Instead of wringing your hands and asking; “what am I going to feed these kids”, may I suggest you rethink children’s foods. Children’s foods are no longer boring and bland. They are no longer settling for chicken nuggets, burgers and cheese sticks, but can be called pint-sized gourmands.

Recent studies show that children as young as six years of age are more interested in sampling new flavors and food items from adult menus than the classic children’s menu. The new culinary terminology for this is referred to as child-centric cuisine. These adorable mini adults still have a playful side with food so as you plan meals you think a child would enjoy (after all, you enjoyed sprinkles on your ice cream decades ago, didn't you?) remember to consider the 'travelocity' of the food. Sprinkles tossed can travel long distances before finding a new home in the carpet or the creases of the leather seats. Think also about the 'spreadability' of the food. Can you imagine a rich creamy chocolate sauce spread on the walls, table surfaces, and seatbelts?

So now you're aware of the two biggest no-nos in child meal planning . . . apart from the food that's great for food fights of course!

No worries then - (unless the children are traveling alone with you). Seriously though, these pint sized gourmets are actually selecting fresher and healthier options than you might expect. They are appreciating ethnic foods and savory flavors, not just sweet and fried items. They are intrigued by sushi and sriracha sauce, rather than plain catsup and fish nuggets.

Think interactive

When planning the children’s menu, think interactive; foods that engage them, that they can be creative with; experiment with flavors and foods. Bowls are a big trend lately. Allow the child to select from an assortment of fillings for the bowl - gluten free pasta, brown rice, quinoa with toppings they can build from; ruffly kale leaves, baby spinach leaves, scallions, curling carrots, and assorted other vegetables. They are inquisitive by nature, so allow them to create their meal by exploring flavors and cuisines . . . but, with nutritional balance.

If their parents are healthy eaters, they will be as well. As the children reach their early teen years you might want to include information on your menu about food origins, sourcing and ethical concerns. The up-coming generation is much more savvy when it comes to food than their predecessors.

Five simple rules

There are basically only five considerations to take into account when planning children’s menus for a flight.

1.Calories

No child needs more than 600 calories in any meal, and that includes the beverage.  There’s no need to supersize a meal for kids who are active or play sports; they can make up the calories through snacking. When planning the mini passenger meals, plan half of the meal to be fruits and veggies.  That helps control calories as well. And remember to cut grapes and round foods in half so they won’t lodge themselves in a child’s throat and won’t roll around the cabin in the event of turbulence.

2. Carbohydrates

Consider offering whole grains. There are many of phenomenal whole-grain options out there that kids don’t even realize are whole grains. One is white, whole-wheat flour, and it’s great for sandwich bread. It doesn’t look so dark and dense that a kid may push it away. Other options to consider are whole-grain pasta, super grains, heirloom potatoes, sweet potatoes and beans, possibly chick peas creamed into hummus.

Unfortunately, beverages can fall into the carbohydrate category. Offer milk or water in place of sugar-sweetened beverages. Soda could easily add 300 calories before the meal, but, have you noticed that kids enjoy fruit waters? Place melon balls of multiple colors and add them to a glass of water with a bruised mint leaf and you have a fun beverage, and one that is healthier.

3. Customization

It’s important to offer kids choices so they can customize and individualize their meal. But you have to give them good choices. If providing a sandwich, a burger, a grilled fish or chicken sandwich, offer a creamy avocado or smoky caramelized onions to add flavor rather than something so bland (but have the mustard and mayonnaise ready just in case). By doing this you are giving the child the power and control to make good choices.

Alternatively, bacon or other more-desired toppings may be a gateway to get a kid to try something like a turkey burger. Kids sometimes think a burger has to be beef, and they’re used to that flavor and texture. But if you let them add bacon to a turkey burger, which is lower in saturated fat than the all-beef burger, then that's fine - as long as the meal stays within 600 calories.

