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    Fun Food: Funky feasts for happy children
    Fun Food: Funky feasts for happy children
    Fun Food: Funky feasts for happy children
    Ebook232 pages57 minutes

    Fun Food: Funky feasts for happy children

    By Mark Northeast

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    About this ebook

    From the humble sandwich to creative party food, in this collection of recipes Mark Northeast, Founder of Funky Lunch, provides inspiring ideas for even the most fussy of eaters, some savoury and some sweet, but all perfect for hungry little girls and boys. Every parent knows how stressful meal times can be, young minds need inspiring and this is exactly what Fun Food sets out to do.

    The book features many of the very best sandwich ideas, from simple farmyard creatures and cucumber crocodiles to favourite characters from the world of children's TV, as well as some fun and creative ideas to help get the little ones involved in choosing and making their own lunch.

    Within these pages you'll find special creations guaranteed to set the right tone for any party and fill the tummies of all tiny party-goers. These are perfect recipes for parents who want to create memorable party food for their children, with ideas that are ideal for birthdays or themed parties and which also cover ideas for smaller crowds, whether it's an impromptu supper or a sleepover. From adorable jacket potato people to garden worm 'bangers and mash', and from scotch egg owls to ghoulish meringues, Fun Food is filled with achievable ideas for parents to encourage their children to eat, experiment and enjoy food.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateApr 19, 2018
    ISBN9781472955791
    Fun Food: Funky feasts for happy children
    Author

    Mark Northeast

    Mark Northeast is the multi-award-winning creator of Funky Lunch, and is dedicated to encouraging children to learn to love food. He has two young children, who still like to fuss occasionally, ensuring he's always searching for his next Funky food ideas. He lives in West Sussex.

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      Book preview

      Fun Food - Mark Northeast

      To all my foodie friends I’ve made along the way

      introduction

      funky lunch

      funky party

      funky thanks

      INTRODUCTION

      Happy Food: funky feasts and tasty treats

      ‘Don’t play with your food!’ was the response often given by my parents as I sat at the dinner table mindlessly pushing food around my plate. As a fussy eating child of the late seventies and early eighties there wasn’t much in the way of distraction when it came to eating your ‘greens’.

      Fast-forward some 30 years and as a parent myself I continued to uphold those beliefs instilled in me back then, and was often heard saying: ‘How do you know you don’t like it, if you won’t try it?’

      The idea to get creative with food started as a bit of fun, a way to cheer up a grumpy four-year-old. I toyed with the option of not making him any lunch, as per his request, but a snap decision to create a simple rocket-shaped sandwich changed my outlook on a child’s connection with food.

      As a creative person, a trait inherited from my mother – my childhood years were spent watching her create an endless number of birthday and wedding cakes, each one intricately adorned with row upon row of identically iced flowers – the fascination to craft new and exciting sandwich designs took over my everyday thinking and each one had to ‘out do’ the last. However, one rule remained: it had to contain a number of healthy ingredients and it had to be eaten … all of it.

      As my collection of sandwiches grew, so too did the interest from social media where I had been sharing my ideas. I created a website showcasing my work and I was soon inundated with requests, praise and, more importantly, thanks. Unbelievable, parents from around the globe started to contact me to offer their thanks for my creations. They had been attempting my sandwich designs and found that their fussy eaters were open to change, were happy to experiment and wanted to try new foods. I was gobsmacked by the response.

      Not wanting this rollercoaster to stop, I embarked on a plan to develop a workshop based around children playing with healthy food, and with the help of my daughter’s teacher and her classroom full of friends, the first ever Funky Lunch workshop was born. School children carefully planned and designed their food creations before eagerly building their masterpiece from the wide array of fruits and vegetables I had supplied.

      The concept was a success and the response from teachers as the number of workshops increased was encouraging. They would watch in disbelief as the most fussy or quietest of children would fully engage with the task and stand in awe as they chopped and peeled their way through the ingredients, before hungrily devouring them.

      My creative interest in food didn’t stop at sandwiches and I soon had the opportunity to design a selection of party food treats for all occasions. Not such a straightforward task as I first thought and one that would provide me with many a sleepless night in the pursuit of excellence. I mean how on earth do you go about trying to update party classics, or put a twist on children’s food favourites so ingrained in history and the source of memories from years gone by. This was made even harder by the vast number of hugely talented parents, all wanting to have fun with food, who were posting the most amazing creations online. However, with a little perseverance and some very late nights, the results were a delicious array of party treats.

      As my food journey continued, so did the requests for the more weird and wonderful. I was being asked by companies to create edible artwork and gifts to help promote their product, event or service. They went from the sublime to the ridiculous: from a simple photoshoot with apples and berries for a well-known drinks brand, to having over 1,000 pick ‘n’ mix sweets delivered to my door for what turned into a three-and-a-half-day project creating a movie poster made entirely from the sweets! To this day there is nothing I won’t attempt to create with food and I relish each challenge.

      While my own passion for cooking has continued to grow, developing new skills in the culinary world, I take great pleasure in watching my creativity rub off on my daughter as she bakes her way through her teenage years.

      But throughout this journey of mine there is one thing that has been a constant reminder of why I do this: getting children involved in food and cooking and letting them be creative with it not only builds their confidence, expands their skills and knowledge, but it broadens their taste buds, encourages better eating and feeds their imagination.

      Now I don’t promise that it will work every time or cure your fussy eater for life, but every now and then we need to have some fun in the kitchen and what better way than with our next generation of chefs and creative artists.

      In this book you will find a collection of recipes to cater for all occasions,

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