To not like Annabel Karmel/her food/recipes?

[MolotovCocktail]

Sorry if this has been done before, but here goes:

I first became aware of AK when weaning dd1 in 2009. I bought her book, thought that some advice/recipes were pretty good, then realised that I was actually having to prepare whole batches of separate food. Dd1 is now 4yo an still pretty fussy where food is concerned. So, far from broadening her tastes, I'm suspicious that AK weaning may be at least partially responsible for this.

I can't stand AK on her tv show. She's very pretty, in a cougar-type way. However, I think it's weird getting this impression from a kids' cookery show. I think it's all about her, IYSWIM. Hope that I'm not the only one who thinks this

Have you bought an AK kids' lunchbox from BHS? Yuk! I wouldn't feed into my dog! Acidly-tasting "fruity" water, shit-bit banana-chips and measly weeny biscuits. Okay, not all AK's fault, but certainly something he's put her name to.

Her mug is everywhere where kids food is concerned: AK food = healthy kids food. I think not. At least not tasty kids food, anyway

I blame AK for the disaster that was weaning DS1. I had her book, and her wallchart, I stuck to it all rigidly. No food given if the wallchart said it was too early.

He's 13 now and I still shudder whenever I see her.

Ok, you don't like her products and think she is pretty( why is that bad, don't get that...)

I think she has been helpful to a lot of parents, I found her books and general advice useful personally and she has overcome great tragedy with the death of her first child to go on and help others with eating advice.

Yabu, she isn't responsible for your dd being a fussy eater.

No - being pretty isn't bad. I wanted to draw attention tithe fact that I am criticising her food stuff, not her because she is an attractive woman (i.e. it's not jealousy).

I liked her recipes. I used them years and years ago when DS was little. I am majorly fussy and didn't want that for DS.

He's a great eater, will try anything. I don't know if it was something I did or if he would have been anyway but I give AK the credit for helping.

I really like her recipes and they work with DD. After the first few months, I think a lot of the recipes are for the whole family.

I agree you shouldn't stick to her plan rigidly, but I didn't think anyone would - it would be a huge effort!

And I didn't say she was responsible for dd being a fussy eater, just that by differentiating dd's meals, she has since become a fusspot. I suspect a connection.

Haven't seen the lunchboxes. The reason i chose AK when weaning is that I found it all baffling and needed a guide. But I stuck to it rigidly which I think was my mistake.

I used a lot of her recipes with the family when DS was on to proper food. The special fried rice and salmon fishcakes were big favourites.

YANBU - she's a smug harridan. DS turned his (very cute) nose up at every single thing I tried to make from her book. We tried BLW instead and never looked back. I felt like a failure - I followed her instructions to the letter, but DS was having none of it.

I still have quite a few of her books, her recipes were a godsend, especially when I went back to work and DH was a SAHD,I used to freeze them for him to use. There's no way when weaning all 3 of mine I could just have gave them "whatever we were having". I still use a few like a pasta sauce recipe now.

I agree with MiaowtheCat
I used her book with both my children and have two fantastic eaters.

I start my daughter on purees today and we were giving the AK book from my cousin who used it on her children. One is a fantastic eater and one is extremely fussy so I wouldn't say AK is at fault. Every child has individual tastes.

I think when I see her she just reminds me of a horrible time in my life. Baby screaming in the high chair, not eating all the fantastic delights from her recipes.

I then did 'throwing all the stuff on the highchair tray and letting him help himself' which is I believe now called BLW.

Thanks nancerama, you took the words right out of my mouth! Thats it - I think she's smug.

We're currently BLW dd2 and its working very well indeed.

Its great to see that AK worked for others, but she does leave me shuddering, too ...

I like some of her recipes, but the breastfeeding information on her website is crap.

For example, in the low milk supply section on the Annable Karmel website, it says, "You should then use a breast pump to see how much milk was left in the breast compared with how much he took from the bottle" - this is complete and utter rubbish!!! Breasts dont get 'empty' because they continue to make milk as baby sucks, and feeding a baby is totally different to feeding a breastpump because babies are much more efficient than pumps. Bad information like this actually helps to undermine breastfeeding.

DH is a big fan of her chicken curry recipe - the kids too

She's not all bad but I was completely anti making food look like a cute lion/baby bird etc. Waste of time and creates too many expectations from DSs

I think when I had a PFB I thought every word she said was gospel.

Smug she may be but the booklet from the HV advice started and ended with "base the day around three meals a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner" with no advice about what food a six moth old would eat I found her book really useful for ds. Dd was having none of it and didn't eat purees at all.

I liked her hidden veg pasta sauce recipe but it was the only recipe that DD would take to (VERY fussy eater as a toddler, still not great now).

I had no opinion on her as a person til I read this article in the Guardian - then I went right off her!

Prime quote:

"We were chatting in the kitchen and I said, "It's good you've got all these recipes written down. Because when you're married, your wife will be able to cook the same food you had at home, and your children will be able to cook it and it will live on." And that's a nice thought - that my kids, and then their kids, will be eating Annabel Karmel meals."

Her poor future DIL.... and what a self-important, controlling wanker she is!

i think her recipes are fussy fiddly and wasteful. I'm sure other people have great success with her, but I can't stand her stuff.

I don't particularly seem to take to her as a person mind you, she always looks to me as if she has just wandered off the set of Dallas! But doesn't stop me liking her recipes, not all of them obviously but that would be the same with any recipe book. What do you find fussy and fiddly to do tiger? Nothings wasted as it can all freeze that I make.

I found her book useful at the purees stage,and my miner used lots of her recipes so dd was getting the same sort of stuff in both places, but we quickly moved onto pureeing our food and she liked that. I just stopped cooking with salt and and put more orange veg in our food. it was good or us too.
But I'm really lucky both of my DC are fab eaters.

I can't answer for Tiger but I agree that I found the recipes fussy and fiddly. I think its the way that food is used and cooked; ways that I don't normally use food in recipes and cooked using methods that I needed to adapt my cooking methods to, or completely change the way I cooked.

I really couldn't be doing with making the food into faces etc, either. I'm happy to do that for party food, but not an ordinary lunch. There's nothing wrong with a lovely cheese sandwich on whole meal bread, an apple, a packet of Pom Bears and a carton of apple juice

Obviously thats lunch for a young child there, not a baby just starting to wean!