Food

For many families with toddlers, a fine dining experience, sans three-quarters of the meal ending up on the floor, is out of the question. But a finer dining experience? Definitely doable.

Tinytongs can help your DC clean up her act. The child-size tongs are easy to manipulate (via a pincer grasp) and perfect for “bridging the gap” between the time a kid eats with her fingers and the time she can actually master traditional utensils. Tinytongs have proper tensioning for a child (12 months and up), gripping ridges and a non-slip grip. Made from polypropylene and TPE over-molding, they have all the right “frees;” they’re lead-, BPA-, Phthalate- and PVC-free. Another plus - you can throw these babies into the dishwasher. No special cleaning rituals required. Lastly, tinytongs are available at recession-friendly prices: $7.99 for a single, $24.99 for a four-pack.

Bon appetit.

Available at tinytongs.com.

Big, tempting containers of blueberries for sale at Wal-Mart…what could be the problem? Maybe that those blueberries might have been picked by little kids.

The problems were found by the state of Michigan, working for farms that supplied the Adkins Blue Ribbon Blueberry Co. with berries. Kids as young as age five were found working on the farms. Here’s a priceless quote on the child-labor scandal from the Independent: “The children were being put to work because their small hands are more efficient at picking the tiny fruit.” NPR says that farm checks also found hazardous sewage leaks and infestations of bugs and rodents in the migrant settlements.

Footage of the wee blueberry pickers was featured prominently on Nightline last week. Kinda makes those berries not taste so sweet.

In his article “Eat Your Peas. Or Don’t. Whatever,” New York Times food critic and author Frank Bruni describes the extremes to which young children are straying - obesity on one end of the spectrum, an obsession with being thin on the other. These are subjects Bruni knows something about. In his recent memoir, Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater, Bruni, a man who makes his living eating, chronicles his bouts with bulimia and struggles with fluctuating weight. In the Eat Your Peas article, he discusses the challenge for parents in this age of extremes. It’s “how to coach children away from unhealthy eating without sowing panic; how to make them conscious of their intake without making them too self-conscious about its consequences.”

We asked Lynn Grefe, CEO of the National Eating Disorders Association, how to accomplish this. She offers the following advice:

Dieting
A parent who is constantly dieting isn’t setting a good example. “The right example is to eat in a healthy fashion and not to set up food as the culprit … There’s really no such thing as bad foods. It’s about the moderation of foods.” (The exception: You truly do have a health issue and need to be on a diet.)

Liquid detox/Cleansing diets
A quick word on these fad diets of the moment which promise a “cleanse” after a certain period of drinking various concoctions. “It’s not healthy. It’s not the way that we’re supposed to be living.”

Talking the talk
A parent who is always asking if she’s fat or whether certain clothes make her butt look big is sending the wrong message. The focus is shifted to weight rather than “ who we are as people.” Teach kids that they should be healthy for the size that fits their body.

Walking the walk
“If a parent is on a treadmill for three hours watching TV, then what kind of signal is she sending to her child? That’s not moderation.” (The exception: You’re training for the marathon.) “People who are doing extremes in their own life, then, of course, those extremes are going to run down on the kids.” Obviously, exercise in and of itself is fine and part of a healthy lifestyle.

Enjoying food
Put the joy back into mealtime. “It’s terrible that people are setting food up as the enemy. Food is supposed to be a joyous time. We sit down to meals. We break bread. It’s supposed to be a nice time where we meet and compare notes and ask, ‘How was your day?’”

Adding perspective
If your DD comes home and tells you her BFF won’t eat any sugar, explain that that’s not a healthy approach. Try not to criticize the friend but rather the behavior. You might also want to suggest that the food restriction in question may be related to a health issue.

Being aware
“No child should be losing her self-esteem over this. And that’s what’s happening. Even if they don’t develop an eating disorder, girls think they’re never perfect. They never feel quite right. We should be measuring the size of our hearts and not the size of our hips.”

For more info., visit nationaleatingdisorders.org.

You might think your low-key, local pizza joint is the best place to teach young kids about the etiquette of eating out rather than a world-famous establishment frequented by presidents, literary luminaries and Wall Street titans. Think again. The Four Seasons Restaurant, original home of the “power lunch,” may be the perfect setting for discovering dining decorum (and let’s not forget people watching.)

Alex von Bidder, an owner of the Four Seasons, has co-authored a children’s book with Leslie McGuirk entitled Wiggens Learns His Manners at the Four Seasons Restaurant. In the story, Wiggens, a chocolate Labrador, heads to the legendary eatery and joins other puppies for a crash course in dining dos and don’ts. Von Bidder says it’s important to teach kids about the experience and ritual of dining out not just what fork to use. “We do it because somebody else cooks and somebody else serves and you have a delicious meal … and you don’t have to do dishes,” he remarks. Von Bidder, who teaches classes on manners at law firms and big companies, adds, “I think it’s far more important that they understand what manners mean in terms of life; that’s being thoughtful and respectful of other people.”

