Why do children's menus exist?

[TankFlyBossWalk]

Why don't restaurants provide smaller portions of the grub on the main menu?

Ah, that makes sense MissDolittle!

On the very rare occasions we go out as a family we tend to order off the children's menu because it is cheaper than the other meals. We have 5 DC.

I wouldn't mind children's menus so much if they were a bit more interesting. But they are usually all the same - i.e. burger/sausage/fishfingers/chicken nuggets and chips. and maybe some pasta with tomato sauce and cheese, or pizza. Which is fine if your child likes all those sort of things. My ds would eat chips and fish fingers etc, but always really wanted some veg, which is usually missing from these menus except for maybe baked beans or peas. I remember going out for lunch once, and he looked longingly at my broccoli until I shared it with him.

The usual children's menu thing just assumes that all kids only like junk type food. And while many children do, not all of them do, so it would be nice to have a bit more variety.

I guess it's because some children only eat that type of beige food.

Better that than they screech the place down at having anything else I guess.

My daughter and I went to our local fish and chip cafe recently.
No kids menu, but smaller portions-child friendly food though. It's fish and chips, with chocolate cake for afters.
Licensed too and with a coffee machine.

BTW, exexpat, the reason I ask is because we're vegan, which often leaves zero on the children's menu anyway. I really dislike the idea that all children like to eat bland junk.

I love children's menu's. I don't get stressed if dd won't eat it because it wasn't as expensive as an adult portion, and it's usually food I wouldn't think to make at home (sausage and chips etc usually escapes the shopping list as I won't eat it, so don't think to buy it for dd , poor deprived child!). If it's just dd and I I just order for me and ask for a side plate or use the bread plate if they say no. That way I pretend to myself that dd eats for free and I don't feel over stuffed all day because I tried to finish it all, so justify the meal out .

The fish fingers etc are just lowest common denominator - the things that even the fussiest child eat (with exceptions) will tend to eat. And no, I have no idea WHY those are the things that children like (except that chips are yum, obviously). But all fussy eaters have their idiosyncracies, for good or for bad - DD, who once told her friend's mum that the baked beans were 'the wrong kind' , absolutely wolfed down kids' ramen in Wagamama, I could have wept with joy ...

She is getting 'Grilled Corn Fed Chicken Supreme, French Beans (Chips or New Potatoes)' in Brasserie Blanc tomorrow; bet she asks for ketchup.

The choice of what is on children's menus is culturally determined - it is whatever is generally considered to be liked by most children in a particular country.

So, for example, in the UK children's menus tend to be full of fish fingers, pizza, sausages and so on, because most of them will have eaten those things at home - not all the time, but they are familiar. In France you find more ham, omlettes, steak etc, and in Japan, it is often tuna or cod roe sushi, prawn tempura, frankfurter sausages and potato salad. Not a conspiracy, just restaurants seeing a demand and catering to it.

Yes, TankFly, I am veggie and the DCs are veggie plus fish, so in a lot of restaurants the veggie options not on the children's menu don't appeal to them. Though if we go somewhere like Yo Sushi or Wagamama they are very happy to take their pick of the adult offerings.

The other reason we order meals from the children's menu is the taste. We went out with 2 of our DC during the holidays and one of them wanted cottage pie from the menu. Cottage pie is one of the few meals that all of my children will eat at home. On this occasion he didn't eat the meal because it didn't taste the same as mummy makes. Fishfingers and chips tend to taste the same whoever cooks it.

Just saw your post about being vegan - I would have thought most of the mass-market places with children's menus would be impossible for you anyway? And the ones catering better to vegans tend to be more ethnic or off-beat so less likely to have children's menus.

I have one DC who is now past the fussy stage, but one still in it; I am counting the days (well, years probably) until DC2 will be happy with the veggie/vegan thali takeaway DS1 and I shared this evening...

With DD1 (now aged 11) I have often in the past gone halves with her on something off the main menu or she had a starter as a main when suitable. She's now old enough for anything but always wants a dessert so DH polishes off her main for her (a habit I hate) so that she can!!

Sounds like we eat out a lot- we don't only special occaisions and holidays but you can't expect children to eat/behave well in a restaurant if you never take them!

I have wondered the same. Are children's meals in restaurants a new thing or have they always been around? Seems so odd.

