If anyone wants this book so badly they can taste the hidden veggies, I would suggest going to your local superstore. There are no copies at any of the Borders or Barnes and Nobles in the town I live in, but I always see one or two on the shelf at Target. I picked one up for a friend who was complaining about the month long wait at Amazon.

The idea is as old as the hills. The only difference is execution and celebrity. You can't copyright an idea. And it's just too bad that every cookbook author isn't married to Jerry Seinfeld.

As for the hiding issue--my daughter will joyfully eat any vegetable I put in front of her (with the exception of Brussel sprouts), but if she wouldn't, I would probably do some hiding. But not in a brownie! Tomato sauce can handle a lot of sneaky, I imagine. And then there's cheese sauce and hummus. Many kids will eat almost anything with cheese or hummus. I've also read that if a kid will eat fruit, not to stress the veggies, as fruit has a ton of vitamins and fiber, too. Yes it's sweet, but not as sweet as a brownie!

Hiding can backfire badly, though--if you get caught (kale detection radar in children is pretty high), your kid won't trust anything you put in front of them and you'll have not just a picky eater, but a suspicious one.

There as a good review by Karen Heller about this which blasted the book's message as damaging to a picky child's development. I completely agree. “Hiding food perpetuates the idea that carrots and spinach don’t taste good. They do.” Instead of teaching your kids to eat their vegetables, by cooking junk like this you teach them to eat more brownies and mac n' cheese.

Picky eating is annoying, silly, and should not be encouraged as proper behavior. This book tells you to do just that.

While hiding veggies and other 'good for you' foods kids hate is all well and good, I wouldn't suggest trying it with a recipe they already love. All that will do is lead them to believe the food they do like tastes wrong and 'yucky' and they won't agree to eat it again. Mum tried it with me many years ago without luck. It's more important that a kid stick with eating the stuff they will - especially if it's something like pasta with tomato and meatball sauce (Mum would have loved it if my brother had eaten something as nutritious as that) - than get put off it and be reduced to eating very poorly.

Look, kids generally don't like anything they are told is good for them. As a child I hated a lot of veggies that as an adult I love. The only thing that changed was my attitude. For what it's worth when I was little the veggies were presented to me as veggies, not disguised. Tastes mature, that's what happens.

However, since the early years are the most important in setting the stage for our health as an adult, I'm not opposed to sneaking in veggies wherever you can and whenever you can. There is loads of evidence that good nutrition in childhood makes for a healthier adult. So I say sneak.

I've always been slightly mystified by the tolerance many parents have for picky eating. There are foods that I still dislike as an adult (and don't eat now because I'm obviously cooking for myself) that I ate as a child--because we simply weren't allowed to leave the table until we'd eaten some of everything on our plates, whether we liked it or not.

As a result of that household rule there are foods I did acquire a taste for (for many years disliked my brother's favorite green beans for example) and a willingness to try anything once before deciding it wasn't for me.

I'm in the middle on picky tolerance. We were forced to sit at the table until the hated food was eaten, and it was miserable for everybody. (And didn't work. I wouldn't eat my pork chops then, and I won't eat them now.) On the other hand, I think it's nuts the way some mothers behave like short-order cooks, catering to every whim and demand. At our table, if the little one really can't stand/refuses to eat what is served (luckily this is RARE), she can have cold cereal. As in, spoon-sized shredded wheat with yogurt and fruit. It's easy to dump in the bowl. I'm not going to cook her something special. But I'm not going to get into a huge struggle over it, either. I'm going to sit down and enjoy my meal, and she can eat her cereal. Not the most exciting dinner, but sufficient. And doesn't tempt her to pull a dinner strike every night in the hopes of scoring a special order.

I have the Missy Lapine book. I like her idea of keeping the different purees stashed in the fridge for a week's worth of recipes.

Lidia Bastianich talks a lot on her show about holding different herbs and ingredients under her young grandchildrens noses, so that they will learn and accept the smell. The third time they smell almost anything, they like it. I think a similar idea holds true for these recipes. After 3 or 4 times of eating kale in meatballs, children are more likely to accept the flavor of plain kale.

