Three families test the Food for Kids initiative in a bid to find a healthy alternative to the usual deep-fried options, writes Michael Kelly
CONSIDER THE irony in the following situation: your children are probably just as savvy as you are when it comes to healthy eating. At school they learn about being "food dudes" and the food pyramid, they have healthy eating weeks and a healthy lunch policy.
At home, they no longer laugh (much) when you suggest they have a piece of fruit as a "treat".
So why is it that so many restaurants and hotels still consider it acceptable to offer kids meals that seem trapped in a deep-fried time warp? Why do they put all their efforts into titillating the tastebuds of adults and expect children to be happy with food that is so unashamedly high in fat and salt, and low in nutrition - chicken nuggets, fish-fingers, sausages, burgers and chips?
The problem in this for parents is that no matter how amenable their children may be to healthy eating, kids will rarely pass up the opportunity to indulge in some fast-food type nosh when given half a chance.
And since few parents want a confrontation in a full restaurant, kids will usually get their way. This means that healthy eating habits carefully nurtured at home and at school can be thrown by the wayside when it comes to eating out.
Last July, the Irish Hotels Federation launched a new healthy eating initiative for children called Food for Kids which sees participating hotels and guesthouses around Ireland offering healthier children's menus.
Chefs from participating premises have been provided with healthy preparation guidelines and suggested menus with an emphasis on balanced nutrition, prepared by nutritionist Margot Brennan.
Will kids really put up with nuggets being off the menu permanently? To test whether the initiative really works in practice, we got kids from three families to test the kids' menus in local participating hotels - you can read how it went below.
There are however, three points worth highlighting from this (admittedly highly unscientific) piece of research.
Firstly - children are far more food-curious than we give them credit for. If you can take the distraction of battered stodge out of the equation for long enough, they may well surprise you and opt for a healthier alternative.
Secondly, delivering healthy meals for kids is not rocket science, nor do restaurants and hotels need to re-invent the wheel. The majority of the dishes that the kids opted for (and enjoyed) are remarkably similar to dishes you would see on an adults' menu.
Which begs the question: why not scrap the kids' menu and allow children to choose half-portions from the adults' menu at a reduced price?
The final and perhaps most important point is this - increasingly parents are expecting healthy meals to be available for their kids when they eat out and they are voting with their wallets.
Premises which cling to the old nuggets and chips model will quite simply be left behind.
Participating hotels display the Food for Kidssymbol outside their property and on websites. For a full list of participating premises see www.ihf.ie.
THE MALONEY FAMILY, CORK
Sarah and Bill Maloney's children - Kieran (9), Megan (7), Eoghan (5) and Ronan (3) - tried the kids' menus at the Clarion Hotel in Cork.
"I think children are willing to try things if you give them the chance," says Sarah Maloney but she adds that it is challenging to find healthy foods when eating out in Ireland with children.
"It's generally battered something-or-other - food like burgers, nuggets, chips and wedges. We've had holidays abroad in Spain, and I find that the children's menus there are much more similar to the adult menus. So the kids get to try Mediterranean food."
Presented with the Clarion's new kids' menu on their recent visit, the Maloneys immediately hit a snag. "I can't get my kids to eat soup no matter what and there were two soups on the menu. Tomato soup and a noodle soup with chicken.
"The only other option on the menu was melon. I know some kids will eat soup, but with two different varieties on the menu, if they don't eat it you are very limited."
With all four children opting for melon, it needed to be good - it was, but again there was a slight problem.
"It tasted great and was beautifully presented for an adult, but I don't think it was presented in a kid-friendly way. They were massive portions and because it was in a fan, some of the kids found it hard to cut. Maybe it would have been better if it had been balled to make it a little bit more quirky," says Sarah.
Things improved dramatically with the main courses. "Eoghan and Ronan both had meatballs with tomato sauce and spaghetti. They were lovely and the portions were perfect. Megan went for the Croque Monsieur [cheese melt with deli ham] which was interesting because she could have had anything on the menu!
"She really enjoyed it but didn't touch the accompanying side salad. Kieran went with the steamed chicken with barbecue sauce and basmati rice which was a really healthy choice for him though I did think maybe the kitchen could have tried using brown rice instead for this dish," says Sarah.
With healthy starters and main courses under their belts, desserts were "treat time" with the children trying all three desserts on the menu between them - chocolate fondant, jelly and ice-cream, and fruit with ice-cream.
"I think balance is hugely important when it comes to eating so if they are having a nice healthy main course then of course a dessert is fine."
Overall, Sarah says she felt under less pressure to be monitoring (or influencing) their choices, because of the almost complete absence of unhealthy food on the menu.
"There wasn't a chip or wedge in sight. Kids being kids, if there is a burger and chips on the menu, they will go for that. In our view you need to get kids tasting as many things as possible when they are young - that is the basis for a healthy diet later in life."
