The International Hotel School recently opened its doors to a few little visitors as a learning experience aimed at educating children on eating healthy and making food a fun activity, focusing on the idea of ‘playing with their food’, whilst giving them a taste of working in a professional kitchen.

Lungelo Mzobe (4), Chops Mbili, Shazia Mahomed, and Bella Feuilherade (3)

There are a growing number of diseases associated with a poor diet and the number of overweight children is increasing every day. It’s vital that our kids are taught the importance of good nutrition and develop a happy relationship with the right foods from a young age.

IHS taught the pre-schoolers how to mix, mash, cut and roll out foods associated with a kid-friendly diet which can be used to help their parents in the kitchen as they grow up!

Tips for parents who want to get their children to eat healthy foods

According to Dawn Jackson Blatner, a contributor to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics website eatright.org:

Parents reinforce the ‘picky eater’ idea with special treatment. Picky eaters are made, not born.”

She gives a few important tools in the journey towards a healthy eating child:

1. Let kids help.
2. Put kids’ favourite food on the menu, whether it’s just one of their favourite foods on the dinner plate, such as chicken nuggets or organic macaroni and cheese.
3. A fun idea is to do dinner vacations, whereby you take the family on a journey around the world with foods from different countries at dinnertime. You may want to go as far as printing out interesting place mats, or play fun games at dinner relating to the food you’ve just served.
4. Theme nights are a nice idea, as each family member could suggest a theme for lunch or dinner and apply it to the menu.
5. Grow your own veggies. For many parents, the most common battle at the dinner table is getting your little ones to eat their vegetables. Make eating veggies fun by letting your children grow veggies they like to eat.
6. Lead by example. The most important of all is to lead by example, such as turning off the TV and being attentive to each and every family member at the table. Make mealtime a positive experience for the kids. After all, mealtime is family time.

Here’s an easy and quick recipe for parents to try out at home…

Homemade tomato pesto pizza

Homemade tomato pesto pizza

Improve your pizza night by exchanging the standard jar of tomato sauce for a five-ingredient homemade pesto! Top a store-bought crust with the pesto, then layer on chopped tomatoes, garlic, a little cheese, and a few sprinkles of basil…

Ingredients

Pesto:

• 4 cups basil leaves
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Pizza:

• 1 store-bought pizza crust
• 3 cups chopped seeded tomato
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced basil leaves

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. To prepare pesto, place 4 cups basil leaves and 2 garlic cloves in a food processor, and pulse 5 times or until coarsely chopped.
3. With processor on, add broth, Parmesan, and oil; process until well-blended.
4. To prepare pizza, place pizza crust on a baking sheet.
5. Spread pesto over crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border; top with the tomato, garlic slices, and cheese.
6. Bake at 200°C for 12 minutes or until the cheese melts.
7. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup basil. Cut the pizza into 8 slices and enjoy!