"You have to eat every festive season." During the Spring Festival holiday, the whole body relaxes, whether it is eating and drinking in different restaurants in the city, or returning to the hometown to visit relatives and friends to meet long-lost food, this is the festival that sees the most food varieties in the year and is most likely to produce a sense of fullness.
In the strong traditional festival atmosphere, parents will also want their children to experience their love of certain foods when they were young. It's just that children do not have as many theories and emotions on food as adults, they always put play (rather than eating) in the first place, and will appear picky eaters, partial eaters or anorexia according to the degree of preference, and this is also to some extent caused by the urgency of adults piling up too much food in front of children and wishing them to eat all.
Although adults are also picky and partial to eating, they still regard coaxing children to eat nutritionally balanced as a career, and this psychology is also reflected in the publication of children's books. When compiling the list of books in this issue, the number of children's books about "eating" that can be found is far greater than the theme of "financial and business education" in the previous issue. Then subdivided according to the content, there are popular science picture books for food sources and traditional cuisines, picture books for correcting picky eating and partial eating habits, and picture books for popular science vegetables. They all have a certain degree of functionality, corresponding to the "problems" that children are most likely to eat.
This issue is dominated by new books from 2021 and is divided into two parts. The first part is "Food Stories", which contains 4 (sets) of storybooks and 4 popular science books. The second part consists of 4 books (sets) on traditional Chinese food in response to the Lunar New Year Festival.
The story of the food
Little Dinosaur: I Don't Want to Eat Peas! Rob Bidalph/ Author, Wu Qihong, Translated, Enlightening Culture | Beijing United Publishing Company January 2021
This is one of the Kate Greenaway Award-nominated illustrators Rob Bidalf's "Little Dinosaurs" series of picture books, compared with many "rice coaxing" books, it does not cater to parents to make up "rice" successfully, but from the perspective of the child, humorously shows the "opportunism" when a child does not want to eat peas and has to eat peas.
When it was time for dinner, Nancy, the little dinosaur who was playing happily with her friends, reluctantly went home, but dinner turned out to be her least favorite peas! How can this be done? The friends are still waiting for her to play together. She thought of a good idea to "market" a pea benefit to every good friend outside the window, so the peas were quickly divided, so guess what, she can go out now? Did she end up eating peas?
"I Absolutely Never Eat Tomatoes", [English] Loren Joeld/author," Feng Zhen/Translation, Relay Press, July 2017
This is a classic "cooking rice" picture book, which can be seen in many "food education" book lists.
Sister Lola is very picky eater, so the brother "turns" the food that her sister does not like to eat into something interesting, attracting her sister to take the initiative to try it. This story is not only a way to know food, but also a manifestation of the friendship between brothers and sisters. Most children who have read this book will laugh at the metaphor of their brothers.
"The Question of Avocado", [Japanese] Momoko Abe / by Yogi , Translation , Magic Elephant | Guangxi Normal University Press, October 2021
The book is intended to discuss identity through avocados, but it is also a unique food science book.
Avocado, who had been living peacefully in the supermarket, was suddenly asked by a little girl, "Are you a fruit or a vegetable?" So he was messy. He went to the vegetable section and asked about cabbage, carrots and potatoes, and then to the fruit section about pears, bananas and peaches, and found himself different from them. He went to the aquatic area, the dairy area... Eventually he realized that avocados taste delicious no matter how they were made, and that the question of "what do I belong to" may not matter at all.
Delicious Vegetables (all four volumes), [Japanese] Mikazu Nakaya/authored and illustrated, Xiao Xiao/Translation, Beijing Science and Technology Publishing House, April 2021
This set of books is divided into "The Dream of Green Pepper", "Tomato Grown Up", "Corn's Long Hair", "Cabbage Who Loves to Read", taking the vegetable kindergarten where the vegetable baby learns to grow as the story stage, and presenting the knowledge related to vegetable growth in the form of kindergarten daily life.
Vegetable babies are smart and cute, and they also have their own characteristics: corn has long hair when it first comes, and is treated like a monster by green peppers; carrots think potatoes are funny; cabbage always follows lettuce; cabbage is startled when it finds out that it is a flower vegetable in the vegetable encyclopedia... And for all baby vegetables, not being able to be eaten by people is the saddest thing for them.
