Funny Fruit

Farmer Gao XianZhang from China displaying his Buddha Pears

It’s the Food Dudes

The stray dog came back this week. It had been away for long enough for me to think that it was never coming back, but it did. On my birthday too just to rub salt in. It’s still as mucky as ever and we can’t leave anything on the kitchen worktops as it can get up to clear any plates onto the floor and give them a good licking. It was eating a hot curry the last time I saw it complete with an array of choice left over vegetables.

If only children would have the same passion for eating greens. One of my lads has been taking part in the Food Dudes programme run through the schools. This entails eating pre packed fruit and vegetables such as raisins, carrots, peppers, bananas, cucumbers and oranges. They even have turnips thrown in there.

Super Heroes
The kids have the super hero Food Dudes as role models on the DVD that comes with the project as opposed to the baddies, the Junk Punks, who get rid of the healthy food and hide them under tables for the Dudes to find. The whole thing is washed down with a song and dance routine and rewards for those who eat the samples from the bags. The 2nd phase is where we are at now; this is where the children can take in their own fresh food of choice, usually strawberries and grapes.

Any idea to get youngsters eating fresh food is welcome. The Food Dudes comes originally from the Food & Activity Research Unit Bangor University in Wales. The Programme was first piloted Ireland in 2002/2003 and was supported by Fyffes and now has over 200 schools taking part. The statistics look good. 46% of parents reported that children were eating one more portion of fruit, 37% reported that children were eating two more portions of fruit while 8% said that children were now eating three or more portions of fruit after Phase 1 of the programme. The majority of parents (94%) reported that children ate more portions of fruit and vegetables at home. Surprisingly, turnip sales haven’t increased though.

A bit of encouragement

There are more things we can do to encourage the consumption of healthy food. Here are a few ideas:

Get children to participate

If children take part in planning meals, going to the shops, and preparing food, they will become more interested in the food.

Make healthy snacks available

If you stock the kitchen exclusively with healthy treats, children will eat them. As your children grow, stock good snacks in cabinets and shelves that they can reach without your help, but the dogs can’t, this saves you having to watch them climb precariously over the worktops to get to the biscuits. Good choices include sliced apples, carrot sticks, whole grain crackers, light popcorn, raisins and water for drinking.

Go to other places to see food

Teach kids where their food comes from. As well as the supermarket, take your family to a local farmer's market (or to the farm itself) and meet the people who grow the food. John and Mary O’Reilly’s farm in Malin is a great place for them to go whilst you are stocking up on the fresh produce. Picking fruit and vegetables can help nurture a lifelong love of good eating and environmental care.

Freedom of (limited) choice

Children like to get their own way like most of us. Try giving them a choice, but make it a limited one….Offer a suitable base meal, like rice, potatoes and pasta with broccoli and tofu or quorn, (lean meat if you are a meat eater), then let the children dress it up with chopped tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, cheese, parsley, peppers and other toppings.

Don’t forget the drinks

The five a day portions don’t need to be solid. Try liquidising fruit to make smoothies and mixed fruit drinks.

Be a role model

A recent study found that young children's food tastes are significantly related to foods that their mothers liked and disliked. Letting children see you eat a fresh salad may encourage them to do the same.

Keep at it

Children need to taste their food at least 32 times before they get to like the taste. So stick at it.

Make ‘em laugh

There are humorous ways to get the kids involved too. Try cutting out letters or interesting shapes to stick onto unripe apples. As the fruit ripens the letters will be clearly visible, peel off for a personalised apple.

Go one stage further with fruit and vegetable moulds. There are clear plastic food grade moulds with a strong seal to put over different types of fruit and veg such as tomatoes, apples, pears, sweetcorn, courgettes, and cucumbers to make funny faces and shapes. Imagine a face on your pear; a square watermelon or a star shaped cucumber. Farmer Gao XianZhang from China is making a lot of money changing a pear into the image of Buddha. These are selling for over 5 euro each as the ‘good luck fruit’.

There could be other benefits from growing in this way. The makers of the moulds claim that the produce is denser, which means they're sweeter and more flavourful too. The plants require less pesticide use, because they are protected from many garden pests by the plastic mould. In our mild summers they might be just the thing to grow better crops. If you can sell one heart shaped courgette for €3 to a restaurant (it has been done) then every-one feels the love.

Check out some great moulds on the VegiForms website