Choosy's

Children are picky eaters. There is a biological reason for this. As hunter-gatherers, children had to be able to distinguish between foods that would make them sick and those that were safe to eat. Nature often says "poison" with a bitter taste. Humans therefore evolved to accentuate this aversion in children, as it gave them time to learn through experience which bitter plants were edible and which were not.

I don't believe that most children who are picky eaters are simply being stubborn or disrespectful. Some simply have a heightened physiological (and probably psychologically hard-wired) aversion to foods that are new or "funny" tasting.

There are cookbooks aimed at children (The Baby Bistro and Spatullata are two) that have healthy food that young kids will like the first time about 90% of the time. Simple ingredients, avoidance of spicy spices (though kids seem to love sweet paprika), and simple, well-balanced flavor combinations make the food palatable for kids.

This would be a standard restaurant setup, with food that is specifically tailored to the tastes of children of various age groups. Toddlers love bland stuff, little kids are a little more adventurous, and my oldest child will eat smoke mozzarella-stuffed lamb burgers.

So they are given a choice. Every meal comes with an appetizer of sorts, which is a tiny version of the entree in three different versions. For instance, the grilled cheese sandwich could be done as AC on wheat, CC on wheat, and huntsman's on rye. The soup could from simple chicken soup to a ginger chicken soup to a french version with chanterelles and white wine.

The menus list the entree choices, and the kids are able to choose from the three versions. Other "entree apps" are available for a nominal price.

Orders are taken on a smart pad, and the kids are able to give themselves a number or nickname that tracks their tastes and preferences. This also allows some pretty simple software to make suggestions based upon ingredients. In subsequent trips, the children are presented with a fourth tasting app according to these suggestions. If they pick the tasting app as the entree, they get to taste the bolder versions as well.

At the end of the evening, everyone gets a printout of how their taste adventurousness is coming along. It could have cool charts and graphs representing their willingness to eat more grownup and diverse and healthy foods.

You would have to have a very cool and patient staff to pull this off, and you would have to be set up to break entree portions down into mini portions.

Of course, there are adult-sized portions for the big people.