Open Mic Wednesday 8/11/10
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
It’s Open Mic Wednesday. What’s on your mind?
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Books by Kaye Dacus
Novel in Progress
Follow the Heart*
Book 1 of The Great Exhibition Series
Due May 1, 2012
first draft completion goal date: 01/31/12
*working title
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Middle Tennessee Christian Writers
Am I the only person who’s totally annoyed by the Chef Boyardee commercials in which moms go to great lengths to keep people from saying in front of their kids that one serving of the (sugar and carb and fat laden muck in a can) has a full serving of vegetables in it?
Earlier this spring, I watched a few episodes of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution in which he brought up a very interesting point I hadn’t really thought of (because I don’t have kids): Kids typically aren’t going to like any food they’re conditioned to not like. If their parents act like vegetables taste bad (or don’t know how to cook them or don’t eat them themselves), then kids are going to believe vegetables taste bad. Sure, we all have our idiosyncrasies when it comes to tastes and textures, but most of our food hangups come from what was or wasn’t served in our homes growing up.
My mom was great about exposing my sister and me to all kinds of foods—ethnic dishes, varieties of meats/vegetables, flavors. She made us taste things before we were allowed to say we didn’t like it. But if we truly did not like something, she didn’t force us to eat it, either.
Have you looked at a kids’ menu at a restaurant recently? Do you notice how unhealthy everything on it is? Mac and cheese. Chicken fingers/nuggets. Hot dogs/corndogs. Hamburgers. Grilled cheese. Everything served with french fries. I can remember at nine or ten years old that one of my favorite things to do whenever we went out to eat was to eat off of my mom’s salad plate. Cucumbers. Bell peppers. Tomatoes. Broccoli. Cauliflower.
So I have to change the channel or mute the TV whenever one of those Chef Boyardee commercials comes on, because it’s just one more symptom of the obesity epidemic in this country. And as someone who’s had to fight it my entire adult life, I feel sorry for kids being raised with parents like that.
I’ve only seen this commercial one time and it happened to be last night. I’m always surprised when I hear about people hiding vegetables in things. Our 3 all love vegetables, fruits, lean meats, whole grain pastas and breads, etc. I think a lot of it is our becoming such a convenience society…and I am just as guilty of it as other moms.
What is funny though is that all 3 of our children are exposed to the exact same foods, and yet each interacts with it in such different ways. Our youngest is by far the most adventurous and will try anything. The older two look at things and don’t even want to try it (I was the same as a child), but they will try it. Unfortunately, once they have decided they won’t like it, the usually don’t.
I was raised with a fairly limited exposure to food with regards to variety, and yet as I got older and had friends who liked a variety of foods I began to try lots of new things…so perhaps there is still hope for this Chef Boyardee society.
I always laugh at that commercial because I think to myself…”does anyone really want to buy the line that’s really that GOOD for you?”
My fifteen-year-old thinks it’s just sad, but then she loves vegetables. This is the child who also told me today that when SHE has children, we are not to talk “baby talk” to them, and when she has grandchildren, she wants to be called “Grandmother,” because it is a title that carries respect. Go figure. Me, I usually roll my eyes that the grocery lady didn’t figure it out before she re-stacked the cans the third time.