Karmel gave birth to her son a year after her daughter’s death. And when Nicholas turned out to be a difficult eater, she found herself spending hours in the kitchen devising dishes to tempt him. The result was 1999’s “First Meals” (Dorling Kindersley), which went on to sell more than 1 million copies worldwide. An updated edition with 90 new recipes is being released in the United States next week. Karmel spoke to NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin about the book–and how to get toddlers to eat healthily. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: Can you tell us more about why you became a cookbook author?
Annabel Karmel: Nicholas was the catalyst that got me onto writing books about feeding children because he would not eat. I could not believe a young child could be so stubborn. Just one or two things and that was it.
I was feeling vulnerable because I’d lost my first child. I wanted him to be healthy, and I thought the only way I can get this child to be healthy is to make sure he has a good diet. So I spent ages and ages in the kitchen cooking up my favorite soups and making them into purees and thinking about ways to tempt him to eat. At that time I was running a big playgroup [and I] I discovered most children are difficult eaters. The mothers were using all of my recipes, and they said, why don’t you write a book about feeding babies. I thought it was good therapy to get over Natasha’s death, to give something back to other children, so I wrote my first book. I thought maybe my mother and my best friend would buy a copy. When it was published after three months the entire print run had sold out. Since then it’s sold over a million copies all over the world.
It’s a nice career because it touches people’s lives. When you have a child that dies you think why did this happen. I would never have had this career if I hadn’t have lost Natasha and Nicholas being a horrible eater. I feel very much that it was meant to be.
What advice can you give to cope with a fussy eater?
I think you have to persevere and never give in, because children are very clever. So if they won’t eat and you give in and give them sugary cereal then you have really lost the battle. In the end, a child who is hungry will eat–and they’ll eat more or less anything if they’re really hungry.
So what do you recommend?
It’s a question of training. Babies are born with a fairly clean palate. They’re not used to very sweet or salty tastes. We’re the ones who condition them into liking those tastes. If we can train them when they’re very young, that’s really the ultimate time because to get a child to have a good diet, they’ll continue that for the rest of their lives.
I also believe that if you give them fresh food from the start they’re not going to be such fussy eaters so that when they get onto family food they know what a carrot tastes like because you’ve been cooking them proper food. Jars of baby food have been heated to very high degrees [so they’re] sterilized and they taste very different from fresh food. It’s a very difficult transition from bland baby puree to real food and that’s when you get a fussy eater. A simple thing like a mashed banana is great baby food. It takes a few minutes to make … I think the more variety you can give your child in the early days the less fussy they will be later on.
When is that window of opportunity?
Before five years. When they’re younger they’re more malleable.
Do you think parents who spoil their children help create fussy eaters?
Very much so.
How do you help to create healthy eaters?
When children come home from school, that’s when they’re really hungry–and that’s when parents give them chips or cookies. This is a great time to give them a banana or tuna fish pocket or something healthy. Have a low shelf on the fridge where a child always knows there’s something laid out for her. Cut up fruit, pieces of cheese, cut up vegetables. [Have them] looking attractive, rather than having a fruit bowl where the fruit is whole–it’s just not accessible to a child. You have to think ahead a little bit. Children often eat more between meals than at actual meal times.
What about the kid who won’t try anything new?
In my book there is a hidden-vegetable tomato sauce, which is great with pasta, which most kids usually like. But I’ve blended all the vegetables so you can’t see them and they don’t know they’re in there. If a child doesn’t like fruit, I’ll make blended fruit and freeze them into Popsicles.
Or you can play a game. Blindfold them and say, “Can you guess what this food is.” [Try that] instead of making it horrible–you must eat this or you can’t watch TV. I never believed in forcing a child to eat [by saying] you can only have dessert if you eat this, because [then] one food becomes a punishment and other a reward.
Have you met parents who count the carbs in their kids’ food?
Yes. I think it’s become quite a problem. A child should never go hungry, so the thing is to change the diet into a healthy one rather than restrict the amount of food. Maybe take up some form of exercise the whole family can do together, like bike riding.
What do you think of a vegetarian diet for children?
I respect it. But you have to realize that a high-fiber vegetarian diet is all very well for an adult, but it’s totally wrong for a child. They have small stomachs so lots of fiber is not good. Fiber makes a lot of nutrients go out of the body so it depletes the body. I’m not against it–you just need to know what you’re doing.
What do you think of red meat?
I’m a great advocate of meat. It’s the best, easiest source of iron. I think a lot of children don’t eat meat because it’s prepared for them in the wrong way. When I make a spaghetti Bolognese sauce I put the meat into a blender first because children don’t like lumps.
What culture do you admire for the way it feeds its children?
The Mediterranean diet, because they tend to give children more or less what they’re eating. I think in England and America when something is labeled as children’s food it’s usually breadcrumbed and in the shape of a dinosaur.