Does a fussy eater only the same few type of food that is found on kid's menus(i.e. crap)? DD2 is a fussy eater, it just means she has very few items she'll eat, none of them feature on children's menus.

DiscoDaisy makes a good point too. If something that they normally eat turns up with different ingredients from normal, it may well be rejected, but cheese and tomato pizza tends to be pretty much the same everywhere.

I think children's menus are a relatively new thing because children eat out a lot more now than they did when I was growing up. Adults too, I think - does anyone have any statistics on restaurants per capita in the UK now versus the 1970s/1980s? I'm sure there are many times more restaurants now, and most pubs never did much food 20 or 30 years ago either.

They didn't have children's menus when I was little (am 40) but my parents used to get me soup, then I would pick off their plates and then I would have a pudding (I always wanted pudding)!

child menu=less cost,smaller size.makes sense

Because we don't eat much junk food at home, it was a bit of a treat for the children, when they were younger, to have it at a restaruant.
Now they all eat adult size 'proper' meals and doesn't our wallet know it!

Ah yes, and I should never have let ds watch Masterchef Australia - now he wants to eat at better restaurants when we go out. Lovely, but they do cost a bit more.....

"OK, I'm genuinely curious - why do fussy eaters like chips, fish fingers and peas and the like, rather than other sorts of foods?"

If I knew the answer to this I would be a millionaire.

DS would like on mash, chips, sausages and fish fingers if I let him. These foods were only introduced as a last resort when he wouldn't eat anything else. I do have a picky eater at the extreme end of the spectrum though (no fruit, no veg, nothing 'slimy'. He likes his food familiar, and he'll never eat anything in a sauce.

Catering for him is loads of fun

At least I know he'll eat when we go out.

It must be very difficult though, if you have a picky eater who doesn't like the usual children's menu items. A friend's child is a bit like this - she doesn't eat potatoes at all (including chips), no fish, no cheese, no burgers, no chicken. She might just about eat sausages.

Junk food is cheaper though for the restaurants to buy in and to buy to cook at home.
When we eat out I want the finest ingredients for my offspring and food I could/would never have time to cook at home otherwise what's the point ? Chips even I can manage to cook.
Plainer food I can maybe understand but no way would I pay £10 for them to eat crap.

I'd much prefer half sized portions to be available (and they could quite easily be on a childrens menu and limited to children under 12 which is the usual cut off for the children's menu I find if cost is the issue). Or slightly plainer options, as this was dd's issue when she was smaller (so if we went out for italian what she really would have liked was plain pasta with cheese) not the mass produced junk that most places, even high quality places seem to go for. It's incredibly limited and often both unhealthy and not very nice - if I'm having a nice meal I'd like my children to have a nice meal too. Now they both choose from the adult menu, which is expensive and means a fair bit of waste. I quite like places which have the option of "seniors size" portions, perhaps 2/3 of an adult size.

why do some (not all) fussy eaters like chips etc?

cos the human body is pre-programmed to LIKE fat, sugar, salt etc. it's a survival thing. only now we have central heating, cars etc, it isn't needed so much.

however, my dd is a fussy eater. she quite likes chips, but really prefers pasta, loads of veg, loads of fruit, turkey & other meat etc. however, she doesn't like ANY kind of sauce/gravy, so adult meals not much good for her.

what really bugs me is that so few places offer veg for kids - even in there's a v low uptake, it surely is possible to keep some peas & sweetcorn in a freezer, then microwave them for 1 min to put on the side of a kid's meal?

DD2 is 14 - she is helping me wait for dd1 to come home - and she thinks it is nice to have a choice of something with chips, or something small off the main menu. We did try to get a half portion for her in Portugal a couple of years ago, but weren't allowed

On the rare occasions we eat out as a family, the children's menus don't tend to have chicken nuggets & chips.... We usually go to places like Pizza Express, Zizzis or Wagamamas, all of which have similar food to the adults menu but a bit plainer.

I am a bit puzzled as to what types of restaurants a vegan would go to that serves chicken nuggets.... I think even our local Harvesters doesn't have them on the menu.... The only place we go to that has similar is a Chinese that has sweet & sour chicken balls...

OP I think you need to give some names as otherwise I will be suspicious that you have just come on to boast about your own children's healthy eating....

Btw I have two fussy eaters & one who ears everything so we are limited in where we go & generally stick to places we know will work.