I grew up with a girl who was a picky eater. As a child I was forced to eat all sorts of vegetables, she was not. In fact she didn't have to eat anything that she didn't like. So she ate alot of chicken and white bread. At the time I thought that it she was peculiar and I found it funny. Many years later she came to the city and we went out to eat at a very upscale restaurant pan asian restaurant. I watched with pity as she altered the recipes while ordering her meal. I think she ordered some kind of chicken vegetable stir fry. In the end, I shouldn't have been surprised. The plate arrived with just the chicken without any sauce. I blame the parents.

I actually watched the Oprah show in which she hosted Jessica Seinfeld. (I am studying to be a nutritionist and not a regular Oprah watcher.) For those of you who are against the book simply because it "hides veggies" this is not what Jessica actually proposes. She has "juiced" up traditional recipes to make them more nutritious, but she also advocates serving real veggies along side all meals. Frankly, given the state of American eating these days, if anyone can hide veggies in a low fat brownie and a kid or an adult picky eater will enjoy it, I think it is a great idea. For those of you who are naturally gourmet and diverse eaters, this is probably not the book for you, but that doesn't mean you should slam it...

If your "picky" off-spring is a supertaster, many veggies do in fact taste horrible -- metallic and bitter. Sometimes the freshly picked version of the vegetable is bearable, but cooked or prefab versions aren't (spinach springs immediately to mind).

I've been reading gardenweb and the usenet newsgroups for years and the ideas put forth by Ms. Lapine and Ms. Seinfeld are not original to them at all.

I don't have any children, so perhaps I should not weigh in on this subject. I put books like this in the same category as “style guides,” the same idea regurgitated over and over and over again.

Going through the effort of hiding spinach in a brownie seems awfully indulgent, to me. A picky eater does not equate to a junk food eater. I was an incredibly picky eater as a child, but I ate very healthy and balanced meals. If the only vegetable I would eat was broccoli, my mother hardly cared; it was still a vegetable, after all. And I never whined and carried on about not getting something I wanted because, quite simply, it was not tolerated.

I grew up in a hippy-dippy vegetarian household where veggies and fruits were regarded as the best treats available. My parents started me on the good stuff from the beginning and never made a huge deal about it. Meals were times to re-fuel, talk and enjoy. They were not a time to be emotional about the food.

My sibs and I didn't have all these "issues" with "pickiness" and food because we were distracted enough with associating mealtimes with laughter and fun rather than focusing on the food. We would stuff our faces with Mom's lentil loaf and spinach because it's what she put on the table, and time at that table was more about joy and nourishment than about the actual food. And, we had respect for her, so we ate whatever she made even if it wasn't 100% super perfectly tasty, and thanked her for it, because that's good manners.

And that is exactly what this discussion is really about. Food and mealtimes with children today seem to be more about power than nourishment.

I watch my sister-in-law struggle at every meal time with her kids. They pick out every speck of green, even dried parsley, have tantrums over black pepper and dump ketchup over everything. And she tolerates it. Maybe if parents today would grow spines, make mealtimes about joyful nourishment, treat veggies as a main dish instead of a side, and teach their children about cool stuff like the simple beauty of a head of cabbage or single carrot, there wouldn't be a market for pathetic cookbooks like this.

My husband is a chef and our oldest was a picky, picky eater--largely because he's a supertaster. He outgrew most of it and eats nearly everything. Turning the dinnertable into a battlefield is a surefire way to make everyone involved hate eating together.

Most middle class kids aren't going to get pellegra because their moms can't get them to eat spinach.

And by the time the vegetable is steamed, pureed and baked into another form, the fiber and vitamins are basically gone, anyway.

I have no children and therefore no comments about the hiding of the vegetables. What I can say, however, is that this post could really have used a final edit. Does AT employ proofreaders? If so, they are overpaid.

I grew up eating pretty much everything, and the rule was if you hated something you had to eat 3 bites of it and then you could pass. I had a "hippy dippy" mom who cooked a lot of vegetarian food, mostly from economic necessity. There were no food substitutions, but I never recall going hungry, most meals had more then one thing. The expectation was that we would enjoy most of what we ate, and we did.

I do disagree with the statement that by the time the vegetable is steamed, pureed and baked into another form, the fiber and vitamins are basically gone, that simply isn't true. For one, fiber doesn't go anywhere and cooking it doesn't make it disappear, for two, some vitamins are destroyed by cooking, some are made more bioavailable, it depends. The key is to eat a wide variety of food. Malnutrition is not really a problem in "first-world" countries.

regards,
trillium

Bx, well said :)

By the way, children don't have to have "supertaster" palates to be sensitive to foods. Children, being children, have more sensitive palates overall, which is why they may dislike "bitter" vegetables. I remember hating scallions as a kid, thinking they were sharp and bitter tasting. Now I love em.

