With all the attention being given in recent years to the marketing of junk food to children, especially in light of America's childhood obesity problem, it is interesting that there has been some initial backlash in response to this marketing scheme. It seems that parents don't want to see cartoon characters on the packaging of food that is still in its natural form.
In an article titled "The Cultural Structuring of Mealtime Association" (see here), Eleanor Ochs and Merav Shohet explore how children in different cultures are socialized regarding food and practices of its consumption. I have observed that this occurs not only at the table, but also at the supermarket.
When my children were very small, I could walk them down the cereal aisle and they would quickly zero in on the only items they knew they were allowed to have (granola, oatmeal, and Cheerios in the yellow box). Everything else was "not food". From a very early age, when they called attention to the cartoon pictures on the cereal boxes, I would say, "Nice picture! Not food." My little ones would repeat, "Not food". Passers-by would sometimes take notice and marvel at my "brilliant" children, but the little ones weren't intellectualizing; only mimicking. (It helped that they had almost no exposure to television commercials aimed at their age group.) My children had been socialized with certain expectations with regard to what is "food" and what is "not food".
As a parent, I really like Mollie Katzen's cookbook for preschoolers, Pretend Soup, because she makes recipes slightly "gimmicky" without having a commercial angle. This week's recipe is for Number Salad. Please follow this link to access the recipe on molliekatzen.com.
We usually get looks of surprise from people when we take out kids out to eat. The conversation between my kids and the waiter/waitress is usually this:
ReplyDeleteKid #1: "I'll have chicken please."
Kid #2: "Me too please"
Waitress: "With fries." (note the lack of questionmark)
Kid #1: "No thank you. Do you have grapes or corn?"
Kid #2: "I want applesauce!" (He's only 3, we are still working on manners.) ;)
Waitress: (with a look of shock on her face) "Oh! Kids usually get fries!"
What does this say about our culture?!
(And, as a side note, I have PICKY eaters!!!!)