- [Bella] You know when you're a little kid
and you have to sit at the kids table.
And at the time it feels like a punishment
for being young and small and kind of a messy eater.
But then you grow up and you actually have
to sit with the adults and hear them gossip
and hear them gossip and you're like abort, just kidding.
Can I go back and sit with my cousin, Alex
and the giggling baby at the kids table
and eat my finger food in peace?
Well, you're in luck because in today's episode
we're going to go back to the kids table
with some delicious facts about picky eaters,
taste buds, kids menus and more.
So put on your bibs know-it-alls
because its time to dig in.
(upbeat guitar music)
Hi my name is Bella,
and you might know me as Jayus from TikTok or YouTube.
But you're about to know me from this podcast,
Know it All.
And each episode, I'm gonna help you become a Know it All
about something new, here we go.
(upbeat guitar music)
So if you've been following me for a while
you might know that I'm one of 11 kids.
Did you catch that?
11 kids, crazy right?
As one of the oldest in my family,
I help take care of my younger siblings.
And I don't know if you ever negotiated
with a three year old about eating all their green beans
but it is intense.
So I was excited to check out the new kids menu episode of
Ugly Delicious on Netflix to see
if I could pick up any tricks.
And what do you know,
it wound up setting me down
a good old-fashioned Jayus internet rabbit hole.
Of course, I'm gonna teach you what I've learned
but first, let me give you a quick rundown of Ugly Delicious
for those who haven't seen it, and you should.
Ugly Delicious is a doc you style look at the life and work
of James Beard Award Winning Chef David Chang.
Each episode tackles a different genre of food
from pizza, to tacos, to fried rice.
An episode from the latest season takes us to the kids table
because surprise, David's wife Grace is pregnant
with their first kid.
(baby cooing)
- It's a boy. - [David] Yeah.
- [Bella] We'll look out David and Grace
because one minute you got a little baby in a highchair
and the next minute you got a little person
in the backpack heading off to school.
Just ask my parents.
And the importance of what they eat at school
goes beyond health
because the food quality of school lunches has been linked
to higher academic achievement
especially on standardized tests.
Unfortunately school lunch programs get a bad rap
and a lot of times, that's well deserved.
- [Man From TV] The people that need to be fed the best
are fed the worst.
- [Bella] But there are some people
at the top of the food world trying really hard
to change that.
Like Michelin Star Chef Dan Giusti,
who's featuring the Kids Menu episode of Ugly Delicious.
He left his job at one of the world's top restaurants
to help perform school lunches for the better.
Which begs the question,
who do I talk to about getting a Michelin Star Chef
at my college?
- [Man In Black shirt] What does a third grade wanna eat?
- [Dan] Probably nothing that you've ever cooked.
(laughing)
- [Bella] The thing is, making kids food
that they actually want to eat is harder than it seems,
even for the best chefs in the business.
So why are kids such picky eaters?
Wow, what a good rhetorical question Bella,
I'm so glad you asked.
There are many different reasons
why kids develop picky eating habits.
Everything from personality traits like stubbornness.
Not being exposed to a wide variety of foods
in early childhood.
Having controlling parents.
If your mom is a picky eater.
Being an only child, the list goes on and on.
Or you can just chalk it up to kids being kids.
Psychologist Lee Gibson told NBC News
that it's important to remember that fussy or picky eating
is normal in young kids,
and overreacting or trying to discourage picky eating
tends to be counterproductive.
- [Bald Man] If I decide to pick a fight with him
and then try to force him to eat,
I'm gonna lose this battle.
So we better off to throw the food down
and if he says I don't eat this we just ignore it,
and eventually he'll eat it.
- [Bella] Sociologist and author Dina Rose says that,
"Often times picky eating habits aren't even about food.
It's actually a power struggle for control.
Because food is one of the only means kids have
to assert themselves."
- [Man With Black Shirt] But kids are tricky,
you gotta treat each one like they're their own person.
Just can't you know, put everybody in the box.
- [Bella] So what makes food appeal to kids?
Well, the simple answer is make it salty, sweet or fatty
and that comes down to biology.
Humans are born preferring salty and sweet
and if those tastes are in foods
most kids are gonna be very attracted to them.
Research psychologist Leanne Berge told Impure.
But Berge has been researching why kids eat what they eat
for over four decades
and she says parents should actually expect their kids
to reject new foods at first.
That tendency is called neophobia.
(loud alarm ringing)
Word alert.
Alright know-it-alls,
we're about to get a little bit smarter
because I just got a word alert.
If you just heard neophobia
and you were like, okay, wow,
I'm a little embarrassed, I've never heard that word before.
Join the club, me too.
So what does neophobia mean exactly?
(page flipping)
Well, the dictionary says
that it's an extreme or irrational fear
or dislike of anything new, novel or unfamiliar.
