Balance of Food

Romeo Eats can inspire young people to try new foods

I have a new eating hero and he is 4 years old. His name is Romeo.

Romeo Eats is the result of Romeo's eagerness to try all different types of fruits and vegetables. His family released an album Walk Off the Earth & Romeo Eats, Vol. 1 .

Romeo is the child of Sarah Blackwood and Gianni (Luminati) Nicassio, who are in the Canadian indie band Walk Off the Earth. The album got nominated for a Juno (think Canadian Grammy) making Romeo the youngest Juno nominee ever at 4. Romeo didn't win over last weekend.

Romeo has a passion for wanting to try new foods. "We gave him a massive bowl of olives when he was very young, like, right off the boob, for lack of a better term," Nicassio told CBC Toronto.

Avocados, mushrooms, exotic fruits: Romeo is into them and enjoys them.

They have 2 older children but Romeo stands out in a crowd.

The parents didn't push Romeo. He had his own curiosity. Children are curious about the world around them.

Curiosity is often stifled or misdirected when food is involved. "They tried it at 2 or 3 years old, well, that's it." That is the wrong approach. Patience. You are teaching them about food, one of the most valuable lessons to learn as a child.

Romeo Dines is a spinoff about Romeo in high-end restaurants. This also goes against the traditional grain where children and those restaurants don't mix.

The hope is that the videos and music can help encourage children to try new foods based on seeing Romeo in action.

Encouraging should be the key in helping your child try foods. Romeo has parents who help him try new foods.

Romeo may be a grand exception to the rule and a reminder that different children have different paths to food acceptance.

Maybe Romeo likes raw vegetables and fruit more than cooked. Follow patterns with your child. Is texture an issue? Smell? The five senses help children learn.

Have the touch the food, smell the food. Be ready if they don't like the food.

Love the child, even if the child isn't as good as Romeo is about food.

BalanceofFood.com advice coverage

Blackwood and Nicassio said as soon as Romeo started eating solid foods, "he ate everything." Appreciate the child who can do that. Appreciate the child who struggles to figure out how to make food work.

You can find their videos on YouTube.

video and photo credit: YouTube/RomeoEats

What's Tempting: Celebrities going vegan

Going vegan is a challenge in itself, but made more difficult if you don't know anyone who had gone through the process. If you don't know people in your own lives who have made that switch, you can always live through celebrities. And since a lot of us feel like we know celebrities, well, that's "just as good."

Jay-Z and Beyonce are 10 days into their 22-day vegan challenge. Already the two music stars have an advantage, since Jay-Z knows someone going through the process (Beyonce) and Beyonce knows someone going through the process (Jay-Z). And they're both celebrities.

If Jay-Z and Beyonce aren't at your speed or you don't even know who they are, Al Gore is another recent convert to being vegan, joining former President Bill Clinton.

A brief check of celebrities who are vegans unveiled names such as Lea Michele, Jared Leto, Ellen and Portia, Natalie Portman, Russell Simmons, Sandra Oh, Alicia Silverstone, and Daryl Hannah. Silverstone even plays a vegan in her recent film, "Butter."

Jay-Z says the idea came from a vegan friend of his who "challenged me to embrace a 'plant-based breakfast' every day. So he had 2 things on his side: 1) someone who knew the landscape of being vegan, and 2) a direction to experiment with one meal in a day.

The first smart move is identifying this as "plant-based." In the rapper world, "vegan" might sound hippie-like, but "plant-based" might also sound like Snoop Dogg would be doing the challenge instead of Jay-Z.

Going 22 days as a vegan or eating a plant-based diet isn't a challenge to those who are vegetarian and lean vegan, or a well-established vegan. Doing so without having that much of a background, especially around holiday time, is a significant challenge.

Jay-Z announced this quest on his Life and Times blog. Jay-Z doesn't leave his followers in the cold on how to go vegan. The initial blog entry provides a link to a Web site conveniently entitled 22 days nutrition complete with 22 days of menus for vegan options.

Here is the menu from the first day:

Breakfast: Vanilla chia pudding with 1 cup fresh berries

Lunch: Crunchy red cabbage and green apple sesame slaw with 1 cup steamed, cubed sweet potato (or 1 small sweet potato, baked)

Afternoon snack: 1/4 cup hemp hummus with fresh vegetables (carrots, celery, romaine leaves, bell pepper, etc.)

