Educating Palates

286 Pages • P/B
ISBN 9780646576381

Healthy Food for Growing Bodies and Minds — A Guide for Families & Childcare Centres

A cook book for growing bodies and minds.

All children need to be guided at some stage and taught how to eat healthily. Educating a child’s palate is a rewarding process.

Long before celebrity chefs stormed our televisions demanding school canteens revolutionise and forego processed foods for healthier options, there was a small childcare centre in the Blue Mountains called Lizzards where the children had a daily changing menu of seasonal produce
lovingly homecooked by a qualified chef – Tony Sharpe.

“MY child won’t eat THAT!” parents would say on their first visit to Lizzards, yet within weeks they were eating more than their words and begging Tony for his recipes. “NOW they’ll only eat YOUR food. What’s your secret?”…and so this book was written.

Tony’s aim in writing Educating Palates was to give day care centres and parents a simple tool to positively enhance the mental and physical development of their children. Not just a cookbook, Tony also gives tips for fussy eaters, lists healthier substitutes for common ingredients, shows which additives to avoid and suggests ways to positively engage children in healthier choices. Each recipe is written for both a family of four and a group of 30 children.

“Developing a child’s palate will not only create healthier and happier children, but it will also help bring families together at meal times, lower preparation times and reduce ingredient costs.”

Tony has a deep concern for the poor diets that some families and long day car centres are feeding our children. Obesity is on the increase and the use of preservatives and processed food is widespread. Educating Palates emphasises the use of whole foods which are high in fibre and low GI. These are easy and cheap to prepare recipes developed from Tony’s experience working with children over the last 20 years.

Contents

Why birth to three?
Why literacies birth to three?
What principles of teaching and learning underpin this book?
How can we monitor the literacy learning of children birth to three?
How is this book organised?

Chapter One
Interacting with others

Chapter Two
Engaging with texts

Chapter Three
Languages of self-expression

Chapter Four
Symbols, patterns and mark-making

Chapter Five
Information communication
technologies (ICT) and early
literacy earning