{"product_id":"little-critics-isbn-9780525611509","title":"Little Critics","description":"\u003cb\u003eKid-approved! A cookbook of more than 100 fail-safe recipes that Canada's chefs use to win over their toughest critics: KIDS.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFeeding kids can often feel like climbing a mountain, and sometimes like an endless series of rejections and failures. With picky eating preferences changing at every turn, meals that were a mainstay one week are inexplicably pushed aside when they hit the table the next. Because kids don't care about what they're serving at the new It Restaurant, the food fads of the year or how long you spend in the kitchen—either they like what they're eating ... or they’ll let you know about it! But surely chefs, with all of their accolades, awards and years of experience don't go through this too ... do they? What food writer Joanna Fox discovered might surprise you. It turns out we’re all in the same boat, even Canada’s top culinary professionals from coast to coast.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInside \u003ci\u003eLittle Critics\u003c\/i\u003e, you'll find out how our top chefs please even the most suspicious, judgmental or fastidious of early eaters, with recipes including \u003cb\u003eJeremy Charles’s\u003c\/b\u003e go-to stew, \u003cb\u003eSuzanne Barr’s\u003c\/b\u003e Cauliflower Cheese Bake, \u003cb\u003eSusur Lee’s\u003c\/b\u003e favourite childhood chicken, \u003cb\u003eDanny Smiles’s\u003c\/b\u003e Italian family dinner, \u003cb\u003eDyan Solomon’s\u003c\/b\u003e Green Hulk Risotto, \u003cb\u003eVikram Vij’s\u003c\/b\u003e Butter Chicken Schnitzel, \u003cb\u003eRyusuke Nakagawa’s\u003c\/b\u003e Cheesy Chicken Katsu, \u003cb\u003eBilly Alexander’s\u003c\/b\u003e Frybread Stuffed Pizza, \u003cb\u003eChuck Hughes’s\u003c\/b\u003e Pappardelle Pesto and \u003cb\u003eMichael Smith’s\u003c\/b\u003e showstopper pancakes, \u003cb\u003eTara O’Brady’s\u003c\/b\u003e hearty Oatmeal Waffles, and \u003cb\u003eAnna Olson’s\u003c\/b\u003e Gourmet Goo Skillet Brownies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLittle Critics\u003c\/i\u003e is chock-full of ideas for every kind of meal, with easy-to-follow recipes for breakfast and brunch; vegetarian, fish and meat mains; soups, snacks and sides; and desserts and drinks too. With food this good, even the adults will be asking for more.Joanna Fox has written about food, restaurants, wine, travel, art and culture for newspapers and magazines, including \u003ci\u003eThe Globe and Mail\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eMontreal Gazette\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eenRoute\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eChatelaine\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eCanadian Living\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eStyle at Home\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eBon Appétit\u003c\/i\u003e. She is currently an editor at \u003ci\u003eELLE Canada\u003c\/i\u003e and was previously an editor at \u003ci\u003eRicardo\u003c\/i\u003e, working on the company's magazine and cookbooks. She is the co-author of \u003ci\u003eChuck’s Day Off\u003c\/i\u003e by Chuck Hughes, the editor of \u003ci\u003eOlive + Gourmando: The Cookbook\u003c\/i\u003e by Dyan Solomon and collaborates on cookbook projects with chefs from coast to coast. Joanna lives in Montreal with her partner and their own little critic, their son.\u003cb\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGrowing  up,  I  was  a  picky  eater. Everything  my  parents  put  on  my plate was scrutinized, prodded, poked, and moved around, and then, often, strategically made its way under the table and discreetly onto the  floor.  Like  a  lot  of  kids,  I  was  a  creature  of  habit  and  wanted  the same things, over and over, every day. I think I had a ham sandwich on baguette with mustard every day for lunch throughout my elementary years  (and  I’m  surprised  I  don’t  glow  in  the  dark  from  the  amount  of nitrates I’ve consumed). As I got older, I slowly became more adventurous,  but  it  was  only  when  I  started  to  travel  the  world  and,  while travelling,  worked  in  hospitality  that  I  began  to  really  broaden  my horizons. There’s something about the restaurant industry and being around food and food people that pushes you to just go for it. By the time I landed a job waitressing at Joe Beef in my late 20s, the flood-gates were wide open.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA lot of the picky eaters out there tend to become the biggest lovers of food (and some just become adult picky eaters). I fell into the former category and embarked on a culinary journey that had me doing everything  from  food  styling  (which  I  was  terrible  at,  for  the  record) to working on cooking shows, writing cookbooks, waitressing, making food guides, reviewing restaurants, and, most of all, cooking like crazy. I  was  that  person  who  filled  their  teeny  tiny  apartment  bathtub  with ice  and  snow  crab  for  dinner  parties.  