4. Culinary creativity

When adults think about kids’ meals, we tend to think they need to be bland and safe, and that’s just not true. Kids will go after bolder flavors. We’re all interested in culinary adventure (adults and kids alike), and world cuisines provide inspiration for making healthy foods more flavorful and craveable.  The mini adults are eating world cuisines and flavors as they travel the world on board the jet.

Sauces and salsas are a great way to utilize word cuisines and flavors. Instead of basic ketchup, offer something that’s got a little more heat to it, a Spanish Romesco sauce, which is similar to ketchup in that it’s made with tomatoes, but it has more flavor, depth, and smokiness. Another option is something like sriracha ketchup, which gives a familiar dipping sauce more flavor and excitement. And the added bonus - yes, bonus - we need all that punch to taste more flavor when at altitude.

5. Communication

When planning meals for children, make the exotic familiar. Let’s say you’re doing a chaat masala sweet potato fry. The word chaat is an Indian word that not many kids are familiar with. But if you call it a spicy sweet potato fry, it sounds familiar to kids and introduces an exotic element. There’s an immediate sensory opportunity when kids put that fry on their tongues and their taste buds start dancing.

Planning menus for pint sized gourmands can be fun and creative. Step away from the box of menu ideas that kids might expect and give them the power of choice. Imagine the worst mess and expect the best. Be a hero and provide something the children can make their own; build your own taco salad, create your own bowl, build a sandwich, invent your own soup using a vegetable base and offer various garnishes and allow them to give it a name. Why not a tomato basil soup with mini turkey meatballs and shaved parmesan cheese.

Bon appétit!

About Paula Kraft . . .

Paula Kraft is the founding partner of the DaVinci Inflight Training Institute located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and the founder/president of Tastefully Yours Catering, an aviation specific caterer, located in Atlanta, Georgia for over 35 years.

Paula is active with many aviation and catering-related groups including the International Caterers Association, the International Inflight Food Service Association and is a board member of Women in Corporate Aviation. She is the past chair of the NBAA Flight Attendant Committee Caterer’s Working Group for 15 years perfecting unique catering training sessions for NBAA conferences and events. Currently, she serves on the NBAA Flight Attendant Advisory Committee and is a member of the Training and Safety Subcommittee. Paula was a founding member of the Steering committee for the creation of a European Flight Attendant Committee and conference and serves as a subject matter expert to the board of International Standard for Business Aircraft Handlers (IS-BAH).

After founding Tastefully Yours Catering, she has been offering culinary and food safety related training to the general aviation community. With a strong dedication to improving catering safety, risk mitigation and safe food handling, she developed and introduced the concept of “catering safety management systems”. As a certified food safety instructor, Paula offers catering SMS and culinary classes for all aviation professionals. Paula’s first-hand experience, business acumen, research, and relationships make her an industry expert - one which allows her to share information that will help raise the professional training level for flight attendants today that will reduce the risk of food-related concerns tomorrow.

From Paula . . .

I have coordinated training programs and clinics for NBAA and EBAA conference attendees for over 10 years, created mentoring programs for caterers and flight attendants to broaden their aviation culinary skills, and to assist them in adapting to the unique challenges and constraints found in catering for general aviation. I recognize the need for training and have worked closely with flight departments, flight crews, schedulers and customer service reps at the FBOs to ensure that catering specific training provides information and skills necessary to reduce risk while assisting them in their job duties that include safe food handling, catering security, accurate transmission of food orders, and safe food production, packaging and delivery.

I fell into aviation catering quite by accident. I was the in-house caterer and bakery supplier for Macy’s department stores in Atlanta when catering was ordered for a Macy’s customer which was soon to change my life. After the client enjoyed the catering provided, I was summoned to the client’s corporate office to provide several of the items delivered through Macy’s to the executive dining room. Within a week, I was providing food for the flight department and my first order was for the President of a foreign country (as I was too be told soon after).

So, here I am, some 35 years later, still loving every minute of every day in aviation catering.