After the cheesy gut bombs of the Reagan era, we’ve arrived at the “hopey changey” era of school lunch. Michelle Obama put school lunch on the front page and ushered in upgraded nutrition standards. But the battles didn’t end there. In this episode, Jane and Liz unwrap the future of school food with concrete tips on how parents can make a difference.

And, as promised, If you'd like to follow along and find out what we'll be doing in  Pressure Cooker's next act, please submit your email address at pressurecook.substack.com. Thank you, listeners, for two amazing years!

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For those unfamiliar with the inner workings of the school lunch program, it is puzzling, even maddening: Why is it so hard to offer tasty, nutritious food at school? In this episode, Jane and Liz dig into the history of the school lunch program to unveil how we got to where we are today. It’s a surprisingly twisted tale involving desperate farmers, skittish military generals, shortsighted bean counters, pizza lobbyists, and a network of underground caves…filled with cheese. 

And, as promised, If you'd like to follow along and find out what we'll be doing in  Pressure Cooker's next act, please submit your email address at pressurecook.substack.com. Thank you, listeners, for two amazing years!

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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In this final installment of Pressure Cooker (at least, for now!) Jane and Liz reflect on lessons learned over the course of more than fifty episodes. From political activism to picture-perfect bento lunches, our hosts break down which habits listeners should consider leaning into – and which ones you should let go of.  

Although we’re hitting ‘pause’ on the podcast for now, we’ve got lots of ideas brewing for the future of Pressure Cooker. If you’d like to stay in the loop on news and updates, please submit your email address at pressurecook.substack.com. Thank you, listeners, for two amazing years!

Note: One of our recommendations was to get involved politically – especially about food marketing to kids. Here’s how: 

• Email the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative at [email protected]. 
• Or call (yes, you have to call!!) the Federal Trade Commission and make your voice heard: (202) 326-2222

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We're resurfacing this Pressure Cooker "classic" that attempts to answer the perennial parental question: Why isn’t my kid eating green beans or zucchini or, for that matter, any food that isn’t beige? One theory holds that, with the help of the right bribe, you can teach kids to like anything. And so Jane dragoons her 10-year-old daughter Lucy into an experiment to see if she can learn to accept her most dreaded food: tomatoes. Jane and Liz talk to Julie Mennella, a taste scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center to learn just what it takes to make kids eat their vegetables, and serve up the simplest tips and tricks for parents to win the vegetable wars without losing their minds.

To keep up with upcoming Pressure Cooker news, JOIN OUR NEW NEWSLETTER at pressurecook.substack.com

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If you’ve had a child in America anytime in the past, oh, 80 years, there’s one message about what to feed them that has been impossible to ignore: MILK! Kids need lots of milk to grow big and strong. 

Or do they? 

On this week’s episode of Pressure Cooker, Jane and Liz journey back through history to uncover when and why milk came to be seen as an essential part of a healthy child’s diet. Then, our hosts interview Sophie Egan, the Director of the Stanford Food Institute and the author of the 2020 book How to Be a Conscious Eater, to answer the question: how much milk, if any, do kids actually need?

To keep up with upcoming Pressure Cooker news, JOIN OUR NEW NEWSLETTER at pressurecook.substack.com

Further Resources:

• How To Be A Conscious Eater by Sophie Egan
• Spoiled: The Myth of Milk As Superfood by Anne Mendelson
• How Much Dairy Do Children and Adults Actually Need? (The Washington Post)

 

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Headlines about the dangers of “ultra-processed” foods – a category that includes Doritos and Twinkies but also protein bars, plant-based milks, and maybe your favorite yogurt or sandwich bread – are suddenly everywhere. But what makes a food ultra-processed, and what’s driving the concern about their role in the diets of both children and adults? On this episode of Pressure Cooker, Jane and Liz break it all down with Dr. Chris Van Tulleken, a professor at University College London and the author of the 2023 bestseller Ultra-Processed People: The Science Behind Food That Isn't Food. Why are today’s foods so highly processed, and how is that impacting our health? Should the sale of ultra-processed foods be more strictly regulated? Tune in to find out!

 

And join our new newsletter: pressurecook.substack.com

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It's Mother's Day. And like a lot of other moms, we're rebelling against the ideals of the "good mother." So we're bringing back a Pressure Cooker classic. In this episode, Jane and Liz challenge the idea that society’s ills can be solved by each of us spending more time in the kitchen, sing the praises of convenience food, and talk to the authors of the 2019 book Pressure Cooker: Why Home Cooking Won’t Solve Our Problems, and What We Can Do About It. We close out the show by sharing the dinner shortcuts we love. 

