doctors were opining that maybe kids weren't eating at meals was because they were not hungry, having filled up on snacks. And the thought that if you have pie every day, it becomes less special. This book was fascinating if you love to read about everyday culture and enjoyed books like Marks' Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America's First Lady of Food (2005), Wyman's SPAM: A Biography: The Amazing True Story of America's "Miracle Meat!" (1999), or Jan and Michael's Square Meals: America's Favorite Comfort Cookbook (1984). Which I should never have gotten rid of. Reading nonfiction books like this is how I will be spending my retirement, since I won't need to read middle grade novels for five hours a day!

[Maddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love a good history lesson, and mixing it with food, psychology, and “big food”, made this an extremely enjoyable considering how dense it was!

I loved taking a step back in time and looking at what children used to eat in 19th century America. The fact that adults and children alike ate what they could and couldn’t complain much because of a lack of refrigeration, resources, and options made for a huge lack in picky eaters. Based on the history, I think the start of the picky era did come from a good place from genuine concerns on children’s digestion, what was healthy for them, and psychologists and doctors who genuinely wanted to help, but with findings that didn’t have good science behind them, or were twisted by the public.

Because of this book, I now have a new hill to die on- death to the kids meal! My parents were classic late 90s early 2000s young parents. My siblings and I grew up on jarred baby food, kids meals at restaurants, chicken nuggets at home, etc. But both of my parents made sure that we ate a little bit of everything from our plate before we were done, and included veggies at almost every meal. My brother in particular was extremely picky to the point where at one point all he would eat were mashed potatoes and raw oats with milk. This went on for at least a couple of years. Through sheer grit and persistence my parents continued in making him try everything, and he is now considered an amazing eater as an adult. So I have seen firsthand that this style of encouragement around picky eaters and food can work.

To debunk the two major criticisms I’ve seen another reviews about this book, the “exhaustive history lesson” in my opinion was needed and incredibly enjoyable in setting the scene and showing factual evidence that how children eat today is completely foreign to how they ate for at least a millennia before now. And the second criticism, that all of the tips on how to help a current picky eater could easily be googled, I think defeats the purpose of this book. We have seriously overcomplicated food and eating, especially with children, that the way back to joyful, excited, eating is simple, but takes persistence.

This is one of my all-time favorite reads. A thorough and intense history lesson speckled with gorgeous descriptions of delicious food that children used to eat, and paving the way for children of today to have healthful and joyful eating was an amazing way to close out my 2025 reading year.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an advanced free copy in exchange for my honest opinion!

[Mikala · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picky is an impressively researched cultural history of children’s eating habits in the United States, but as a reading experience it feels more like homework than the engaging narrative food history it could have been. The premise is fantastic: children were once expected to eat what adults ate, bold flavors, bitter greens, coffee, pickles, and picky eating as a defining childhood trait is a relatively modern, culturally constructed phenomenon. On that level, the book absolutely delivers, marshaling an enormous amount of historical material, archival sources, and period commentary to show how advice literature, changing medical ideas, food marketing, and postwar parenting philosophies converged to create today’s “kid food” culture.

Where it falters is in narrative voice and readability. Readers expecting something with the storytelling verve of Mark Kurlansky’s Cod will likely be disappointed; this reads much more like a dissertation on historical culinary norms than a lively work of narrative nonfiction. Chapter after chapter piles on examples, expert opinions, and shifts in doctrine over time, but the prose rarely invites you in or builds momentum. The result is a book that feels dense and overlong, especially given that a substantial portion is devoted to notes and bibliography.

Picky persuasively reframes pickiness as a cultural outcome rather than a biological inevitability, and it offers a sobering look at how expert advice, corporate marketing, and shifting ideas about childhood helped get us here. For historians, food-studies enthusiasts, and readers who enjoy heavily sourced, thesis-driven nonfiction, this may be a rewarding, if somewhat flavorless, feast. For those hoping for an accessible, story-rich romp through food history, or a practical playbook for feeding real children today, it is more like a plate of overcooked, unseasoned brussel sprouts: undeniably nutritious, but there are better options available. Personally, I’d wait for Gastropod to do a podcast episode about this!

[Dea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic historical tour of children's eating habits throughout history and across cultures, and highlights the multiple aspects that led to a seismic shift towards "pickiness" halfway through the mid-20th century.