My main issue with the book (I sat down with it at Borders recently) was the minute amounts of puree added to the recipes. I mean, a couple tablespoons of spinach divided between 4-6 servings is not exactly a rousing nutrtional victory. I suppose that a tiny bit is better than none, but there's no way I would rely on these recipes to make a noticable difference in my children's diet.

I remember stuffing my cheeks with green vegetables and then washing them down with milk when I was wee lad because I didn't like them.

Now that I'm an adult I don't have any food issues, in fact, I'm a chef. I know so many adults who have serious food issues.

A lot of veggies just don't taste good to kids. Taste buds grow and change throughout life.

It sounds like if the techniques in this book may require manipulating the vegetable so much that maybe the beneficial characteristics are muted. I'd say keep giving the kids lightly steamed or raw, or sauteed vegetables with olive oil or a little butter as much as possible. Eventually they will like it and maybe they like some things and not others, how will you know if you grind it up and bake it in a cookie? In the meantime, as long as they are eating it their bodies are getting the benefits.

And this french fries for dinner shit's gotta stop. That's child abuse. But that's another story.

parents need to listen to their kids, sometimes just a little compromise goes a long way.

I have a friend whose son will eat vegetables as long as they are separated. stir fry them together-> no way. but a crudite plate? he loves them.

also- when I was younger my big issue was foods running together and touching. I would have loved one of those separated plates.

plus- as an adult (and as a kid) I love *fresh* vegetables. to this day I detest frozen vegetables, which is all my mother served when I was little. (and I'm almost vegan now, as well).

I think the one area where any sort of disguise/deception is totally OK is when you have an underweight child. I have two friends who have underweight children and their mealtimes are extremely stressful. I would hope that as their children get older they will stabilize a bit more and they can then implement more "appropriate" rules for food - i.e., this is our dinner and it's what we're all eating. but for a pre/not very verbal toddler who has basically fallen off the height/weight charts - hey, whatever works.

To piggyback on Rog's post, the reason most kids are supertasters or have more sensitive palates is because they simpy have more tastebuds than adults. As you age, and the number of tastebuds decrease, naturally tastes would change. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but this makes a lot of sense when we think about foods we are willing to eat now that we would not touch as kids. For me foods like green peppers and cranberry juice were too intense, but now I like them just fine.

I call BS on the supertaster thing. I don't think the "amount" of taste buds kids have matters, because regardless of the amount they have compared to adults, they still function in exactly the same way.

I ask you to think of other cultures/countries. I used to baby-sit the kids of an east Indian professor of mine, and his 8 month old (8 months!) was eating hot curry and spiced meats that I couldn't stand more than a few bites of, and I love spicy food!

I LOVED intense veggie flavors as a little, LITTLE kid. Things like pickled beets, raw turnips, yes! I just don't buy the "supertaster" theory, I think that just translates as "superspoiled" "superbratty" kids being coddled by "superpassive" parents.

Did out ancestors worry about "supertasters?" Were there Cro-Magnon babies whose mothers had to "hide" leaves in their mammoth meatballs? Somehow, I doubt it.

"I call BS on the supertaster thing. I don't think the "amount" of taste buds kids have matters, because regardless of the amount they have compared to adults, they still function in exactly the same way." -- Bx

Gotta disagree with you, Bx. I don't know if it's the "amount" of taste buds, but taste definitely changes with age. I recently read an article -- think that it was NYT -- about how ethnic food in the US is getting more popular in part b/c the aging baby boomers need spicier foods to compensate for their less sensitive aging taste buds. Just as some people have a naturally more acute sense of smell/hearing, some people have a more acute sense of taste; usually they're most sensitive when they're younger.

When I was a kid, english muffins made me want to vomit -- and I literally did at one point. Now, they're ok as long as I can't smell them. I didn't fuss over them b/c I was a picky -- I fussed b/c they made me ill.

