Posts Categorized: Picky Eating

How We Learn to Eat

“The theme I revisit more than any other is families. Most of what we learn about food happens when we are children – when we’re sitting at the kitchen table (if your family is lucky enough to have one), being fed. Every bite is a memory, and the most powerful memories are the first ones. At this table, we are… Read more »

Gratitude Bites

Earlier this week I was a guest on “Radio Times,” a public affairs show out of Philadelphia’s WHYY/NPR Sirius. (Thanks to those of you who listened and got in touch!) Joe Yonan, longtime Washington Post food editor (and author of Eat Your Vegetables), and I were there to talk about dinner, namely how to get it on the table without… Read more »

The Snack to End All Snacks

Let me apologize right off the bat for this post reading like an ad or sponsored content, or a 19th century Keatsian love letter, because there is no way I’m going to get through the next two hundred words without going seriously heavy on the superlatives. OMG! I THINK I FOUND THE SNACK TO END ALL SNACKS. It all started near… Read more »

Soup Dumpling Souvenirs

Those of you who have been with DALS for a while might know my theory, based on years of research (read: making dinner) in my personal lab (read: kitchen table), that the key to expanding kids’ palates is to bring them along with you on the weekly food shop. As the theory goes, when they select the pack of pomegranate… Read more »

Neat Trick

Last week I was listening to two parenting podcasters: Dan Pashman, host of “The Sporkful,” and Hillary Frank, host of “The Longest Shortest Time.” They were discussing how to raise adventurous eaters and had some good advice for parents of picky eaters — I’m happy to report that family dinner and the idea of repeated exposure came up a few times. But my… Read more »

44 Things We’ve Said to Our Kids to Get them to Eat

.. Please? Try holding your nose. See how the fish is pink? Princesses love pink. Salmon is what princesses eat! It’s princess food! Yay princesses!!! If you don’t eat this, I will take the dog for a walk and never come home. You know how sometimes a needle is so sharp you don’t even feel it? That’s what this chili… Read more »

Other Mother’s Recipes

It makes me so happy to introduce today’s guest-poster, Dahlia Lithwick. When she’s not cooking for her two boys, or writing about picky eaters for desperate food bloggers, she’s reporting on the law and the courts for Slate. You know, just that. Welcome! -JR There is well-documented parental shame in having children who are known for being “picky eaters.” The implication… Read more »

The Condiment Problem

A few weeks ago, my friend Christy, mother of four, sent me a link to a pork chop recipe she was thinking about for dinner. “So I am going to make this tonight, but what bothers me is that two of my kids will put A-1 on it no matter what.” I felt her pain — soy sauce and ketchup… Read more »

Muffin Tin Tapas

I think by now I’ve made it clear how much of an inspiration Peg Bracken’s I Hate to Cook Book has been in my life. Not because the recipes are good — quite the contrary, in fact. With brilliantly nostalgic (but not-so-appealing) names like Ham Lime Supper and Fast Cheese Scallop, I’ve never been tempted to cook even one. The writing,… Read more »

Trying New Foods

When we’re little and we taste things for the first time, things can get a little hairy. Check out this video and pay careful attention to the Olive part, which might be the funniest thing you’ll see all weekend. (Thanks to the ever-reliable Dan for sending our way!)

The Magic Onion Effect

A cherished ritual seems to have sprung up in this house, without us ever consciously putting it into effect: we go out to a local restaurant, just the four of us, every Friday night for dinner. The culinary options in our neighborhood being somewhat…limited, we usually end up at a sushi place run by a super friendly Japanese man who… Read more »

Could Not Have Been Easier

I guess it’s not breaking news that pasta dinners are faster than most, but because I tend to plan around the pasta-hater in my house, I don’t get to make these kinds of dishes as often as I’d like. And when I do, and they turn out as deliciously as this Orecchiette with Peas and Country Ham (Meal #2 of… Read more »

The New Ketchup

Universal law of childhood eating, #217: Kids like to dip stuff in stuff. At least, our kids do. They dip roasted potatoes in ketchup. They dip baby carrots in ginger dressing. They dip sausages in yellow mustard, cookies in milk, and breaded chicken in ketchup. They dip salmon in Soyaki, grape tomatoes in ketchup (not sh*tting you!), burritos in salsa, apples… Read more »

Summer Stew

I should probably be stripped of my food blogging rights for telling you to do anything with summer corn besides eat it on the cob with a little salt and butter, but you know I can’t resist the urge to share the discovery of a new deconstructible dinner. Last week was not the first time we’ve eaten this corn, chicken… Read more »

Dinner: A Morning Show Story

So I went on the Today Show yesterday to talk about some themes you know well by now — deconstructing meals, picky eaters, my Trickle-Down Theory of Dinner (see page 10!) and of course, the book itself. I’ve known about this segment for about three months now — my publisher called me with the news while I was watching soccer… Read more »

One Meal, Three Ways

If you asked 8-year-old Abby to list her favorite foods, I have a feeling the following would show up in the top ten: penne, fettucini, rigatoni, farfalle, gnocchi, orechiette, and (as of last week), cavatelli. I don’t know how much of this love affair is because she’s defining herself in opposition to her sister, a world class pasta hater,  but I… Read more »