As promised, here are Pressure Cooker’s picks for time-savers you can feel good about.

Heat and Eat

•  Talia Di Napoli Frozen Pizza: Crust that tastes like a wood-burning pizza joint and sauce that tastes like sunshine. Available retail and online; $13 to $15 per pizza.
•  Trader Joe’s Cheese and Green Chili Tamale: Made for the microwave and not too spicy for the kids. $3.79 for two.
• Trader Joe’s Black Bean and Jack Cheese Burrito: The antithesis of the sad desk lunch burrito. Perfect from the toaster oven and big enough for two small kids.  $3.99
•  Jaju Pierogis: The Polish know kids. Dough + potatoes and cheese is a hit. Add some raw veg and you’re done. $10 for 12.

Pasta Sauce

•  Rao’s Marinara Sauce: Yes, it’s cheaper to make your own but this is better and fast. Look for it at Costco or Aldi for a price break, from 5.99 for 24 ounces.
•  Good and Gather Organic Marinara Sauce, Target’s affordable no-sugar option, $2.79 for 24 ounces.

Dump & Stir

•  OmSom: Think of these packets as authentically spiced flavor bombs, allowing you to make restaurant-quality Asian dishes in 15 minutes, Available online or retail; three packets (six servings) for $12.
•  Maya Kaimal: There are a zillion simmer sauces but Maya Kaimal’s are the OG. Most kids will dig the mild creamy Butter Masala. $5.
•  Haven’s Kitchen: Great flavors in resealable squeezy pouches. We love the golden turmeric tahini and the chimichurri. $6.99 per 5-ounce pouch.

Rice, Noodles, Dumplings

• Birdsye Frozen Rice: The fastest way to get a healthy grain on the table. $2.50 per 10-ounce bag.
•  Momofuku Ramen: An upgrade on the dorm-room fave with air-dried noodles and a tasty spice packet.  5-pack starting at $12.
• MìLà (formerly Xio Chi Jie) Pork Soup Dumplings: As good as a restaurant. Seriously! And so fun for kids. $40 for 50 dumplings. 
•  Trader Joe’s Pork and Ginger Soup Dumplings: Affordable and delicious is possible. $6 for $3.79.

What are your faves? Let us know @pressurecook_fm

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Digital food marketing is ubiquitous. But what do teens and tweens see on their devices. And are the kids alright? In Part 2 of our deep-dive into food marketing, a Pressure Cooker investigation takes listeners deep inside some of the most closely guarded spaces in American life today– teenagers phones – and proposes strategies to stop the scroll. 

Further Resources: 

• Food Marketing Literacy 1 (from University of Calgary) 
• Food Marketing Literacy 2 (from University of Calgary)
• FTC: Protecting Kids from Stealth Marketing 
• Common Sense Media: How Teens Can Resist Advertising and Be Smart Consumers

National Association for Media Literacy Education: 

• Equipping Kids with the Skills to Thrive Online 
• Guidelines for Tweens
• Guidelines for Teens 

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A generation ago, food marketing to kids was found mostly in two places: Saturday morning cartoons and the cereal aisle. No more. Children are now targeted throughout the grocery store, on billboards, product placements and, most dangerously, on digital media. Jane and Liz talk to Jennifer Harris of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health and Charlene Elliott of the University of Calgary to understand how the problem has exploded, in particular for tweens and teens, who are now believed to be even more vulnerable to advertising messages than young children. 

Further Resources:

• More than a Nuisance: Implications of Food Marketing for Public Health Efforts to Curb Childhood Obesity (Annual Review of Public Health)
• Food marketing to teenagers: Examining the power and platforms of food and beverage marketing in Canada (Appetite)
• Tracking teen food marketing: Participatory research to examine persuasive power and platforms of exposure (Appetite)

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Half of all parents of young children say they have at least one picky eater in their household: a state of affairs that strikes many moms and dads stuck serving up the same half dozen foods on repeat as highly unnatural. With the help of Jennifer Traig, the author of Act Natural: A Cultural History of Misadventures in Parenting, Jane and Liz explore when, and why, picky eating emerged as a common trait among children – and what you can do to stop it. 

#pickyeating #feedingkids #parenting 

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