The Kitchen Reader: Hungry Monkey
This was my first month participating with the group on The Kitchen Reader, and the book for the month was Hungry Monkey: A Food-Loving Father’s Quest to Raise an Adventurous Eater by Matthew Amster-Burton.
The entire premise of this book amused and interested me from the start. Not having children yet myself, I have often wondered, as the author did when he found out his wife was pregnant, if having children would mean a major change in what foods we would eat at my house, and if I will someday be begging my children to try something other than hot dogs and pizza. I am determined to have adventurous food-loving children who will be introduced to all sorts of wonderful, healthy foods, and will therefore frequently request things I had never heard of as a child, like hummus, kale, or sushi, but am daunted by all of the picky-eating children I have encountered or heard stories about, and wonder what reality has in store.
In addition to the topic, the tone of this book is what really makes it fun—it reads like, well, a blog! It’s like talking to and hearing stories from some guy you know who happens to love food and started out as clueless as the next person about what to feed a child. He also includes recipes of varying complexities and flavors—bonus!
As Matthew says in the introduction, there are a lot of books out there about feeding children, but few that are “stories about real parents and real kids learning about food together—making discoveries, making mistakes, making cookies.” So he wrote one! And I, for one, am glad he did. I just hope that when it’s my turn to have this experience, I will find that he was right: “If you love to eat, a new baby presents an opportunity to have more fun with food than ever before in your life.” Granted, the next sentence is “And, yes, more frustration,” but hey, at least after reading this book I am a bit more prepared!
I heartily recommend this book for a good laugh and a fun perspective on feeding children, but don’t just take my word for it! Check out what the other members of The Kitchen Reader thought, or better yet, visit the Hungry Monkey website and download the first three chapters and see for yourself.
2 comments
I don’t have kids either, but I really enjoyed this book. His stories are so funny! I think it’s great that he spends so much time in the kitchen with his daughter – that’s one way to make sure your kids aren’t afraid of new foods.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this book – I hadn’t heard of it, but I’d love to check it out. Also not having children (but having very picky parents and siblings), I am curious how my own children will one day react to a variety of foods. I hope that nurture wins out and I am able to entice them to enjoy all that the culinary world has to offer!