The topic of food has been a constant on the pages of Nursery World over the past 100 years. In that time there has been lots of practical advice served around how to encourage ‘fussy eaters’ and the benefits of a varied diet to support young children's developing bodies and brains.
Dished up alongside that has been a large dollop of revolting-sounding recipes – are any nursery chefs currently cooking fricassee of brains (6 February 1947), scalloped tripe (17 March 1960) or strawberry sweet omelette (23 July 1970)?
The magazine has supported families and practitioners through periods of austerity and the Second World War, frequently discussing issues around how to eat healthily on a tight budget and rationing.
Wartime imports was ‘Nursery topic of the week’ on 25 January 1945: ‘Providing food for a whole nation must indeed be a colossal task, and in 1940 this country had to face the fact that imports were halved as a result of the war… [but] by applying scientific knowledge at that time the right foods were secured to give us nutrition and not just satisfy our appetites. Thanks to science, too, British farmers have been able to increase the yield of their land enormously. Now, in spite of over five years of war, our health has been maintained and in some ways improved.’
FOR CONVENIENCE
Food trends have changed over the last century, particularly with the introduction of new food storage and preparation methods, from fridges and freezers to microwave ovens and air fryers.
These initiatives haven't all been welcomed. Nursery World reported on 12 March 2008 that proposals to serve frozen ready-meals in six Lancashire Children's Centres were rejected in favour of ‘freshly prepared food made on the premises’.
The rise in processed food over the past few decades has increasingly led to questions being asked about their ingredients.
Attention was drawn by the London Food Commission to the misleading labels on jars of popular weaning foods, was reported by Nursery World, 9 February 1989: ‘If it's a meat meal, neither quantity or quality has to be specified on babyfood, unlike other meat products, which means that “beef and vegetable dinner” can legally include offal, brains, bowels, feet and testicles, as well as the notorious “mechanically recovered meat slurry”.’
DIFFERENT TASTES
Immigration over the past century has greatly influenced the meals that we eat and many early years settings are embracing international culinary dishes as they welcome children from diverse backgrounds. In the 1960s, spaghetti bolognaise was regarded as a daring leap from the traditional ‘meat and two veg’. Now nurseries such as The Old Forge Day Nursery are serving dishes including massaman potatoes with kachumber salad and murgh kari with naan (see ‘What's cooking?’, January 2025).
However, the cost-of-living crisis, health concerns and sustainability have led settings and households to re-evaluate their food offer and return to some of the principles of the past 100 years. Nurseries are moving to provide more plant-based options, bulking up meat dishes with beans, pulses and lentils and providing wholemeal bread and pasta (see ‘Well fed’, August 2024).
Oily fish appeared to go out of fashion but is now being promoted for its omega-3 benefits (see page 30 of this issue). And organic, home-grown and local foods are also back on the agenda to combat worries around chemicals and ‘food miles’.
Last year, Tops Day Nurseries announced that wild meat would be served in its settings to align with the group's sustainability and healthy-eating ethos (see Nursery World, January 2024). Historically the consumption of deer was reserved for the elite, but now some nursery children are regularly tucking into venison and orzo bake or venison bolognaise.
The food of the poor
Not only ill-health, but bad temper apparently result from an improper diet, at any rate in rats. Sir Robert McCarrison described last week an experiment in which two groups of rats were used, one being fed on a good stock diet, milk, fruit and fresh vegetables with occasional meat and eggs. The second was fed on a diet such as is commonly eaten by the poorer classes in this country – white bread, margarine, over-sweetened tea, boiled cabbage and potatoes, and tinned meat.
The well-fed group lived happily together, increased in weight and flourished. The second group was stinted, bad tempered and badly proportioned. 19 Feb 1936
Faddy Feeders
Good digestion still ‘waits on appetite’ for small children as well as their parents. No child will really have a good appetite if his meals are accompanied by arguments and tears and degenerate into a battle of wills. The taking of food should be associated with pleasure, from infancy onwards, and a meal should be a pleasant social occasion for a child and his mother to enjoy together. 13 Jan 1966