Dinner: Black bean and quinoa salad with quick cumin dressing

Dessert: Dark chocolate

Celebrities, especially those who have to keep in good shape, have perks in their lives that average people don't get to enjoy. Fewer meals on the go, no commuting pressures — you can control more of your lifestyle.

The former vice president cited the impact of meat in climate change as a reasoning for going vegan. Gore's path has been quieter and a lot more subtle. Even when Gore knew how meat impact greenhouse gases, he still kept eating meat. Then again, Gore has been a vegan longer than 22 days.

If you, non-famous person that you are, chooses to go down the plant-based path to being a vegan, you can follow a more-publicized short-term path such as Jay-Z or a quieter, in for the long haul, journey such as Al Gore. Or you can dig to find out the backstory of other Hollywood vegans. Having a friend who is a vegan who will answer your questions is better than following a celebrity path.

No offense to Jay-Z and Beyonce, but a public spectacle over a 22-day period proves tempting to downplay any bumps in the road. If people are going to follow the path of celebrities, they would benefit from knowing about what to do in times of temptation or trouble. What about road trips? What about dinner parties? Was there a moment where you gave into temptation?

The 22-day method is designed to give a person time to change their ways. This shouldn't be about going 22 straight days without any animal products. The advantage to Gore's method is any slipup exists in real time; not about perfection, but finding a consistent path over a lifetime.

Often when talking to non-famous vegans on how they decided to go vegan, usually they were already vegetarian to start or a part-time vegan. Can't recall how many times I heard the phrase "I never really liked meat anyway." They weren't jumping from classic omnivore to strict vegan; even their path was an evolution, though a few of them seemingly had a head start down the path.

Jay-Z is trying to be realistic about going vegan full-time, not sure about the future. "I don't know what happens after Christmas. A semi-vegan, a full plant-based diet? Or just a spiritual and physical challenge? We'll see …"

Props to Jay-Z: no promises, no guarantees, giving a 24/7 plant-based diet a shot. Props to Beyonce, too. Good to have a loved one by your side in going down a difficult path.

Temptation of the Week: Summertime milkshake

Summertime is full of temptations that don't fit in well with winter. The milkshake fits in well to that world of temptations.

And you usually succumb when you are out and a sign says "milkshake" or someone mentions milkshake, and not the song.

At that point, asking what is in the milkshake is the last thing on your mind. You are thinking milk, ice cream, and syrup – not great for me, but how bad could that be?

This Vancouver Sun graphic gives you a taste of what that could mean, and that is from Canada. This comes on the heels of the last Jamie Oliver show where we got several laundry lists worth of sundae toppings.

This isn't about milkshakes itself because you could make a nice milkshake that would be a nice treat that is reasonably healthy while still tasting good. The same can't always be said for milkshakes you don't make.

Jamie Oliver made a sundae with 9 ingredients that you could feel good about eating. You could build a similar type milkshake.

I certainly don't talk about this from a high and mighty vantage point. In my temptation with the King Don milkshake in Windsor, I didn't even blink about the quality and ingredients in the ice cream. All my brain said to me was "Gimme."

The best thing, though no guarantee, is local establishment is better for you than national chain. But often, even the local establishment has no thought to what goes into their food. Jamie's experiment with a yogurt milkshake with Deno is a classic example.

The A&W root beer milkshake in the graphic has 1,720 calories with 252 g of sugar, 278 g of carbohydrates, and 1,200 mg of sodium. As tempting as that looks, you could certainly do better on your own.

photo credit: A&W

Taste of Chicago has to be all about the food, but needs to improve its efforts

Food festivals combine two wonderful ideas: festivals and food. When you throw in music, how can you go wrong.

Taste of Chicago is one of the earliest food festivals, and one of the largest. But like other city run festivals across the country, the Taste of Chicago is in financial trouble. And there were some overblown incidents that has sparked fear in the festival. There was talk about charging to get into the festival; the solution — the city got rid of the music.

But here is the issue. The Taste of Chicago hasn't been all that cool, even with the food, for some time. And the city stopped the major July 3 fireworks display, staring in 2010. The music is what kept the festival going; if the Taste has to rely on just the food, there is significant trouble.

There is an intermediary step once you are there before you can buy the food: paying for the tickets. Can't buy food without the tickets. This increases the cost of the festival since you need to employ people to run the ticket booths. But the restaurants themselves save time by taking tickets instead of money.

And while the festival has been "free," there has been a charge incorporated into the tickets.

