Synopses & Reviews
"I'd always thought food was pretty straightforward: you're hungry, you eat; you're not, you don't. Then I became a mother." So begins Betsy Block's humorous, life-changing book on the ultimate of all makeovers: improving the family meal. But how is her plan even possible when eleven-year old Zack's favorite food is Halloween candy; little Maya is so picky that she'll only eat cut squares of white bread; and her husband's idea of a gift is an electric fryer?
Determined not to give up the good-food fight, Betsy comes up with a creative ten-step makeover plan. She consults experts, visits farms, and shows how she and her family manage the pitfalls, struggles, and triumphs of eating well when busy schedules, surreptitious lunch trades, snack machines, permissive grandparents, and willful temptations intervene. With helpful charts, food lists, recipes, tips, and suggested culinary and farm programs for kids, The Dinner Diaries chronicles one family's intrepid ten-month challenge to change the way they eat—one forkful at a time.
Review
andquot;Betsy Block is the mom we all strive to be: funny, smart, patient, persistent, and willing to tackle the tough issues. In this engaging chronicle, she tackles the minefield that is family mealtime, nudging (and sometimes shoving!) her family toward healthier eating habits with a nod to issues like buying locally and fair trade. With historical tid-bits, recipes, useful tips, and, most of all, a story any mother can relate to, The Dinner Diariesis the perfect book for anyone who cares about what her kids are eating whileat the same time balancing work, family, and her own sanity.andquot; --Cindy Copeland, author of The Diaper Diaries
Review
"If your head spins with all the nutrition advice out there and despite your good intentions your children still insist on bright orange macaroni and cheese for dinner every night, take this humorous, informative journey with Betsy Block. She helps sort it all out and gives you the real-mom bottom line on what you can do to make changes. Best of all she keeps you laughing all the while."
—Ellie Krieger MS RD, Host of Food Network's Healthy Appetite and author of The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life
Review
"Funny, wise, and full of heart, The Dinner Diaries is for every time-crunched mother who wants more for her kids than pizza, candy, and french fries. Betsy Block has a few sneaky tricks of her own as she and her family embark on their family meal makeover, and, thankfully for the reader, she shares them with wit and flair." --Missy Chase Lapine, author of the New York Times Bestseller The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals
Review
"It's one thing to cook healthy for yourself, but add two opinionated kids, a husband, and a full schedule, and it really becomes a challenge. Betsy Block in
The Dinner Diaries has done an amazing job of giving creative tips, nutritional information, and relating her adventures on the road to feeding her family in a more healthful way. The book is funny, honest, and full of excellent advice that any mother will appreciate."
—Nell Newman, co-founder and President of Newman's Own Organics
Review
"If you are one of the many who have experienced the difficulties of getting your family to eat something that isn't processed, that isn't loaded with chemicals, or that you can't pronounce then you are going to love Dinner Diaries. . . . The best thing about this book is that not only is it informative . . . but it's also laugh out loud funny."--Project Foodie
Review
"Dinner Diaries" documents Block's efforts to make family eating fun, appetizing and as healthy as possible in a Pop-Tart nation. Never underestimating her opponent --the great pillars of sugar, salt and fat supporting American food culture-- Block writes with knowledge, wit and humor in her quest for "an all-family meal makeover.""--Baltimore Examiner
Synopsis
A harried mother of two, Betsy Block is in pursuit of the perfect family meal: local, toxin-free, humane, and healthful. But soon she finds herself in a mealtime maze beset by conflicting, often unrealistic advice, and further complicated by two picky kids and a finicky husband. Determined not to give up the good-food fight, she comes up with a creative ten-step makeover plan. She consults experts, visits farms, and overcomes the pitfalls, struggles, and triumphs of eating well when busy schedules, surreptitious lunch trades, snack machines, permissive grandparents, and willful temptations intervene.
As entertaining as it is informative, The Dinner Diaries is for any family who wants to change the way they ear—one forkful at a time.
Includes charts, food lists, recipes, tips, and suggested culinary and farm programs for kids.
About the Author
Betsy Block has written food features and restaurant reviews for the Boston Globe and Wondertime Magazine, and online for Epicurious.com. A regular contributor to NPR's Kitchen Window, she lives in Boston with her husband, two children, and fourteen-year-old mutt.
Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction
Food Fight
Chapter 1
Expert Advice
Chapter 1 1/2
At the Table: Take 1
Chapter 2
Holiday Hurdle
Chapter 3
Some Animals Are More Equal
Chapter 3 1/2
At the Table: Take 2
Chapter 4
Easier Said Than Done
Chapter 4 1/2
At the Table: Take 3
Chapter 5
Fishy
Chapter 5 1/2
At the Table: Take 4
Chapter 6
The Vexing People Problem
Chapter 7
The Aisle Not Taken
Chapter 8
Do It Yourself (or Not)
Chapter 9
If Mama Ain’t Happy (Ain’t Nobody Happy)
Chapter 9 1/2
At the Table: Take 5
Chapter 10
Where the Ideal Meets the Real
Appendix
Tips, Charts, Recipes, and Places to Go