To put it broadly, children started snacking more (which became possible with the addition of refrigerators, more shelf-stable options, and plastic packaging that allowed food to be carried with us throughout the day), and psychologists started scaring parents into not encouraging their children to eat food "they didn't like," children became inundated with countless, manipulative advertisements for junk food, and above all, parents lost confidence when it came to promoting healthy eating.

Veit goes into far more detail on each facet and includes very interesting tidbits I'd never heard before (like the fact that there was a time when people thought children shouldn't eat raw fruit!). Further, it really highlights how over-processed foods might be making a huge impact on the increase of pickiness in children; by introducing vibrant, artificial colors and smooth textures, children are naturally more hesitant to try raw options that come in various textures and more "unappealing" colors. It's not hard to see why M&Ms do more visually for the appetite than raisins, for example. Veit also dispels some commonly held beliefs, such as the idea that children have more taste buds (research on this is surprisingly sparse and proxy-driven).

Overall, I thought this was an engaging, quick read that really expanded my understanding of childhood eating preferences and historical patterns. Veit ended with approachable, encouraging advice to parents, and I would recommend this book to anyone who is currently curious about this uptick in "picky eating."

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, for the opportunity to read an advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest opinions.

[Stacey (Bookalorian)]

I just finished Picky by Helen Zoe Veit - How American Children became the fussiest eaters in history and here are my musings.

When I received this book I was like… YUP this is my life… I have 2 ASD level 3 kids and they literally live on nothing.

This book didn’t really give me any insight on how to change the habits of my kids but an interesting look at things have changed from decade to decade… I personally think that the government and their lobby habits have made parents for the most part flip flop on what is healthy and “best for their family” based on who paid the most money.

I am not saying this book is wrong but as a parent with 23 years experience and still has young kids today.. I can tell you that the triangle they use as a reference guide has changed almost every year since I started paying attention. I’m sure that has zero to do with it but I digress.

This book is well written and interesting if you are just looking to learn the what of history, then this is a really clever and insightful read. This book makes note of how obese kids are today and this is very true but again, could’t this be because they spend more time in front of screens and eat for pleasure?

I disagree a lot with this book in the whys but I did enjoy reading it. I think the snacking culture we have is a massive part of picky eating because they do come to the table less hungry and less likely to eat the healthier options so I guess me and the book do agree on something.

The book has almost 80 pages of citations which I found intriguing but it took up a lot of retail space in the book.

Not sure who the niche is here but all in all not a bad resource if this is something you are interested in.

3.5 stars

Thank you to @stmartinspress for my gifted copy and my opinions are my own.

Expected pub 24 Feb 26

[Bam cooks the books · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was interested in reading an arc of this non-fiction book about picky eaters when it was offered to me because my 10-year-old grandson is a very picky eater. Being someone who has tried to eat in healthy ways for many years, I was pretty sure I knew what the author would say is the cause behind the current increase in fussy eating among American children...and I was right: ultra-processed foods and snacking.

But first, the author looks at how children were fed in America over the last 150 years or so and finds that children usually ate just what their parents ate. Next she examines how that has changed and what popular theories about raising children helped drive that change--think Freud and Dr Spock.

But for me this is the golden nugget of her research: "Two-thirds of the food American children eat is now ultra-processed--unsurprising, since most things marketed as 'children's food' are branded factory products. And the more ultra-processed food children eat, the likelier they are to be both undernourished and overweight. Child obesity was rare just a few decades ago, but now almost half of American children are overweight or obese..."

Now my grandson is not overweight but he'd prefer a hamburger and fries from Culver's over a home-cooked meal anytime. He's even fussy about desserts! When he visited for a week last summer, I made homemade chocolate ice cream. He said he only likes vanilla but he ate the waffle cone. He won't eat any cookie made with peanut butter, nuts, raisins or oatmeal and most recently he decided he doesn't like chocolate chips. What's a grandmother to do?

The last chapter of this book gives some practical suggestions for helping picky eaters begin to make healthier choices at mealtimes. The last 50% of the book contains the author's thank yous and notes and citing of the material included so the book is not as long as you'd think.

I received an arc through NetGalley; my review is completely voluntary.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a child, I was (and still am) an extremely picky eater, so the title and synopsis of this book immediately caught my eye. I never thought of pickiness as being a ‘new’ thing among children, but it made sense as I read on.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first 2/3 of the book (excluding the lengthy bibliography) as it explored the history of eating habits throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. I loved the inclusion of old recipes as well. It was so interesting to see the evolution of food on the page. With this was also the impact of the cultures and classes various people grew up in, as this also had an impact on how many kids approached food. Psychiatry and parenting trends are among other external contributors to the phenomenon.