The perception of the food at the Taste is that the food is expensive. Even though the restaurants offer Taste portions (smaller portions for fewer tickets), the perception is that financially, the festival isn't worthwhile.

Now in the last few years, the financial crisis certainly affects perception, but that perception existed before the financial meltdown.

If you are a first-time participant in the Taste, and bring the kind of money required to truly enjoy the festival, then you'll be in great shape. And perhaps some of the jaded mentality stems from those who live here who see the same booths year after year.

Even in good times, the Taste of Chicago is known as being overcrowded with enough strollers to risk your calves in just enough heat and humidity to almost make you want to pass out. Yet the festival draws huge crowds each year.

The Taste of Chicago factors in the schmaltz value: deep dish pizza, turkey legs, fried dough, cheesecake. And there is time for schmaltz, but the price for schmaltz shouldn't be as high.

Somehow, a food festival, a festival that celebrates food, should be easy to do, wide access to food, and fun. Whether this is true of Taste of Chicago might lie in the eye of the beholder.

Cash makes a festival much easier to access even on a smaller level. When you have to purchase 10 tickets at a time, and you feel the obvious need to use all your tickets, this removes the casual user from the festival. The festival is well-suited for hardcore users. Want a little sample of the Taste? Try to buy someone's extra tickets.

If we were doing Taste of Boston or San Francisco or New Orleans or Cincinnati, we probably would appreciate a sampling of tastes throughout the city in one place, even if some of those places are so stereotypical. But the Taste of (fill in the blank) needs to appeal to those who live there, well beyond just the tourists.

The Taste of Chicago should be able to survive the loss of fireworks and big musical acts, but only if the food is worthwhile and of value to citizens and tourists alike. The festival has a long road to accomplish this balance; it has to be all about the food.

Podcast: Celebrating 25 years of Farm Aid

This week's podcast deals with 25 years of Farm Aid and why it’s more important than ever.

To access the podcasts, check them out in the podcast library.

Podcast 100110

You can recover easily from a patriotic food eating binge

Feeling patriotic after a long holiday weekend?

The traditional way to feel like an American is to pig out. Burgers, hot dogs, potato chips, nachos, pickles, condiments, lots of condiments.

Then there is this attempt to be an American: an offer to eat a Luther Burger. Food helps us celebrate holidays; we can still be patriotic and eat better, despite our history.

Hopefully, you added some fresh vegetables and fruit along the way. But even if you didn't, there is still hope.

For those with jobs, there is a four-day week. And you can make up for whatever it is you did over the weekend.

Don't bemoan your weekend scenario. Recovery is possible. And you can recover by using fresh fruit and vegetables. This is the best time of the year to get a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables.

And you don't have to enjoy them just in the summertime. Take advantage of freezing them for later use. You could can them, of course. But even something as simple as freezing blueberries to eat in the fall can bring you great joy.

You will appreciate them when the time comes to bring them out of the freezer.

And if you did indulge too much this weekend, go light this week. Take advantage of the humid weather and reduce your portion size. Take an extra walk, maybe in the evening, when conditions are a bit better for exercise.

Don't lose hope. You will need a little extra work. But you are capable of pulling it off. Think of it as a patriotic gesture to make up for your other patriotic gesture.

Finding practical ways to reduce your salt intake

Usually Monday is a Meatless Monday, thinking of a healthier way to eat. But this Monday, I wanted to try something a bit different.

We consume way too much sodium — salt — in our diets. Even as the standard has been lowered to 1,500 mg (2/3 teaspoon) of sodium from the traditional 2,300 mg, we still consume a few times more than the limit per day.

Some of this salt is actively placed on foods, as is noted in the video up above from the American Osteopathic Association. But as the doctor notes in the video, only 20% of the salt we consume comes from inside the home.

Cooking for yourself, using herbs and spices that aren't salt based, is a great way to reduce salt intake in the home. Be careful when you buy spices, even if salt isn't in the name, often spices will have salt in them. I have bought lemon pepper where the first ingredient is salt.

Allowing yourself to adjust to a reduced salt intake is valuable — if you consume a lot of salt, it took you time to reach that point. So you need time to get used to using less salt.

Not automatically using the salt shaker helps as well. Instinct might make you grab for the salt shaker, but if you get used to a reduced salt intake, you will do something better for your health without that much sacrifice.

