Imagine a world without baby food. 

Does it seem possible? 

Grocery stores everywhere are home to entire sections devoted to baby food and other products for children. The shelves are lined with jars, cereals, crackers, snack packs, infant formula, and brightly colored plastic squeeze packs of fruit and vegetable mixes. 

That might not strike you as odd—after all, it has become a common sight in grocery stores—but it is.

Of course, many of these items are labeled organic and natural, a huge selling point, especially for baby food. But it’s odd precisely because there’s nothing natural about the idea of baby food at all. Until quite recently in our eating history, no one wondered what to feed babies and children—babies drank breast milk until they were weaned and ate what the adults ate, often mashed, pureed, or pre-chewed. 

Baby Food Is A New Idea

In a preindustrial food world, fewer options meant less confusion—babies and children ate nutrient-dense whole foods just as their parents did, and that was true only seventy-five years ago. 

The idea that babies and kids need some kind of specially manufactured formula or food is a creation of the food industry in its quest to continually carve out niche markets and novel food products. And these markets are booming. Baby formula is the fastest-growing “functional food” on the market, and the combined sales of baby food and baby formula reached $30 billion globally in 2015. 

Manufactured specialty foods have become such an accepted part of raising babies and children that the concept is taken for granted—but this is actually an aberration. Like so much else about our current food system, it represents a deep rupture in our understanding about food, nutrition, and even our survival as a species. 

What’s On The Menu For Kids?

The popular notion today is that babies and children prefer bland white foods—think rice cereal—but how did we come to accept this? It has no historical precedent or scientific basis, yet we take it as a fundamental truth. How often have you heard well-meaning parents say things like, “My kid will eat only white bread, chicken fingers, pizza, peanut butter and jelly, or mac and cheese”? We never stop to consider why these children are such picky eaters; we simply accept that they are and cater to them. 

After all, that list reads like any kids’ menu in any restaurant across the country. So it’s hardly surprising that this is what children (especially in the United States and other industrialized nations) want to eat—it’s what the industry and their parents have been feeding them all along. 

As I explain with my Whole Food Theory, any food you eat—anything that can be considered food—should be whole and intact, like the whole egg. And the same thing applies to babies and kids. Feed your kids the same whole foods you eat!

If you want to take a deeper dive on feeding babies and kids, join me for a new online class. It’s called “The Whole Egg for Parents” and together we will explore the latest in nutrition and health essentials for parents.

1. Dates: Tuesdays March 10, March 17,  March 24, March 31

2. Time: 1-2 pm Eastern, 10-11 am Pacific via Zoom

3. Click here for more info and to register.