So I was glancing through some menus of local restaurants earlier today while I was at work, making myself hungry. Italian. Tex-Mex. Asian fusion. Good stuff. But there was one common little problem each of these menus had, a common little problem very common to menus.<\/p>\n
It was, of course, the kids’ menu.
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\nYes, yes, I know, of course the crazy youth rights supporter who thinks kids and adults should be treated equally is going to bitch about kids’ menus. Well, why not? It’s a portion of the menu specifically designed to single out a portion of the clientele based on how long they lived, and say “this is what you’re supposed to be eating”. For the same reason, the senior’s menu some restaurants have is also wrong.<\/p>\n
If the senior citizens are supposed to be eating heart healthier foods or whatever other requirements their diets may have, just have a portion of the menu that meets those requirements and leave the age labels out of it. Kids need smaller portions? Fine, make a section of the menu for smaller portions.<\/p>\n
Well, I wish it were that simple. Some restaurants get it right, in that the kids’ menu is just smaller cheaper meal of the same basic stuff that is on the regular menu. Despite the ageist separation, that at least redeems itself a little.<\/p>\n
But on the menus I looked at earlier I saw something worse. The regular menu consisted of nice yummy Italian dishes or the usual fancy Mexican delights. The kids’ menu? Chicken fingers. Hot dog. Peanut butter and jelly. Fish sticks. Hamburger. Spaghetti. Grilled cheese.<\/p>\n
What?!<\/p>\n
Ah, yes, because those are all kids are ever willing to eat, right? Give me a break. I mean, if you want to have that stuff available at least, fine, but it shouldn’t be ALL that’s on the kid’s menu. Some problem with the Mexican restaurant maybe having small tacos or burritos for the kids? Some problem with the Italian restaurant having at least something more than basic spaghetti and sauce?<\/p>\n
Because there’s the issue with this. That means that the kids are pretty much stuck with the stupid boring “American” crap on their menu, seeing as the regular menu items tend to be too large portions for them. If a 5-year-old wants fajitas, his portion would last him a month! True, he could always share with a parent or sibling or whoever, but that’s beside the point and not an option if no one else wants fajitas. Maybe if there were a kids’ menu version of fajitas that’d be cheaper and more his portion size? No, no, you’re too busy assuming no kid wants anything other than burgers, dogs, and fried chicken, so that’s all you’re willing to feed him.<\/p>\n
Adults might complain that kids have a very limited culinary palette, but, you know, whose fault do you think that is?! A limited palette is all that is expected of them and all they are provided. But even then, many kids do not fit this stereotype and will eat a wider variety of foods. And when they are dining out, they ought to be provided with this wider variety instead of your safe little kids’ menu with the fish sticks and the grilled cheese making a mockery of their culinary tastes because they do not fit the age-dictated mold of picky eating. In all kinds of ways, shown constantly around the world and all through life, kids are vastly underestimated.<\/p>\n
This has been Day 12<\/b> of the 100 Days of Summer, Round 8<\/b>.<\/i> ![](\"\/smilies\/sun.gif\" "\\"Summertime!\\"\/")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Now, for a cultureless culinary edition of… YOU SUCK!!!! So I was glancing through some menus of local restaurants earlier today while I was at work, making myself hungry. Italian. Tex-Mex. Asian fusion. Good stuff. But there was one common little problem each of these menus had, a common little problem very common to menus. … Continue reading “Chicken Fingers and PB&J”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,6],"tags":[33,35],"class_list":["post-307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-foodz","category-you-suck","tag-100-days-of-summer","tag-rants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}