A lively story of raising a child to enjoy real food in a processed world, and the importance of maintaining healthy food cultures
Why is it so easy to find sugary cereals and dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets in a grocery store, but so hard to shop for nutritious, simple food for our children? If you’ve ever wondered this, you’re not alone. But it might surprise you to learn that this isn’t just an American problem.
Packaged snacks and junk foods are displacing natural, home-cooked meals throughout the world—even in Italy, a place we tend to associate with a healthy Mediterranean diet. Italian children traditionally sat at the table with the adults and ate everything from anchovies to artichokes. Parents passed a love of seasonal, regional foods down to their children, and this generational appreciation of good food turned Italy into the world culinary capital we’ve come to know today.
When Jeannie Marshall moved from Canada to Rome, she found the healthy food culture she expected. However, she was also amazed to find processed foods aggressively advertised and junk food on every corner. While determined to raise her son on a traditional Italian diet, Marshall sets out to discover how even a food tradition as entrenched as Italy’s can be greatly eroded or even lost in a single generation. She takes readers on a journey through the processed-food and marketing industries that are re-manufacturing our children’s diets, while also celebrating the pleasures of real food as she walks us through Roman street markets, gathering local ingredients from farmers and butchers.
At once an exploration of the US food industry’s global reach and a story of finding the best way to feed her child, The Lost Art of Feeding Kids examines not only the role that big food companies play in forming children’s tastes, and the impact that has on their health, but also how parents and communities can push back to create a culture that puts our kids’ health and happiness ahead of the interests of the food industry.
Originally posted on my blog, A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall:
Not much of the information in The Lost Art of Feeding Kids is all that surprising or new. I think we all know by now that "real food" is better for us. Most of us realize that we are heavily marketed to, and sometimes outright lied to. I was shocked, however, by how sinister some of the marketing directed at children could be. (The Girls Intelligence Agency completely creeps me out!)
Though the synopsis says the book is an exploration of the United States food industry's global reach, I actually felt Marshall took a more generous (and fair?) approach by including Canada. She regularly referred to the influence as being "North American," rather than putting all of the blame on the U.S.
My favorite parts of the book are Marshall's anecdotes about Italian food culture. I knew when I started reading that Italian food culture has changed since I lived there in the 80's. I noticed it when I visited Italy in 2000. And though things have changed, I didn't get the feeling that the food culture has changed so much that they can't find a way to return to it.
For the most part, I felt the fixes suggested were utopian ideas the majority of her readers can't do much about. I gleaned some great ideas for simple dinners and healthy snacks, but I was hoping for many more practical ideas like that. Things everyday families could do, changes anyone can incorporate into their daily lives.
I'd love to see Marshall write a kid-friendly cookbook based on the way she and her family eats; those spots in her book were absolute gems.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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13 December, 2013:
Finished reading
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13 December, 2013:
Reviewed