Almost half of parents think their child is missing out on the best nutrition because they’re a fussy eater who’s unwilling to try new foods.

In a bid to encourage the nation’s children to sample a much wider variety of food, Kent cookery writer Alex Hollywood has teamed up with the British Nutrition Foundation and Sainsbury’s Active Kids to launch the Taste Buddies Challenge.

It features Alex’s own recipes, plus activities and advice to help parents overcome some of the difficulties faced when introducing children to new foods.

Alex, who is married to Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood , said: “As a mum, I understand the struggles of getting kids to try out new foods and I want to pass on my experience and create some really easy recipes that make trying new foods fun for the whole family, so you don’t need to be cooking extra meals just to satisfy different taste buds.”

HIT THE SHOPS

Mum-of-one Alex says taking children shopping for food helps them to become more familiar with different foods, their names and appearance.

She says: “This is really important in the vegetable aisle with often unusual-looking fruits and vegetables.

“Allow them to make some of the choices – the whole point is they get to choose something ‘new’.”

COOK TOGETHER

Getting children involved in food preparation and then eating the results together is a great way of spending family time together and encouraging youngsters to try new foods, says Alex who lives in Wingham.

She says: “I grew up cooking with my mum and I believe teaching your kids the basics of cooking is an important skill to take into adult life. Leaving home able to make a stew, a roast dinner and a couple of pasta dishes is a great start. Imagine how popular your kids will be at university or when they set up their own home.”

MAKE IT FUN

Alex suggests parents introduce foods little and often and shouldn’t feel the need to make every meal an event.

She says: “Just a spoonful of a new veg on the side of the plate or letting them try a taste of what you’re eating – if it’s different – is a great way to encourage them to explore without making every meal a battleground. Making it fun is more productive than making it hard work for everyone.”

In addition, she says, creating traditional meals with unusual ingredients by adding a twist for extra flavour is also a great way to tempt children.

“My mushroom and chilli beef lasagne, for example, uses soft tortillas instead of traditional pasta and some gentle spicing which will help children on a journey to enjoying hotter foods,” she says.

Food and drink: click here to read our interview with one-woman baking phenomenon Britt Whyatt from Medway.

BEING FUSSY

A Sainsbury’s Active Kids survey of 2,000 UK parents found that the barrier to trying new foods isn’t always about disliking the taste, but is often linked to its appearance (50%), smell (37%) and texture (36%), followed by taste (30%), or even an exotic or unusual-sounding name (8%).
The research also revealed that of the 45% of parents who say their child is fussy, 67% put it down to an unwillingness to try new food, particularly vegetables (53%), fruit (39%) and fish (32%).

TASTE TEMPTERS

How to get children to try new foods:
Encourage them to help cook the meal
Get them to try new food at home
Let them pick their own food at the supermarket
Present food in a fun way
Use food as part of an activity – such as creating kebabs
Use older or younger siblings as key influencers

DETAILS

For more information and recipes, visit activekids.sainsburys.co.uk