AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The fresh produce of summer is coming soon. Plump tomatoes, sweet corn, juicy peaches - the glorious rainbow at the farmers market can offer a new opening for parents of picky eaters, those kids who just don't care how much we hype up zucchini. Fanny Singer and Greta Caruso are experts at helping picky eaters and their parents. They write The Green Spoon, a Substack newsletter all about how to feed and cook for the kids in your life. Greta, Fanny, thank you for being here.
GRETA CARUSO: Thanks so much for having us.
FANNY SINGER: We're so pleased to be here.
RASCOE: What inspired you to to start writing about food for kids? I guess, Greta, let's start with you.
CARUSO: Yeah, Fanny and I have been friends for over 20 years, and we ended up having kids within a month of each other in 2022, and we couldn't wait to inaugurate them into the world of flavor because we loved food so much. And then when they actually started eating, we were shocked at how hard it was. There was so much pressure. You know, we were professional cooks and knew how to develop recipes professionally. We had such a hard time figuring out how to do it in the course of the day. We had kids. We had jobs. We had to bathe ourselves. And it felt almost impossible to manage everything. And that's when we kind of turned to other parents to see how other people were tackling this kind of insane issue.
RASCOE: And, Fanny, what made you decide to go from, you know, thinking about these things to saying, let's write about this and try to help other people out there who are dealing with these issues?
SINGER: Well, so Greta and I felt like we were having this kind of very helpful feedback loop between the two of us about what we were cooking and how to take on this challenge. But all of our friends also wanted into that, and it occurred to us that we could start this almost as a kind of food diary, in-the-trenches reportage if we started a Substack. So having a newsletter was a way for us to kind of develop recipes, see if they worked, report back. And thus, The Green Spoon substack was born.
RASCOE: You know, when you ask your friends - many of whom are also professional chefs - what they feed their children in a typical week, what did you learn, and was there any hesitancy? - because, you know, there's - as you said, there's a lot of judgment. So I know for me, it's like, I'm not telling you what my kids eat. Don't worry about it because...
SINGER: (Laughter).
RASCOE: People - if there's one thing people are going to be mean about on the internet, it's what you feed your children.
CARUSO: Every single parent that we talked to about this says the exact same thing.
RASCOE: OK, OK.
CARUSO: They're like, I don't want to tell you. I don't want to feel judged.
RASCOE: Exactly.
CARUSO: I give them mac and cheese. I feel so bad about this. I would say the volume of guilt and shame that we heard - and that we were feeling, too - was the thing that really pushed us to say, OK, let's commit to this 'cause there's such a huge need for solidarity about this stuff.
RASCOE: And did you learn anything by asking people what they feed their kids in a typical week?
SINGER: I mean, oh, my God, yes. These are people - some of them are writers, some of them are cooks. But even the ones who have a lot of fluency in the kitchen and who develop recipes for a living, you know, admitted that they had years and years where their kids would just eat white food, and that was it - you know, pasta, bread, cheese, whatever. That kind of insight was one of the key components for The Green Spoon and why parents keep coming back to it and love reading, in particular, those food diaries from other parents because, you know, we need to feel like we're not alone in this absolutely chaotic part of our lives.
RASCOE: As we said, summer produce season is just around the corner. So do you have any kid-friendly tips or recipes that would convince even the pickiest eater to try something new? And I got one or two in my house who I - they would put you to the test (laughter).
CARUSO: Well, we'll say first, picky kids are - it's, like, the strongest force on planet Earth.
RASCOE: Yeah (laughter).
CARUSO: So there's no cure-all. But we have found, both with our kids and friends kids that are picky, to just stick with variety. Keep trying. And, you know, having summer produce come into season is a great opportunity to just put new stuff in front of them, whether it's cherry tomatoes or snap peas or whatever's coming up at the market. Both Fanny and I love to set out kind of like a crudites platter situation for our kids before dinner. Chop up a lot of fresh vegetables, put it out with a few dips. Kids love dips.
RASCOE: Yes, yeah.
CARUSO: I mean, so do adults.
RASCOE: Yeah.
CARUSO: But one thing that's great about putting that out while you then continue to make dinner is it takes the pressure off a little bit.
RASCOE: Are there any other simple recipes that you have or, you know, that just come to mind?
CARUSO: You know, another cure for picky eating is to make something that's kind of like pizza. And one thing we love doing in the summer with fresh corn in season is we actually like to make a sort of - we call it our polenta pizza. So we make a batch of polenta, and we just fold fresh corn kernels right into that. Put a little Parmesan and some butter and some salt in there also. And then you let that polenta set on a greased sheet pan so that it becomes like a - sort of a pizza crust. And then you can top it with tomato paste and cannellini beans for some extra protein, basil, mozzarella cheese. And then whatever other summer produce you have, you can put right on there. And then you bake it like a pizza, and you could eat it in slices. And also, you know, adults want to eat it, too.
RASCOE: Yeah, no, that sounds good. That sounds good. I...
CARUSO: I think your kids might like it.
RASCOE: Yeah, they would (laughter).
CARUSO: I think you should give it a shot.
RASCOE: I'll give it a shot. Well, see, that's the question is, can their mama make it? I don't...
SINGER: Ayesha, you've got this. I promise you, it's (laughter)...
RASCOE: I got this?
SINGER: You got this.
RASCOE: OK (laughter).
SINGER: It is one of the easiest and most popular recipes on our Substack, and it's like - it's a perennial favorite.
RASCOE: OK, I'll definitely take a look. Obviously, you know, your enthusiasm for food is infectious, but, you know, plenty of us are just worn down day after day of, you know, trying to prepare a meal for kids, and they don't even touch it, or they like it one day, don't like it the next. How do you persist? How do you keep going?
CARUSO: We were actually just talking right before we talked to you about that feeling of, I love cooking, I hate cooking, I'm so excited for dinner, I don't want to do dinner.
RASCOE: I mean, do you think that, like, part of it is maybe cutting yourself some slack, as well? Like, you know, just doing the best that you can. And sometimes, kids may have to taste something, you know, a number of times before they actually, you know, begin to like it and eat it and expand their palate.
SINGER: Absolutely. It can take up to, I think, you know, 14 or 18 exposures to an ingredient before a kid might suddenly decide that they like it. So it is about just continuing to try, even if it's easier some days than others.
RASCOE: That's Fanny Singer and Greta Caruso. They write The Green Spoon, a newsletter about how to feed the kids in your life. Thank you so much.
CARUSO: Thank you.
SINGER: Thanks so much, Ayesha.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
