Everyone, even the resolutely kid-free, seems to have an opinion on the New York Times story Don't Point That Menu at My Child, Please. I basically agree that kids menus offer a horribly unhealthy selection of foods to children, although I don't think that means they'll never eat sushi either. But as the mother of the World's Pickiest Eater, I'm afraid I can't afford to be quite as smug as the rest of these yuppie parents forcing free-range organic edamame down their sprogs' little gullets. Is the ubiquitous kids' menu a curse, a boon, or somewhere in-between?
Just how fattening are those cupcakes? You'd probably rather not know, but NPR totalled up the calories at some top New York cupcakeries and found that some weighed in at a horrifying 780 calories and 36 grams of fat. Magnolia's famous cupcake was a slightly more reasonable 389 calories. Let the cupcake eater beware...
9 comments:
I took a human bio class in college wherein it was suggested that pickiness in kids is evolutionarily beneficial. You know, because it keeps them from putting weird things in their mouths and getting poisoned.
No surprise that a cupcake packs the caloric punch - icing is after all, mostly butter and sugar.
The kids menu thing is an interesting aside - I'm glad someone reported this. I think I might have taken the title of 'Worlds Pickiest Eater'.
Oh yeah - it's the frosting.
Eating it plain, it's still not whole wheat bread, but not as horrific!
A cupcake without the frosting? Now, what would be the point of that? I think I overdosed, though, during the great cupcake rush of ought five -- they always give me headaches now.
Few things irritate me more than self-righteous yuppie parents. Read some of the comments on the NYT blog on this article... ugh. Children are children-- just because their palates aren't so sophisticated doesn't mean less of the parents. And not everyone is afforded the luxury of traveling to Europe and sampling Julia Child's cuisine.
I'm 23-- not too old to forget how much I hated eating as a kid, there's nothing I liked more than plain pasta and white bread. And today, I'm nuts about food, tinkering in the kitchen and hunting out good spots on chowhound.
GenX parents need to RELAX and stop bubblewrapping and coddling their children... and cutting the restaurant snobbery is a good place to start.
"A cupcake without the frosting? Now, what would be the point of that?"
A cold chocolate cupcake, unfrosted, with a glass of milk. A plain vanilla cupcake with coffee in the am. Those are pleasures as well, just different than frosted ones...!
Hi Pat
I challenge you to see whose child is the world's pickiest eater! My son, who's almost 6, has never -- NEVER! -- had any noodle whatsoever, and won't even eat popcorn. He literally eats about seven things -- make that six things, now that Trader Joe's stopped selling those hash browns.
great blog!
Libby Molyneaux
Libby -
I wouldn't eat green foods as a child! I subsisted off of hot dogs, ravioli, chicken nuggets - ugh - to think...
today I'll eat anything, even if it doesn't taste good. If you try something enough you can develop a taste for it.
Wow, there is really much worthwhile info here!
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