Annabel Karmel jumping on the BLW bandwagon

[MrsJamin]

Finger Foods by Annabel Karmel - I guess if you can't beat em, join em. But seriously, those food shots are ridiculous - who would go to those lengths to make food look attractive to a baby?

Also I'm a bit about the suggestion that finger foods are only for those 9 months and above?! Obviously she has missed the DoH's advice that finger foods are offered from 6 months.

I love the garnish on those meatballs

I hate all this baby food this that and the other, trying to make us all paranoid and question our instincts.

I;m all for advice being freely available for those that want it, but why can't the rest of us be left alone to get on with it?

The whole point of BLW - or in fact just weaning as I'm sure it used to be known - is that is it easy. That recipe doesn't look like something to cobble together in addition to whatever you're cooking for yourself.

They don't need gourmet meals - just a bit of whatever you're having (assuming your diet is fairly reasonable).

Sorry not sure why that triggered a rant!

She worries that if they get finger foods at 6 mo, they may choke on a lychee stone. I wish I was kidding.

It was the lychee stone comment that made me cynical of whatever AK ever said. I could rant more but will restrain myself!

oh dear god those food pictures are ridiculous gormet finger foods for the under one's i never liked the woman anyway evan more so now

Am I the only one who really doesn't understand why you would need to go to such great lengths to make food look 'pretty' or 'interesting'??

I thought partially cooked egg is not suitable for babies, and why would you offer prosciutto? what about the salt content?

i have never known what the big deal is
give your child whatevery you are having
a babys hand can be shaped into a spooon

end of story

That 'egg and soldiers' one is just ridiculous! DS1 would just play with the toy soldiers and ignore the food

The ironic thing is what was in the MN email:

LET THE EXPERTS SHOW YOU HOW IT'S DONE: ...Annabel Karmel's Top 100 Finger Foods ? the authority on children's food; ...

The authority?! MNHQ you should be ashamed.

surely those pictures are only the work of a bored food stylist? Do you think people would buy a baby food recipe book where everything was just dumped in a plastic bowl as it is in our house? My family meals don't look like the pictures in my 'proper' cookbooks, but that doesn't stop me buying them for inspiration when I'm out of ideas.

MrsJamin that it shocking! The MN email I mean. I just went and looked after your last post. [disappointed in MNHQ emoticon]

Crazy lady. What is the point of making food excessively pretty, apart from having too much time on your hands (unlikely with a small child)? Surely the impetus to eat is because it tastes good. If it doesn't taste good because you're crap at cooking, then you need practice. If it doesn't taste good because the baby doesn't like it, bits of parsley on top or pretty shapes won't help. You can't force feed them. At least, I don't know how you could.

I'd love to see my DS's reaction to the lovingly garnished meatballs.

I do find this whole separation of food into 'finger foods' and purees very odd, anyway. IMO, all food is finger food until a fork/spoon can be used, and sometimes not even then. Lots of cultures don't use cutlery, after all.
Also, finger food often seems to be used as a non-nutritious adjunct to 'normal' food- i.e those Organix things, delicious though they are. And as for rice cakes- marketing genius to target them at both dieters and babies, 2 groups not usually noted for their similar calorie requirements.

rice cakes = minging. I wouldn't eat one so why the hell should DD?

Never dish her up anything I wouldn't happily eat myself is my credo. My mum got her a jar once and it smelt really funny, not like the shepherds pie or whatever it was supposed to be.

And what are those organix "carrot stix" all about? When DD was about 8mo one of the postnatal mums said would she like a carrot stick? i said you can try her with one and she gave her an unflavoured wotsit!!!

Rant rant ranty rant.

I wonder whether MNHQ really read that bit - as the whole email is "sponsored by Waterstone's" - so someone from waterstone's probably wrote it, without an inkling that there might be mums out there who don't hang on AK's every word, and have a brain of their own to be able to figure out how to help a child to eat solid food.

in AK's defense, she suggests finger foods from 7 months in her puree book.

i am happy to give my DS home-made food or jars, finger food or snacks. what's the big deal? most everyone eats a mix of stuff themselves.

goodniht: I don't mind her writing recipe books, but from the online preview it seems it should have been called "100 party finger foods"

to me, she's a bit of a 'doctor' gillian mckeith- i.e. the first to call themselves an expert. I'm v cynical about someone giving advice when they have a multitude of products that they want to sell as well. I'd rather get opinions from someone more independent.

Oh good god. One of the benefits of doing BLW is (I fervently hope) that your growing child learns what normal, everyday food is meant to look like, and then you might not have to tempt a recalcitrant toddler to eat by making 'happy faces' or little tractor shapes out of their food. DS mucks in with what we're having and would probably try to stick a garnish up his, or my nose!

Who the fuck buys this or indeed anything by Annabel Karamel?
I am genuinely perplexed in light of fact that 90% of Britons can't cook for themselves let alone thier offspring.

forget the lychee comment it was this said to her son that made me stop taking her seriously:

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
here

can you imaine the AIBU thread, my mil wants me to cook recipes from her cookbooks for my family all the time so my dh can relive his childhood AIBU to say f**k off?

OH MY GOODNESS :O how can she get away with saying this?? This makes me so - she is just worried about her business being threatened by people saying you don't need to do purees! argh. Could say a lot more but won't.

AK says BLW mums go out of the room when giving a first food .

I am amazed by this passion. I didn't "do" Karmel but most of my friends did. None of their babies died or fell ill or and they can now eat with spoons and forks and even knives. I was the only one that had food refusal and faffing about (so the next time I did a lot more "you can eat what you can get in your mouth -- aka blw? ).

There's nothing wrong with blw I'm sure, it seems quite on the ball and helpful, but this spitting passion against the "puree queen" is ludicrous. You must all know that fashions in feeding change all the time. When your babies are ten years old things will be different.

It's the fact that she criticizes BLWers as not caring about their children enough to prevent them from choking, when her own methods are unproven, and she's not a qualified nutritionist or health professional.