The Story of Food in a Lunch Box, by Chrissy Butterworth/ Lucia Gajotti/E, Fan Hyosing/Translation, Inspiring Culture | Beijing United Publishing Company November 2017
Delicious sandwiches, sweet apple juice, good-looking and delicious carrots... How did they get into our lunch boxes? This book starts from the field, the most original source of food, and introduces the growth and processing process of raw materials for some common foods.
There are many popular science picture books on food raw materials, this book is soft in color, although there are many food production processes mentioned, but the layout is not messy, the text is not dense, very suitable for children around 6 years old to read.
The Secret of The Soup, by Hunter Ligo/by Hunter Liguo/by Zhang Wenqi/E, Mei Jing/Translation, Xiao zhuma | Jiangsu Phoenix Science and Technology Press, July 2021
This book is much the same as the previous one, but the angle is more clever, and the secret in the soup is the secret of all things.
Grandma's soup is delicious, but it requires fresh ingredients, which come from different sources. To make the ingredients more delicious, you also need a variety of ingredients, which my grandmother put in, and they also come from different origins. The secret of the soup is both Grandma's cooking know-how and Grandma's full love, but it is also the meeting of everything in nature after trekking here.
Eat all over the world! Foodie's Global Adventures", by Zovi Basser Joe Sharp/,[In], Chris Dicason/E, Wave Blossom | Shantou University Press, May 2021
Dishes from all over the world have unique recipes and tastes, and the book introduces the cuisines of 13 countries and regions, including China, which are also closely related to the climate, temperature, traditions and customs of their regions. After each place is introduced, one of the methods that explains it will be selected, and chinese cuisine will choose Dan dan noodles.
A Brief History of Eating, edited by Fox Family, CITIC Publishing Group, May 2019
This is one of the "Wow, History Was This Way" series.
Cooking on the fire seems to be a matter of course, but from ancient times to the present, people have been inventing "eating". This book simply outlines the process of human beings from the primitive era of Ru Mao drinking blood to the Internet era of ordering takeaway with mobile phones, highlighting the innovation of eating methods, which also includes the invention of eating tools, materials, and various eating methods.
Traditional Chinese cuisine
""Gourmet China" Picture Book", Traditional Culture Round Table Pie / Editor-in-Chief, Shi Xiaoxing, Talking Cottage, etc., Xinjiang Youth Publishing House, January 2022
This set of 10 books is "Lantern Tangyuan", "Steamed Buns", "Dumplings", "Noodles", "Hot Pot", "Tofu", "Mooncakes", "Zongzi", "Beijing Roast Duck", "Tea". With the content structure of "Food Story + Extended Knowledge + Health Tips + Food Archives", it introduces all aspects of traditional Chinese cuisine, so that children can see the complex operation behind daily snacks.
"Seven Moles Wrapping Dumplings", zhu Huifang/author, Huang Miao/painting, Oriental doll | Jiangsu Phoenix Children's Publishing House, November 2021
Dumpling making is a family activity. Featuring seven moles, the book shows the whole process of making noodles, mixing fillings, making dumplings, boiling dumplings, and sharing dumplings with friends. The seven moles are smart and cute, each with its own personality, each with its own strengths and division of labor in the process of making dumplings, cooperating with each other, and willing to share delicious dumplings with friends, and finally getting feedback from friends.
"Don't Hide and Seek with Glutinous Rice Balls", Kong Yang Xinzhao/Author, Gu Mi/Painting, Relay Press, October 2021
Although glutinous rice is not rice that can be eaten three times a day, it is particularly highly utilized when making traditional dishes, and when combined with other ingredients, the taste can become completely different. This book takes advantage of the "fickle" characteristics of glutinous rice, and uses a hide-and-seek story to string together famous snacks from all over the world, such as rice dumplings, tangyuan, bamboo tube rice, and donkey rolling.
"Hungry Mouth Stove Wangye", Xiao Lei/Author, Su Yi Lin Ruibo/Painting, Chaohua Publishing House, August 2019
The "pickles" introduced in this book are not common in traditional Chinese food picture books, and pickles are considered to have low nutritional value in modern scientific recipes, but they are still home-cooked foods in Chinese families.
In the winter, Xiaomi's parents want to help grandma pickle pickles, and Xiaomi helps to wash the large tile jar of pickles, but she is too short, and accidentally fell into the jar, how can not come out. Thanks to her grandmother's stove master, she was pulled out of the vat, but the vat was broken. At this time, the stove king told Xiaomi that there were still some stories about his grandmother's family and pickles...
Edit | Shen Chan
Proofreading | Guo Li