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FRESH SPIRIT
HAPPY MEALS
Taking a fresh look at baby food.
WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY J.S. BEAUCHAINE
D oug Richter, industrial realtor by day and self-described full-time “food freak,” is a dervish in the kitchen. On this early fall afternoon in Westfield, he rotates from stove to sink to spice cabinet, stirring shallots in a saucepan on the stove, dusting a pair of roasted butternut squash halves with nutmeg, and flipping chunks of apple into simmering water. A small radio in the corner is tuned to a jazz station; the cool, measured horns complement Doug’s frenetic energy. He tosses everything into a pot, sluices it with chicken stock and purees it all with a stick blender. The sweet-nutty aroma is almost narcotic.
Doug pours some cooled apple–butternut squash soup into a purple plastic bowl and passes it to his 18-month-old daughter, Sophie, who has been toddling around the kitchen with a potato masher in her hand. She drops the masher and guzzles the soup down. “I like to cook,” Doug’s wife, Jennifer, says, “but he puts me to shame completely. He’s like Martha Stewart.”
Ever since Sophie was six months old, the Richters have been making her baby food from scratch. Once in a blue moon, maybe when they’re traveling, they buy prepackaged food, but Jennifer estimates that 85 percent of what Sophie eats is either whipped up from produce in their CSA basket or made from what’s in their pantry. As a growing number of parents today embrace a “fresh, local and organic” ethos, they’ve extended their eating habits to the high-chair tray. Commercial baby foods often replace real food with water and thickening agents and can contain added sugar and salt.
Additionally, since the ingredients in prepackaged baby foods are superheated to sterilize them and extend their shelf life, most of the natural flavors and key nutrients are destroyed in the process. When they make their own baby food, parents know where their baby’s food comes from, what’s in it and what isn’t.
It also turns out that making baby food isn’t all that time-consuming. Many parents opt to whip up big batches of purees on the weekend, or after the baby goes to bed, freezing individual portions in icecube trays or small containers and thawing them as needed. Like many parents, Doug and Jennifer Richter don’t often have time for elaborate culinary productions for Sophie and her older sister, eight-year-old Siena. Since Sophie has mostly grown out of purees, her parents have found new ways of preparing easy favorites, like mashed sweet potatoes, lentils, and applesauce, that will go a long way toward creating a healthy foundation for her eating habits later in life.
For Erin Brinley, the appeal of making food for her seven-monthold son, Finn, isn’t just the ease or the health benefits. Since Erin left her public relations job in Manhattan to stay home with Finn, she and her husband, Zach, are down to one salary. To save money, Erin buys the family’s produce at several farmers’ markets near their home in Navesink, and uses an all-in-one baby food steamer and mini food processor, called a Béaba Babycook. “You flip the switch one way to steam, and the other way to puree,” says Erin. “It’s a no-brainer.” So are the savings. Erin and Zach recently attended an out-oftown wedding where they weren’t going to be able to refrigerate Finn’s food. Erin went out and bought two cases of Earth’s Best organic baby food. The tab came to almost $30. On the other hand, she says, “if I buy two big bags of fruit at the farmer’s market, it’s maybe $15.” And, she points out, there’s an added bonus: “I’ve gotten food that all of us can eat. Diapers cost enough as it is. If he can eat within our fridge, it really helps.”
Adapting the baby’s meals from whatever the family is already eating is another way that parents are simplifying homemade baby food. Matthew Amster-Burton, author of the best-selling Hungry Monkey: A Food-Loving Father’s Quest to Raise an Adventurous Eater, calls this the number one rule of baby food: there is no such thing as baby food. Not only is it cheaper to feed the baby from the family table, it can be a fun way of inviting the baby to share in the meal, and a great way of heading off finickiness later on.
Prepackaged baby food can be a lifesaver for families on the go, but given the savings, nutritional benefits, and healthy eating habits that can come from making food at home, for many parents the choice between store-bought and homemade hasn’t been a hard one to make.
“We are all busy parents in today’s world,” acknowledges Jennifer, but “there is so much processed chemicals, GMOs [genetically modified organisms], and additives in our foods. I believe that taking a little time to prepare homemade, local food goes a long way.”
DO-IT-YOURSELF TIPS:
Armed with a food mill, blender, processor or good old-fashioned fork for mashing, any parent can cook up a quick puree. Simply steam the fruits or vegetables, then whip or mash.
Batch processing saves busy parents time. Freeze large quantities of puree in one-ounce containers or ice-cube trays and store the cubes in a sealed, labeled plastic bag for use later.
Need inspiration? There’s a world of cookbooks waiting to be discovered, like The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet by Karin Knight and Tina Ruggiero (a nurse and a dietician, respectively), and Lisa Barnes’ Cooking for Baby: Wholesome, Homemade, Delicious Foods for 6 to 18 Months.
Ever since Sophie was six months old, Doug and Jennifer
Richter have been making her baby food from scratch.
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