As a Mom of 2 kids under 5, my experience is that their food tastes seem to ebb and flow. Each child has had picky periods, followed by omniverous periods. We kind of white-knuckle it through the "this hurts my tongue" phase of the program and wait until things turn around, and they always do. We consistently encourage the vegetables & fruit, eating them ourselves and talking a lot about which foods "make you stronger" and which ones are "treats that don't make you stronger." Same goes for foods that have strong tastes - both my kids will happily eat capers, pickles, olives, salsa, strong vegetables...the works.

It also helps to start with the vegetables. Put a plate with nothing but veggies in front of a hungry kid, and you'd be surprised at how little argument you get. Then the next "course" is the meat/starch. That pattern can really get you over a hump.

But lets not be too judgemental. This is one of a hundred challenges parents face, and in the end, not everything is equally important. I'll take a kid who eats nothing but grilled cheese and carrot sticks but loves books over one who eats spinach but watches 3 hours of TV daily every time. It's important to keep perspective, parents only have so much patience and energy to spend...we get to decide how to spend it based on our priorities. If you don't want to battle on the food, you can still be a good parent. If you don't want to spend 3 hours/week pureeing spinach, same goes.

Deb

As the editor and publisher at HarperCollins who saw both The Sneaky Chef and Deceptively Delicious proposals, I'd like to set the record straight. I passed on the opportunity to publish The Sneaky Chef. We were in the midst of publishing a book for the same audience-- Lunch Lessons --and I did not think we'd sell a profitable number of copies of another book. When Jessica Seinfeld's proposal came in to me, I asked another editor to review it. This is common--publishers get a lot of proposals. They are delegated to editors to share the workload and to share the opportunity to acquire good books. That editor, along with the president of our company, and without me, met with Jessica and were so impressed with her passion for cooking and, of course, her ability to get media. In no way, shape, or form did Jessica know that another editor/publisher had seen The Sneaky Chef at HarperCollins. And it wasn't at all relevant because, as so many bloggers have pointed out, this is not a new idea. Hiding vegetables in foods has been employed by mothers for years: Jessica has never claimed ownership of the idea nor claimed that it was the perfect solution; it worked for her and she wanted to share it with the millions of mothers out there who struggle with their kids every day over the dinner table.

To comment on whether it's appropriate to sneak vegetables into your kids, I ask, what's the problem? If your kids eat veggies, fine; if they don't, get them in via baked goods or whatever. As the mother of 9 and 13 year old daughters, I know the enormous relief that comes from the knowledge that my children are being fed well by me, whatever way that is.

I think the hullabaloo is caused by Ms. Seinfeld's cozy relationship to the media -- perhaps the gazillion expensive shoes she gave Oprah, herself no stranger to expensive shoes?

But yes, this idea's been around a while. And *this* book is only a few bucks, used! (Evelyn Tribole, _Stealth Health_)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/014028205X/ref=cm_cr_pr_orig_subj

I'm way late to this party, but I agree that there's a middle ground. Frankly, my mother would not tolerate my not at least tasting something. We did have battle royals over mashed squash, which made me gag. It is true that kids can
"taste" things more, but while I won't force something she really hates, I'm not going to let her dictate our meals, or even her meals, beyond skipping a few items she really hates.

I am truly baffled by the parents I hear who say things like, "My child will only eat white foods." Indulging them is not, in my opinion, doing them any favors. I have an old boss who, as she herself says, still eats like an 8-year-old (grilled cheese, plain chicken, etc) and finds it embarrassing, but can't overcome it.

Anyway, this book only got 1) published and 2) all the publicity because Jessica Seinfeld, who I seriously doubt is cooking for her children everyday, wrote it.

I just bought Lapine's cookbook.

Yes, you should encourage your kids to eat veggies. But have you ever tried to force feed your 4 year old veggies? Oh wait . . . you don't have a 4 year old? And yet you're an expert on how kids SHOULD eat everything?

Whatever.

It puts a bad taste in my mouth that JS basically got the gig due to her looks and her connections. Not that it doesn't go on all the time, but this case is so egregious that there is no way I will spend money on the book.

JS came across as a snooty uptight bitch on Oprah and her husband ragging on Lupine's book while promoting that bee movie completely pushed me over the edge. They both are so snarky, aren't they? Can't wait until hubby dumps his sharp nosed wife for some young thing.

Yeah, I hate 'em too! I met one of Jessica's cousins who said that growing up, she couldn't stand her, and that she was always very greedy and superficial. Oh, and her real name is Nina. She changed it as a teenager to Jessica.