I read a story in the Daily Telegraph last week where chef Antonio Carluccio said restaurants should scrap kids’ menus. Not only that, he said that restaurants that offer the likes of fish fingers and chips on a kids’ menus are creating ‘a culture of childhood obesity’. I asked parents what they thought of kids’ menus and whether obesity starts with a restaurant menu or at home…

Picture thanks to Hoyasmeg @Flickr.com

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It’s interesting that Antonio Carluccio has brought up this discussion. Well, I say interesting but I could also say it’s coincidental. You see, Mr Carluccio has his own Italian restaurant chain which, instead of a kids’ menu, offers child-sized portions of adult food. ‘I hate the idea that because you’re a child you should have fish fingers,’ he says in the Daily Telegraph. ‘The earlier you start to appreciate normal food that grown-ups are eating, the better you will eat.’ Secondly, and well done to him, Carluccio has recently lost three stone, which he puts down to ‘eating half the portion.’ Perhaps this also explains why he’s now got an ‘obesity’ bee under his apron.

Anyway, as Carluccio suggests, offering child-sized portions of adult food does sound like a good idea … it’s certainly something we try to do at home…. but eating out… mmm, that’s a different matter.

Kids menus

Most restaurants that have kids’ menus tend to be the restaurants that are quick, convenient and serve up ‘easy’ food for kids (and adults). This usually translates into food that comes with chips or ‘frites’ or/and a slice of pizza. I don’t mind them as an occasional treat but some parents I asked were, like Carluccio, less than enthusiastic. One said: ‘I really cannot think of a good place that has great children food, they all serve the same ie fish fingers, chips, baked beans etc….. I am generally not impressed.’

For my family the type of cuisine on offers plays a big part in whether the kids will eat a mini version of adult food. For example, I know that we could take our kids into an Italian restaurant and they would pretty much eat the same as me. When I asked parents which restaurants they thought had the best kids’ menus Pizza Express proved very popular. It seems the Piccolo Menu (baked dough balls, side salad, pizza or pasta and dessert) went down very well and a Baminochino at the end was the icing on the cake. Just as Carluccio suggests, it is, in effect, a mini adult’s menu.

However, if I took our kids (who are generally good eaters) to a restaurant that served up a different cuisine such as French (think Cafe Rouge) I don’t think they would eat a mini serving of my Sole Limande, Moules Marinieres or Bouillabaisse. Furthermore, if they were served it up, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a petit soupcon of ‘hulabaloo’ to accompany the meal. That’s when the Childrens’ Menu with Sausages and Frites comes in. They eat the ‘saucisson’ and you eat your Sole Limande – in peace! So whilst Carluccio’s point about the sooner they eat adult food is a poignant one I don’t think restaurants are the place to put that theory to the test.

Picture thanks to Velovotee @Flickr.com

What we serve up at home

Trying out good and healthy adult food is surely something that we need to be doing at home first. Perhaps if we were a little bit braver and a smidgen more adventurous with our home-cooking we could cope with an ‘adult’ meal out? Until then, I don’t really think it makes us ‘bad parents’ if we allow our little ones a treat every now and then. After all, a meal out is an occasional ‘treat’ for us grown-ups and you’d have to be going to restaurants very regularly be able to accuse a kids’ menu of ‘creating a culture of obesity’.

So, whilst we try our best to become more adventurous in the kitchen maybe it would be a nice idea if Carluccio helped us out? I’d warmly welcome an AC cookbook that had delicious, non-obesity causing food, that was enjoyed by children and adults. Then, when we’re all down-pat with a culinary combination worthy of an adult menu, we’ll all pop along to Carluccios and try it out!

I asked parents to nominate their favourite kids’ menus – (in no particular order). The results are:

Giraffe
La Tasca
Pizza Express
Pizza Hut
Wagamama

More on kids and food: No time for fussy eaters