Article: Kids Used to Additives Weirded Out by All-Beef Patties at School

[JumpyTheFrog]

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/07/kids_used_to_additives_are_weirded_out_by_all_beef_patties/

 

A school changed to all-beef patties for a while and said the kids wouldn't eat them. They liked the additive filled patties better.

[Catwoman]

The story is full of holes and doesn't fully explain anything. I am always suspicious of articles like this, because they don't provide any details.

 

How would kids have noticed a lack of caramel coloring? Didn't the school fully cook the "real" meat until it was browned? What did they do, microwave the burgers so they were gray instead of brown?

 

And no mention was made about the quality of the "real" meat. If they were using cheap, fatty ground beef, the burgers might have been greasy and disgusting-tasting.

 

Again, there's just not enough info there to help us make any kind of judgment. It certainly doesn't prove that kids don't like "real" food or that all kids live on additive-laced burgers so they don't know what "real" food is supposed to taste like.

[momacacia]

Of course! All those extra ingredients have an extra taste and flavor to them. The new patties probably didnt have salt, pepper, fresh garlic, chopped onions added to them. Or maybe a Greek burger with garlic, ginger and mint. So of course they didn't like them. They weren't like McDonalds and Steak n Shake. And, just like Mom and Dad probably do, the schools caved.

[JumpyTheFrog]

I agree that the article left out way too many details. I, for one, would like to see the list of 26 ingredients in the patties the kids would eat. I am assuming the quality of beef was low either way.

[Arcadia]

My kids would eat the minced beef from Trader Joes but not from Fresh & Easy or Sprouts. They look about the same to me since I don't eat beef. My older is sensitive to the taste of caramel so only he would comment on the amount of caramel. My kids prefer to eat beef patties when I have marinated the beef compare to if I did not marinate them.

ETA:

They had ate burgers at McDonalds and Burger King.

[Missouri Okie]

I'll admit I didn't read the article, but I've known kids who would pick Kraft Mac & Cheese over macaroni and real cheese. My own mother-in-law prefers Cool Whip over real whipped cream. It's seems like the same type of thing.

[vonfirmath]

I'll admit I didn't read the article, but I've known kids who would pick Kraft Mac & Cheese over macaroni and real cheese. My own mother-in-law prefers Cool Whip over real whipped cream. It's seems like the same type of thing.

 

*I* pick Kraft Macaroni & cheese over the real thing, even when I made it myself. Also I prefer Cool Whip to real (my husband insists on real so we end up with both)

[PeacefulChaos]

Of course! All those extra ingredients have an extra taste and flavor to them. The new patties probably didnt have salt, pepper, fresh garlic, chopped onions added to them. Or maybe a Greek burger with garlic, ginger and mint. So of course they didn't like them. They weren't like McDonalds and Steak n Shake. And, just like Mom and Dad probably do, the schools caved.

So why didn't the school at least add seasoning?  I mean, seriously... no one wants meat with no seasoning on it (at least no one I know :) ).  

My ILs bought half a cow earlier this year and he swore up and down that because of it being so 'fresh' and 'real', it wouldn't need any spices or seasonings.  :001_huh:  Not quite... :rolleyes:

 

I'll admit I didn't read the article, but I've known kids who would pick Kraft Mac & Cheese over macaroni and real cheese. My own mother-in-law prefers Cool Whip over real whipped cream. It's seems like the same type of thing.

 

I love Cool Whip.  I like the real stuff, too (as in the stuff I whip myself with cream, sugar, and vanilla), but that's way too much work for a dollop of whipped cream on my cappuccino in the morning.  Or any other time, for that matter.  I could eat Cool Whip straight out of the bowl with a spoon.  :D  I despise the other crap in a can, though...

[kewb]

I'll admit I didn't read the article, but I've known kids who would pick Kraft Mac & Cheese over macaroni and real cheese. My own mother-in-law prefers Cool Whip over real whipped cream. It's seems like the same type of thing.

 

There is something magical about Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.  The day glo orange color.  The little noodles.  The fact that my mother would never buy it.  My kids pick Annie's mac and cheese over my homemade one.  Such is life.

 

As for the original article, too vague.  I need more data.

[gardenmom5]

it's what people are used to, and  it is possible to change.  I can't believe some of the stuff I ate growing up - that I will NOT feed to my own kids. 

[Spy Car]

The article does seem deficient , but one thing we do (or should) know is that all the additives that "food-scientists" blend to get just the right mix of fat, sweets, salt, and "mouth-feel" to stimulate the brain's pleasure response are very effective.

 

These unnatural additive blends change the palate and the brain's response to food. It undermines the appreciation of real natural flavors, and gets people hooked on artificially goosed tastes.

 

These artificially flavored foods are generally unhealthful, and they crowd out foods that are nutritionally important in the diet.

 

Fast-foods are pernicious not only because they are unhealthful in and of themselves, but because they help destroy the enjoyment and appreciation of natural foods. It is a bad cycle.

 

Bill

[Anne in CA]

The more processed food a person eats as a child certainly limits how much they like fresh food when they are finally introduced to it. My oldest, who is my step dd, ate only processed food until she came to live with us at the age of about 4 and 1/2. I continued to purchase processed food to feed her because it was all she would eat.

 

I can remember that she would not eat soup that did not come from a can. The year she was seven I got on a soup making kick and made fresh soup for dinner most nights of the week, but she only ate a few spoonfuls under terrible coercion, lol. She ate those frozen kid dinners instead.

 

When my ds got old enough to eat food I figured that she was old enough to deal with a change of diet, and she was, but she didn't like it at all. Processed food is just different than fresh and just because it is more healthy does not mean that a child (or and adult) will like it.

[Annie G]

What Bill said- spot on. 

 

When we were kids (I'm in my 50's), chicken could easily be dry- overcooking it really ruined it. These days most supermarket chicken is pumped so full of 'solution' to keep it moist and tender that it's really hard to overcook it to the point of it being stringy. So when kids taste farm raised chicken with no additives, they often complain about how dry and stringy it is. That's the way chicken is, kids, not the pumped full of salt water stuff you're being raised on. 

 

 

But yeah, the article left out a lot!