So what’s some of the most egregious behavior von Bidder has witnessed at his restaurant? A faux pas committed not by kids but adults. Two grown women were having a food fight in the space between the two dining rooms. “We ended up with some creme anglaise or something like that on the Picasso.” Not a simple clean-up.

Wonder if they got their cotton candy.

Available at amazon.com.

There are no particular health or nutritional benefits to choosing organic produce and meat over conventionally produced food, said the UK’s Food Standards Agency. The agency conducted a yearlong study in which it reviewed 162 scientific papers published over the last 50 years, and found that a “small number” of nutritional differences existed between the two types of food, but the differences were “unlikely to be of any public health relevance.”

Conventional food producers, who have long maintained that organic had no advantages over its product besides snob appeal, were no doubt overjoyed. Meanwhile, consumers who spent an estimated $48 billion on organic food in 2007, are both put out and confused. Were they wasting their money all this time?

No, say study critics, who point out that the FSA ignored significant differences in vitamins and minerals between organic and conventional produce. Beta-carotene, for example, was found to be as much as 53 percent higher in organic produce, which the agency apparently discounts as unimportant.

Even more distressing is the fact that the FSA’s report failed to take into account the environmental damage wrought by chemical fertilizers and pesticides, as well as the potential health problems caused by pesticide residues on food. After all, you can take a vitamin pill to get all the beta-carotene you need, but you can’t remove toxins from the body once they’ve already caused damage. And since children are at more risk from pesticide residue than adults for a variety of reasons, that organic apple starts to look a lot more appealing, no matter what the FSA says.

Summer BBQs and birthday parties mean paper plates — but you feel guilty throwing all those former trees in the trash.

But Dandelion’s ReUsables plates, bowls, and utensils are made from a corn-based plastic that is more Earth-friendly. The toddler options (for ages 6 months and up) are shaped for small hands to hold while little ones learn to feed themselves. Not only do they stack for easy storage, but they are, as the name suggests, designed to hold up through more than one meal.

It’s worth the washing.

Available at dandelionforbaby.com.

While your personal chef lives only in your dreams, you still fantasize about yummy homemade meals delivered to your door.

Pomme Bebe in Orange County ships its fresh, organic baby food throughout the United States. Every meal is flash-frozen to lock in freshness and vital nutrients then shipped overnight each Thursday in environmentally friendly packaging. A rotating menu of fresh seasonal recipes (apple strawberry, carrot lentil) is prepared in small batches at the company’s onsite kitchen in Newport Beach, CA, and can be stored in the freezer for up to three months.

Put a fresh spin on frozen food.

Available at pommebebe.com.

Now that you’re pregnant you know what you should not eat — but what are the best foods for the next 9 months?

Feed the Belly by new mom and nutrition expert Frances Largeman-Roth features nearly 70 easy-to-make recipes smartly categorized by craving (salty, sweet, spicy). This healthy eating guide for pregnant women shares easy-to-follow tips, like what should and should not be on your shopping list, how to choose the healthiest fish and what to eat to boost fertility. Kick off your new and improved diet with the book’s simple seven-day eating plan that will boost your bump and your pre-baby bod.

Available at amazon.com.

The all-chicken nugget diet isn’t exactly ideal, but it’s the only thing he’ll eat. “Vegetable” is a dirty word, but you’ve got to get some beta-carotene into the little bugger.

Add a little nutrition without the kids noticing. Hip Hip Puree does ready-made, frozen, organic vegetable purees. While making your own from scratch sounds nice, becoming a junior Jessica Seinfeld just isn’t in the cards. Packaged in single serving (1/2 cup) pouches, these purees in four varieties (carrot, broccoli, sweet potato and cauliflower) can easily be added to sauces, side dishes or desserts. Try Hip Hip’s recipes for banana bread (with cauliflower) or muffins (with carrot), or start building your own yummy creation.

Mind your Ps and Qs (peas and quinoa).

Available at hiphippuree.com.

Pickle and ice cream cravings may be the most common thought on snacking while preggo, but it doesn’t end there — or even begin, really.

Food activist Nina Planck’s Real Food for Mother and Baby: The Fertility Diet, Eating for Two, and Baby’s First Foods advocates “real food” with advice that may differ from the books on your shelf. For example, Planck recommends eating more meat during pregnancy versus iron supplements, and good fat (olive oil, whole milk or cheese) for fertility — the book also includes the rundown on nursing and baby’s first foods.

Keep it real.

Available at realbabyfood.info.