The Usborne Cookbook for girls

Much as I like cherry tomatoes, I'm not going to agree with you that they're "nature's maltesers", either!

That book is fab, yes. If any of your kids ever worked their way through it (a process I want to start with DD and DS soon), they'd be set up to eat well for life...

Ooh I love a healthy treat.

Everyone once laughed at me at work when I described cherry tomatoes as "nature's maltesers"

They are sweet though. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I like cheese, does that help?

That book looks lovely BTW, and perfect if by some peculiar quirk of fate you have children who are (shock) different sexes!

Fair enough. Sweet snacks and healthy treats it is, then .

I do think the marketing blurb does both of the books a disservice, and as one of the previous posters said, I do wonder who writes it.

Perhaps this is a more straightforward choice?

The idea that females, when they have a quiet night in, like nothing better than to eat entire cheesecakes and buckets of haagen dazs and stuff...

It's a media construct.

Lots of people stuff themselves silly with shit, male and female.
Most people (I hope) can think of something better to do on a "night in" than sit there eating and eating.
Yet you wouldn't think it to look at the ads on TV etc - and these books demonstrate the same idea.

I'm talking about the blurb on the book ruby.

The bit that people write in order to appeal to their target audience, and the bit that people read when deciding whether to buy a book or not.

If you think it is fair enough that the boys book is billed as encouraging "innovation and fun" with the food talked about in a practical way, while the girls get comfort food, and the good/bad food dichotomy, then that is up to you.

If it doesn't bother you that a "treat" can only be sweet - not savoury/healthy, and that healthy things get a simple "snack" label, not the possibility they might be a "treat" then that is your call. If you agree it's reasonable to suggest that female children might want to "comfort eat" when they have "nights in " then that is your view.

I'm not going to agree with you though.

SQ - both the boys and the girls cookbooks have sweet treats (and healthy snacks, if I remember rightly - don't mind a quick flick through the book but don't want to go through it line by line :)). Neither book makes any reference to "naughty" foods or good foods. So really, the issue is with the phrase comfort food. I don't like it at all, either, but it's a stock phrase deployed in most cookbooks (which aren't explicitly aimed at any gender), and on most celebrity chef programmes. I think at most Usborne are guilty of thoughtlessly lifting it from the adult books they're modelling - it's not as if it's an unusual phrase specifically targetted at their girl audience.

And I don't think that sweet treats and healthy snacks are the language of the food obsessed. Some food is better for our health and well-being than others, we always need to make choices about food, and we need some shorthand to differentiate between the different types.

That is v good, teenstrop

women laughing alone with salad

Incidentally it is my DH in our household who has the whole unhealthy relationship with food thing going on.

I find it strange though that to look at adverts you would think it was only women who ate chocolate or got excited about a "naughty" desert or needed to lose weight. It's very peculiar indeed.

^ what SQ said.

Though, I am secretive about eating choc, if I didnt' hide the stuff my ruddy kids would eat it :(

Note the boys just get to have different types of food. No need for emotional connotations with them.

The idea that women need special food to "comfort" themselves with when having a night in is bizarre. Like the women in the chocolate ads practically orgasming over the stuff, being all secretive about it, being "naughty" by eating it. Just plain weird.

comfort food
sweet treats
healthy snacks

= language of the food-obsessed= unhealthy relationship with food

The dichotomy between "healthy" and "treat" is a disaster for people's perceptions to do with food and sums up unhealthy thinking fostered in people - especially females - for a lifetime.

I own both the books. AFAIK, "healthy" snacks mean snacks that are home made and nutritionally balanced, rather than our usual perception of snacks being processed, high-fat, high-sugar, high-salt crisps, cakes, biscuits, Gregg's sausage rolls, etc - which is what we want for all our kids, isn't it? And both the girls and boys Usborne books have a sweet treats section. I just read treat as something that nobody wanting a healthy diet should eat all day, every day - again, a sensible message for both boys and girls. Sadly, food can't just be food for children, because the British diet is, on the whole, dreadful, so you have to start early with a truly healthy eating message - everything in moderation.

I'm not claiming that for these books, like, but I do reject the notion that any cookbook for children containing healthy snacks and sweet treats is fast tracking them to an eating disorder - it's common sense. And balance.

Is it Usborne who provides the 'blurb' or Amazon/thebookpeople/whoever?

Comfort food? WTAF??

Oooh good point, it's setting the ground work for that 'being good' 'being naughty' mentality that so many grown women have to food. I was good today, I had a salad. I was a bit naughty last night, had a whole box of chocolates to myself.

And! - sweet treats or healthy snacks - lets get that bulimia going girls! Can't food just be food? Why does it have to either be skinny food (because that's what they mean by healthy, isn't it?) or a sweet treat?

It's not just you Wilson, the language is also snappier and technical.

The blurb I found on the bookpeople website is a bit longer then the one posted earlier.

''The Usborne Cookbook for Girls is bursting full of simple and jargon-free recipes that will encourage girls of all ages to experiment with food for every occasion. Covering everything from sharing snacks for parties to comfort food for a quiet night in, the hardback cookbook also provides ideas for sweet treats and healthy snacks galore. The book is full of clear step-by-step instructions and stunning colour photography that is sure to help build the confidence of young girls when it comes to cooking.''

Girls - this book will help build your confidence when it comes to cooking
Boys - this book will show you that cooking can be innovative and fun

Pretty stereotyped messages imv.

I can't even imagine "The boys book of crochet patterns" or similar...

That's the difference isn't it.

Is it just me, or does the blurb from the boys' book sound much less loaded than the girls'? Girls are feeders (party snacks) and eaters (comfort food), boys just know how to make food...

Born take your point on the girls' book of (glittery) mechanics, it would just be covered in pink shit so their fwuffy brains could understand. But I still think that if it could be done well, maybe role-model led, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

The "comfort food" and "quiet night in" are very grown-up concepts aren't they.

I would hope that young children are always having a quiet night in TBH

Utterly ridiculous to sterotype into a boys and girls book, I agree it is highly likely a skewed marketing ploy to sell more.

My boys favourite recipe book is my old faithful Bero book which belonged to my Gran! So pooh-ha to you Usbourne

Cookbook for Boys blurb "This is a fantastic new no-nonsense, no-frills cookbook written with boys in mind. It contains recipes for complete beginners and budding chefs alike; from making toast and boiling an egg up to roasting a chicken and baking muffins. The recipes include sandwiches, burgers, pasta, curries, apple pies and smoothies and each contains suggestions for alternative ingredients and methods for cooking to encourage innovation and fun in the kitchen. Each recipe is explained in step-by-step instructions and accompanied by clear illustrations."

Usborne do this a lot - boys and girls books. I spotted their action hero sticker book in Waterstone's this weekend and felt quite sad, actually. Only boys are action heroes it seems. DD really wants to be an astronaut.