Outside the home is where we find 80% of the problem areas. It would be nice if every single chain and mom-and-pop restaurant that served French fries wouldn't salt them — or oversalt them. It would be great if chain family restaurants didn't make it their goal to put so much salt in the foods.

Navigating the landscape is not easy, but figure if you reduce the amount you get at home, you will get less overall, even if the restaurants more than make up for the "lost" salt. And since we need salt, you'll get some that way.

The doctor in the video has some pretty good advice, though the video is a little cheesy with the hotel room backdrop and the lame music. But if you listen to the words, there are some nuggets of helpful ways to reduce your salt intake.

Winter farmers market great way to extend local food for consumers

How to spend a Saturday morning on a winter's day: farmers market?

Depends on where you live, but winter farmers markets are a nice way to spend some late morning/early afternoon time.

The weekend before this past one, took a road trip to Milwaukee. The city has a permanent indoor year-round market. It also had an additional market within the regular market on the second floor. The weather that day in the brew city was frightful, but inside, there was fresh food. Inside, shopping was warm.

The only purchase we actually made were Door County cherry scones that were very tasty.

This past weekend, I attended two farmers markets. One was the standard bearer: a twice weekly market during the summer, the market makes occasional appearances. The market was packed, full of great food items from apples, cheese, mushrooms, baked goods, meat, pasta, and a whole lot more. The place was crowded, lots of young and old people, families, too. There was a cooking demonstration.

The other market was a bit unconventional. A music club/bar is experimenting with a monthly farmers market. There are fewer vendors in this place, though the setting and decor couldn't be beat. You can pick up yarn, salsa, baked goods, eggs, meat, wheatberry salad, spice mixes, and a lot more. The crowd mix was perhaps more younger hip people, but definitely an eager crowd.

Locally grown and made, the union of consumers and producers is a beautiful experience for those involved and for the food supply. And in the wintertime, looking around is a lot of fun, too.

Eating well in the summertime is a delight and rather easy. But eating well is vital to do year round, all 12 months. The more access consumers have to fresh, local food, especially in the winter months, the easier it is for them to eat well.

Sites that don't get much traffic during the day, such as music establishments, can benefit from a winter farmers market. The traditional market takes place in a nature museum, invariably drawing traffic and increasing awareness and good will along the way.

People generally gain weight during winter time because it's cold, "fun" food is harder to find, and they exercise less. Getting out to get fun, local, fresh food solves multiple problems to make it easier to achieve whatever you want when it comes to food management.

Can music help you eat better and lose weight?

Can music help you to lose weight?

Not quite like playing Judas Priest against your stomach to improve your digestion, but perhaps music can be a positive tool.

I recently invested in a MP3 player that is not an iPod. Okay, it's a Zune. While the player serves many useful purposes, I'm also hoping it will help me eat better and exercise more.

The exercise element seems easy. Bring your favorite tunes makes you want to walk more, hence get more exercise. Given the stress of my day job, this might work at some point. But when I do walk with the Zune, my pace is faster. And with the built-in FM tuner, I can listen to radio when I want to do so.

But where I am hoping to make some improvement is using music to help me eat better. I'm a stress eater, and after a stressful day at work, I sometimes make bad choices for dinner.

This used to be a real huge problem for me. In the healthier era, I do make better choices. But within that realm, I make poorer choices than I should.

The hope is that music will put me in the kind of mood to relax me so I don't make poor choices when it comes to dinner.

Since we are in the initial stage, I am experimenting with what kind of music helps make this work better. Should it be upbeat, such as Side 1 of Van Halen's first album? Or something a lot more mellow, such as Laura Palmer's Theme from the Twin Peaks soundtrack?

Interestingly, so far, louder upbeat music is working better for me. (Don't worry, I use headphones at a relatively low volume, no earbuds.) I can forget the kind of mood I was in as I left work. With that distraction, I feel a little better adding more vegetables and doing less worshipping of carbohydrates. But it's still a work in progress.

Do you use music or some other device to change your body's attitude toward food? Tell us your story in the comments section below.

Folk music and food combine for fun

Christine Lavin, who is one of my all-time favorite folksingers, is part of a new compilation on food and folksingers. Then again, Christine has always loved singing about food in her music.

Along with the CD, you also get a 96-page cookbook. Lavin sings "French Toast Bread Pudding." Sounds yummy just thinking about it.

Many years ago (I won't say how many for Christine's sake and mine), I played her music on the folk music show on the college radio station. So I truly have been a fan for a long time.