Real menus for children - campaign?

[fuzzpig]

Following this thread it seems parents may like the idea of persuading restaurants to change their children's menus to be more in line with the adult ones.

Some places still seem to offer little more than nuggets/fish fingers etc, which only serves to encourage the idea that children don't want 'real food'.

It would be great if more places were openly willing to do a children's portion of any adult meal for a smaller price (apparently some places do this but I've never seen it advertised), for example. It was mentioned on the above thread and some posters seemed in favour of the idea, so here I am :o

Always annoys me when i see muck on the children's menu's even the high end restaurants do it !! no wonder some children are picky eater if that's all their is for them to eat !! makes me so angry children should eat what the adults are eating within reason of course then they wouldn't be fussy/scared of new foods with the exception of some children who are just fussy no matter what.

Is there an actual petition we can all sign ?

Christ, if this place campaigns for fewer chicken nuggets on naice restaurant menus, I'm off.

Better miscarriage care
We believe you
This is my child
Nicer sausages

Is a campaign against children being fed junk and denied a proper meal like their parents are eating. and the fact these restaurants charge anything from £3-£9 for a child meal they made for about £1 from substandard frozen food is outrageous.

I think vestandknickers has the right idea. Perhaps you could get MN to make a sticky topic with people's recommendations for places with good children's menus -- would be very helpful without elevating the issue to some kind of national crisis.

OddFodd has a point.

Restaurants work on their market.

If you go to a restaurant and don't like the children's menu, ask for a half portion of the main...the request in itself acts as a campaign if they are responsive to customers.

I always looked at the starter menu and the children's menu - and asked about half portions of mains, and chose accordingly.

And went to places I already knoew did a good value good choice children's menu - I agree that Cafe Rouge is such a place.

Give customer feedback to the places you eat, or want to take your kids to.

But as a focus for a MN campaign??

Good idea DreamingBohemian.

Food education is failing in this country I don't think its as trivial as it sounds.
The knock on effect is poor eating habits and poor health.

Restaurants that charge £9 are normally offering more "standard" quality, I think.

Most starters cost more than £3 these days,

I agree Nuggets and chips is my lay tea..When I go out I want something extra nice to eat not processed crap..If I wanted to do that I would go to Mcdonalds.

I am also finding at the mo Ds is finding kids portions too small but a adult meal is too big

I have the only six year old in the world who doesn't like chips (seriously He just won't eat them, never has) I usually find that most places will do half portions of the adult menu, or I order him two adult starters.
Some more options would be nice though.

I can't see why they don't just have the adult menu with a smaller plate and cheaper price. Easy. It would suit the elderly too. My mother is 92yrs and she is put off by big meals.

When I (as I said - flippantly!) suggested a campaign I wasn't in any way suggesting it was as important as the proper MN campaigns like We Believe You . I meant (and I assume others meant) something more like the Let Toys Be Toys thing, which started on here and is now happily doing its own thing.

I didn't know what a mn campaign was, just though like minded people would sign or paste an email to some of the chain restaurants to demonstrate the demand, if thats over the top then why on earth do the school dinner disgust threads and fussy eater threads fly so high?

We are a vegetarian family and if we eat out we tend to go for Italian food. I always order a full sized pizza for my two dd (4 and 6) and ignore the child menu. Never had a problem. And I refuse to order a child menu in somewhere like Pizza Express or Carluccio because I don't care for having to wait around for the desert (unnecessary) or baby cappuccino or whatever.
Enjoyed a meal we had abroad recently where they served a lunchtime size pizza for children (see picture) or anyone else with a small appetite.

The chain restaurants are often not too bad though (pizza express, zizzi, Jamie's, cafe rouge etc) - the chain pubs are probably worst.

I like dreaming bohemian's idea.

See this is why I started a thread, so somebody else could do the thinking for me :o

To be honest I was a bit envious of the pizza the girls shared

DS had one of those abroad too, jewel - on its side and therefore a fish not a space hopper!

Thanks for this suggestion. We'll flag it up at MNHQ.

I have two children, so I often order one main for them to share.

I think what I would like to see isn't necessarily "No more nuggets", more food that has some sort of affiliation to the adult menu.

Smaller sized pizzas in a pizzeria, a selection of smaller sandwiches and salads in a cafe, burgers and nuggets in a burger bar, whatever the restaurant, it should be able to find something that isn't completely different in style to what is on the adult menu!

It's the fact that it always seems to be the same boring old selection that is the problem - nothing wrong with homemade chicken nuggets in the right setting! Restaurants need to think about the type of adult food they offer, and try and think of things that complement that, and still appeal to young children.

Thanks Iona. I feel like less of a twat now :o

I really like dreaming's idea of starting off with a positive "which restaurants do great food for children" (kind of like the family friendly business thing?)

Don't feel like a twat. What we eat is vitally important. What our children eat is vitally important. At every level - health, ecological, economic, socio-political.

To me it's about the messages it gives to children. Almost an "adults deserve nice things, kids get what they are given and should just like it" which to me doesn't encourage an enjoyment of 'proper' food which I think is important to encourage a healthy relationship with food

(If that makes sense!)

I know I said I don't think it's right for a MN backed campaign but I do think it's a good idea.

If it is your campaign you don't have to worry about pleasing/representing all of MN - just focus on what you want to see then get badgering companies about it/giving out your own new kids health awards etc. Why not?