Did the kids feel hard done by having to eat healthily? "No, absolutely not. They loved it. It's the whole experience of going out - the sense of occasion. And there were clean plates too."
THE DUNNE FAMILY, DUBLIN
Madeleine and Tony Dunne's children - Ciara (10), Conor (9) and Laura (4½) - tried the kids' menu at Dungeon Bar and Grill at the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel in Killiney.
"The two girls are good eaters," says their mother, Madeleine. "Conor is slightly picky compared to them. They all love eating out of course and Conor loves McDonald's.
"They are good with Italian food which we find great for kids. They will eat pizza and pasta. Conor is good with steak if he gets it. Ciara is sort of leaning towards being vegetarian I think."
Like most parents, she is dismayed by the lack of choice on offer on the majority of kids' menus. "There's a pretty horrendous selection usually - chicken nuggets and chips, sausage and chips. There are usually no healthy options available and when kids see nuggets they will go for them."
At Dungeon Bar and Grill, starters on offer were fresh strawberries, corn on the cob, soup of the day or a glass of fresh orange juice.
"The choice was really good. Ciara went for vegetable soup which I was surprised by because she normally wouldn't eat that at home. Laura went with the fruit and Conor for the orange juice," says Madeleine.
The main course menu offers healthy interpretations of some traditional kids' favourites such as burgers (beef and chicken) and fries are on offer with most meals.
"Laura opted for a mini cheese pizza with a side salad. She didn't eat it all because it was a large portion but I felt it was nice that it was served with a side salad. Ciara went with the penne pasta with tomato sauce.
"She is doing some cooking herself at home now and she reckoned her own tomato sauce for pasta was nicer! Conor loves his meat so he went with the lamb chops for his main course. There was a portion of three different types of vegetable included on the side and he just ate the carrots," says Madeleine.
And then for the fun stuff - for desserts, the children could choose between chocolate chip cookies and ice-cream, banana milkshake, jelly and ice-cream or strawberries and cream.
"I think kids are far more conscious about healthy eating now. They have healthy eating week at school and they learn about the food pyramid. I asked them afterwards would they prefer the Fitzpatrick Castle or McDonald's and the two girls said they much preferred the hotel," says Madeleine.
"Conor wasn't so sure. He said if you could take your time in McDonald's it might be as nice!"
THE PHELAN FAMILY, WATERFORD
Joanne and Mark Phelan's children - Shane (12), Megan (10) and Ross (4) - tested the kids' menu at Faithlegg House Hotel in Waterford.
Things have changed in the Phelan household since the introduction of the Food Dudes Healthy Eating Programme in school. "Since they did Food Dudes, their attitudes to food have changed completely, particularly with Megan," says Joanne. "She's big into her salads and fruit now. They are more likely to be saying to me now, 'oh no mammy we don't eat those things'."
Faithlegg House offers a set price kids' menu - a three-course meal with three starter options and a choice of six main courses for €18 per child. It was obvious from the start that the chefs in the kitchen were thinking about things from a child's perspective, according to Joanne. "When we arrived, they sent out happy faces made out of fruit on plates for the kids and they were delighted with those. That was a great start."
Megan and Ross both had a fruit starter - fantail of melon with fresh strawberries - and reported the fruit to be very fresh and very tasty. Twelve-year-old Shane was disgusted to be ordering from the kids' menu in the first place but he opted for the soup of the day (mushroom).
Faithlegg was the only one of the three hotels to offer a variation of the much maligned nugget, in the form of chicken goujons (with chips). But none of the Phelan children went for this option. Megan opted for a grilled fillet of salmon, with cheese and cherry tomatoes. "She walloped that down and in my opinion that's a very healthy meal."
Ross had bangers and mash, baked beans and beef gravy while Shane had the breast of chicken with a selection of vegetables and potato.
"Shane asked for gravy and smothered his meal with it and it was too strong for him. He is a little finicky like that. I tasted it and I thought it was too salty for kids."
For desserts, the two younger children opted for fruit and ice-cream while Shane liberated himself from the kids' menu and went for a death-by-chocolate type dessert from the adult menu. For drinks they had water.
"We don't go there with fizzy drinks when they are out because it just pushes the bill through the roof."
How does this meal compare to a regular Phelan family outing? "I'd say that 70 per cent of the time, one of them will go for chicken nuggets or sausages and chips," says Joanne. "When that is on the menu they find it hard to look beyond that."
Overall Joanne was impressed. "I was very satisfied that they had a healthy meal at the end of it. It's so much nicer to see them sitting at the table with us and eating proper food," she says. "I would be more inclined to go out with them if I thought these types of menu were available and I would be more likely to pick restaurants and hotels that I know have a healthy-eating menu for kids."