From Edition 7 - March 2008
Parents are outraged by the standards of kids’ menus in local restaurants, reports Jayne Kearney. It’s Friday night in beautiful Anytown. Mum and Dad let out a contented sigh as they are seated at the local bistro. The kids dash off to the play area as the waitress puts a colouring-in book and crayons on the table. Dad places the orders. “I’ll have the Grilled Chicken Breast with sweet potato puree and steamed vegetables. My wife has decided on the Atlantic Salmon with Asian greens. And for the kids – two plates of Mechanically Removed Meat drenched in Trans Fat, please.”

Unfortunately, this gruesome little tableau is still being played out across our region with restaurants, bistros and cafés targeting the lucrative family market while offering menu choices for kids with little or no consideration for the principles of healthy eating.

In a letter to The Age newspaper, Melbourne mother Belinda Clarence wrote “I am thoroughly annoyed at the quality and quantity of food that is offered to children in restaurants.” After recounting a litany of high-fat, nutritionally-devoid sins perpetrated by restaurateurs, Belinda Clarence asked, “What idiot in the kitchen thinks that this is appropriate for children?”

Many modern parents have arrived at their destination via a rich and diverse adult lifestyle. In many instances social and cultural movements have seen the traditional extended family replaced by a network of friends and associates who offer the benefits of the family structure within a newly imagined framework.

The gathering place for such groups has become the café and the restaurant. For today’s parent, eating out is a part of our lifestyle. We are, without doubt, more cosmopolitan and urbane in culinary matters than many of our own parents.

And our kids have followed suit. The ‘babycino’ generation has spawned a group of mini-sophisticates who are completely at home with a menu in their pudgy hands.

But it is the contents of these menus which is so alarming.

It’s not hard to recognise the places which have the family dollar in their sights. They have the various attractions which indicate their intentions. There will even be a ‘kids menu’ but its offerings are - more often than not - meals such as chicken nuggets, processed burgers and sausages – usually served with chips. These foods are high in fat and low in nutrition – and in some instances decidedly scary (see box: What Are We Feeding Our Kids?).

When concerned parent Tina Harris contacted Sunny Days, it was with this in mind, “Have you heard anything about the Government’s position in tackling childhood obesity at non-takeaway restaurants?” she wrote. “It seems to all be about educating parents and banning fast food advertising. I am becoming increasingly reluctant to eat out with my kids as all the menus are based around chips with something else fried.”

Indeed the political focus on the fast food sector of the industry has seen some small developments with ‘healthy choices’ being offered by some of the usual suspects. But do we, as parents, have to give up our cosmopolitan tastes and be relegated to the primary-coloured establishments in order to get a healthy meal for our kids?

When Sunny Days spoke with Graeme Newbound, chef at Newcastle’s Red Heifer Grill and Carvery, the response was intriguing. Graeme devises the menus himself and says the eating habits of his young customers are “shocking”.

The kids’ menu at The Red Heifer is made up of the typical fried, bland fare which is fuss free for those in the kitchen but Graeme maintains that this menu caters to the demands of his clientele. Graeme says, “We put up a healthy option – a stir fry or pasta – and the parents steer the kids towards the chicken nuggets. If parents came in and said, ‘We want more healthy choices’, we would tailor our menu.”

As parents, voting with our hip pockets is one way to address the situation. Demand healthy kids’ menus from your favourite eating place and boycott those places that are only paying lip service to the issue.

In 2006, Professor Paul Zimmet from Monash University told the 10th International Congress on Obesity in Sydney that the “insidious, creeping pandemic of obesity is now engulfing the entire world”, and is the greatest single contributor to chronic disease. Obesity is the direct result of lifestyle choices regarding food and exercise.

If Al Gore can declare that the responsibility for global warming is a moral issue surely we must apply the same moral standard to the health of our children?

Not our problem? Statistics for our region reveal that over a quarter of our local kids are either overweight or obese. We have failed these kids at a variety of levels. Our café/restaurant industry must accept their position in the chain of responsibility if they wish to continue to attract the custom of Australian parents.

As Tina says, “I don’t think there’s any excuse. It’s just complacency on the part of restaurant owners that they haven’t moved with the times.”

Isn’t it time to stop the idiocy?

What are we feeding our kids?
In the sci-fi cult classic film Soylent Green, Earth circa 2022 is unsustainably overpopulated. The water and soil have been poisoned, and pollution has produced a year-round heatwave due to the greenhouse effect. Most of the population is fed by the Soylent Company, which produces several types of rations including Soylent Red and Soylent Yellow but the newest product is Soylent Green.

At the same time one of the other solutions to the population problems of this world is publicly available euthanasia. Need I say more? The dubious origins of Soylent Green become horrifically apparent and the film ends with the famous last line, “Soylent Green is people!”

In our own Brave New World of 2008 we have a food product called “mechanically removed meat” (MRM). MRM is the prime ingredient in many nuggets, sausages and other processed meats.

Think of an animal carcass stripped of all good cuts. Now take a high pressure hose and spray it down. See the red slurry that emerges? That’s MRM - and if a bit of spinal cord gets in ...oops, oh well, they’ll never know. Just crumb it, deep fry it in some saturated fat and put it on the kid’s menu.

Soylent Green, anyone?
Further reading

If you have concerns about this issue check out these websites:

‘Good for Kids…Good for Life’ is about the people of the Hunter, New England and Lower Mid North Coast leading the way in the implementation of Australia’s largest ever program promoting healthy eating and physical activity for kids.  This pilot program is part of the NSW Government’s Live Life Well campaign. It is Australia’s largest ever childhood obesity prevention trial.

The Parents Jury is a web-based network of parents who wish to improve the food and physical activity environments for children in Australia.