Karen Heller | Mrs. Seinfeld's recipe to raise picky eaters

October 17, 2007|By Karen Heller, Inquirer Columnist

Pretty and petite, with an inexhaustible supply of ruffled tops and retro aprons, Jessica Seinfeld has been making the rounds of the daytime chatfests promoting her book, Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids to Eat Good Food. She's everywhere, like Where's Waldo with a spatula.

Mrs. Jerry's simple secret is to sneak vegetables into everything, after steaming and then pureeing them Sunday night.

When I say she's putting vegetables into everything, I mean everything. Like carrots and spinach in brownies.

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Which is wrong on so many counts.

First, she's lying to her kids. One of her "tricks" is placing a box of mac and cheese on the counter while she "hides" squash in the pot.

Listen, there will be ample opportunity to lie to your children in the future, especially about your early 20s and a decidedly different herbaceous baked good. Broccoli is not the place to start.

Hiding food perpetuates the idea that carrots and spinach don't taste good. They do.

This prolongs picky eating, common in early childhood, which can be easily remedied and should be, as swiftly as possible. Otherwise, you will be responsible for producing a high-maintenance adult who will have trouble sustaining relationships with attractive partners, thereby forcing you to serve bland food for decades.

Then there is the business about the vegetables in the brownies, to say nothing of the margarine spread.

Margarine is as wrong in brownies as the spinach. Baking is all about butter. If you don't want fat, eat an apple.

Mrs. Jerry became famous because she married a man famous for portraying a high-maintenance adult who had trouble sustaining relationships with attractive partners.

When a man does this, he can count on $60 million in annual television residuals. When a woman does this, she is labeled a loon.

Mrs. Jerry went on all these shows on the basis of whom she is married to, becoming a professional wife and mother. So much for progress. We're still supposed to marry up and steam all the squash.

After the Oprah appearance last week, Deceptively shot to the top of Amazon's best seller list. Mrs. Jerry thanked the big O with 21 pairs of shoes, not Keds mind you, but what look like Christian Louboutins, which retail for $520 to $1,375. These are not shoes to wear while pureeing vegetables. These are shoes to wear while instructing the private chef. (Look closely, and there's one in Mrs. Jerry's video.)

Am I jealous? Yes, I am.

When someone thanks me, they ask for additional copies.

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