Which means basically,
it's a built in negative response
to things you've never tried before.
(calvary horns blowing)
But you got to try new things people,
I used to hate fish
but now I wish I could eat sushi every day.
I mean, how do you expect to fall in love
or learn, or grow, or become a better person
if you don't try new things.
(horns crescendo blowing)
(sighing)
Okay, end rant.
Neophobia is why when babies first start eating solids
you're not supposed to ditch a new food just
because they don't like it immediately.
According to parents.com,
they may need to try a new food up to 10 times
before accepting it.
So offered again several days later
or mix it in with something you know he or she likes.
Experts say that exposing kids
to different flavors like sour, bitter and spicy
will typically help them learn
to eat a wide variety of foods.
Yay, we can still turn the ship round
for young taste buds.
Speaking of taste buds we have these little guys to thank
for knowing which foods we like
and which ones we don't.
Taste buds are small bundles of cells
that cover your tongue and send taste signals
to your brain through your nerves.
They're what give food its meaning to us,
beyond just the fuel that keeps us alive.
Did you know that you're born with 9,000 taste buds
and they regenerate every one to two weeks
but as you age you actually lose your sense of taste?
That's because older taste buds aren't as good
at regenerating after injury.
Like burning your tongue on a hot slice of pizza.
Plus older people tend to take more medications
and some medications can interfere with taste.
Women usually start to experience a dulled sense of taste
in their 50s and men in their 60s.
Ear, nose and throat Dr. Steven Parnes told NPR,
you lose all your senses as you get older
except hopefully not your sense of humor.
(drums playing)
So what are the most popular foods to young taste buds?
Again, great question Bella.
If I were gonna guess based on my own childhood
I would have to say that there's one clear winner.
Chicken tendies!
Okay, calm down buddy, I get it.
Kids love chicken tendies, chicken tenders, chicken nuggets
whatever you want to call them.
Chicken strips!
Oh man, people go nuts for chicken nuggets.
So it'll come as no surprise
that the number one food on the kids menu is,
chicken tendies!
That's right, chicken tenders dominate the kids menu
at the number one spot with 19%.
A whopping 10% higher than the number two item
on the kids menu, burgers.
Chicken tenders are so popular
there are multiple baby yota memes
dedicated to the delicacy.
Both kids and Star Wars characters
can't be wrong about chicken nuggets,
they are the best, case closed.
(hammer pounding)
But while we're on the topic of the kids menu,
there are literally think pieces on the internet
dedicated to taking down kids menus
including one by Joshua David Stein in Fatherly
that alleges children's menus are ruining children,
menus and probably America.
Stein says, "The kids menu is an ex post facto justification
for parental laziness and panic."
(bell ringing)
Damn Mr. Stein you better take off your boxing gloves
at the kids table
or the chicken tendie army is gonna come after you.
I actually feel sorry for Mr. Stein.
He's probably just jealous
that he can't eat off the kids menu
so he's trying to ruin it for everybody who can.
Because even though McDonald's will let anybody
order a happy meal,
many full service restaurants limit their kids menus
to 12 and under.
Ever wonder why?
Well, marketing expert, Kendall Goodrich,
told Business Insider,
"It's because kids menu items are typically under price
to get their parents and families in the door
of the restaurant."
Goodrich says, "If someone has small kids,
you get the kid in at a lower price,
and what they're hoping is that you get the adults
to pay full price."
But if everyone ordered off the kids menu,
they wouldn't make any money.
And you know what's funny?
McDonald's didn't even invent the Happy Meal.
Even though that's a huge part of their brand identity.
According to Business Insider
and now-defunct chain called Burger Chef
was the first fast-food meal
to bundle burgers with a dessert
and a toy in there fun meal in 1973.
But the famous pairing of crayons with kids menus
originated even earlier in the 1930s
with the advent of both crayons
and coloring books.
EDA reports that early adopters
of the kids menu included department stores
like New York's Waldorf Astoria
and then restaurants like The Colony Kitchen
and New Haven Railroad added
the coloring book element soon after.
(upbeat bass music)
Okay, we made it.
I just taught you a bunch of facts about the taste buds
and chicken tenders and oh my god,
I'm starving.
We need to wrap this up before I eat the microphone
but this has been a fun episode.
I don't know about you but I learned a lot
and I think we all deserve dessert.
♪ I scream, you scream, ♪
♪ we all scream for ice scream ♪
And I definitely wanna know
what you think about this episode.
So hit me up on TikTok and Instagram @onlyjayus
or Twitter @notjayus
and let me know what your favorite food was
when you were a kid?
And don't forget to smash those five stars,
rating and reviewing podcast helps other listeners find me.
Alright know-it-alls, join me again in two weeks
for another episode of Know it All.
See you then, no, hear you then?
Wait, that's not right.
You'll hear me then,
whatever, we'll get it right next time.
(upbeat guitar music)