Fan Fave: Can you teach a kid to eat vegetables?

06/19/24 • 28 min

We're resurfacing this Pressure Cooker "classic" that attempts to answer the perennial parental question: Why isn’t my kid eating green beans or zucchini or, for that matter, any food that isn’t beige? One theory holds that, with the help of the right bribe, you can teach kids to like anything. And so Jane dragoons her 10-year-old daughter Lucy into an experiment to see if she can learn to accept her most dreaded food: tomatoes. Jane and Liz talk to Julie Mennella, a taste scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center to learn just what it takes to make kids eat their vegetables, and serve up the simplest tips and tricks for parents to win the vegetable wars without losing their minds.

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Sales and distribution by Lemonada Media

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To keep up with upcoming Pressure Cooker news, JOIN OUR NEW NEWSLETTER at pressurecook.substack.com

Sales and distribution by Lemonada Media

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Previous Episode

The Truth About Why American Kids Drink So Much Milk

If you’ve had a child in America anytime in the past, oh, 80 years, there’s one message about what to feed them that has been impossible to ignore: MILK! Kids need lots of milk to grow big and strong.

Or do they?

On this week’s episode of Pressure Cooker, Jane and Liz journey back through history to uncover when and why milk came to be seen as an essential part of a healthy child’s diet. Then, our hosts interview Sophie Egan, the Director of the Stanford Food Institute and the author of the 2020 book How to Be a Conscious Eater, to answer the question: how much milk, if any, do kids actually need?

To keep up with upcoming Pressure Cooker news, JOIN OUR NEW NEWSLETTER at pressurecook.substack.com

Further Resources:

How To Be A Conscious Eater by Sophie Egan
Spoiled: The Myth of Milk As Superfood by Anne Mendelson
How Much Dairy Do Children and Adults Actually Need? (The Washington Post)

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Next Episode

Red Light, Green Light: Our Biggest Do’s and Don’ts For Feeding Kids

In this final installment of Pressure Cooker (at least, for now!) Jane and Liz reflect on lessons learned over the course of more than fifty episodes. From political activism to picture-perfect bento lunches, our hosts break down which habits listeners should consider leaning into – and which ones you should let go of.

Although we’re hitting ‘pause’ on the podcast for now, we’ve got lots of ideas brewing for the future of Pressure Cooker. If you’d like to stay in the loop on news and updates, please submit your email address at pressurecook.substack.com. Thank you, listeners, for two amazing years!

Note: One of our recommendations was to get involved politically – especially about food marketing to kids. Here’s how:

Email the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative at [email protected].
Or call (yes, you have to call!!) the Federal Trade Commission and make your voice heard: (202) 326-2222

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.