Let's make sure kids know the origins of what they're eating

Here are some of the most interesting foods for thought.

This week, the British Nutrition Foundation released findings of a survey the body conducted in April and May; it was to gauge children's awareness on "healthy eating"; 5,040 kids in the United Kingdom (age group 5 to 16 - pretty far-ranging) were spoken to, and the findings have thrown up quite a set of revelations. Now, of course, the extracts vary from age group to age group - and I suspect, region to region - but here are some of the most interesting foods for thought:

* Fish fingers are made of chicken (yes, seriously!)

* Cheese comes from plants; ditto, prawns

* Pasta is an animal product

* Fruit pastilles - those dreadfully unhealthy, sugar-coated jelly-sweets - can be counted as one of the five fruit offerings you are supposed to imbibe in order to adhere to a balanced diet

* Above logic can also be applied to the consumption of strawberry jam

I immediately called up a friend of mine who has a five-year-old son, and quizzed her about something I never imagined I'd bring on (our chatter is usually about work and shopping and whether or not she's managed to binge-watch the latest season of House of Cards like I have): "Does your son know what ?he's eating?"

Once she'd recovered sufficiently from the obfuscation of it all, she said he doesn't actually. "For example, carrot is almost like a dirty word for him so I make carrot 'hearts' that I smear with a little hummus [he loves hummus]; I don't tell him 'eat your carrots,' I say 'eat your hearts'; I serve them with a side of fresh tomato puree, and say this is ketchup. So yes, I guess my son doesn't know he eats carrots; he believes he's eating 'hearts'. Cute, isn't it? Give him a couple of years, he'll wisen up," my friend sighed. "But till then, let him eat his 'hearts' out." Then, she continued of her own volition and even perked up: "You know what? Maybe he'll live in denial all his life, and continue to refer to carrots as hearts! Imagine, when he's 70, he may be still looking for hearts in gaajar ka halwa [carrot pudding]."

Minutes after I hung up, I looked inwards and realised - mea culpa. In this Friday's WKND, we have carried an entire section on how parents can sneak in healthy ingredients into foods for their progeny. Apparently, the best way to make fussy children eat boringly good stuff like spinach and broccoli is by dressing them up tantalisingly, and calling them anything but their real names ('little red squares for Little Red Riding Hood' not beetroot cubes).

When we were kids, we were ordered to have "the good (for health) stuff" that we hated to have. Boiled beans, squelchy bananas, bitter gourd, raw carrots, double-toned milk with no drinking chocolate to kill the lactose 'intolerance'. all of which we hated back then but never had the guts to spill those secrets to my parents. Even apples had to be had with the skin on, because household wisdom stated the skin added more value to 'health quotient'. The only indulgence allowed was being told: "Eat your spinach. Did you know Popeye became who he is because he ate spinach?"

These days, in an effort to make the younger lot eat healthy - by hook or by crook - while not being able to order them to do so (let's face it, kids are handled way too much with kid gloves), we are probably forgetting to educate them about healthy eating. And, in the process, food. Which is such a pity, because food, in its entirety - bitter gourd, raw carrots et al - is so glorious.

I toyed with the idea of calling up my eight-year-old niece in Kolkata and making her a guinea pig in my Talking Point experiment, but my brother said she's in the midst of her exams and shouldn't be disturbed. I did the next best thing: speak to a neighbour's daughter who's just a year younger than my niece.

"Do you know who a vegetarian is?" I asked her.

"Yes," she replied in a shot. "Vegetarians are those people who eat vegetables. I have friends who are vegetarians."

Me: "And fruits? Can they eat fruits?"

She: "Well, I suppose they could if they wanted to."

Me: "But they don't eat meat?"

She: "More vegetables than meat I think - that's why my vegetarian friend's mother is so happy with her, and my mother is always complaining."

Me: "So you do know you need to eat more vegetables? At least five helpings daily?"

She: "Eeeks no, I'm not a vegetarian."


sushmita@khaleejtimes.com

Sushmita is editor, WKND. She has a penchant for analysing human foibles.

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