The Lost Art of Feeding Kids: What Italy Taught Me About Why Children Need Real Food

In this slow food/locavore manifesto with a secondary theme of hand-wringing about feeding children, a Canadian journalist living in Rome shares her experience of trying to feed her baby in the traditional Italian style and segues into an exploration of why European food culture is giving way to Americanized processed, packaged, and industrially produced foods. Marshall wistfully describes shopping in farmer’s markets, feeding her baby a simple brodo with pureed bits of the family’s evening meal, and meeting Italians who wouldn’t dare chomp on a fine pastry on the street. The author laments that Italians are failing to transmit this food culture to the next generation, instead giving their kids bland and convenient baby formulas, sugary cereals, and fast food. She takes large companies like Nestlé and Pepsi to task for philanthropic policies and programs that aim to offer better nutrition to children with whole-grain, lower-fat versions of processed foods, among other issues, disputing their claims that the global poor and malnourished can’t afford a whole foods approach to health. Not only does Marshall see the U.S. exporting obesity and reduced crop diversity, she sees cultural traditions being lost abroad. Though Marshall is not the most evocative writer, nor the most effective advocate, her point that parents need to think about the future when feeding their kids is an important one. (Jan.)