I  would  make  my  own  tortillas for  20-person taco  nights  and  spend  3  days  slow-cooking  a  pork shoulder.  I  had  boundless  energy  for  experimenting  and  discovering new dishes, and threw the most elaborate meals imaginable for anyone who wanted to crowd around my massive dining room table, which was always the centre piece crammed into every place I lived.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd then, one day, I had a baby. Which turned elaborate meals into me standing up while eating whatever was in the fridge, or picking up and  eating  what  my  son  threw  to  the  floor.  My  dinner  parties  fizzled when I realized I now wanted to end them well before my pre-baby-life 9  pm  start  times.  My  usual  three  courses  turned  into  a  panicked  one-pot meal, my open invitations and “more the merrier” joie de vivre were cut off at a strict six topper, max. How did I use to do this? Where had all my energy come from? And what happened to me?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy  son  was  actually  the  best  thing  that  happened  to  me,  besides meeting  my  partner,  his  father,  years  before.  And  eventually,  as  my son  started  to  eat  more  food—and  a  variety,  at  that—meals  became  a bit more normal, I had more time to cook, and I started to make more interesting  dinners,  regaining  energy  and  confidence.  And  my  son was  eating  everything.  I  was  so  proud.  I  mean,  his  mother  had  such a developed palate, so it only made sense . .  . Until one day, probably around  his  third  birthday,  he  turned  on  me.  Or  rather,  he  turned  into me.  Everything  was  “no”  or  “ugh”  or  “yuck,”  and  all  my  usual  go-tos were rejected, one by one. Eggs, pasta, chicken, cheese, fish, rice, vegetables, mashed potatoes, even French fries—nothing would stick.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd then I realized something. I had a lot of chef friends, and quite a few of them now had kids. I wondered what they were feeding their own  kids  and  if  their  kids  were  as  picky  as  mine.  One  of  the  amaz-ing things about children is that they have an uncanny ability to level the playing field. If Chuck Hughes’s kids were telling him their dinner “could  be  better,”  I  felt  better.  When  Fred  Morin’s  son  told  him  his food sucked, I have to admit, it made me kinda happy. Because if these top  chefs  weren’t  able  to  please  their  kids,  the  pressure  was  way  off me. All of a sudden, we were all in the same boat. The truth was, we were all at the mercy of these tough little critics.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat  being  said,  there  was  always  a  “but.”  There  was  always  that dish,  that  fail-safe  recipe  that,  no  matter  what,  managed  to  please the peanut gallery. Just like when I was young there were these sweet, sticky,  salty  soy  chicken  drumsticks  my  mom  made  from  an  old  issue of \u003ci\u003eCanadian  Living\u003c\/i\u003e that  I  loved.  And  I  would  be  so  happy  every  time she made them, knowing I wouldn’t have to, God forbid, eat something gross.  And  it  was  the  same  thing  for  every  chef  I  spoke  to.  Each  one had  that  slam-dunk  recipe  that  their  children,  or  the  children  in  their lives,  would  always  eat—or  even  that  they  remembered  eating  when they were young.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo I decided to do something helpful for all the parents and care-givers out there, all the godparents and uncles and aunts and cousins  and  friends  who  ever  had  to  cook  for  children.  I  asked  some  of Canada’s best culinary minds, from coast to coast to coast, what they made for the kids in their lives. And while I was at it, I also wanted to create a cookbook that would help teach children and parents about the diversity of our country and its people, and how rich and amazing our food culture really is. What better way to understand what Canada is today than through the lens of its many different recipes and culinary traditions?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll of the incredibly generous chefs in this cookbook gave me their best recipes so that you would have plenty of options come mealtime to put a smile on your kids’ faces and show them that there is so much to  discover  through  food.  And  who  knows,  those  picky  eaters  might surprise you with what they like—I know mine did.","brand":"Appetite by Random House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303385256165,"sku":"NP9780525611509","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780525611509.jpg?v=1767731525","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/little-critics-isbn-9780525611509","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}