For how engrossed I was with the beginning of the book, the ending was a disappointment. It felt unfinished. I thought there would be an equal amount of time spent on efforts that can be made to help kids broaden their tastes. The author briefly shares a tidbit about her own children’s eating, but that’s about it. Although I was more interested in the history, it wasn’t rounded off well. It felt like it was building to something and then the thought was abandoned. Even one more chapter discussing ways for parents/guardians/caregivers to approach new eating habits with children would make a huge difference.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with a free digital ARC of the book!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a NetGalley ARC of this book.

As a parent of two picky eaters, I was interested to read this book because it relates directly to our mealtime experience. Veit summarizes the cultures of eating, parenting, and marketing over the past 150+ years and how the shift away from home-cooking/adult-centered meals towards prepackaged foods/individual taste-centered meals has created generations of picky eaters. I found the book to be well-written and a good overview of how feeding practices have changed over the years. Especially interesting was her focus on how parenting practices have changed from more "because I said so" parenting to more child-centered "nice" parenting and how the emphasis on providing foods that children prefer (hyper palatable mac-and-cheese, more sweets) has skewed what a "traditional" meal looks like. As someone who has taken their children to a nutritionist on multiple occasions (to no avail, unfortunately), it was amusing to read the different strategies that have been encouraged to feed children over the years, all of which we have tried at one time or another without success. My only criticism of this book is that because she covered so many topics over such a wide range, I would have liked more specific information/information from meta analyses to back up her claims. While this book is listed as 304 pages, only 50% is actual text (the rest is notes, index, etc.)

[Renwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a parent and avid reader, I was drawn to this book's exploration of children's eating habits. Veit's writing is engaging and accessible, making the book a compelling read despite its dense historical content. The book reveals that children's eating habits have undergone a significant transformation over the past century. What was once a culture where children eagerly consumed diverse foods has given way to one where pickiness is now seen as a natural trait. Veit argues that pickiness is a cultural influence, rather than a biological fact, and challenges readers to rethink their assumptions about children's eating habits.

I found myself reflecting on my own parenting practices and the ways in which cultural influences have shaped my approach to mealtime. Veit's comprehensive historical research and nuanced analysis make the book a valuable resource for parents, historians, and anyone interested in the cultural significance of food.

While some readers may find the text dense, Veit's writing is clear and informative, making the book a thought-provoking and engaging exploration of a timely and timeless topic. However, in our current society, I wonder how many people would find the time or motivation to consider a change in habits.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Abee Bittle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life changing.

I really enjoyed this book. As a parent to young children it felt surprisingly fresh to view pickiness through the lens of a historian. Veit walks you through children’s diets in the 1800s to now. All of her connections for how and why children, as a population, have gotten pickier were presented in a clear and non judgmental way.

I think this book is extremely empowering. It feels like a common sense reminder that has gotten lost in the chaos of marketing, over analyzing parenting styles, and the decline of multi generational homes.

Also, it is a cultural history book. Veit provides a very clear summarization of what should change in order to return kids eating habits to how they were for the majority of human history.. But, still a history book. It will not hold your hand and walk you through every up or down you may face with your picky child. I think that was intentional and for the best.

Definitely recommend to all parents, but truly anyone who is around kids could benefit if the interest in the topic is there.

Thank you, NetGalley and St Martin’s Press, for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

[Andi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher, NetGalley, and the author for the opportunity to read this ARC.

As someone who has never been a picky eater, I decided to check out Picky as I know many people who are. I found a lot of the information provided in this book to be really useful in understanding why kids are picky eaters and how their environment has raised them as such.

It's very clear the author has researched the topic at hand well, and I'm glad I decided to pick up this book as I learned quite a lot!

It did feel like some points were frequently restated, so it lost some points for repetitiveness, but otherwise I think this is a book that I would recommend to others--especially soon-to-be parents who might be nervous about their kids being future picky eaters. I also was hoping for a more narrative approach considering the intro, but it felt much more like a rigid historical research work than a personal narrative interwoven with fact. The material was good but quite dense, so keep that in mind before reading!

