Slow food for children
Wholefood expert and chef Jude Blereau with her new book Wholefood For Children. Picture Dione Davidson
We live in a fast-paced world, where everyone seems to be time-poor and our food travels as fast as we do, served up in all its processed glory.
So it's refreshing to happen upon a book that advises us to slow down and take the time to buy, prepare and cook our food thoughtfully.
Having been around for more than two decades, the slow food movement is nothing new. But Jude Blereau's latest book offering, Wholefood for Children, hits us where it hurts: our kids.
"The book came about because I was seeing not only a large number of adults who didn't understand how to nourish themselves, but a large proportion of unnourished and unhappy children as well," Blereau says.
"It was really brought home to me by my doctor, who said, 'I see so many kids in my surgery, and I just look at them and think 'No nutrients'. And this is in a wealthy western suburb."
As a mother, Blereau knows what she's talking about. She is a natural foods expert who has worked in the organic and wholefoods industry for nearly 20 years.
She is also a cooking teacher and a self-styled food warrior, and it is that passion and dedication to "real" food that has brought her to this juncture and has her wanting to share her expertise with other parents.
"My basic training was as a kindergarten teacher. So I've always been interested in young children - it's an area that's close to my heart," Blereau says.
"Nowadays, we've almost got a lost generation of malnourished children who are hungry in their soul and bodies. They might be eating lots of food, but they're not getting any nutrients.
"I think children nowadays are mainly missing out on fats. Saturated fat is a critical, critical thing for growing children, and I talk about this in the book.
"If you look at traditional cultures, foods for children always included egg yolks, offal and fish eggs, which have a very high fat content. Vegetables came a bit later, and even then they were cooked. It was all about easily digestible fat and broken-down protein.
"These days, we have conventional wisdoms that tell us what foods are good for us. And that's fine for adults. But that's been taken down to our children as well.
"Children have very specific limitations that need to be taken into account, such as their digestive and immune systems are not fully developed. They are also building a body, which includes their organs, bones, nerves, skin and muscles.
"I think people just forget that children need more help than to just run and play."
The book is a 336-page tome, divided into two parts: information and recipes.
The first section provides answers to practically every question a parent might have about good, nourishing food for their children and a run-down of required items for the wholefood kitchen.
The second section gets stuck into recipes, which range from those for baby food to older children.
"These days, the question is 'What is good food for my growing child?' And that is seen to be rice crackers, hummus, low-fat commercial sugar-laden yoghurts, and lots of raw vegetables and raw fruit," Blereau says.
"But every time you refine, process or manipulate food, you make it less compatible with the human body. Children's immature digestive systems will have no chance, and I think it causes a lot of our children's problems today, such as allergies and intolerances.
"I'm hoping that in my very small and humble way, my book can help with this."
Wholefood for Children by Jude Blereau ($45, paperback) is published by Murdoch Books.
