by Helen Zoe Veit, 2026
This book was recommended by the Economist. It gives you detailed history of childrens’ diets since the late 1800s to present. It was very clear that children were NOT picky in the late 1800s until the 1950s when we incorporated bad psychology, along with modern conveniences like electricity, supermarkets, refrigerators, stoves; and TV advertising processed foods to children. A perfect storm led us to be a nation of picky eaters, along with high rates of obesity. Now it’s spreading worldwide. The solution – NO SNACKING before meals, and don’t offer alternative meals to the picky eater; let them go hungry. Believe that you know better than the child. Encourage them to try new foods. The bad psychology came from Dr. Spock and Clara Davis’s child-feeding experiment in the late 1940s. They thought children would eat what their bodies needed naturally. It was considered bad mothering to force a child to eat anything. Then, along came TV and packaged foods and advertising and supermarkets, and now we have a nation of fat, picky eaters. Yuch!
One thing about the late 1800s, there were no vaccines yet and many families lost children to infectious diseases. She describes a child dying of diphtheria, a highly contagious bacterial infection that killed children quickly: their throats and windpipes grow narrower and narrower because of the dead, infected tissue and they die of asphyxiation. Thank God for vaccines!
Excellent book! Her Epilogue summarizes the main solutions to our problem of picky eaters in America today: “Make sure your child is pleasantly hungry before meals. Don’t offer alternative foods. Limit their exposure to processed foods and food marketing. Serve them exactly the same interesting, flavorful foods you’re eating yourself, and talk openly about how and why you like them. If they have a negative reaction to a food, don’t think of it as an aversion, and never tell a child they don’t like something. With love and positivity, urge them to keep trying the same food over and over, warmly encouraging them using praise, excitement, and other small rewards. And don’t be afraid to tell them the truth about how good food makes kids happy, healthy, energetic, and tall.”