3.5 stars

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, St. Martin's Press, for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was a pretty interesting read. The book offers but historical context and scientific/study references, but the main focus is setting the history of what children's dietary habits used to be and how they've changed over time. I would not say that this is a book on how to help picky eaters become less picky; there is some advice in the epilogue, but it's pretty surface-level. To me, this is very much a history book (which was enjoyable).

Overall, I feel like I learned a lot about the history of pickiness and the changes of "children's" food over time. I would say that the first couple chapters have too many examples of what children used to eat in different cultures; I know that it's important to give examples, but it was way too many and was monotonous to read through.

[Natalie K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fascinating book focusing on how American children became so darn picky. Veit traces the history of what people ate in nineteenth-century America and how a cultural shift, mainly created by Dr. Spock's book (which I knew nothing about before reading this, but sounds incredibly dumb), contrived to make American children picky.

Basically, expose your children to a wide variety of foods, even if they don't like them. Have them try these foods. It's not going to traumatize or negatively affect them. Signed, a very non-picky eater who was raised trying lots of new foods.

Thank you to NetGalley for the review copy.

[Louisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cultural history here is incredibly interesting, but a little bit repetitive at times. It’s also very thoroughly researched; however, I found the tips at the end woefully unsupported. The author laments the dearth of studies about the actual ramifications of feeding advice, and then makes recommendations regardless, using a summary of the cultural history she presented, with no nuance, as her foundation.

Thank you the the author, publisher, and NetGalley for a free eARC in exchange for an unbiased interview.

And side note: I have never once in all of my life been “pleasantly hungry.” How tf am I supposed to ensure my toddler is.

[Sheena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picky is an interesting look at the history of children's diets and why it seems like so many people are picky today. This is a very well-researched book, and it was fascinating to read how the changes in food, especially in early 20th century, led to where we are today. I have my own picky eater, and I now look at their relationship with food differently than I did before. This isn't a book on how to get your picky child eating more foods, but I think by the end of it you have a better understanding of pickiness and you'll have some ideas on what you can do to help your picky eater.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Helen Zoe Veit, and NetGalley for the ARC!

[Marianne K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say this book was somewhat of a pleasant surprise as I did not expect it to be a historical perspective of picky children! I found it well researched and the author clearly passionate about her subject. It was also validating as my child was raised in such a way as to not be a picky eater and she is not! There is a lot of detail about children's eating habits and content from other centuries which is enjoyable and interesting. While this book is not a "how-to" in the traditional sense, if you read and assimilate the knowledge, your children will not be picky in my opinion.

[Noelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️ 4.0
📖 e-book
advance reader copy


Well researched and easy to follow. I didn’t know much about the history of food/meals and eating in America. I found this topic really interesting, especially being a mom of two young kids.

This is my fault for not comprehending the synopsis, but I was hoping for some tips on how to help my children willingly eat more diversely. I didn’t realize this was solely a history book.


My favorite fun fact is probably that taste buds were almost called “taste goblets”

[Diana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, it was fine. Heads up that this reads a lot more like a dissertation or thesis (granted, a very good one) than a book to easily glean tips from.

I was disappointed that we didn't get actionable advice throughout the book about how to counter pickiness in our kids today until the literal epilogue. And even then, it was BRIEF.

As a parent currently introducing solids to her 6 month old, I have to say I was disappointed. If you're interested in the straight up history of picky eating overtime, this is a great and very well researched read. If you, like me, were looking for more general background info on how we got to pickiness culture and then an emphasis on what we can do to correct it in our kids today, I would have to recommend skipping this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for access to this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

[haley · Rating 2 out of 5]

**I received a copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I appreciate the amount of time the author has spent researching this, it’s clear Veit was prepared and passionate about this topic. I don’t want to fault the book too much because it is exactly as it says, the HISTORY of how children became picky. It was not as engaging as I was hoping.

This was very, "here is how we got here” with no “here is how we can fix it”

I would recommend this to readers who enjoy food history, less so for parents looking for advice.

[Katie Rutter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book on the history of how children have eaten over centuries and how pickiness is a relatively new concept. You can tell the author really delved into her research and went to multiple lengths to write this book. She does a great job at presenting her research in an easy to read form that isn't too dry or "academic". Overall I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot!

[Laura Kershaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good rundown of the factors that caused what I would consider an epidemic of pickiness in America (that I was subjected to and would like to not subject my future kid to). Very approachable while citing scientific and historic information that’s interesting without being overly technical. Great, non-belabored non-fiction. Would read more from this author!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book!